LMLB[1]: My Family's Treasures
Fabiana Morales, accompanied by her friend Morgan the parrot, strolled under the beautiful reddish sky of early April sunset. Paris sheds its winter slumber, donning a renewed elegance. The City of Lights awakens to gusts of warm wind carrying the scent of chestnut blossoms and the murmur of cafes once again filling the sidewalks. Along the banks of the Seine, the fading rays of the sun play with the limestone of the buildings, tinting the facades a pale gold that only this season can bestow. The Tuileries Gardens and the Champ de Mars transform into vibrant canvases where tender greens and pink cherry trees defy the melancholy of the Seine. In this rebirth, Paris not only shines, it breathes with a vibrant rhythm, inviting the beautiful Fabiana to discover its eternal and unparalleled magic. Morgan already knew it.
After finishing their almost daily afternoon stroll, Fabiana and her green friend return to the building near the city center, where the young woman's patron had rented an apartment. After five months in the City of Lights, Fabiana's French had improved day by day. She went from understanding only a handful of words when she arrived in Paris to being able to speak fluently with Morgan and her owner, Lucia Bentley. Fabiana still had a marked accent that betrayed her South American origin, but the task was already accomplished: learning the language Morgan spoke so she could take care of the parrot when the elderly woman was no longer there. Upon entering the apartment, Lucia smiled at her charge, sipping a cup of tea while sitting on the balcony enjoying the Parisian sunset.
"How was the outing?"
"Very fun, Mrs. Lucia!!!" the girl replied.
"Très bien, très bien!!!" Morgan responded.
Lucia Bentley winked at the girl and her parrot. This farewell trip to the City of Lights had taken an unexpected turn for the old woman when, upon arriving in Paris, she ran into her old friend and namesake, Lucia Etraud.
At that moment, she couldn't remember exactly how many years had passed since they had met on a dark and gloomy road on the outskirts of Chaotic City, but thanks to the mysterious elixir she had given her during that reunion in a city café, her health had improved exponentially. The aches and pains typical of an elderly woman over 90 years old had disappeared. Whatever that small bottle contained was miraculous.
Even her memory loss improved. Her main fear was waking up one day and not remembering who she was or all the adventures she had lived through during her long life. Thanks to that miraculous tonic, that fear vanished. She still had some problems with her short-term memory, but now she remembered as if it had happened yesterday that that encounter on the road of the two Lucias was 80 years ago, when Bentley was 13 and Etraud was 20.
-Fabiana, I need a big favor.
-Anything you'd like, Mrs. Lucia.
-Rent a car early tomorrow morning, we're leaving the city!!!
-Are we going for a drive?
-Je vais me promener, je vais me promener!!!- Morgan shouts excitedly.
-Not exactly, Morgan, we're going on a retreat!!!- the old woman clarifies.
The next day…
The trio was on the road in a small Cuppett. They had lost more than an hour leaving Paris because Lucia Bentley had asked Fabiana at the last minute to stop at a hardware store to buy a shovel. The girl didn't ask why; she just obeyed.
Following the Old Woman's directions, they soon ventured into the French countryside. When Fabiana saw a road sign with the name of the village they were heading to, Giverny, she remembered the story of how, almost 49 years earlier, Mrs. Bentley had rescued Morgan from an aviary in a mansion very near that village. She guessed they were going there, but didn't want to ask. Lucia's eyes shone as if she were reliving that adventure.
A few minutes later, when they arrived in the village of Giverny, Fabiana asked:
"And now, Mrs. Bentley, which way?"
-Où aller ? Où aller ? !!! - Morgan shouted.
"I already told you both yesterday, we've come to make a withdrawal."
"So, to the bank?"
-Au cimetière, au cimetière !!! - replied the parrot, who remembered visiting this village many years ago.
"It's still very early, Morgan. Let's take a walk first, then find a nice place to have lunch, and finally, Fabiana, we'll go to an inn to rest. We have to wait until nightfall to make the withdrawal," explained Lucia Bentley.
A few hours later, back at the inn…
The astute Fabiana had managed to decipher the true intentions behind this impromptu trip to Giverny on her own, by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together: the shovel she had bought, the village cemetery, and the cash withdrawal. Mrs. Bentley had previously told her that her father, Colt Jones, a shameless treasure hunter, didn't trust banks and was in the habit of burying his money, gold, and jewels hidden beneath a tomb in the cemetery. "It was the ideal place to hide treasures, out of sight of the curious, since nobody usually visits them, especially at night, the best time to go for them," her father had repeatedly told his daughter.
Around midnight, the two women and the parrot left the inn, boarded the small coupe, and headed to the Giverny town cemetery. An owl hooted from a branch of an old oak tree that conveniently stood guard behind the graves of Pierre Beauchêne and Susej Beauchêne.
The first grave belonged to an employee of Colt Jones and his sister Tayna Jones at an illegal casino operating aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi River; the second was their mother's.
Pierre, a very funny, strong man, as Lucia Bentley remembered him from her childhood, also helped his parents and aunt with their treasure hunts. One of these hunts, the "Apache treasure hunt," didn't end well for the group. The friendly Frenchman was one of those who didn't return alive from that adventure. Colt Jones knew that Pierre sent money to his mother and sister in his hometown of Giverny, so he made the journey to Europe aboard his schooner, the Esperanza, accompanied by his entire family.
They arrived in the village in early May 1940, shortly before the Germans launched their offensive against France. But after investigating Pierre's family, they only found his mother's grave, Susej Beauchêne, with no trace of his sister. So, to move quickly with his family and return to his schooner without risking the loss of the treasure he had brought back, Colt Jones thought fast. He bought a headstone and a coffin for his employee and friend, and a plot in the village cemetery next to his mother's grave. Beneath the empty coffin, he buried the three heavy gold ingots, part of the fortune he had earned for the Amazonian jewel he had brought back as compensation for the Beauchêne family.
Fabiana Morales was digging rhythmically on Pierre Beauchêne's grave, under the watchful eyes of Lucia Bentley and her parrot, Morgan.
"Come on, Fabiana, pick up the pace or the cemetery caretakers will catch us at dawn!"
"Ugh, three gold bars down here? I hope it's worth it!" the young woman complained.
"There are only two left. Morgan and I made a retreat over 30 years ago!"
"Ugh, this Mrs. Lucia really worked hard. I hope this is the only grave I have to look after!" the young woman complained again.
"Don't complain so much, Fabiana. Now my gold and my secrets belong to you, and I regret to inform you that there are a few more graves you'll have to dig if you want to unearth all my family's treasures!"
-Les trésors de ma famille, les trésors de ma famille!!!- Morgan sang!
To be continued…
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