Summer Of Luck Chapter One

It was the middle of July, and the summer was well underway with the heat, insects, and beaches filling to over capacity, but also, it was my twelfth birthday. Having a birthday in the middle of the summer wasn’t all fireworks and swimming, in fact, with the exception of getting gifts every six months, I downright hated celebrating it in the summer. Summer was a crowded time in Savannah, Georgia, with the entire tourist world coming in and filling up the place. Most of my friend’s families left for their own vacation during this time, which left me with only two of my friends showing up each year. Luckily for me, they happened to be my very best friends. Sam, short for Samantha, and Tommy have been my best friends since first grade.

Speaking of luck, that’s my name, even says so on my birth certificate. I was named after my Grandpa’s grandpa. Apparently, he was lost at sea before Grandpa was even born. I asked Mom why she named me after him and she only replied that everyone needs a little luck in their life. So, I have been Luck, or Lucky, ever since I was born. Although, I hated being called “Lucky”, that’s what dogs are called.

My Dad drove a big rig, an eighteen wheeler, which meant he usually missed most of my birthdays. This one was no different. I never got mad at him though, he always brought me something back from his trips, birthday or not. Of course, when he missed my birthdays I always got something especially nice.

This year’s birthday started out pretty lame. Besides Sam and Tommy, the only ones who showed up were friends of my parents. This, of course, led to gifts consisting mostly of socks and underwear. Neither Sam nor Tommy had any money, yet their gifts were amazing compared to clothing. Sam got me a book about pirates from the library sale two weeks ago. Tommy made me an eye patch and a peg leg. They both knew I was into pirates, truth be told, we all were.

“Here you go, Luck,” Mom said and handed me her gift.  

I opened it quickly, hoping for something cool. Mom knew I loved the Atlanta Falcons and she got me an official Falcons jersey. It was super cool, however, it was still considered clothing. But I loved it.

With my jersey fitting snugly around me I watched Grandpa closely. He was Mom’s dad and ever since he showed up to the party he was holding onto a long box. It was wrapped with newspaper and duct tape. He lived with us but he still kept his old house. I figured that’s where he had kept my present. Grandpa wasn’t that old, in his sixties, but when Grandma passed away, before I was born, Grandpa started to spend the night with us. It began very simple, only a night or so a week, but it quickly led up to every day during the week. Eventually he just stayed and no one minded. Not even Dad.

Grandpa and I begin a Mexican stand-off of sorts as I was eyeballing the package and he was eyeballing me. He knew I wanted it and I knew he wanted me to get it. The question was, who would blink first. At only twelve years old I had become just as stubborn as he was.

The rest of the party, with the exception of Sam and Tommy, were unaware of the stand-off. They went about talking and laughing, paying no attention to the tension that was building. I waited for the old man to make his move, but he didn’t budge, only stared at me with an evil grin. I knew he wouldn’t cave, however, I knew someone who would.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Sam said. “Boys are so dumb.” She went over to the box, got it from Grandpa and brought it over to me.

“I win,” Grandpa stated.

I wanted to argue with him but I wanted to open the box even more. I shredded the newspaper with zero effect but the plain long brown box gave no clue as to what it held inside. I tried to open the ends but Grandpa put so much duct tape on them it was impossible to get through bare handed. He loved duct tape; fixed everything with it.

“Here,” Mom said and handed me the scissors. “Don’t cut yourself.”

I worked furiously to cut open the tape and get inside the box. It took forever. The old man only grinned as I struggled to open his gift. I think he did this on purpose every year just to get a kick out of me trying to open it. I swore if it turned out to be a sweater or something lame like that I was going to hide his medication.

Finally, the end opened and I rushed to look inside. I saw something black and round but had no clue as to its identity. I reached inside to feel the object and found it to be cold and metallic. There was more to it but I couldn’t see what it was.

“Oh for heaven’s sake. Stand it up and remove the box,” Grandpa said. Turned out he was just as anxious as I was. I knew he was faking.

I did exactly what he said, with the help of Tommy, and finally saw what he had gotten me. Mom was pretty surprised at Grandpa’s gift too.

“Dad, you can’t afford one of those,” Mom said to Grandpa.

“First of all, Gwen, it’s not new but used,” he said. “And secondly, hush it!”

Mom rolled her eyes but remained quiet as I stared in wonder just looking at it. I had wanted one of these for the longest time and now I had one. I was already imagining all the treasure I would find with my very own metal detector. This one was for adults too, not a lame kid friendly one that only allowed you to find bottle caps.

Grandpa had been charging the battery in his room and brought it out while I was marveling at the metal detector. Once he had the battery in place the detector came alive and I was ready to go. Grandpa, on the other hand, insisted on sitting down with me and going over every page of the instruction manual. I feared it would be my next birthday before I would be able to use it.

Once Grandpa had gone over every detail, from digging to detecting, I was ready to go. Tommy and Sam were ready to go with me too. Grandpa suggested we try around the house first, “just to get the feel of things,” as he put it.

Our house wasn’t that old so I didn’t figure we would find anything of importance. However, only minutes later the detector found something. The screen said it was some kind of coin. I took my mom’s spade and started to dig. The ground was soft and it looked like it had already been dug, that made it very easy to find the coin. It was a coin from 1882.

I rushed in to show it to Grandpa. He said it was a Morgan Silver dollar and that I should keep it forever, seeing as how it was my first find. Grandpa, oddly enough, had the perfect case for it. It was almost as if he knew I would find one.

Tommy, Sam, and I began to head back outside to continue our treasure hunt when Mom called me back.

“Everyone is starting to leave,” she said. “You need to stay and tell them good-bye and thank them for coming.”

“But mom,” I started to plead but she wouldn’t have any of it.

“You have the rest of the summer to find treasure,” she said and that was the end of that conversation.

I spent the next thirty minutes saying good-bye to everyone. They were nice but I still didn’t know why they had to give me socks for my birthday. However, over the summer I would wear out every single pair.