My Short Short for the Day

The speeder bike zoomed across the desert sands.  The rider shifting his weight this way and that to avoid dunes or rocks or the occasional cactus.  The heat was weighing down on him, but he didn’t care.  The freedom of the wide-open space beckoned him.  He revved the engine and the bike jolted forward, moving faster and faster.  He crested the dunes and zipped down the other side.  A small creature skittered out of the way.

In the distance a cave was looming in the towering cliffside.  The rider leaned forward, revved his engines and sped towards the cave.  At the last moment he swerved and spun around in a circle before stopping.  This was it, the location marked on the map.  His dad told him it was just some old prospector’s joke, but he knew there was something more to it.  There had to be. 

Three months ago, an old man had approached him on the street.  He didn’t know why the old man had picked him, but his mom thought it was because he looked kind. He had frowned at that.  He didn’t want to look kind, he wanted to look tough.  Anyway, the old man had given him a piece of paper and told him a riddle.  He said that if he could figure out the riddle, it would lead to a map that told of great treasure.  He had asked the old man why he did try to figure it out himself and he said that he was too old, his time had come and it was his duty to pass on the riddle to worthy heir.  Then the old man looked around suspiciously before slipping a paper into his hand and quickly disappearing into the nearby saloon.  He looked at the paper with the riddle and was about to throw it out, but for some reason he kept it.  Then he peeked into the saloon but couldn’t see the old man anywhere.

He told his parents about it at dinner that night and his dad said it was just some joke or something.  His mom smiled and said that maybe it was a treasure map.  You never know.  He decided to believe his mom and spent weeks working out the riddle.  He was almost ready to give up when it suddenly hit him.  The riddle led him to the saloon.  He went in just as it was opening and quickly found the map attached to the bottom of a chair in the far corner. 

“Old Jeb’s chair, that is.”  The barkeep said.

He nodded and hurried out.

It was several more weeks before he had deciphered the map and now, he was here.  The location of the treasure.  He parked his bike and grabbed several large rocks.  He threw them into the cave as far as he could and waited.  After several minutes there was still silence so he cautiously went in.  He had a flashlight and blaster ready.  He moved slowly, listening and looking.  You never know what might be lurking around.

After what seemed forever, he saw something flash nearby.  He shined the light towards it and stopped.  There were thousands of tiny twinkles of light in all different colors.  He didn’t know what they were, but they sparkled with such beauty as he’d never seen before.