Time Capsule Part 2

Stephen handed the box to his niece. Jamie put Peter's coffin aside. It was a wooden box It was, of course, all covered with dirt. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it. It might have been a jewelry box once, he guessed. On the lid, there was a monogram engraved.It was locked.

"What could be in it?" Jamie wondered. She was trying to break the lock. She shook and something rattled inside.

Stephen shrugged his shoulders to indicate that he didn't know. "Let's just finish Peter's funeral, then find out," he suggested.Remembering what they were actually doing in the garden in the first place saddened Jamie's face. For a while there, she forgot about Peter. She let go of the box and picked up Peter's coffin.

They buried Peter on the hole he digged. The hole was just big enough to be the fish's final resting place. He placed the box there.Jamie helped him cover up the hole. "Can you say a few words, please" the girl requested. He wanted to laugh again. He has never presided over a funeral before, and a fish's at that.

Still he said, "To Peter, who have joined his creator. You have been a great friend and will be greatly missed."He heard little Jamie sob. He was glad there was nobody else at home. That speech could have won him a lot of attention for days.Attention that would include name calling and laughing.

"Now that, that's over let's go wash up." He held the girl by the hand and led her towards the house.

"The box," Jamie said, losing free of his grip and picked it up from where she left it a few moments ago."How are we going to open it?" she inquired. This time it was she who took his hand and led him towards the house.

"It's easy to pick, I think," he answered. It wasn't a complicated lock. A handy screw driver or a hammer may do. He saw something sparkle in the child's eye. Poor Peter, already forgotten. Maybe everyone of us likes mystery in one form or another. Puzzles, detective stories and the like. We like to be intrigued. We like our minds to be challenged.

"How long will it take?" There was excitement on her voice. So much like when she's about to open her presents during Christmas or her birthday.

"Not long," Stephen answered.

>>to be continued