The Crash

          Piper and her twin brother Liam hopped out of the Jeep, excited for their excursion into the jungle.

            Mom and Dad wearily climbed out behind them and started to unload their supplies. It had been a long six-hour drive over bumpy dirt roads. Their guide, Jose, started to help them organize everything into their packs.

            Piper’s pack felt unbelievably heavy, but nothing could dampen her spirits of finally setting out to find the old crash site. It had been nearly 70 years since her Great Grandpa Tony had walked out of this same jungle, lucky to be alive.

            Tony Calloway had been on an archeology expedition, researching the legend of El Dorado. He believed he had found its location, and went in a plane with a small team to investigate. They didn’t find El Dorado, but what they did find was an ancient temple surrounded by several old dwellings.

            Piper and Liam had been told the story so many times of the beautiful temple and the riches that had been found within. Great Grandpa Tony had insisted that they take some of the artifacts back with them. Unfortunately, their plane crashed, and only Grandpa and one of his friends survived. After several days of wandering the jungle, the two men finally found the road that eventually led them back to civilization. They had always vowed to return and collect the artifacts, but after several attempts, the crash remained undiscoverable.

            Until now. After years of looking for clues, they finally found the crash site using advanced satellite technology. Piper and her family had flown down to Colombia as soon as everything could be arranged.

            “I can’t believe we finally get to see Great-Grandpa Tony’s old plane!” Liam said excitedly. “Let’s get going!” Piper shared Liam’s enthusiasm, but it seemed to take forever to get everything ready. Finally, they took those long-awaited steps into the Colombian jungle.

            After a few hours of walking through the jungle, Piper had to admit that some of the excitement had worn off. Her pack grew heavier, and they made slow progress. One day of hiking turned into two, and then finally, on the third day, they reached the old plane.

            “This is what we came all this way to find?” Liam asked dubiously. The last three days had sapped all of their energy, and it was hard to feel too excited just now over a hunk of twisted metal, covered in moss and vines. The jungle seemed to have grown right over the top of it.

            “Did you know that it took nine days for Grandpa Tony and his friend to reach the road from here?” Dad asked cheerfully. “It only took us three days!”

            Piper sat down on a fallen tree nearby and stared up at what used to be an airplane. “So, where are all the artifacts that Great Grandpa Tony talked about?” she asked tiredly.

            “Well, Grandpa said that they made sure that the artifacts were stowed safely in the back of the plane,” Dad said as he walked toward the rear of the plane. His cheerfulness seemed to dissipate as he got a good look at the tail section. “It looks like something fell on top of it, and it caved in.”

            Piper ran for a closer look, but Liam got there first. “Aww man,” he said sadly. Piper came up and saw that the whole back of the plane had been crushed inside. From what she could see, everything looked damp and covered in moss and jungle growth.

            “Maybe it’s okay,” Piper said hopefully. “We just need to get this outer layer off.”

            The five of them got to work removing items from inside the plane. First, they had to remove the pieces of the roof that had fallen inside. Piper couldn’t believe how wet everything was. However, the more that they removed, the drier things became. The collapsing roof had actually helped preserve what was inside the plane.

            They started pulling out items that had obviously come from the ruins. Piper realized that Grandpa Tony wasn’t exaggerating on how beautiful the artifacts were. There were a lot of jungle figurines encrusted with jewels and inlaid with what looked like gold. There were boxes of decorative stones and broken pottery shards with intricate designs on them.

            It was growing dark when Dad called a halt to their work. “Okay guys, I think that’s about the last of it. We’ll camp here for the night and head back to the Jeep tomorrow.”

            “It must have been hard for Grandpa to leave all of this here, “Liam said as he looked over everything. “No wonder he’s been so keen to come back and get it.”

            Piper’s excitement had come back as they sorted through the treasure of the day. She had a hard time sleeping, and the morning came slowly. When it did finally come, Piper got up groggily and started to get ready for the day. She walked out of their tent after getting dressed and noticed that the camp looked a little different.

            “Dad! Mom!” she called in a panic. Her parents looked over from where they were getting breakfast ready. “What’s the matter Piper?” Mom asked worriedly.

            “It’s all gone!” She pointed to where they had stacked everything up the day before, but now there was nothing there.

            “Jose!” Dad called out as he searched the area. There was no sign of their guide. The truth suddenly hit them all as they realized what had happened.

            “Jose left!” Piper cried shrilly. “Without us!”

            Mom looked over at Dad and asked, “Can you get us out of here, hon?”

            “Yes,” Dad answered softly. “But I’m sure Jose will get to the Jeep before us. That treasure is gone.”

            “We still have the satellite phone though, right?” Mom asked him worriedly. “We can call and have someone else meet us at the road.”

            Disappointment coursed through Piper as she thought about what they had lost. All that time spent searching for the crash and finally seeing the lost artifacts. Now they were just…gone.

Dispiritedly, they began to pack up camp. “I think we got everything out of the plane yesterday, but it might be worth it to check one more time,” Dad said slowly.

They walked back over to the ruined plane and started to pick through what was left of it. They found a few more figurines, and their spirits lifted a little. “Well,” Dad said, a little more cheerfully. “At least now this trip wasn’t a total loss.”

They put the few items into their packs and started to leave. Piper gave one last look into the plane, and she noticed a small blue light flicker under some other debris. “Hey guys, wait!” she called out excitedly. She moved some branches aside and saw it again. A blue flicker shone out underneath where one of the airplane seats used to be.

Dad helped her move the debris aside to reveal something that shined under moss and dirt. Now Liam jumped in too to start to move things out of the way. Finally, they pulled out a wooden box with the lid partly rotted away. It was about as big as a shoebox. Carefully, Piper helped lift it out of its hiding place. She opened the box and gasped as she saw what was inside.

Liam gave a low whistle. “Well, this trip has now been officially worth it,” he said with a huge grin.

The box was full of gems. There were some small ones, like those on the figurines, but most were wider than marbles, and a few of them were wider than golf balls. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds all shone out of the box.

“Grandpa Tony never said anything about this,” Dad said softly, amazed.

            The walk back to the dirt road seemed like a breeze after that. Because of the satellite phone, Dad was able to get someone else to meet them. They didn’t expect to hear from Jose again, and they weren’t too worried about it. Piper knew that if they had all walked back with Jose, they would have missed the most valuable treasure of all.

            Once they got back home, they told their story to Great Grandpa Tony himself. His eyes sparkled when they told him about how Piper found the box. “Was the gold chest still there?” he asked excitedly.

            Piper turned to look at her family, who looked just as confused as she did. “It was a wooden chest, Grandpa,” she said slowly.

            “Oh, well that was just the box of small gems,” Grandpa said as he grinned. His eyes were dancing as he said, “But no matter. Just leave it for some other lucky adventurers to find.”