This little story (and its effects) is dedicated to the memory of my Grandmother Mrs. Ellen Irene Schmutz.

The storm had just settled further north when my plane arrived in Florida for a visit with my grandmother. I finished unpacking as Nana knocked on the door, "Let's go see what the storm has washed up." she chimed! Something about being inside during a three day storm had made her a bit antsy!
As we walked along the beach near her home, I found an old soggy bit of driftwood, cracked and broken from some larger plank,a rusty old nail barely still attached to one edge. Walking a bit further along I looked down and there in the sand was something shining! "Pirate treasure!" I exclaimed.
"When we were in St.Thomas we used to find shipwreck coins after the storms all the time" Nana offered with a smile. A bit! a small broken part of an old doubloon maybe!
I took my treasures back to Nana's house and sat down to join her and some of her friends from the neighborhood in tea.
The ladies asked if I had found any good souveniers in my shopping, and I showed them the three "Buried treasure maps" that I got for a dollar, and the coin piece from the beach. They all immediately whipped out identical bits of shiney metal and told me how they were washing up all summer from last spring and the town holiday promotion, and added theirs to make a small pile!
I told them had an idea, if they were game, and pulled out the driftwood board and nail.
"Have any of you ever heard of a daylight Seance?" I asked innocently.
As they sat in the garden sipping tea, I tore the treasure map into pieces, and had each of them write the name of a famous Pirate form the area onto the paper.
I had each of the ladies place the paper onto the board and put a "treasure" coin on top to keep it in place.
"Now, everyone help hold onto the board" I said, as I took the rusty old nail from my pocket and dropped it onto the plank.
The ladies giggled a bit, as they all took hold, and I told them they had to think about their pirate name!
Almost at once, the nail started to move about the board, it came to rest on one of the names- Teach! "OHH!" cried out Mrs. Schmutz! "Do I win the treasure?"
"Lets look and see." I said as I gathered the rest of the names and put all the coins into a pile.
She picked up her bit of paper and turned it over- there, on the back was the big X from the treasure map.
I turned over the board, and there on the back was a big black X, the name Edward, and stuck into a crack of the wood, a little white pearl!
"I guess you do!" I told her as I gently prised the little pearl out of the wood and handed it to her.
"I think I have the better deal." Mrs. Schmutz laughed as she handed me the pile of pretend pirate coin bits.
"Never be too sure..." I replied as I folded up one of the remaining maps with a coin inside, "Mr. Teach might want some payment!", I unfolded the map to show the coin was now gone and only the X marked the center spot.
The ladies all giggled and looked closely at the map while I helped nana clean up the tea cups.

Have fun
Kay

Kay, thanks for a beautyful story!

Thanks kay for sharing....
reminds me of our childhood game of burying treasure in the backyard...
you sparked up some ideas

Hi Kay.
From gravestones to treasure maps, your little nail sure gets a lot of work! Another great story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Dave