Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BURIED (04/01/21)
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TITLE: Somewhere Near Here | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
04/03/21 -
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His betrothed and her father had been so impressed with his new position of trust when he had pointed out the visible marker of where he’d set his claim. He’d harvested the two cedars beside the oak to provide him with a new home for his bride. There were still a dozen more if he needed them. He’d been so busy preparing for the future.
Instead of a small stand of trees, there was now a wheat field and a new barn. What was going on? The spot had been so perfect. With his sharpened digging stick this should have taken less than an hour.
The trickle down his back came from more than the noonday sun. The tension in his shoulders, the quick breaths, the short choppy steps as he turned in circles – something was so wrong. The brook had meandered closer to the road – now it had been herded into straight channels back and forth across the field.
No! No! No! A young man, leading a loaded donkey on the way to market, halted by the side of the road nearby.
“Do you live around here?” Benny asked.
“Yes, I’m the miller’s son,” he said. “We moved here a year ago to help Avram with his planting.”
Avram! Avram was the owner’s favorite foreman. “Did Avram do all this?”
“Yes! He had some resources from the owner so he ripped out some trees which he used to build those barns, he rerouted the creek for irrigation of the fields, and he planted the wheat.”
Of course, he did. Avraham had the magic touch. The bounty was clear. But this had been his field to use.
“Do you remember where the tall oak tree stood?”
The youth looked toward the field. “I think it was out in the middle there. I’ve been so busy in the mill I didn’t really notice what was happening out here. All I know is that Avram has at least doubled the owner’s investment and they’re having a big celebration tomorrow when the owner returns.”
Benny nodded and waded across the small creek and into the wheat field. The rumors had been right. Tomorrow didn’t give him much time. It figured that Avram had done so well. He had at least twice the funds to work with. And then there was Simon who was loaded up with resources. The owner was a hard man if you messed up his revenue stream and Benny had played it smart by guarding his share. Now, if he could only find the cache.
The stalks of grain scratched roughly against his legs as he barged through the field. How was any man so inconsiderate as to remove trees in a field without asking if those trees were important for anyone? The center of the field left no evidence of the former copse of trees. Fury melded with rising panic.
The sound of laughter reached him. Workers flailing grain. Dropping his digging stick, he ran toward the new barn. The dust and chaff from the winnowed wheat choked and he drew his scarf across his face like the other workers. Avram stood to the side in dialogue with two boys.
“Avram! Avram!” Benny called. “A word.”
Avram nodded and waited. He pointed a boy toward the water station.
“Avram. Why did you cut down the tall oak in the center of the field?”
Avram scanned the wheat field. “I did that a year ago and I think it’s obvious why?” The boy returned with water for Benny.
Benny drank it gratefully. “I need to know where the oak was. I left something special close by.”
Avram nodded. “If it’s that bag of gold the owner left you, we found it. I had the hardest time figuring out what you were thinking, burying those resources when all of us know what kind of man he is. You know, he’s going to be here tomorrow?”
“He’ll understand. At least I didn’t lose anything.”
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