Muffin and I just stood there staring out the window in unbelief.  My car, I said.  Meow.  Yes…our car…up in flames.  There was a loud roar as the gas tank exploded.  Good thing there was nothing around it that could catch fire.  Looks like we’ll be here all night, I said to Muffin.  She just gave a very tiny meow, then a loud sigh.  But you know what this means, don’t you?  Meow?  No, it doesn’t mean we’re going to die.  Stop saying that.  It means that someone else is out here looking for that gold too.  We have to find it first.  And we will need to be very careful from now on.

Was there anything exciting in the kitchen?  Meow.  Hmm, nothing exciting, too bad.  Meow.  What?  Stairs to the basement?  Hey, that’s exciting, they’re not marked on this floor plan I have.  I wonder why?  Well, let’s go check the basement and see what we can find.  Down we went, Muffin on my shoulders looking backwards.  She was afraid someone might sneak up behind us.  Good thinking Muffin, let me know if you see anyone.  Meow. (By giving a high pitched scream?, thought Muffin).

It’s a very small basement, lots of wood boxes on one side.  Hey, look over there Muffin!  Hmm, I wonder why she fainted?  Wake up Muffin, it’s only a coffin.  Meow.  No, it’s not for us, stop worrying so much.  You know, that would be a good place to hide the gold, not many people would want to open a coffin.  Let’s take a look.  Poor Muffin, I think she lost half her fur when I said that, and she was gone back upstairs like the silver streak she is sometimes.  Hmm, the lid seems to be stuck, or locked.  I couldn’t find how it could be locked so figured it must just be stuck.  After all, the basement is kind of damp, that would be enough to do it.

I need something to pry it open, I wonder if there are any tools down here somewhere?  I started looking through the boxes but there wasn’t much there except old newspapers, magazines and some books.  Finally I got to the bottom box.  Wow, this one is heavy, perhaps some tools in here.  It was the only box with a lid too.  I opened the lid and out popped this huge spider which nearly gave me a heart attack.  Muffin is never around when I need her.  Speaking of Muffin, she is very quiet upstairs.  Probably hiding under that big armchair in the living room.

Still, it’s probably better that she isn’t around when I open that coffin.  She gets scared so easily.  Anyway, there was some rusty old tools in that box, including a small pry bar.  Perfect, that should work nicely.  Rats, that lid is really stuck and I don’t really want to damage it either.  Hmm, I feel all around the edge of the lid.  Hey, what’s this?  A small button under the edge and when I pushed it the lid unlocked.  Naturally, all that wasted time looking for tools.  I slowly open the lid.  Suddenly a loud piercing scream!

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.