part two the map and its meaning
evvin scooped some more food for zoe. he wanted to study the map again. then viki enterd and said "that sure smells good." pa said "enjoy" as viki grabbed a bowl from the table, to serve herself. nobody noticed that ma was missing. the boys continued reading.
in his small bedroom he pulled the map from a folder and gazed yet again at the english letters. he saw on the top of the page "cf,ea,14" and "gf,ag,23" what word could be cfea?
at the bottom of the long narrow page was the number 5. but that would mean it was the fifth page of the map book? the number at bottom is always page number.
the right part of the paper had a curved line that seemed like a coastline that reached almost to the top of the page and then turned left. kevvin assumed that meant it was an eastern coast curving westward so the water was on the north. north is up in most maps. the inlet of sea carved inland and around until the coast curved back to the right and the sea. there was a similar inlet in the middle of the map. but that one was shaped like a curved horse shoe or stem-goblet from the east coast toward the west. beside it, appeared the sketch image of a fish with a narrow mouth, like a beak or dolphin nose. and a flipper with a tiny line between the neck and flipper. this dolphin had a long tail that ended in a fork... like two fins on a fish tail. yet unexpectedly, the dolfin was on the land. instead of in the coastal water on the east and south.
he gazed again from the top: "inlet, backward c, dolfin, 5".
where was there any coast that looked like that.
first based on the english letters, he had studied the east coast of britian but nowhere was such a pattern of inlets. second he had searched the east coast of egypt along the red bay, hoping for a treasure of the ancient civilizations in egypt. but that was very strait.
last he studied the coast of the amazon continent from the southern tip of the "pizza slice"-wedge and northward along the coast searching for these patterns of inlets.
continuing north until the imaginary and invisible equator, which is centered between the points of axis that the planet spun around. he knew that the only "real" direction on a ball is the points of spin. and since most land was in the north that was the top of the map with water around the side edges and bottom.
all along the east coast he scanned until the coast curved and changed to the north coast, so he skipped that part, since the map was clearly an east coastline. he continued scanning northward along the east coast of the narrow neck of the of the contin-ent where the land-contin-ued causing the name "contin-ent". he knew the north part was not an island separate but the land contin-ued. it must be one contin-ent same as word continue. again he carefully studied every inlet along the sea called gulf of mississippi named for the river that fed it.
but nothing matched.
he had ignored the south coast called state of texas until florida east coast. he carefully looked from there, northward and saw that same as last time, nothing matched. he looked along the coast and all the way to the narrow bay called chesapeak. no such inlets. he continued searching northward along east coast. nothing matched.
there must be a place but how? could it be the coast of china?
then it hit him!
how had i chosen the name enriq?
i had rolled a die with six sides. the purpose was for limiting the names so we would both choose a name that started with the same letter... 5 was e ! and the five at the bottom of the map was the clue... that was the east side. the map was not using north as up. this direction was part of the secret. the map needed to show the series of inlets on the long narrow page so the 5 was a code for e same as the name of enriq.
he had been wrong to ignore the north coasts.
now evvin started again, full of hope. now he could find it. he was happy that he knew the code now. he scanned from the north of canada. the wide broad gulf called hudson. that was too wide but maybe there were inlets... but the coast was too straight.
he scanned along the east coast of the amazon continent from canada to maine to new york to the narrow bay called chesapeak... but no water inlets matched.
only the chesapeak was an inlet that extended north... very narrow causing the name "bay" in contrast toany broad gulf. he was about to surrender in despair, from his effort of scrutiny, when he thout again of the treasure... and his joyfull new understandng of 5 means e. all thanks to the argument with his wife about the names! nobody else woulda understood the code. now he translated the word "cf,ea,14" and "gf,ag,23". cf,ea that must be 36,51 and the 14 must be a letter. and gfag meant 76,17. which letter was the 14th? he did not know. so he counted abc,def,ghi,jkl,mn. good 36,51n and 76,17... um w. yes!
they were map coordinates. where was 36n and 76w? he checked the map and it was chesapeak bay! the southern edj near the amazon ocean. the same place where he was looking when he almost surrendered in hopelessness.
he took a detailed map of virginia and studied the north coast of virginia by that bay. yes! those were the three inlets one shaped like a long pool shaped like a dolfin in the city of... oh no... norfolk virginia. that was the place of the military. he would not be allowed inside.
and then he understood... the government had known about the treasure and built a military base to gaurd the secret and protect the treasure.
now he would never find it... people had told him that the treasure was probably already found... but he had not believed them. he had hoped he could get the treasure and get a better home for his family... now he saw that the government had known about the treasure and built a military base in norfolk. all the ships were a disguise for the real purpose to gaurd the treasure. he was so sad that helost strength to hold his neck so his head dropd on the table. he wept... feeling far more sadness than when he had read that his wife left him.
he was too weak to even tell b that he "broke" the code. from the excitement to the despair was too sudden... he just sobbed.
enriq and allix were climbing the steps quickly. evvin heard but was to weak to pretend he was strong. enriq shouted in a concernd tone "dad ! did you fall why are you crying?" allix shoved an arm below evvins arm pit and hauld evvin up to the back of the chair. next allix looked at his pa, puzzled and said "jeez dad you scared us. with a bang and crying." he was surprised that they showed that they cared, until enriq added "yeh... i didn't know you were so weak and crying". enriq shook his head showing disappointment. the two boys left the room not noticing the note on ma's bed nor the map.
from the corridor, the voice came, gently so evvin heard one of the sons whisper "dad is such a wus. we better not tell him yet that ma left." evvin's eyes jumped open wide... they knew before he told them... the shock interrupted his sad tears.
the new emotion replaced his depressed state of lethargy. he was ready to update the archeologist that he knew precisely the location of the treshir.
he switched on the thin computer from its sleep. he opend a text file and began a short message.
"the treasure is in norfolk virgina near bay". he paused the typing and clicked on the symbol calld icon for the electronic mail. next, while he waited for the connection, he finished the short note. "the military base at norfolk is to hide and gaurd the treasure." then he copied the text into the email and sent it to her.
then he walkd down the steps to move the food to the frij and put the dishes in the dishwasher. hisknees ached even more when he walkd down steps. this surprised him kuz down was less effort.
to his delight viki had put her bowl and zoes bowl in the machine for washing dishes. he saw their spoons were clean and in the wide tall vase for drying the cutlery.
viki had even cleaned the table. that brought a joy that distracted him from his shatterd hope of the treasure... but a beep came from his phone... he saw a watsapp message from her...
the search for gold was not ended yet...
to be continued.
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