STORY SUNDAY #2!!!!!

The Stamp Collecting MASTER!

It was a typical day at the Monroe police station in Langweilig Montana. Officer Samson Ingle was counting the stamps in his vast collection. He had been counting for a least an hour, and was barely halfway through his book. The station had been unusually quite that day, and Officer Ingle had been itching to count his stamps all week. He had got to 367 stamps when he got an email. The address was unfamiliar, but the subject intrigued him.

“The location of the 1889 Okeechobee FL”

He had only heard of this from the other collectors from the SCA. It was extremely rare, only 10 left in mint condition, and 7 were in stamp museums. The other three’s location was unknown of; at least, until now. He hastily opened the email, not caring if it had a virus. The introduction of the email was very simple, not at all what he expected. It stated that he had been selected, among others, by the Stamp Collection Masters Society (SCMS) to be given a clue to the location of an1889 Okeechobee FL. Because this stamp is very rare, the society believed that only a true stamp Master should have the opportunity to have this priceless stamp. The introduction went on to verify the authenticity of this email, including a fancy emblem and the signature of the SCMS’s president.
Then, in italics below the introductory paragraph, was the clue:

“Mansion and beacon,

Side by side,

The stone shall weaken

With the tide.

And there you shall find her,

When the light is at eight

You the beasts will deter

A challenge great”

Officer Ingle drank in the whole email. The mere mention of an 1889 Okeechobee sent shivers down the balding officer’s spine. He reread the poem, and then looked at the clock above the coffee machine. Darn, he thought, I still have 7 hours left in the shift. He sat at his desk, fuming. This could be my one chance at finding the 1889 Okeechobee, and here I am, at work. He looked at the clock again, but it was useless. The clock wouldn’t move any faster. He read the poem again. Well, he figured, I’ll just work on decoding this.

He printed out the email and sat it on his desk. At first all he did was stare at the poem, as if an answer would appear on the paper. He wanted another clue, something better than a poem, but the email ended with a “do not reply” tag. After another good look at the poem, he underlined the word “tide” and wrote “by the ocean” next to it. He underlined “when the light is at eight”, and wrote “Eight o’clock in the morning”. Next he opened up his web browser, and typed the entire poem into the search box. There were zero results. Then he typed “beacon” into the search box. It came up with a Wikipedia page, a real estate page, and a link to the Beacon Press, a university, restaurants, theatres, and more. On Wikipedia he found that a beacon was a light house, so he looked up “light house and mansion” in quotes. He found that there were several places with picturesque lighthouse mansion sets. He added “rocks” to the search bar, and came up with better pictures. He wrote down the phone numbers to several places that looked promising.

He started dialing the first number, but then hung up. What would he tell them? That he was looking for a stamp? He could ask them about the history of the place, or how it was at 8 am. He could ask if any stamp collectors had come around recently. He wrote down these questions, and then called the first place.

Out of the 14 places he had written down, the first 4 numbers were disconnected. Six places had been very recently built, and three places had been torn down. The last place he called, The Old Treasure Inn, had been around for 200 years, and the concierge said that she had booked a room for a stamp collector just an hour ago. What a find! He thought. He thanked the woman repeatedly, and told her he would be calling back soon. He looked at the clock, and hour and a half had passed.

Officer Ingle was too giddy about the 1889 Okeechobee FL stamp to be upset about the lingering hours. He thought about when he would be able to go the Old Treasure Inn. He didn’t have the kids this weekend, and Monday was Lief Erikson day, so the whole station got a day off. It was only Thursday, so if he took a sick day Friday, then he would have four days to search. Officer Ingle then thought about the journey. The Old Treasure Inn was in Bridgeport Canada, a long 600 miles away. The White Knight (the nickname his gave his crappy white1987 Toyota Supra) couldn’t handle a journey like that. He would have to rent a car, or maybe borrow a friend’s car. Either way, he had a plan, a motive, and a prize waiting on the other side. He dialed the number to the Old Treasure Inn and thought to himself, I guess today’s my lucky day.

To Be Continued...

maybe...

 

Rachael