Chapter 7
The Hidden Hope Chest
William woke early the next morning. He had a full day lined up dealing with the aftermath of the wolves. He poked his head into Amelia’s bedroom to tell her he’d be back later. She was still sound asleep. So was Artemis – curled up in the crook behind her knees. He’d have to start making calls today about placing the pup somewhere. But for now he decided it best to let them both keep sleeping.
It was ten in the morning when Amelia finally woke up. She would have kept sleeping were it not for the incessant knocking on the front door. Amelia sat up, trying to get her bearings. Rain was falling softly on the roof. Artemis was snoring.
She got out of bed and put on a pair of sweatpants. Artemis didn’t even stir. “What a great guard dog you’d be,” she said as she went to see what the big emergency was downstairs.
Amelia unlocked the door and began to open it. As she pulled, the door was pushed open from the other side. Amelia jumped out of the way as Veyla came barging through.
“I came as soon as I could. First the whales. Now the wolves?” Veyla said, pushing her way into the house. “Where’s it going to stop?”
“So I take it you’ve heard the news?”
“The whole town’s heard about it. And they’re saying those guys are only going to get fined a couple thousand dollars apiece. Imagine? What a bunch of jerks. It’s so messed up. I’m so sorry, Mimi, I know how much those wolves meant to you.”
“Thanks, Vey. I’m happy you came over.”
“Of course. I figured your dad would be out working on this. I didn’t want you sitting at home by yourself. Besides, with the rain and all, we can spend some time working on our Spectacular submission.”
Veyla took off her rain jacket, revealing the bookbag protected underneath. “We got some great shots the other night. I really think our chances are good. Here, take a look at this.” Veyla unzipped her computer from the bag and turned it on as they walked over to the kitchen counter. In the middle of Veyla walking Amelia through the technical (a.k.a. the nerdy) stuff of the photo editing process, a loud thud – followed by more thuds – came from the hallway. It sounded like a bowling bowl rolling down the stairs.
“What in the world was that?” Veyla asked.
Amelia took a second to process what the noise could have been. Then it hit her. She jumped up from her chair. “Oh! I have a surprise! Wait here.”
Amelia quickly returned.
“Veyla meet Artemis.”
“Whoaaaa...” Veyla’s eyes widened. “Is that . . . what I think it is?”
“If you think it’s a wolf pup, then yes.” Amelia answered. “Arty here is the runt of the wolf pack. It’s a long story, but I found him last night. Dad said we could bring him home until he figures out what to do with an orphaned wolf pup. In the meantime, Artemis apparently needs some more time to learn how to navigate stairs. I found him lying on his back looking up at the ceiling. He must have tripped over himself on the
way down.”
Veyla scratched between Artemis’s ears. “What a sweet pup,” she cooed. Artemis grunted his appreciation back to her.
“Before we get to work on our submission, I need to let him outside and figure out what to feed him.” Amelia opened the pantry to see what options were there. “I’ll have to ask dad to pick up some dry kibble, but this should hold Artemis over until then.” She pulled out a couple tins of canned salmon.
Once Amelia finished preparing breakfast, all three proceeded out the back door. Amelia and Veyla stayed dry up on the deck and under the awning while Artemis did his thing, sniffing all over the yard. He was careful to never wander completely out of sight. He’d get just far enough away before turning back to check that he could see Amelia – and that Amelia could see him.
Once Artemis finished eating and running around in the rain, the three headed back into the house. Amelia dried the pup off before he promptly fell back asleep. This meant that Amelia and Veyla could finally dig into their project. They worked through lunch, deciding to call it a day once Artemis woke up from his nap. Veyla took the pup out back while Amelia made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They ate them on the deck, once again watching Artemis conduct his sniff-fest set to the invisible notes hidden around the backyard.
“What do you think your dad is going to do with Arty?” Veyla asked in between peanut buttery bites.
Amelia chewed slowly as she thought of an answer. “Not sure. I don’t know what happens to a wolf when it loses its pack. I’m hoping dad forgets about it and just lets Arty stay with us.”
As she said this, the pup came running back to the deck. Approaching the stairs, he tried to tie together enough co- ordination to leap up the three steps that led up to the deck. But he mistimed his jump and smashed into the second stair before rolling back onto the ground. From there he gingerly took the steps one at a time before making it over to where the girls were sitting.
“Don’t worry, Arty. You’ll get there,” Amelia told him, scratch- ing his ears in reassurance. “In the meantime, let’s get you some water.”
The trio once again headed back inside. Amelia looked for a bowl that was big enough for the pup to drink out of but also wasn’t a bowl they used for serving food. Having no luck finding a bowl that fit her criteria, Amelia had an idea.
“Mom and dad used to have a dog before I was born. I think I remember seeing a box of all the dog stuff upstairs in the attic. You wanna help me find it?” she asked Veyla.
“Might as well. There isn’t much to do out in the rain. Besides, we made a good amount of progress on our photo,” Veyla agreed. “Lead the way.”
“Great. C’mon Arty, let’s get you some more practice with stairs.”
With that Amelia and Veyla headed up to the attic with Artemis following slowly, but surely.
The first box they came across had “WM’S FB BOX” written across it in bold, black marker. Upon opening it, they found a collection of mementos from William’s football days, dating back to his high school years as well as when he was at the University of Wyoming.
“It looks like your dad was a pretty good player,” Veyla mused as she scanned the old newspaper clippings.
Amelia sifted through the box. She found old 3x5 photos alongside a pair of All-State plaques. There was a framed team picture that showed her dad, with long hair, sitting in the center, holding the football as the team’s captain.
Even Artemis took an interest in the box. He put his front two paws up on the sides and leaned in, sniffing an old deflated football. “Here, go fetch.” Amelia threw the football across the room. As Artemis ran off to try and find it, Amelia and Veyla kept digging through the box. Towards the bottom Amelia found stacks of letters held together by brittle rubber bands. The letters were filled with notes from college coaches trying to recruit William to come play for them. Amelia and Veyla took turns reading the handwritten notes from the stack. Amelia squinted hard to make out the scribbles on one letter, sent from the University of Massachusetts. “Hi William, Awesome game last week. We can’t wait to get you on campus. We think you’ll really like it here. Remember: football comes first. Then academics. Good luck with the rest of the season. Talk to you soon. Coach Tall - UMASS”
The girls laughed at some of the ridiculous notes the coaches sent. The awful handwriting in the notes meant that they had to try and guess what was actually being said. As Veyla took a turn with a letter from Colorado State, a loud crash interrupted her dramatic reading.
Amelia turned to find a newly formed heap of boxes on the ground. Artemis’s tail just barely stuck out.
“Artemis! What are you doing?” she exclaimed, running over to get him out from under the pile. As it turns out, the football she threw landed on top of a stack of boxes. Artemis, not to be denied a game of fetch, set to work figuring out how to get up there to retrieve the football. When he jumped up on one precariously placed foundational box, the rest of the stack wobbled. And as he prepared to make his second ultimate ninja warrior jump to the next level, the structure gave out, tumbling down around him. He was more scared than hurt.
But still whimpered in the hopes of getting some sympathy for the scare.
“Ya silly baby,” Amelia said, chiding the pup as she scratched his head. “Vey, can you help me clean this up?”
As Amelia looked around for a place to start the clean up process, an old wooden hope chest caught her eye. Amelia had never seen it before. It must have been hidden all these years by the boxes that Artemis knocked over. Looking closer, Amelia noticed a bronze nameplate with “Theresa” etched into it. “This was mom’s?” Amelia asked aloud. She immediately moved the remaining boxes sitting on top of the chest and threw the lid open. Amelia couldn’t remember what her mom smelled like. But as soon as she opened the box, she knew it smelled like her. To Amelia, this discovery was better than finding a treasure chest full of gold.
Inside were some of her mom’s keepsakes. Sweatshirts, yearbooks, envelopes of pictures that had been developed at the local pharmacy. Amelia and Veyla gently opened the envelopes and thumbed through the pictures. Seeing her mother when she was young struck Amelia how much they looked alike – especially their curly head of hair. Even Veyla was surprised. “Whoa. You’re basically your mom’s doppelganger.”
Compared to William’s football box, the girls treated this discovery like archaeologists unearthing a newly discovered T-Rex skeleton. Gently moving aside a stack of what looked like old college essays, Amelia uncovered a metal square box.
It was a little larger than a Rubik’s Cube. “What do you think this is?” she asked as she lifted it up for Veyla to see.
Veyla squinted, trying to hazard a guess as to what it could be. “It kinda looks like a paper weight or a book end or something.”
Amelia turned the object over in her hand. It was so perfectly smooth and polished that she could see her reflection on every side of the square.
“Is it heavy?” Veyla asked.
“Kinda. But it also feels...weird. Here, see what I mean.”
Veyla took a hold of the square, rotating it side to side and then up and down. “Hmm. Just feels heavy.”
Amelia reached to take it back. She squeezed it for a better grip. There was a soft hiss as the box released its shape, unfolding into a triangular form. Amelia instinctively closed her fingers, which in turn folded up the triangle back into a square.
Veyla’s eyes widened. “Whoa,” she said. “How’d you do that?”
“No idea. I think I just squeezed like this.” Again, there was a barely perceptible hiss as the box changed shape. Amelia again closed the box and studied it. Veyla moved in for a closer look, too. “That thing is like, perfectly machined. You can’t even tell there is a seam there even when you’re looking for it.”
Amelia unlocked the box a third time. This time she allowed the triangle to fully open up, revealing what was hidden inside.
Now, believe it or not, both Amelia and Veyla have creative imaginations. But neither of them could have imagined this.
“It’s a jewelry box from the future (5),” Veyla whispered, staring down at a necklace that appeared to be glowing up at them.
And as she looked at the circular pendant, Amelia didn’t think Veyla was that far off. The three-dimensional way in which it was crafted definitely felt like it came from the future. But there was something about the pendant’s design – an intricate, overlapping gold pattern that repeated across the surface – that felt...ancient.
Amelia counted six gemstones – each a different, brilliant color – perfectly cut and evenly positioned around the pendant. Encased in the center was a seventh gem, what looked to Amelia to be a diamond-like clear crystal.
Amelia removed the necklace from the box and held it up. When the light hit it, the necklace appeared to be dancing in the air. After a closer inspection, she placed it over head.
“So, how do I look?” Amelia asked as she turned to face Veyla. “Like an intergalactic princess,” Veyla confirmed with a nod.
(5) This “jewelry box from the future” kind of looks like this → @sciencegirl
Amelia didn’t know what that meant. But she did want to see how she looked in the mirror. However, before they went downstairs, she and Veyla thought it was a good idea to leave the site cleaner than they found it. Which meant repacking everything they took out of her mother’s hope chest.
As Amelia picked up a pile of papers, a small brown envelope wriggled free, falling to the floor. It landed with a thud.
Bending down to pick up the envelope, Amelia saw the tip of a key protruding from the envelope’s now-open flap. She slid the key out completely into her hand, revealing a circular key chain with the number “72” attached to the key. As she tried sliding the key back, she kept meeting resistance. It was hitting something inside of the envelope. Amelia held the envelope up to her eye level, pinching the sides to help coax out whatever was in the way. This time, a solitary 3x3 black and white photo lazily spilled forth. Holding the picture up to the light, Amelia studied the scene – an older man holding a baby sat alongside a woman wearing the same necklace Amelia herself was currently wearing. The family was sitting on the front porch of a cabin. Looking closer, Amelia recognized something else as well.
“Hey, Vey, take a look at this,” Amelia said, extending the picture in Veyla’s direction. “Does this look familiar to you?”
Veyla scrunched her nose as she leaned in for a better look. “Actually, yeah. I think this is the same woman in the picture we were looking at on the wall of the Historical Society,” Veyla confirmed, pointing to the woman. “It’s a little blurry, but that necklace she’s wearing looks pretty close to this one. Who is it?”
Amelia flipped the picture over. She could just barely make out the faded ink: “Baby Theresa, Mother, and Father – Thunder Lake, Sundance, WY”
***
It was close to midnight by the time William returned home from his day. He didn’t even get his key out of the front door before Amelia started bombarding him with questions.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Amelia. Can I at least get in the house before you start this? Besides, what are you still doing up? You should be in bed.”
“Dad, I tried to go to sleep. But I couldn’t. You see, Veyla came over this morning. And we worked on our project. When we were done, we went to the attic to find that box of old dog stuff you had.”
William managed to side-step Amelia, kick off his boots and was walking over to the kitchen. “You were looking for what?” he asked with a tone of exasperation.
“The box of dog stuff. You know, so Artemis has a water bowl. Which reminds me, can you please stop and pick up some dry dog food for him? I fed him some cans of salmon, but we’re running low.”
William stopped in his tracks, dropped his chin to his chest, and took a deep breath before craning his head back in the other direction. Seeing this, Amelia knew she didn’t have much time left before he lost it. So she talked even faster. “But that’s not the point. We can talk about dog food later. As I was saying, we were in the attic, going through boxes, and Arty wanted to play fetch. So I threw a ball for him and when he went to get it...”
“Amelia, look, I’ve had a long day. I’m tired. I have a wolf sleeping in my house. And I have another early morning tomorrow. Can whatever this is, just wait?” William implored as he explored his options in the fridge.
“I found this baby picture of mom with her parents,” Amelia blurted.
Turns out she couldn’t wait.
William popped his head up over the refrigerator door. “One more time?”
“Here. Look for yourself.” Amelia walked over and handed her father the picture.
William took the photo, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger, and held it out in front of him. He flipped the photo around and then back to the front. “And you found this where?”
“This was in an envelope in mom’s hope chest. It also had a key in it.” Amelia confessed.
William looked up from the picture and back at his daughter. His eyes immediately locked onto the necklace hanging around her neck. “And what is that that you’re wearing?”
Amelia’s hands reflexively went up to her neck. “Oh. Yeah. I found this, too.”
William’s reply was sharp. “Where?”
“In the strange jewelry box thing that was also in mom’s hope chest.”
William sighed in a way that Amelia knew meant he was near the end of his rope. “I’ve been through that hope chest a hundred times. I’ve never seen it. Are you sure that is where you found this? And how do you even know this is your mother?” William said, flipping the picture over and squinting to make out the faint printing on the back.
“Well, being that it was in mom’s hope chest and the back of the picture says “Baby Theresa” I took a big leap and made the connection.” She instantly regretted her use of smart-ass sarcasm and tried to cover it with a fast follow up. “Did mom ever talk about her parents? You’ve never talked about them. But I think I actually saw them at the Historical Society. Well – not in the flesh, obviously. But in a picture on the wall. If that really is mom’s mom then she is in one of the annual Sundance Historical Society’s Member photos. I didn’t know I was looking at her at the time, but she was also wearing this necklace.”
Amelia hooked her thumb under the necklace and pulled it forward for William to get a better look.
Looking it over, he told her, “That looks like it belongs in a museum, not around a 12-year-old’s neck. Please take it off and give it to me. We can talk about all of this tomorrow when I get home from work.”
“But can’t I just keep the necklace in my room?” Amelia pleaded.
William sighed through exaggeratedly puffed cheeks. “Sure. Whatever. I’m too tired to argue. Just take it off and put it somewhere safe until we have a chance to sit down and go over this once I get a full night of sleep.” William handed her the photo before his head disappeared back into the refrigerator.
Amelia knew she had pressed her luck about as far she could for one night. Without any more arguing, she headed up to her bedroom. “Goodnight, dad. Love you.”