Where There's Treasure

Written for the 7/6 flash-fiction contest.
Theme: A treasure hunt
Word Count: 281

Where There's Treasure
By MysteryBox42

“Found it, daddy!” nine-year-old Brooke Lilly screamed with excitement. Her feet had left the ground and she was waving her arms above her head as though they were on fire.

“It’s just a rock, baby.” her father, Noah Lilly, replied, exasperated, without even looking over. It had been just a rock for the past six false alarms.

The young girl looked down at the soil inquisitively, and then at the thin metal rod that she had drove deep down in it.

“How can you tell?” she asked, squinting.

The sun was out in full force. Her freckled cheeks were sunburnt, as was the back of her neck, and her already light blonde hair was bleached an even fairer shade of yellow.

“Try poking around it.” Noah said.

Brooke did. The metal rod sank deeper than before into the soil. This time there was no satisfying clink.

“It’s gonna be big.” Noah added, illustrating by holding his arms wide out at his sides. “My guess is that it’s gonna be at least this big.”

“Can I see the treasure map?” Brooke asked.

“Come on, baby.” Noah said, pointing to a fresh patch of soil that he hoped would be distracting. “How about you look over there, huh?” The folded-up paper peeked mysteriously out of his back pocket.

Dismayed, the girl drug her feet and the metal rod in hand a few yards over and began prodding randomly again.

“And there’s real treasure inside, right, daddy? Real treasure?” Wonderment was in the child’s eyes, which sparkled.

“You bet.” Noah replied, suppressing a wry smile. He would be sure to thank her later for helping him to locate the rural farmhouse’s underground septic tank.