One Gold Brick
One Gold Brick
1
“Why do we even have to go up here? The will said that he left us everything. Why couldn’t we wait for summer when the weather’s nice and we can have a swim in the old pond?” Said the man Jonas who was in his thirties. He was talking to his sister Mary also in her early thirties.
“They were our grandparents. I thought you loved the winter, you used to go skiing all the time.”
“Yeah well I don’t ski and I hate the cold, ever since I worked outside making concrete blocks that cold, that cold to the bone really terrifies me.”
“Nah Florida just turned you into a pansy.” She said with a wicked smile.
“Gee thanks sis.” He put the passenger side seat back they were in for a long ride. He couldn’t help but smile at her exuberance. It was contagious, she always put him in a good mood even if they had to go from Boston to Portland.
2
“So that’s the deal?” He said.
“Yep.”
“How come you get the house and I get the antiques?”
“You love antiques and you hate the cold. Right?”
“Well yeah that’s true I do have an antiques shop.” Jonas said.
Mary responded by saying, “Whatever less you get than the value of the house you can take the difference out of the stocks.”
The truth was that they were lucky, their Mother was an only child and Jonas and Mary were her only siblings. Neither of them could imagine the mess more cousins would make.
They were close now, the house was right around the corner at the top of the hill.
“That’s fair.” He said. He almost always got along with his sister Mary, they were both really easy to get along with and made friends fast. They were just two likeable people just like their parents and grandparents.
They rounded the corner. “There it is.” Said Mary.
“It looks smaller than I remembered.” Said Jonas.
“Believe me it’s not, it’s still a seven bedroom mansion that’s stocked full of antiques.”
Now it was his turn to be generous. “If there are any antiques you like we will value them and just add to the price of the house.”
Then a bright smile appeared on her lips, “Awww you really are the best little brother.”
“Thanks sis, I just know that you like some of the antiques and it really wouldn’t be the same house without them.
She parked and said, “Well let’s go inside.”
Inside the magic of their childhood came back to them. The grandfather clock, the wooden sculptures, the chandelier, the antique books. He was really going to have his work cut out for him with all the treasures inside.
The grand entry way with marble floors led them to the kitchen where they put down their bags. They scheduled a week for this but he was beginning to think it would take longer. Their grandparents had been packrats stocking the house full of antiques.
“I want my old room.” Mary said and went into the fridge. They had died several months ago and the grandson and granddaughter had been putting off the chore they were now surrounded by. “Ugh there’s nothing here.”
“I want the master room.” Said Jonas.
“Why they died in there it won’t freak you out?”
“Yeah I didn’t think of that. I guess I’ll take my old room too.”
“I’m gonna go to the grocery store.” She said giving him a puzzled look. “You want anything?”
“Cold cuts, American cheese and some bread. Oh don’t forget the mayo.”
She shook her head. “You have a horrible diet.”
“What? I like the way I eat.”
She stopped shaking her head, got the car keys, went through the pristine entrance way and out the door.
3
If there was one thing he knew about his Grandfather it was that he was always up to something. He hadn’t worked for years and didn’t have a retirement, yet they always had money. Jonas was intent on finding the reason he always had money. He didn’t think it was drugs but it was something…
He was in the basement and Grandpa was a packrat too. There were shelves, all filled. Jonas touched one of the circular saws and like the breaking of a dam all the tools and collected nonsense cascaded to the ground. He saw the smashed glass containers slightly as a metaphor. His Grandfather had always been the one that kept the family together, well him and Grandma. Now he saw the broken glass and spilled screws as a sign, Jonas and Mary would have to work extra hard to keep the family together.
He could have cleaned it up but as he looked up he saw the work bench. It was still covered in a variety of things and one of them caught the light just right to spark interest in his mind.
He walked closer.
There it was, clear as day.
He couldn’t believe it was just sitting there. Shimmering in the light.
He smiled at what it was, a block of gold. A gold bar to be exact, not stamped or anything but just sitting on the work bench.
He tentatively touched it and it was cold, absorbent of the atmosphere in this chilly Maine town. The fact of the matter was he had never seen a gold bar in his life, including all the trips up to see his Grandparents. What was Grandpa up to? How many of these gold bars did he have stashed around the house?
He took the gold bar in his hand and it had to weigh fifty pounds. That was a lot of money at 1,700 dollars an ounce. He did the math in his head it had to be just over a million dollars.
At once he was befuddled as of what to do, should he tell his sister or just keep the gold to himself? He wasn’t a thief and he knew the right thing to do. He took it upstairs to show his sister, not noticing the form the gold was poured in or giving a thought to the other metals that were strewn around the table.
4
Jonas put the gold bar on the kitchen table and it settled out of place on the deep mahogany table.
“What the heck is that?” Said Mary.
“Just our retirement. What you’ve never seen a gold bar before?”
“Gold, oh my, it must be worth a small fortune. We gotta sell it.”
But where could they sell a million dollars in gold?
“I know just the place. Get your keys.”
“So tell me again how you know of this place.”
“Grandpa took me here several times to perouse through the wares.” Said Jonas.
“Perouse huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Who uses that word anyway?”
“I do I like it. Perouse. Got a nice feel to it, kinda slides off the tongue.”
“Alright Mr. Smooth tongue let’s take it inside.”
They were greeted right inside the door by an older gentleman who said, “Hey, no it cant be. Jonas?”
“Yes.”
“You have grown so much. I’m so sorry I heard about your Grandparents. Such a shame. With all that money they made me over the years, I can’t lie I’m gonna miss their business. But looks like you got something for me. Can I take a look?”
“Sure, it’s heavy though.”
“I may be an old man but I’m still fit as a fiddle.” Said the old man as Jonas handed over the gold brick. The old man handled it deftly. “Well I can’t give you retail but I knew your Grandfather was working on this one, wanted to leave you something to remember him by.”
What the hell was he talking about? “Working on what?”
“The gold. I swear people around town used to think it was Nazi gold he had shipped over here during WW2. He said he had sold it all but I had the feeling another one of these would turn up.” He turned the brick over. “See those markings, its Luftwaffe. Your grandfather somehow stumbled upon it in the war and he’s been selling them to me at 1/3 the value for close to 60 years.”
“Grandpa was a thief? I can’t believe it.” Said Mary.
“He used to say not a thief but a purveyor of goods. Hell anyone that stole from the Nazi’s is ok in my book. I was a paratrooper and have over 50 kills to my name and the funny thing is that I still don’t trust Germans. Sneaky bastards all of them.”
It was hard for Jonas to stomach. Grandpa had lived all that time on Nazi gold. How come no one tried to steal it from him? It just didn’t make sense. Something was wrong about this. “So how much will you give us?”
“Well you and your sister…” The old man looked at her. “Its Mary right?”
“Yes.” Said Mary with a smile for she could tell the man was definitely a charmer.
“You and your sister can split the 600,000 dollars.”
They were both in shock.
“I’ll just get it from the back.” He said and went into the back.
“OMG Jonas. I’m freaking out.”
“I know I can’t believe it.”
“Three hundred thousand each. Thank you Grandpa.”
“He always said when he died we would have nothing to worry about.”
“I guess he meant it.”
The old man returned with a gym bag that seemed to be full. “Its all there.” He said and unzipped it. They could see the pile of banded bills.
“Oh wow!” Said Jonas.
“It’s all there have a good day.” The old man said and Jonas grabbed the bag and they left.
5
Jonas had the antiques in the truck ready to go.
He decided to go down to the basement to say goodbye to his Grandfather.
“Grandpa I really am gonna miss you. You were always there with advice and I don’t know what I’ll do without you. I just wish…” He kicked the table and he heard a creak. “I could have said good bye.” He said getting down on a knee. He felt in the darkness and there it was…
An open drawer. There seemed to be something inside.
There was…
It felt like parchment or a thick paper.
Was it cash?
No it was too big.
Then he saw it. It was hard to read in the low light. He turned on the desk lamp and he read.
“Hello Jonas. I knew you would find this behind this letter is something I picked up in the war. Its not worth very much unless you know what to do with it. Well here’s the truth of it. Everyone talked about Nazi gold but never found much and that was because they didn’t have a stockpile of it they just had a recipe. Like the olden days alchemists they were searching for a way to turn iron into gold and they found it. Destroy the Nazi mold I used to make my gold in and you will have to create your own. You can tell your sister that you found more gold and give her a percentage. Well not much else to tell other than that I love you so much. I really liked our talks and I hope you have a wonderful life.”
That was it, a dying man’s last words. He flipped over and he saw it was like a recipe. Combine the ingredients and melt. He couldn’t help but smile.
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