Mystery in the Old Trunk: A Jonathan and Marie Adventure

By Joyce C. Lanier

Jonathan and Marie are brother and sister teenagers who always seem to find adventure. While looking through an old trunk, they find a burned book and inside is a cryptic message. The entire family gets involved in trying to decipher the message believing it might lead to hidden treasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512734430

Joyce C. Lanier

Joyce Lanier spent most of her adulthood working as an executive assistant. Her favorite responsibility, after assisting people, was writing newsletters. Now retired and a grandmother of six, she often entertains the children with adventure stories of the fictional characters Jonathan and Marie. In addition to being with family and traveling with her husband Robert, her favorite passtimes include compiling family histories, scrapbooking, and teaching Sunday School. She and her husband Robert live in Wilmington, her hometown on the coast of North Carolina.

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Copyright © 2016 Joyce C. Lanier.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Portrait of Jonathan and Marie by Sarah Davis

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-3444-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3443-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016904158

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/06/2016

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1 Mystery in the Trunk

Chapter 2 Hiding the Treasure

Chapter 3 The Yankees Arrive

Chapter 4 Leaving Home Behind

Chapter 5 Charred Remains

Chapter 6 Back in the Attic

Chapter 7 Examining the Clues

Chapter 8 At Last—a Connection!

Chapter 9 Ready to Hunt Treasure

Chapter 10 Dessie’s Place

Chapter 11 On the Right Track

Chapter 12 A Surprise Discovery

Chapter 13 Complications

Chapter 14 The Twin Oaks

Chapter 15 The True Treasure

Things to Consider

Also by Joyce Lanier

Barnaby Mouse Leaves Home

Dedication

To my grandson, Matthew,

Thank you for encouraging me to publish

the Jonathan and Marie stories.

Preface

A burned Bible, like the one described in this story, lies on a table in my living room. It belonged to my great-grandmother, Lunda Jane Parks Slack, whose house burned in the early 1900s. The Bible was almost the only thing that survived the fire. It is true that the name Emery is inside the cover of the Bible, probably written by a very young Emery Slack, my great-uncle.

When my grandchildren asked for a Jonathan and Marie story, this Bible seemed to hold all the intrigue of a great tale. While the Bible is real, the story is 100 percent fiction.

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Chapter 1

Mystery in the Trunk

2014

Surely there is something up here in this musty old attic that we can use to make costumes, said Marie Perry to her brother, Jonathan. I mean, look, we’ve found our baby albums, an old round suitcase with a hat in it—so it must be a hat box—and some old pictures that appear to be printed on metal. There’s just got to be some good stuff up here for costumes.

Marie began quickly tossing clothes out of an old trunk. What are you doing, shouted Jonathan, besides making a big mess?

Look! said Marie as she held up a black thing that appeared to be a book.

What is it? asked Jonathan.

I think it’s a Bible. It’s been in a fire. The cover is all crinkled up and brittle.

Wow! Can you open it?

I’ll try. The edges of the pages are blackened and curled by the fire, so I’m not sure I can separate them. Marie very slowly opened the Bible, afraid that the book would fall completely apart or that the pages would simply disintegrate into dust. Look at this, Jonathan. Even though the edges of the pages are burned, the writing wasn’t hurt by the fire. That’s amazing!

Yeah, and I see why the cover didn’t burn completely; it’s leather. Wonder who this belonged to and how it ended up in our attic?

Let me see if anything’s written in the front. Very carefully Marie opened the cover and saw the inside blank page. Or, rather, it had been blank at one time. It was covered in writing that looked as if it was done by a child who was practicing writing his name. Emery was written in several places on the page. When she turned to the next page, she exclaimed, "Oh, Jonathan, listen to this. She read out loud:

Presented to my precious wife, Martha, on the occasion of our first wedding anniversary, December 4, 1831

With all my love,

John

Halfway between the two oaks in Twin Oaks Field.

"Can you believe this? This Bible is almost