The Treasure

(21:36) 230821N69

Another week has just started and I'm feeling... I'm feelin' good! LoL! I wanted to make it sound like I was singing because I was, at least in my head :)

I really hope you are all doing and feeling awesome today :)

Drinking his favorite coffee while seated on his veranda, Pepito's eyes were fixated for several minutes on the cars parked in his yard. The monster truck, his most recent purchase, caught most of his attention. He felt happy as his gaze moved around his vast property. "So far, so good" he murmured to himself and suddenly, his thoughts traveled back to many years ago...

The scorching sun made him sweaty, tired, and weary. He had been fixing that stone for like eternity but somehow, it always comes down falling. The landowner hired him to fix that eroded portion of the land bordering the river or another typhoon comes and the river will wash away the remaining soil.

He had been there for 2 weeks and that particular stone is making his job difficult. He noticed that colored rock as soon as he started laying the stone wall foundation. It was a normal-sized rock but quite heavy for its size so he decided to place it at the base of the stone wall. He was happy that after a week, a great portion of the job was completed. "I can get this done sooner," he thought. He was thinking that when he finishes off with the stonewall, he will ask the landowner to hire him to till that land. He wanted to save up so he won't stay poor all his life.

But somehow, that particular rock seems to have grown a leg of its own that when he woke up 4 days ago, he saw that part of his work had collapsed. Sighing heavily, he began putting them back again, one by one...

It was his fourth time to re-do it and he was feeling disappointed. He hasn't done anything for the last 4 days but putting back up his previous day's job.

Wiggling his head of the time he had lost, he felt a pang in his stomach, he must be hungry. He had forgotten to drink water too. Looking at his shadow, he noticed that it stands where he was. “Must be the middle of the day…” he thought and proceeded to wash his hands… all calloused… some of his fingers were bruised and he felt some sting when he rubbed them off to wash the dirt that had seeped into them.

While eating alone on the small farmhouse farther away from the stone wall that kept collapsing no matter how firm he placed the stones together, a sudden thought came to him… “That stone is really weird! There must be something in it!” he said to himself realizing that the other rocks of the same size weren’t as heavy as that one. He hurriedly finished his lunch and then went out to check the colored rock.

He decided to roll it inside the farmhouse, then took his hammer, and began tapping the rock gently then finally hitting it louder as if it were a drum. The sound it gives is quite strange. It sounded like it was hollow, or perhaps just sounded odd.

His skin felt so cold… goosebumps all over his arms, and an exhilarating thought made him jumpy. “Later when it gets darker…later...” he told himself and then proceeded outside to do his job anxious about the day coming to an end.

He hasn’t done much actually… His mind was everywhere. “It definitely must be it…” his thoughts just won't shut up. “It must be it…” his mind repeated. He had to take several deep breaths to calm his nerves, but couldn't.

He decided to cook the last dried fish and noodle soup for his supper, and had them before the sky went dark. “It will be a long night,” his thought kept going as he finished off the soup that suddenly became so tasty as he looked down on that rock he was sitting on.

He then closed the door, took the hammer and the chisel, and then slowly began to work on the rock… trying hard not to make the sound so loud, else the neighbors or any passersby would hear him and would wonder what he's doing.

Hours of trying to make the stone crack, he finally did it and saw something inside. His palms were sweaty, his heart beating faster, his forehead, no, his whole body was sweating cold! He couldn’t believe his eyes, “this must be real” he nervously murmured to himself. “Please tell me this is real” punching his left arm to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He felt the pain.

"This is not a dream!” his mind exclaimed but he moved away from the stone. After several moments, he nervously moved forward and continued to open up the stone, until it finally revealed a mesmerizing figure tucked inside that odd rock. He thought about the golden buddha that his grandfather often talked about.

He carefully lifted that thing and walked toward his bed, took his few tattered shirts, wrapped that thing on them, placed it inside his worn-out bag, cautiously looking around, and then slowly walked out of that farmhouse. “I am sorry, and thank you for this…” he sincerely murmured and closed the door behind him, locked it, and swiftly tiptoed his way out of that village walking all night trying to reach his home soonest.

POV (Landowner)

The landowner was wondering why he had not seen Pepito for 10 days. Thinking his rice supply may have run out, he decided to check on him and see how his job was going. Arriving at the farm, there was no sign of Pepito. The door of the farmhouse was locked and the job has not been done, the stones lying all around. Taking his spare key, he opened the farmhouse to the surprise of his life.

He saw a stone, inside it had been carved out to the shape of a buddha.

Checking the pot lying on the sink, he knew Pepito had been gone for days already without taking his pay.

Looking down at the rock, he noticed that it was the same stone he had been trying to move beside the farmhouse's door but it wouldn't budge. "Damn! That stone was a fortune!" he mumbled in utter dismay nearly kicking what remains of the rock but thought he would just hurt his feet doing so.

This article was inspired by a tale (true-to-life) of someone I personally know (let me refer to him as John here) who narrated that when he just got married, his father-in-law has given him and his wife a parcel of land by the river. After some time, he decided to set up a stone wall to protect the land so he hired a migrant laborer to do the work. And just like the above narration, he found out many days later that the laborer was gone without a word and the only trace he left was an unwashed pot and a stone with a carved space on the inside indicating that something had been taken out from it.

Checking the rock himself, John noticed that it was the stone he had been rolling to the edge of one plot but always found it down the next time he visited. And then he would put it back, but then he would find it down again the next time. So he just left it there until he hired the laborer.

John may have lost that treasure back then, but he found another way to enrich himself with hard work and persistence. To me, he now lives a good, sweet life.

• Our province is known to be one of the hideouts of Japanese soldiers during WWII and rumors had it that they have hidden gold bars and many buddha-shaped golds and other treasures. It is also common knowledge locally that many treasure hunters have been seen within the locality for years even to this day.

• The laborer who left without a word is said to be living a good life somewhere in another province and I can only believe that he used the treasure he found to better his life :)

Thank you once again and do share your thoughts below :)

This is my shot at making a story. It took me longer time than I usually did with the other articles, lol!

**Credits to Unsplash for the stonewall image and Pixabay for the monster truck. Other photos are mine.