Beri Bear's Adventure - the Treasure Chest

Beri B. Bear was scuffing along the edge of the water, watching the waves crash on the beach while he searched for seashells. He wanted enough shells to make a bracelet for Galley Goosey. He was picking up tiny butterfly-shaped ones with pearly pink on the inside. Pink was Galley's favorite color and she would love it. Spying another shell, he reached down to pick it up. Suddenly, he felt a sharp prick at the end of his finger.

"Ouch!" Beri yelped. Grabbing his finger, he could see a single drop of blood forming on the end. Satisfied that it was only a minor scratch, he looked to see what had caused it. He saw the edge of something sticking out of the sand. Carefully digging around it, he soon discovered he had found a bottle. The top edge had been chipped away by the pounding surf and that is what had scratched his finger.

Lifting the bottle up, Beri could see seawater with sand and bits of shells churning around inside. Turning the bottle upside down, he poured out the seawater, swishing it around to loosen up the debris inside. Then he saw it. Something else was inside the bottle!

As hard as he tried, Beri could not reach the object inside. Shaking it had not caused the object to fall out. In fact, it seemed to stick to the bottom even more. Trying to reach inside with his finger did not help because his finger was just too fat. It would only go in a teensy weensy little bit. He tried to fish it out with a stick he found lying on the sand, but it was too soaked with seawater. Every time he put it in, the stick bent like a wet noodle. Exasperated, he finally gave up. Maybe he would find something at home that would open the bottle. Holding it carefully between his paws, he trotted back to his house.

Barista was playing in the front yard, batting at a branch hanging down from one of the bushes with both front paws. "There! Take that! And, that!" He took another punch at the bush. Barista was pretending again, as he was apt to do. Today, he was a prizefighter and hard at work battling for the mini-weight belt against Big Twig Bush. Beri laughed when he saw the kitten. Each time he smacked the branch, it came back and "wuffed" him in the head. It was evident the bush was winning even if Barista seemed to think otherwise.

"Come here and see what I found." Beri called to Barista, waving the bottle in the air. The kitten took a final swipe at the bush and scampered over to where Beri was standing. Sniffing the bottle, Barista sneezed. And, then sneezed again!

"Bless you!" said Beri, sniffing at the bottle himself. "I wonder what is making you sneeze?" Barista tried to get closer to the bottle, almost knocking Beri down.

"I dunno," croaked Barista. "But I love it, whatever it is!"

Beri eyed his little furry friend, thinking Barista had finally lost his mind. "Well, I don't know about liking it, but there is something inside this bottle and I can't get it out."

"Break it.", snuffled the kitten.

Beri grinned. "That is right! I can break it! I never thought about that."

Getting a hammer from his shop, the bear covered the bottle with a towel and whacked it with a single sharp tap. The bottle split in half and Beri now could see clearly the object that was inside. It appeared to be a piece of wet canvas rolled up into a tube shape. Carefully spreading it out, he found another piece of canvas rolled up inside the first one. Only, this one was almost dry. Unrolling the second tube of canvas, he found a large scrap of paper. The paper had markings written all over it. Holding it up to the light, he could see an outline that looked almost like the beach. Along the edges of the paper were symbols of stars and a moon and a picture of crossbones inside a circle. Written in the circle were the initials C. C. Beri wondered who that might have been. In the center of the paper was a big red X.

"Whoa, Barista. Guess what I think this is?" Beri turned the paper in every direction, as he looked at all the different drawings. He had an idea he was looking at a treasure map! It certainly looked like a treasure map. He had found it in a buried bottle on the beach, so what else could it be?

In the meantime, the kitten was rolling all over the canvas coverings Beri had let fall on the ground. "This stuff is SO nice!" murmured the kitten.

"I don't know what you find so fascinating about that canvas, Barista. But we need to go to the beach right away."

Holding onto the map and grabbing a shovel, Beri headed back to the beach. Barista reluctantly got up to follow him, glancing back longingly at the bedraggled material lying on the ground. Shouldering a shovel for himself, he followed Beri down the beach path.

When the kitten finally caught up to Beri, the little bear had already paced out several steps according to the directions on the map. Looking around, he decided this had to be the place. Calling to Barista, he said. "Hurry! Hurry! This has to be the spot." Digging in the soft sand, Beri soon had a large hole. He and Barista took turns digging while the other one bailed out water with a discarded sand bucket someone had left on the beach. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a hollow thump as the shovel hit something buried in the sand. Getting down on his knees, Beri swept away the layer of sand covering the object. He could see the top of what appeared to be a small square chest.

"Oh my!" said the bear. "Oh, kewl!" said Barista. "Oh, good heavens! What are you two doing digging out here?" said Galley Goosey as she came floating down out of the sky.

Excited, Barista was practically jumping up and down. "We have found a treasure! A real treasure!" Beri, grinning wildly, waved the treasure map under Galley's beak and told her what had transpired earlier on the beach.

"Humph!" said the goose. "A treasure, you say? Now, who would have buried a treasure out here on this beach? Do you REALLY think someone like those pirates Captain Blackbeard or Captain Kidd would bother leaving something here?" Even the goose seemed a bit taken back by that thought.

"I don't know, Galley." Beri tapped the shovel against the sand, pondering the idea of pirates on his little beach. "I guess we will know in a moment. Help me get this out of here." It only took a moment to pry the chest from the soft, loose sand, setting it carefully at their feet.

By now, Barista was practically caterwauling, begging Beri to open the chest immediately. Even Galley was eager to see what was in the chest. She handed a screwdriver to Beri out of her backpack. (Galley always carried strange things in that backpack.)

Beri took a deep breath and bent down at the front of the chest. There was a tiny hasp fastened by an even tinier lock on the front. He placed the screwdriver under the hasp and pulled. The lock popped off with a "kerplunk" and landed in the sand.

Looking at his friends, the little bear slowly lifted the lid. Inside, they found another box. This one was not locked, but the lid fit tightly against the bottom. It took both Beri and Galley pulling on each end to get the lid open. Inside the second box was a small brown sack, closed with a set of red drawstrings. When he pulled the strings, the bag opened, causing a small cloud of dust to drift out. He peered into the bag.....and started laughing.

"Well!" he said, as he looked inside. We certainly have a real treasure here. Still laughing, Beri smoothed out an area on the sand and poured out the contents of the bag. Inside were several articles. There was one single button. It was inset with a piece of mother of pearl and had a sailing ship painted on it. There was also a bit of foil that looked suspiciously like a fake icicle from a Christmas tree. Two small smooth stones, a blue marble and a piece of green lint made up the rest of the items, with the exception of one thing.

"I think this may be the real treasure." quipped Beri, as he read the top of the container in his hand. He held it out for Galley to see. Galley started giggling. Holding her wings close about her as she read the top, she guffawed loudly as she realized what the contents were. She just shook her head as her body shook with mirth. Seeing there would be no treasure for her today, the goose flew up into the sky, waving goodbye to her friends. They could hear her laughing as she floated away.

Beri then turned to Barista who was standing there with a puzzled look on his face. He held the container up to the kitten's nose. Barista took one whiff and went wild. Sneezing and jumping up and down, the kitten was practically doing flips in the air.

Beri read the top of the can. It said, "Catnip Charley. The greatest catnip in the world."