"Shut up, old man," replied Willie irritated. He pulled out a
tiny vial with a quarter of a fingernail-sized flake of gold inside.
"Yes, it's right here." Willie gazed at the thin, silvery yellow
gold shaving. Last summer, he'd found the sliver sticking to his dive
helmet when he was putting away his gear in the locker. Somehow
the fragment of gold had attached itself to his helmet and remained
there when he was diving and clearing away debris. The piece
was from the Goldum gold, Raymond Barry confirmed
it.
If only his fragment were as large as the
nugget, he saw earlier… He seethed with
envy, and his head ached with the desire to
possess it.
"Is that for your retirement fund, Willie?" Simon asked, chortling.
"This is gold from the legend. This
piece is worth more than you paid for your wife," sneered Willie.
Sean's eyes grew bright. The gold was rare, and only a couple of
old townies had any of it. "You're
not lying, are you?"
"Hell no. I told you!" replied Willie. With the index finger
on his right hand, he made the sign of the cross against his chest.
"Oh, come on now. Not you too, Sean. You're not going to believe this
foolishness, are you?" Simon said, shaking his head from side to
side.
Willie pointed down at the paper placemat sitting in front of Simon. A ring from the bottom of
his coffee cup had encircled the drawing of
the town of Goldum.
"It's a true legend!" Sean exclaimed.
"There is no such thing as a 'true legend.' If it were true, then it would be a
fact." Sean's stare moved downward as an expression of embarrassment
covered the young man's face.
"Well then, what's with this map?" Sean added.
Willie had seen the diner's placemat a thousand times
but never taken the time to read it. Simon told him
he believed it was a cheap gimmick by old Raymond Barry to get people
to buy his overpriced trinkets.
"It's foolishness. That map was drawn
by a child," Simon said after
studying it.
No, it's not." replied
Sean. "The Leeegenndd of Goolldumm," he read slowly,
pronouncing some syllables longer to make sure he could articulate the
words.
"We can read it…" said Simon, looking at Sean down the bridge
of his nose. "Did you ever go to school?"
Sean felt the sting from Simon's insult and gazed quietly at the
placemat. Willie saw the hurt in his buddy's eyes.
"You're a piece of shit sometimes, Simon," he said. "I'll read
it:
"Situated in the icy Baldine Mountains, a band of runaway
slaves from the southern territories settled the tiny town of Goldum.
Striking a deal with a mystical forest creature, they were kept safe in
their golden magical surroundings from those that would
harm them."
Simon smirked. "What garbage."
Willie continued to read, "Embedded
within the walls of their cliff dwellings was the rarest most beautiful, naturally luminescent gold. The riverbed and
lake were covered in golden flakes. They created a natural
attraction for fish and forest creatures, which made life easy for the small
village. The people stayed within the wall of their settlement.
They never traded the gold with any other residents that lived
beyond the canyon wall.
One day a mysterious traveling salesman,
appearing, warned them of an
imminent attack upon his
village. Michelo, Goldum's leader, decided to not heed
the mystical forest creature's words and bartered with the man, exchanging
gold for guns. However, the transaction with the gunsmith never happened,
because, on the day of the sale, Goldum and its
residents disappeared, never to be seen again."
"BE THE ONE TO FINE THE GOLD!"
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