Page 113 of The Pacifist
Opening the wrapping of the white cloth, Christina stared at the item on the floor.
“Is that it?” Freya’s shoulders fell with disappointment. “It’s a chipped vase. No one is going to want that.”
The small item was a brown-colored vase that didn’t look very impressive, but the way Christina pulled out a pair of white gloves from her pockets and put them on gave me hope that it was special somehow. “You’re right, Freya, it’s an old chipped vase, but if we’re lucky it’s millennia old. We know that before the Toxic War there were museums full of old artifacts but most of that was lost when the old world was buried. It’s long been speculated that some of the first Nmen might have had private antique collections that they brought with them when they came here to avoid being ruled by women.”
“But I thought the first Nmen were all bikers.” Anne straightened up. “Why would they care about antiques?”
“They weren’t all bikers. Some were religious leaders who felt superior to women, other were successful businessmen who didn’t like the idea of sharing their wealth,” I informed Anne, but Christina, who was examining the vase, cut me off.
“Look at the drawings on the side. That symbol is called the key of life and those signs are hieroglyphs. It’s a written language.”
“What does it say?” Freya squatted down and leaned in like she could read it herself.
Christina bit her lip. “I learned a bit in school, but I’m ashamed to say that I’ve forgotten.” She looked up. “But don’t worry, I have colleagues who can help me.”
“How much is it worth?”
Christina pulled the vase closer and gave Freya a disturbed look. “You can’t put a price on something as precious as this. It belongs in a museum.”
Crossing her arms, Freya raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that a broken vase is worth more to you than helping people battle depression and loneliness?”
“But this is a lost part of human history.”
“It’s a vase, Christina. We’re here to find valuables to sell and raise money.”
While the two of them continued arguing about what to do with the vase, I moved over to the box where Christina had found the vase. It was yellow with age and had three letters written on the side. “FBD,” I read aloud and looked inside. “Why would someone hide a real artifact in a place like this?”
“I think it’s clever. What better place to hide treasures than in a crowded storage room where any thief would think there’s only discarded old stuff?” Jonah came over and kneeled down next to me. “Maybe there’s more than one treasure in that box.”
There was an empty wooden box inside that I guessed had protected the vase. Taking it out, I saw two other wooden boxes beneath it. “This one is heavy.”
Jonah took it from me and set it down on the floor. “If you two are done arguing about the vase, maybe you want to see what else we have?” he called out to Christina and Freya.
“Hang on.” Christina wrapped the cloth around the vase with care and returned it to the wooden box before joining us. “I’m ready.”
“Finally!” Freya sighed and then I opened the flat lid of the wooden box.
A collective outburst of joy filled the storage room as we all screamed. The box was full of gold and jewels.
“I knew it. I knew it!” Freya exclaimed.
“You knew there would be gold and jewels down here?” I still remembered her skepticism when I first brought her down here.
“No, but I knew we would find the money some way. I’ve been visualizing attracting money to build the community homes and here it is.”
We sorted through boxes for another two hours and there was a lot of joy and laughter as we speculated that one of the kings and rulers that had lived in this house had hidden away treasures in the basement but been killed before telling anyone about it.
Scratching my neck, I looked at Freya. “I wonder if our dads are still going to be okay with donating everything in here to charity like they promised.”
Freya, who was sitting on her knees and counting silver coins from another box we’d found, rose up enough to fish out a note from her pocket. “I got them both to sign an agreement before Christina began her work.”
That had me laughing. “Of course you did. I wish I thought ahead like you do.”
“My dad always says that we need to expect the unexpected.”
Jonah gave Freya a sideways hug. “He might regret teaching you that when he realizes that he’s had millions in his basement all this time.”
Christina stretched her arms above her head. “My back is killing me. I need a break. We should have all of this moved to a secure location and, Freya, you should run upstairs and get Khan and Magni. They need to see what we’ve found.”
