Karen's Treasure by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

Digging for Treasure

On Friday I was very excited. At school I could not keep my mind on my work. I kept thinking of the treasure and all the things I would do with it once we had dug it up.

First I would give a big chunk of money to the scholarship fund for Andrew’s school. (Mommy and Seth would be proud of me.) Then I would buy every one of my friends and everyone in both my families a big, big present. And finally I would buy a whole bunch of things for myself. Things I really, really needed. I would start at the bookstore.

That day, after school, I ran home from the bus stop and waited for Kristy. As soon as she arrived, we took the map outside.

“Deputies,” I announced. “This is the moment we have all been waiting for.” I read the first clue aloud so we could follow the directions.

“ ‘Number one,’ ” I said. “ ‘Twenty-two paces from Barrows’ back door.’ ”

With that, I walked straight to Barrows’ back door. (Actually, I walked to Nancy’s back door, but you know what I mean.)

“Okay,” I said. I faced our house. “Now we have to walk twenty-two paces.”

I started to take a step. Then I stopped. “Giant steps or baby steps?” I asked.

“Hmm,” said Kristy. “Medium, I think.”

“One, two, three,” I counted. “Four, five, six, seven, eight.” Andrew called out the numbers along with me. (He got a little mixed up after we passed the number fifteen.) When I had walked twenty-two paces, Kristy read the second clue.

“ ‘Turn and face Deer Stream,’ ” she said.

I spun on my heel and turned to face Deer Stream (also known as McConnell’s Brook). This was fun. My heart began to beat faster. I could almost feel those gold doubloons spilling through my fingers.

“Now,” said Kristy, reading the rest of the direction. “ ‘Walk to the nearest Quercus coccinea.’ ”

That was a snap. I marched to the nearest oak tree. It was not the one we had built our tree house in. It was the one by the birdbath. It certainly was easy to follow the map now that we had figured out the clues. All of our hard work was about to pay off.

“Okay,” said Kristy. She brought the map to me. “The X is halfway between the tree and the hedge. So that is where we will dig.”

And dig we did. Before long we had a hole a foot deep and four feet wide. But guess what. We did not find any treasure. None at all. We did find some old tree roots and some wriggly worms, but that is all. My shirt was dirty and sweaty. I plopped myself down at the edge of the big muddy hole. I was beginning to feel very discouraged.

“Hi, everybody!” called Mommy. She poked her head out the back door. Then she saw the hole.

“What in the world happened to the yard?” she asked. She did not look pleased.

Kristy looked at me.

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