"There it is. See if you can pick it up," Dan pointed Ace to the white Yeti Thandra 210 cooler under the garage tool table as Alwin helped Danny carry the crab nets, fishing rods, and other gear from the corner of the small barn-turned garage.
Tightening his grip on the handles of the cooler, Ace effortlessly lifted it and commented, "It is not that heavy." Astonishing Dan and Alwin. Thinking of another possibility, Danny asked his father, "Dad, is the cooler empty?"
"Nope, we stocked it yesterday night," Dan blurted out the secret that the brothers had planned this trip last night. Alwin glared at his elder brother and remarked, "And you call yourself a veteran. From oversleeping to your loose tongue, you are slipping Dan. We should have been at the lake hours ago, we missed the prime time for crabbing."
"I know, I know," Dan remarked feeling guilty.
The brothers had planned that Dan would complete his daily duties at the ranch early with Marty's help and they would leave for the lake at dawn. They intended to ambush their families with their plan so that their sons couldn't say no and their wives wouldn't tag along at such short notice. However, because Dan overslept, it was past eight and they still hadn't hitched the boat trailer to the car.
"Can't we just go tomorrow?" Danny pointed out while his body did its best to carry the fishing gear. "You would like that wouldn't you?" Dan snapped knowing his son was scheming to miss school two days in a row. Then, he enthusiastically declared, "We go today and We enjoy ourselves."
"Um, guys. Let us get moving," Ace reminded everyone to get moving. He had placed the cooler down, pretending the cooler was indeed heavy for him even though his increased physical stats made hauling this amount of weight next to nothing for him.
"Don't push yourself, let me give you a hand," Dan laughed as he grasped one handle. Together, the uncle and nephew hauled the cooler to the boat trailer at the entrance of the barn.
"Uncle, I don't remember your boat being this big?" Ace said looking at the 27ft long beauty hidden under a gray tarp as they placed the cooler on the ground.
"The old one felt crowded with four or more people on it. So, I bought a new one this year. It's a stock white 2024 Seaborn LX22 center console boat. I am telling you, you will fall in love with it once you see the storage space," Dan's inner boat geek came out as he unfastened the tarp off it.
"Amazing, we can spend the night at the lake if we want to," Alwin commented aloud, having climbed onto the boat. Then he signaled his son and brother to lift the cooler to him so he could move it onto the boat and fasten it. Though decades of city life had suppressed the country in him, it would surface at moments . Especially, when he was in the presence of a 27 ft long water nymph.
"Let us do that," Ace suddenly expressed aloud, surprising everyone. Especially, his father, "I thought you hated fishing, son."
"What can I say, Dad? Uncle Dan was right. I fell in love with the boat. It was love at first sight," Ace lied as he and his uncle lifted the cooler above their heads so his dad could pull the cooler onto the boat.
Resting the cooler on the boat, Alwin asked his son, "Are you serious?"
Ace nod. There was a story behind why he was so enthusiastic about their outing. The lake they were visiting was popularly known as 'The Treasure Lake.'
During the early 1800s, the beauty of the lake and its rich marine life along with the healthy agricultural land in its surroundings attracted the wealthy and powerful to invest in it and settle around it. Their combined wealth attracted merchants from all over the country. By the mid-1800s, it had become the prime hub to buy luxury goods such as diamond and gold jewelry. However, at the end of the mid-1800s, the civil war happened.
Learning that the rebel army was coming for their wealth, the townsmen and merchants sought help from the allied army but because of the stormy wheather they would not be able to send help in time. Desperate, despite the unpredictable weather, they loaded all their valuables on their boats to cross the lake to seek refuge with the Allied forces. However, they were caught in the biggest storm recorded in that century and then a landslide.
On that unfateful night, many lives were lost and all the wealth they risked their lives to protect was scattered in the lake by the storm and later buried in the lake by the landslide. The rebel army had its men and best divers salvage as many riches as possible from the lake and its surroundings and fled when the allied army finally arrived. Then, the allied forces continued where the rebel forces left.
The rebel and allied army could not take all the wealth that was buried in the lake that night as over the years many divers and fishermen have fished various treasures from the bottom of the lake or its shores. It even led to a treasure hunt madness in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Though its hype had died down lately, the treasure hunt madness was still strong enough to force the local authorities to make unlicensed diving, fishing, and use of magnets in the lake illegal to protect the wildlife and habitat of the lake. However, people were allowed to use metal detectors by the lake shore, its beach, and its surroundings to fulfill their treasure hunt fantasies.
This tradition has been a hot topic ever since it was featured in many outdoor magazines and aired on many national channels, attracting tourists from all over the country. Even Ace has many happy childhood memories of him, his sister, and cousins renting metal detectors in the stores by the shore and searching for treasures all day long. Though they did not find anything worth selling, they had tons of fun together and made many happy memories.
However, recently a few activist groups have been protesting by the lake to stop this tradition claiming that people digging around the lake for treasure was destroying surrounding habitats dependent on the lake. The current local government had made no comments on it and was ignoring them but the opposition was supporting them and flaming the fire.
Since the elections were nearing, if the activists managed to get some of the locals' support they might get what they wanted. After all, many locals hate the monopoly the resorts have gained on the lake by buying all the land around it and shutting down local businesses using illegal and cutthroat business practices.
The treasure hunt tradition had now become a tool for these resorts to pull in tourists. They have spent a fortune and gone to many lengths to keep it alive. They did not hesitate to create and spread fake treasure hunt success stories on social media and national news. With elections on the brink if these activists played their cards right they might get what they want. So, this might be the only window for Ace to make a fortune from the lake using Dame Wasp under the guise of a metal detector treasure hunt.
Listening to his brother and nephew discuss spending the night on the lake, Dan immediately agreed with them and exclaimed excitedly, "I can finally use the solar planes I paid extra to install on the boat's roof rack." Then, he barked orders left and right, "Al, check the weather. We are spending the night at the lake! Danny, go fetch the sleeping bags and camping gear after you are done moving the fishing gear onto the boat. Ace, you follow me, I will teach you how to hitch a trailer to a car."
"Dad, can't we stay at the resort by the lake?" Danny suggested, not wanting to spend an entire night in a sleeping bag on the boat in the middle of a lake. Though he liked the idea of missing school for two days in a row, he wasn't willing to compromise his comfort, screen time, and sleep over that.
"Ace, go bring the navigator around," Dan passed his car's keys to Ace pretending he did not hear his son. Only to hear Danny complain, "Don't I get a say in this?"
"No, you don't. Now stop arguing and go get the sleeping bags and camping gear. I will help your uncle load the fishing gear and crab nets on the boat," Dan chilled his son seeing him struggling to lift the rods and nets above his head and pass it to Alwin.
"Fine!" Dropping the fishing gear and crab nets on the ground, Danny hurried to fetch the camping gear in a fit only to hear his father warn him, "If you dare to complain or rat on us to your mother, I swear I will break all the video game stuff in your room."
Dan knew his son the best. Similarly, Danny was Dan's son, he almost lost it in rage but controlled his emotions fearing his actions now might put his love, Esmeralda, at risk. So he could only swallow his anger and follow his father's arrangements. He knew better than anyone that his father was a man of his word, he would uphold his words regardless of the consequences.
"Dan, take it easy. He is just a kid, your kid," Al reminded his brother when Danny stepped out of the barn.
"Al, he has no interest in studies and shamelessly keeps bragging about inheriting the ranch. He needs to toughen up if he wants to survive on the ranch after I am gone," Dan as a father had his fears.
He feared his good-for-nothing son would not survive the country without his protection. He just wanted a little assurance that his son would be alright if anything were to happen to him. He did not believe leaving his son a huge fortune was a solution because, with his son's current mindset and skills, he would lose it all within a year.
Nor did he want to burden Mandy with his dimwit son. Deep in his heart, he wanted Mandy to inherit his ranch. He considered her as the daughter he never had. If not for the fear of complicating the family tree he would have adopted her as his daughter. Though Mandy was no cowgirl, she had the mindset of a strong businesswoman. He believed with proper support and guidance Mandy could run her own Agribusiness or become a Ranch Operator. That was only if she wanted to.