Knight in Skinny Jeans

The Treasure

“I can’t believe my mom is alive.” I said to Anna on our flight to Paris.

“I can’t believe your mom is the treasure,” Anna replied, “nor can I believe that your dad never told you anything about her.”

“He was going to tell me.” I tried to defend my dad.

“No, I meant you never even had a picture of her. Weren’t you curious as a child about your mom?”

“I was at first. But he skipped the topic every time. Eventually I gave up.”

“He didn’t tell you anything about her?” Anna asked with a mixture of surprise and pity.

“I just knew that her name was Mary and she died a short while after I was born. I assumed that it was very painful for my dad to talk about her or have any picture of her. Maybe it was.” I said thinking about the pain my parents endured for the last 22 years.

“Well, now she goes by the name of Wanda.” Anna said trying to cheer me up.

“Tell me more about her.”

“Let’s see, um, you have her eyes, blue like the ocean. She is about my height, has shoulder length brown hair, is very sweet and friendly, always smiling. You know, sometimes I felt that her smile was hiding something sad from her past.” Anna said going deep into thoughts.

“She misses Dad and me. How will I tell her that he is dead?” My face dropped. On one hand I was happy to meet my mom but on the other I didn’t want to tell her about dad.

“At least she’ll get to meet you.” Anna said pressing my hand.

“Tell me something about yourself.”

“You already know my name and address and my childhood dream. I’m an only child. My parents live in Belgium. I recently completed college and went on a trip, where I found the man of my dreams,” she winked and continued, “I start my very first real job next week, as an assistant at Harmey and David Associates.”

“Holy Shit! You are a lawyer!”

“Why is that so unbelievable?” she pouted.

“It’s just that when a person says Paris, we think of food or fashion; and Paris is not even your birthplace.”

“Paris needs lawyers too.”

“So, a lawyer working in Paris. Interesting.”

“And what about you?”

“I just do a boring job- auditing.”

“Well, that isn’t very far from law, is it?”

“I guess.”

“What will you say to your mom? Have you thought about it?” Anna asked after a while of silence.

“I dunno. Whatever comes out?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well now that I think about it, the book, that made me travel to the museum…”

“What about it?” I asked cutting her.

“I got it from your mom.”

“My mom sells books at the coffee shop?”

“No, she doesn’t sell them. She gave me this book and now I know why.”

“So, you are saying that she sent you to meet me, indirectly.” I said trying to put together the pieces.

“Maybe she was hoping I would find you.” Anna suggested.

“That had a very little chance of happening.”

“Still it happened. I remember I was talking with my friends about going on a trip before my adult life starts. And Wanda gives me this book and says, ‘you like adventure, you should try this place’. I mean it wasn’t like she knew you were about to start your journey there.”

“Maybe she did.”

“What?”

“Think about it. It makes sense. My dad died on the 12th. When did she give you the book?”

“13th.” Understanding spread on her face, “So she knew he was dead and you would be searching for the treasure.”

“But our being on the same train was also a long shot.”

“Oh my God, she told me that it would be best to go by that train and she recommended that I visit the museum on a Monday.” Anna said widening her eyes.

“Maybe she knew which train I was on.”

“How would she?” Anna said narrowing her eyes.

“She was a spy, once a spy always a spy. I would like the idea that she had an eye on me all my life.”

“That would be a soothing thought.”

“But, so did your dad made the museum and the garden to provide you the clues. Is he David Carte?” Anna asked. She would have jumped from her seat if it wasn’t for the seatbelts.

“They both were built hundreds of years ago.” I reminded her. “He probably used the legend to base his clues on.”

“That does make more sense. But what was the ‘secret treasure hunting unit’ doing?”

“There is no such thing. They were just trying to cover up the truth. And they are still after my mom.”

“You do have some of your parents’ spy genes.” Anna observed.

“Maybe that, or maybe because my dad gave me a spy’s upbringing.”

“And you never suspected why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was never much of a curious person. I mean everybody does not dreams of becoming a knight.” I said nudging her in the shoulder.

“In skinny jeans." Anna said with a playful smile on her lips.

           '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''THE END''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Author's Note-

All the names and places in this story are a work of fiction. Except Europe, Paris and Belgium, they are real places. ;)

I enjoyed writing this story very much as it was written for 5 contests. My prompts were-Genre-Romance and adventure, Title-Knight in Skinny Jeans, train, city, museum, Carmen Mendez, No wonder they didn't turn up, The word Lie sits right in middle of the word believe, a picture posted in chapter2, a picture posted in chapter3(external link) and the picture used as cover.