Treasure Hunt E-Book

Yolanda King

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 131

Beschreibung

Cora's life is very routine: work, eat sleep, occasionally go out. So when she sees an ad for a Treasure Hunt she decides to participate. She allows it to take her where she would never have dreamed of going, literally, figuratively and physically. Will this hunt lead her to a treasure?

Leseprobe

Treasure Hunt

PrefaceTreasure HuntCopyright

Preface

It was really easy to write this story, it came flowing out of me. That's not always the case. Sometimes I get stuck because I can't find the exact words to describe my thoughts or feelings. In this story, however, everything fell into place smoothly.

I love wines but I'm not really knowledgeable. I drink what tickles my palate. I didn't want to go into details here regarding wines as that would've derailed me from the actual storyline.

However, I did some research on chocolates so the information given in this story should be as accurate as was available in 2022.

Since this year is the 35th anniversary of Dirty Dancing, there're indeed special TV shows to commemorate it. Whether some movie theaters also show the original again I don't know. I made that up to suit my story.

I love Halloween, it's my favorite festivity. My house is always decorated inside out. I don't get many t-or-ters, though, because we live at the end of town.

When my children were younger we used to throw Halloween parties with up to 50 people. They were awesome, albeit a lot of work.

That this story would span the time between the beginning of October until just about Christmas wasn't intentional but I reckon it's the fact that I started writing it just around that time.

There's nothing else to be said about this story so read on and enjoy!

Treasure Hunt

It was late afternoon on Tuesday and as always Cora was at the local library for story hour. She had just finished reading a few books to a group of children followed by making Halloween crafts. It was the beginning of October and the kids were already very excited about this particular holiday. So was Cora. It was her favorite time of year.

She had already decorated her apartment and chosen her costume but she was not certain yet where to go for All Hallows` Eve.

She was in her mid-forties, petite, with raven black, long curly hair and equally black eyes that were always tired because she worked too much and she knew it. Had been for years. She managed with difficulty keeping her library appointment on Tuesdays and she went out for a drink with collegues perhaps once a month. There was little to no time for anything else; reading, occasionally watching some TV, chatting with her mother – who usually traveled a lot and was rarely around – or, on super rare occasions, meeting up with her sister, who at least lived in the same city. That was basically it.

On Sundays she slept in, caught up with household chores like doing laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping, then had a lavish late lunch at one of her favorite restaurants. She never cooked on Sundays but indulged in being pampered by excellent food and fantastic service at restaurants across town.

When the weather was nice she would go to a park or take a short trip to the country to swim in lakes, enjoy some sightseeing or try out a new sport like paddle boarding, parachuting or a similar activity.

When the weather was bad she would go to a museum, sometimes to the movies or simply back to bed.

Every now and then she also saw her sister, Sabina. Cora knew she should make time for her more often but she found it hard because Sabina had three still rather small daughters and at the end of her exhausting week Cora could not muster the energy to face their liveliness. She and Sabina spoke on the phone regularly, though.

Cora's job was very demanding. She was a top-notch interior designer, the leading one in the small company she worked for, and competition was fierce. She had to meet with multiple clients a week and then work on their projects until late at night. She had to be flexible, spontaneous, open-minded and creative, on top of polite and diplomatic, although she would often like to strangle the – especially really rich – clients she worked for.

They believed that their being eccentric was adorable and attractive, which it was not. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Of course, Cora had to bottle it all up and put a good face on things. At some point she was going to buy a punching ball on which she could vent her anger.

As she was leaving the library a note pinned to the bulletin board caught her eye.

Too busy to have fun? Too busy to date?

Then join this free-of-charge mostly online treasure hunt!

For more details Email:

<Why not?> she thought and took a picture with her phone. She could inquire and always decide not to participate, or drop out at any time.

When she got home that evening she prepared a quick dinner – it was mostly some kind of salad with grilled cheese or fish, or some sort of casserole dish that would last her for a few days and could be reheated quickly – and, until about 11p.m., worked on one of her current projects that had to be presented by Thursday.

Afterward Cora could no longer suppress her curiosity. She clicked on the picture she had taken earlier that day and accessed her email account. She typed:

Hi Treasure Hunt organizer,

I saw your sign at the library today. I'm one of

those people who has little time for anything so

being able to join something online sounds good.

How does it work, what are the rules?

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Best, Cora

She clicked <send> and closed the laptop.

The first thing Cora did the following morning was check for an answer, and she was positively surprised.

Hi Cora,

nice ot see that you're interested!

If you sign up, I'll send you your first clue.

Upon completion, you'll be sent the next one etc.

You have 3 days to figure out each clue or

complete a task.

One level consists of 5 clues. Many questions

can be answered online, some will require you

to physically go somewhere to „investigate“.

There're 3 levels all in all.

Everyone who finishes will be awarded a small prize.

If you decide to quit at any point, you can do so.

If you have further questions, just fire away.

Best, V

Cora mulled it over for the rest of the day but she could not find any catch. And if it helped take her mind of work for a bit every night, why not?

<God knows I should relax more!>

So before she went to sleep that night she told V that she was going to give it a try. After all, her email address was all that was required, and she was using an account that could not be linked to her work or bank or anything personal. An old friend from her days at university had set it up for her. Every now and then Cora would ask her to check and update it and so far, there had never been any problems.

She was excited throughout the next day, wondering what the first clue might be. She was more light-hearted at work and time passed more quickly, even that tedious meeting her boss had set up.

Lucinda, her boss, was trying to reel in a brand-new client and to win her over, her best designers had to put their heads together and come up with something original, as a team – which happened rarely. All designers were normally responsible for the success of their own pitches, unless it was a super rich customer like in this case.

Tossing big egos together in one room and demanding that they pull on the same strings was quite a challenge but Lucinda had made it very clear that everyone who was going to be petty about it was going to be kicked off the team.

To everyone's surprise the first meeting had gone surprisingly well. The men had not bragged about their weekend activities, like how great they had done at one contest or another or that they had met this or that sports celebrity and so on, and the women had not rehashed their relationship issues. Instead, all five of them had simply focused on the task at hand.

<How very refreshing,> Cora thought when she got ready to leave. She usually listened politely to her colleagues' narrations, asked questions and made appropriate little sounds in the right places but actually did not care too much. Most of the stories were somewhat repetitive. And many she could not relate to because she did not have children of her own, only three nieces, and that was definitely not the same.

She seldom offered personal information, primarily because she did such few things. She would enjoy discussing books but most of her co-workers were not interested. She sometimes mentioned a good movie she had seen or a superb restaurant she had been to but she had stopped talking about wines because she was being perceived as snobbish and uncool.

Many of her co-workers were easily ten to fifteen years younger than she and wine was not high up on their list. Talking beer, on the other hand, would be totally acceptable. Cora just did not like beer too much.

<Perhaps I'll mention my Treasure Hunt to Alan or Martha, or perhaps rather my sister,> she mused. <Provided I'll stick with it.>

Martha was one of the co-workers she liked and got along with and who was her own age so there were a few more similarities, more things to chat about than with the younger women. Martha was nice and very literate but Cora could not warm up to her hobbies of weaving and knitting. They did have cooking in common, however.

But she could be a terrible gossip and Cora did not want the entire company to know how pathetic a life she was leading to have to start an online game to fill it with some content.

As soon as she was back home she started up her laptop.

V wrote:

Hi,

your Treasure Hunt will be all about fun and pleasure,

about exploring your senses and having novel experiences.

„I'm old but incredibly erotic.

Many kinds have followed but I remain unrivaled. I have

my origins in a song from 1938 and I'm still as popular

now as I was back then.

Who am I?“

Cora was flabbergasted. She liked music, listened to the radio and even went out dancing every once in a blue moon but other than that she had never had anything to do with music. She did not play an instrument either. As a matter of fact, she was utterly unmusical.

She researched songs from 1938 but there were so many that she soon gave up. Then she tried „1938 song of the year“, which was equally unhelpful.

<How can a song be erotic?> she wondered. <Maybe erotic lyrics? Let's see.>

As Cora discovered, there were plenty of songs with explicit content, for example Lucille Bogan's Shave `Em Dry or Blues music in particular, like Please Warm My Wiener by Bo Carter. Amusing and enlightening as it was it did not help Cora at all. If she understood correctly, it was a song from 1938 that started something but what that something might have been she had no clue.

She slept on it but was not any the wiser the following day so she mailed V:

Hi,

unfortunately, I really don't know what you're

talking about. May I have another hint?

Best, Cora

When she next checked her mails she had received the following reply:

Hi,

you sure may.

„I originated on a big Latin American island. I

was composed as a charanga, which quickly

morphed into a special danzón.

Who am I?“

Best, V

That gave Cora more to work with. It was a rainy Friday evening and what better way to while one's time away than by researching information online? She learned plenty about charanga and danzón and finally decided that what V wanted to hear was „I am Mambo.“

She was correct.

Hi,

well done.

Now compose a list of popular dance movies

from the last few decades that feature the

Mambo. Have you seen some of them?

How did you like them? Do you have a favorite?

Best, V

That made Cora laugh out loud.

„As though I'd have time to watch many movies,“ she mumbled. „I barely have time for my family. Shame on me.“

It turned out that although perhaps she had not seen many of them, at least she had heard of some of them. Or at least of the actors and actresses starring in them. In the end her list read like this:

Phffft

West Side Story

I Like How She Dances

The Mambo Kings

Dirty Dancing

I've seen West Side Story but I'm unfamiliar

with the rest. I've seen other dance movies

like Footlose, Saturday Night Fever, Grease,

Singin`In The Rain, Fred Astaire and Ginger

Roger movies or Step Up and although I liked

the dancing I've never truly paid attention

to what kinds of dance the actors were performing.

I can't really say that I have a favorite. I find them

all enjoyable.

Best, Cora

Hi Cora,

some are better than others. However, I can't

believe you haven't seen Dirty Dancing, it's such a

classic!

I love it. The music is fab, the dancing awesome and

it's wonderfully romantic.

Romance is great (-: I'm outing myself here so don't

ridicule me. Just kidding. Ridicule away.

Since it's its 35th anniversary and there're musicals

and – probably trashy – TV shows to commemorate

it, your third task will be to see if you can catch the

original movie at a movie theater somewhere.

Best, V

„That should be fun!“ Cora exclaimed and it did not take her long to find a place that did indeed show the movie every Sunday evening from October until Christmas.

Before booking a ticket she called up her sister, Sabina, to talk her into joining her but it did not need any convincing or pursuading. Sabina was only too happy to come along and leave her three daughters to her husband for the night.

Cora returned home late because they had gone out for a drink after the movie but she still wanted to write V real quick.

Hi V,

you're absolutely right, Dirty Dancing is wonderful!

Not only the dancing but also the music – and the

romance!

What a pity that Patrick Swayze has already passed

away. )-:

Have you read The Guardian interview with Jennifer

Grey, by any chance? It's quite interesting.

Best, Cora

V's answer was almost instant:

Hi Cora,

I'm glad you liked the movie.

No, I haven't read the interview but I'll make sure to

look it up.

Yes, Patrick Swayze was an incredibly talented

dancer. I greatly admired him.

Ready for task no. 4?

„Starting tomorrow, take up to half an hour every

night to practice dancing the Mambo using youtube

videos – there're plenty. You'll need the basic steps

for your final task of Level 1.“ (-;

Good night!

Best, V

Cora groaned loudly. The few times that she had attempted to dance she had always felt clumsy and out of place. Granted, perhaps she had never had the right partner either or she had been too young and impatient. Be it as it may, she was anything but thrilled about having to learn the Mambo basics.

For the time being Cora kept the Treasure Hunt her little secret.

Work had been extremely busy that week as she had two deadlines to meet today, Wednesday, and another meeting for that super rich client scheduled with her colleagues in the late afternoon.

She put her headphones on, started her favorite music and went to work, setting her „Deadline Today – DO NOT DISTURB“ sign up on her desk.

When she had first done that she had been at the receiveing end of the jokes stick for a while but she had not minded. She always kept her deadlines and that, combined with her talent, made her one of the best in her field.

After lunch she mailed her suggestions and drawings to her first client, followed soon after by the second. Then she allowed herself a long break, enjoying a leisurely stroll through a nearby park.

One of her colleagues, Alan, who joined her occasionally, accompanied her. He was rather on the quiet side, always polite and a bit introverted. Cora sometimes wondered how he could stand being around the other guys in her office, those boisterous twenty something show-offs, but had not mustered the courage yet to ask him.

He may not feel comfortable disclosing his sentiments about the men he worked with.

He was in his early fifties, a few inches taller than Cora, had blondish hair streaked with gray and was always immaculately dressed in jeans and button-down shirts.