Tiggy's Treasure Hunt: A Story

 

Not real treasure by the way

You see, many things can happen on a holiday. The family I lodge with decided to set off for Cornwall for a few days, and take me with them. Hooray! I just knew there would happen to be an adventure worth writing about here... and there certainly was.

On our third day in England's westest and (almost) wettest county, the children spied a quaint toy shop by the seaside. Of course, they were immediately interested in this shop and begged their parents for a chance to look inside. I wanted to go as well, and seeing as I am an adult, they decided that the children would go with me so Dom and Thea could have some time to themselves. 

I was largely anticipating them to begin pulling things off the shelves and making a mess, but they were very well behaved that time. I noticed how thrilled they were to see such a splendid array of toy cars, dolls, spades, balls, animals and those pregnant aliens. I remembered how special it was when a relative would let my siblings and I choose a small toy from a shop and they would buy it for us, and so I decided to do the same for these young nippers! After I told them to choose something small, they immediately began evaluating each thing, wondering what was best to choose, except Ravi who picked up a tennis ball and insisted he wanted it (he has nine tennis balls at home). Don't worry, I eventually got him to choose something else!

We ended up getting a mini dog figure glued to sea glass, a unicorn drawing book, a stretchy rubber lizard named Lizzy by the children, and... a plastic treasure chest; the focal point of this story. 

"Now, be careful, Tiggy" I told the young girl who picked out the treasure. "Do not burry your treasure in the sand because that is a very easy way of loosing it!"

It was bold of me to assume anyone listened...

Later that day, we had to relocate to a new beach as it was high tide at the previous one and had no where to sit. The new one was much more sandy. Everyone began happily playing with their new toys at this beach. I decided to go visit one of the nearby cafes, and after eating a classic sausage roll, I took this beautiful picture of my view.

I feel like a photography after taking this

I slowly made my way back down to the sea, where I saw some of them digging a massive pit in the sand. It was very large, and I assumed they must be having fun trying to burry someone in it for a fun game. But as I got closer, I saw this was far from what it seemed.

"My treasure..." Tiggy sniffled, her face wet with tears, sitting dejected in the sand.

UH OH! I discovered that Red burried her treasure as a game... and no matter how he kept digging, he could not find it! Dom was also digging like crazy, and I joined in as I tried to console the little girl with "Don't worry, we will find it!" as I was sure we would.

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

"We are never finding it," I said, giving up hope. The pit was wider and deeper, and yet after laboring in the hot sun, no sign of a treasure chest. 

"I want my treasure!" Tiggy cried, still in the same spot she was fifteen minutes ago.

"Don't worry," said Dom, "we'll get you back some treasure whether we find it or not. Red can pay for your new one since he was the one who lost it."

At this, Red went white as a sheet. 

"Naomi... how much was it?" he asked me anxiously.

"Three pounds, I believe," I told him.

At this he promptly picked up his plastic spade and dug for his life savings! No way was this kid paying three pounds on his little sister. I helped him as much as I could, but I was so exhaused by the heat that I decided it was okay if we get another treasure. Red thought differentlty.

I thought he would get to China

Then, Thea came back from a walk, and I explained to her the comical perdicament. She laughed, and also began to dig, while Dom and I had essentially given up. I sat in the hot sand, staring at nothing as the sound of Tiggy's cries got softer and softer as she walked over to sit in Dom's lap, finally moving from her stationary spot. Just a few minutes ago, I truly believed we would find it, which made that moment of defeat so depressing! Then I heard another sound...

"Found it."

"What!" I wholloped in disbelif, jerking my head over to see Thea holding the little box victoriously. She had only been looking for a few minutes. 

"YIPPEE," exclaimed Red.

"It was over here." She pointed to a certain spot... the spot Tiggy sat crying in the WHOLE TIME. It was only found because she eventually moved over!

"Bruh," was the only thing I could say.

In the end, Tiggy found her precious gems and Red is three pounds richer than he would have been if things were different. 

Tiggy and her treasure!

Fun facts

• The treasure chest has been the most popular toy among the children, inciting games like marketplace trading or stuffing the chest with grass for some reason.
• Red threw stretchy Lizzy out of the car window on our way back from the beach that day. It was not his toy.

SCRIPTA A NOEMI