George Crane and the Treasure Hunt- Reyna Joseph

Chapter 1- The Vacation Begins

George, as usual was sitting on the red bean bag in the corner of his room reading a very fascinating book. This is what he does almost every summer vacation. This time, he was reading a book given by his Grandfather-James Crane, on George's birthday which was a month ago. The book was titled “The mystery of Alice”. George was totally into the book as soon as he started reading it. George, a very young boy of twelve was one of the only boys in town who read book during summer holidays. Rest of the children would spend their vacation by playing outdoors or indoors, but George wasn’t that type of a boy. But that doesn’t mean that he was all dorky, he was mischievous when he had to be and also could break any rules when needed. Like the time, when he was solving the mystery of the old shack during his last summer vacation and also when he helped his aunt Clara in solving another mystery. George was known as the 'Sherlock Holmes ' of Riverdale, the locality where he lived. He was reading peacefully when his mother, Emily Crane stepped in his room.

“George, there’s some news for you”, said his mom in a very happy and enthusiastic manner.

“Yes, mom?”, George replied.

“We are going to your Grandpa's house in the countryside this summer vacation. We are going right after two days, so you should start packing. “Oh, and come down for dinner” , his mother continued.

George almost jumped with excitement. He had never been so happy. He had visited his grandpa six years ago and he loved that town. The town of Crail, in Scotland was one of the best towns you could ever visit in Scotland. George lived in Edinburgh, the main city of Scotland. Crail was almost two hours away from Edinburgh, which was pretty close, but George and his family never got the time to go there. George’s father was a very busy man and they never used to travel out. The only way they used to communicate with grandpa was by calling each other on phone.

Even though George was just six when he last visited Crail, he still remembers the time he spent at Crail. He had many friends back there too. George wondered whether they are still there so that he could hang out with them the rest of the summer holidays. George decided to start packing the next day. He was about to finish reading the book, so he decided to finish it and then go downstairs for dinner.

Two days passed by very quick and George was all set for his vacation that lay ahead. He took his bag and went downstairs for breakfast. As usual, his pet dog Saffi was lying inside a room kind of a thing that George had built for Saffi a year ago. It was just a very cozy blanket inside a big basket and Saffi loved it a lot. George and Saffi were really good friends. George had found Saffi a year ago while he was cycling on a street.

“Hey Saffi”, George said and Saffi barked back…Bow-bow! Breakfast was already being served by the time George reached the table. His father - Josef Crane was reading the newspaper. He was fully drawn into it that he didn’t notice George. His mother was applying the butter on the bread for Catherine, George’s sister. Catherine was two years younger than George. She had blonde hair and brown eyes and looked just like her Mom.

“Good morning George” , said his mother. “Good morning everyone” , said George back.

“All ready and packed George?” , asked Dad

“Yes, Dad”. He sat down on a chair beside Catherine and began to have his breakfast. After breakfast, he sent to the living room with Saffi, sat on the sofa and kept his bag down. His dad was already there. Catherine and his mom were still getting ready.

“Oh these ladies, they take so much time to get ready.” George murmured to himself. After about five minutes, everyone was in the living room all set and ready for their summer vacation. They all sat inside their car, a yellow colored 1980’s sedan which Josef Crane had bought on George’s first birthday. Dad was driving, mom was in the front seat and George, Catherine and Saffi sat behind. Dad played some old 80’s music on the way which George didn't fancy. Catherine was a very stubborn girl and all she wanted to do was to irritate her elder brother.

“Hey George, you didn’t take any of your boring books, did you? If you did, I will burn them down” , said Catherine trying to threaten him and tease him for his fond affection towards books.

George replied, “Well Cathy, as a matter of fact, I did and I am pretty sure that you wouldn’t be able to burn my book down”. Cathy was Catherine's nickname and almost everyone called her by that name. Cathy was pretty annoyed by George's reply and decided to keep quiet. There were about ten minutes of silence, even Saffi went to sleep. And it already started to get boring. Dad quickly broke the silence.

“So kids…Are you excited?” “Yes, Dad”… both of them replied together “Dad, is the old museum and the library still there?” asked George. “Well, I hope it is still there. I don’t think they will ever close down”, replied Dad. “Hey kids, why are you all so quiet and Emily dear, you too?” Emily, George’s mother was a very talkative person and it was shocking that she wasn’t talking at all.”

“Oh! sorry I almost forgot that we are on a journey”, replied mom. “I was just thinking about how my summer vacations were when I was a young kid. I and my sisters used to do horse riding, it was fun and we also used to have lavish dinners which my grandma used to cook, she cooked the best. I especially loved the chocolate pudding which she used to make. Aah those days.”

“What about you dad?” asked Cathy. “Well, I just used to roam around the town with my friends. Me and your grandpa used to for fishing every afternoon and your grandma used to be very happy if we came back home with some catch. She was very good at cooking fish.” There was a pause. Grandma had passed away three months ago and George’s father was very sad about it.

“Yeah” father continued, “and me and my friends circle used to prank people a lot, summer vacation was something which I always looked forward to. And you guys will have fun too. The last time you both visited grandpa, you were just preschooler but this time I am pretty sure that you will enjoy it”.

An hour passed very quickly, and it wasn’t boring at all. George could already feel the countryside air as there were about to reach Crail. Crail was situated on the coastline and it was a very popular center for its harbor and sea trade. Crail was a very small town with a population of only about 1,885 and that’s what made it so special. Almost everyone knew each other. The houses were all cottage types and you would find a single house there which looked modern. Most of the houses were painted in white, cream, brown and all the houses looked alike.