Henry was in the attic. It was a holiday and he decided to clear out the place. Henry had been dusting, cleaning, and opening up old tins and boxes for over two hours. He was feeling tired and decided to rest. Perhaps, he would make a cup of tea and sip it while he looked over his handiwork, in the old room.
The cup of coffee was warm and steaming. Henry sat on an old trunk and looked out of the attic window. He noticed an old red box, a small hand-painted money-box, with floral designs. The box looked like it belonged to a lady from a hundred years ago. It could be a box used by his grandmother, he thought to himself. She did stay in China for two decades, before she and her husband, his grandfather, came back to live in London.
He sipped the warm coffee and moved his fingers along the top of the floral money-box. He noticed that the designs were embossed on the lid and the sides. Henry turned the box and looked at the bottom. There were letters and words engraved, “Produced in China. 1902”.
The small box was not easy to open. After having tried to open the money-box, without breaking it for an hour, he managed to pry it open. Was there a surprise in the box for Henry that day? There was a small compass, a map, and his grandmother’s handwritten letter, with a cryptic clue to her buried treasure.
Would the treasure still be in the spot or would there be a building or some other construction on the site, he wondered to himself. Should Henry go to find that treasure of gold coins and jewelry, or should he give it to one of his children to go to search for it? As he thought about what he should do, the letter and the map, turned to dust in his blackened hands.