Getting to work

Charlotte Kernsey, voice over: I thought I was going to be making a report on whatever was found up on the Twilight Spur, at first. What I hadn't expected to find was love. With the road and bridge leading up to the Twilight Spur finally repaired after the 2022 rockslide the Hillhurst Historical Society contacted a company who specialised in archaeological finds. The person they sent was nothing like I'd expected, though. I was expecting an old, dusty man with arthritis and glasses older than I was. Instead, I found John Doe.

Morgan Warren: When I first met John, I was honestly a little surprised.

Charlotte Kernsey: How come?

MW: Well, he was so young. You have to understand that the perception of our interest is usually correct. We do tend to be old, dusty, and somewhat boring to outsiders. That's what I was expecting when I heard that someone was coming. Imagine my surprise when I saw someone closer to my daughter's age than my own.

CK: Were you worried about his age?

MW: A little, I have to admit. But I'm not too proud to admit that I was happy to be wrong. John was a consummate professional and a pleasure to work with. As silly as it sounds, I thought he was going to be obnoxious and a complete know-it-all, talking down to us, but he wasn't, not in the least.

CK: Sounds like he made a good impression.

MW: Absolutely. I liked him right away and that was before we ever even got to the top of the Spur.

CK: What can you tell me about the Spur?

MW: Well, it's the tallest peak in and around Hillhurst. It was fairly unique, too, because it didn't just have copper veins, but also silver, nickel, and some palladium. And gold, of course, which is why Hillhurst even exists today.

CK: And what about the find there?

MW: It was incredible. The house itself was a nice find, but nothing all that special. There were hundreds of buildings like that still in existence, remarkably well-preserved, too. but the inside of the building? That was almost pristine. In other mining towns, buildings like that tend to fall victim to vandalism or squatters. Here, no such thing happened. The bridge being out for a few years helped, of course, but there's more to it than that. In part it's because of the position of the building. After all, even with the bridge intact, people rarely ventured all the way up on the Spur.

CK: Because it's such a long way?

MW: Absolutely. On top of that, we barely have any youths here. You went to school with my daughter, didn't you?

CK: Yeah, I did.

MW: Then you know how few people your age are in Hillhurst.

CK: Yeah, our graduation class was only 10 kids.

MW: Right. At any rate, the house itself was in good shape. Unusual, but not unique. But John? It's like he knew. If I didn't know better, I might have thought he put the box in there himself.

CK: Tell me about that box.

MW: It was a lock box from the Gold Rush era. I watched him find it. We talked about it later and he told me that a lot of those Gold Rush era buildings had hidey holes, as he called them.

CK: What are they?

MW: You have to understand that back then, prospectors didn't trust anybody. Not other prospectors, not banks, not a single person or institution. So what did they do? They would hide their valuables in lock boxes. That, we did know. But it never occurred to the society to go look. That's why we asked John's company for help, after all. I watched him walk around for a few minutes and suddenly it was like an alarm went off. He just homed in on a spot by the fireplace and pushed it then a whole plank gave way. That's where he found it.

CK: Did you know how to open it?

MW, laughing: Can you believe it? John actually picked the lock. He got something out of his bag and with a little fiddling he had it open in less than a minute. I won't repeat what he said then, but rest assured that we all rushed over to see.

CK, voice over: What John found when he opened the lock box was nothing short of amazing. Contained within was a once in a lifetime find. Not just John's life, but anybody's. What was in that lock box was not something could have seen coming, even those who had any idea of what they might expect.

"This isn't possible" you said.

"What is it?" Mr. Warren asked.

"This shouldn't exist" you said, "it's just so unlikely that it's next to impossible."

"What is it?" Charlotte asked, moving closer. "Show me."

Gingerly you picked up the lock box and brought it over to the nearby table. Mr. Warren, Charlotte, and some others from the historical society as well as someone from city hall gathered around and watched as you pushed back the lid, revealing everything inside to the little group around you.

"Look...this is.." you said, soon realising you did not have the words to properly describe just how rare this find was. "Hang on" you said, reaching in your pocket to grab a pair of latex gloves. Putting them on you started to unpack the box. "Mr. Warren, can you put something on the table to cover it?" you asked.

"Carl?" Mr. Warren said. One of the other men scurried around and soon produced a small tarp from his backpack. After you lifted the box off the table again to give Carl room to spread the tarp on it, you put it down again.

"Are you filming?" you asked Charlotte. She shot you a smile, grateful you were thinking of her, then nodded. God, that smile. "Okay, let's begin." You swallowed hard, taking a moment to steady yourself, then reached in the box gingerly. On top was an old newspaper, dated June 6th 1829. You said the date out loud, leading the others to murmur in excitement.

"But it looks brand new!" Carl said.

"It was locked away and hidden, remember?" Mr. Warren said. "No air got to it over all this time." The city hall person whistled softly.

"Almost 200 years old" he whispered.

"Oh, yes" you agreed. "But there's way more." You gingerly handed the newspaper to Mr. Warren and continued. "Look, this is what I was talking about." Steadying your breathing to steady your shaking, you reached in the lock box and pulled out what you'd been eyeing.

"What's that?" Carl asked.

"It's a daguerrotype" you said.

"It's basically what people used before new technology made them obsolete" Charlotte said before you could continue. You looked her in surprise.

"What?" she asked, grinning. "I'm a journalist. I know my trade" she told you.

"Well, then you also know how rare this is. It's almost literally unheard of for any to still exist" you told the others. "They're incredibly fragile, were only produced in limited numbers, and all deteriorated in the century and a half they stopped being used. So to see one that's this fine? It's almost impossible."

"Charlotte, look closer" Mr. Warren said.

"No way" you said. You were so surprised that you almost dropped the priceless artifact.

"That's impossible" Carl said.

"The Kernseys have been here for a long time" Mr. Warren told his colleague.

"She's gorgeous" the city hall guy said.

"Do you have any record of her?" Mr. Warren asked Charlotte.

"I don't know" she replied. "I'll have to check later. But what else is in there?"

"Right" you said, giving the daguerrotype one last look then putting it down gingerly before looking up at Charlotte, then returning your attention to the lock box. Next up was a small leather pouch that you got out and carefully opened. Inside was something you could've expected. You put the pouch on the table and started taking the contents out. Inside were pristine coins from the 1830s.

"This is insanity" you said. "Each one of them is worth..."

"At least a thousand dollar" Carl helpfully.

"Exactly" you said. "Maybe more, depending on the vintage."

"Who would that belong to, Mr. Warren?" the city hall guy asked. The older man smiled hearing this question.

"I'm afraid that it depends on who you ask. You could say this is a historical site, in which case removing any and all artifacts is punishable with fines or even jail time. A crafty lawyer, though, could make the case that this find can be codified under the treasure trove laws, giving the finder the right to keep the finds, other than anything classed as an archaeological artifact. That would mean giving up the daguerrotype and anything else, but the coins? We can keep those."

"Well, keep that in mind, because there's more in the bag" you said, pulling out a few nuggets that would probably fetch a decent price.

"Holy shit, those are huge" Carl blurted out. "Sorry" he said sheepishly.

"No, you're right" the city hall guy said. "Those have got to be worth money."

"Probably" you agreed. "We'll save those for later. There's more in here." Putting the leather pouch aside you returned to the contents of the box and pulled out a stack of letters, a map of the mine, and several other documents that included shipment lists, inventories, and a single postcard addressed to a Shep Warren. When you pointed this out to the older man he smiled.

"Like Charlotte's family, my own has been here for a long, long time. Shep was an ancestor of mine" he said. You handed him the postcard which he looked over with a smile. "And this miss Duvall was his wife. Though not yet, in this case."

You stayed in the building for a while longer, but never found anything as amazing as the lock box. Sure, there were a few things of note but nothing you wouldn't have been able to find in any other building like it. At 4 in the afternoon you called it quits and headed down to the city again, incredibly happy with your finds. While the two of you drove back in Charlotte's car you texted Colin as you talked.

"So what are the odds of finding this stuff?" she wanted to know.

"Slim to none" you told her. "Colin's never going to believe this."

"Colin?" she asked.

"My boss" you said. " He'll want to know what we found."

"You haven't told him yet?" Charlotte asked. Laughing you shook your head.

"Nope. I was too busy posing for pictures" you teased her.

"And how" Charlotte said. "Flexing those muscles all over the place and all."

"My shirt isn't that tight" you told her.

"Hey, shut up. It was tight enough to distract me. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the footage was just shots focused on your groin" Charlotte told you, grinning. "Speaking of, does today mean you're rich now?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. It depends" you said.

"Well, that's okay. I'm still going to ride your cock later regardless. You gave it to me good last night and I want more. The fact that you might be rich helps, though" she said with her grin getting even bigger.

"How shallow. Wanting to get with me because of my cock and my possible money?" you said, grinning as well by now.

"Well, the former more than the latter. So how about it, huh?" she asked.

"Who am I to turn down a pretty girl throwing herself at me?" you replied.