"No way, dude, I don't buy it," said Tyler.
Rick said, "Yes way, Ty! This German kid put a message in a bottle like 20 years ago, and some Russian kid
just found it."
"You mean the bottle floated around the sea for twenty plus years without being busted or found?"
"Well, the article said they thought the bottle probably got buried on the beach under the sand years ago,
which protected it, and recent storms exposed it again."
"Oh, wouldn't that be rich. You find a message in a bottle from some shipwrecked pirates telling where they
are and promising a reward if you rescue them. Of course, they've been dead 200 years, but the treasure will
still be there," Ty said.
"Hey, that gives me an idea. I've got some old paper and ink in a bottle that I found in a desk in the attic.
I think it's from the Civil War. How about we make a treasure map for the lost confederate gold. Include a
brief note to President Jefferson Davis telling him, how we got waylaid by Indians and were burying the gold
in a Swamp - let's tell them it's where Disney World is today! Then we find and old bottle, and stick it in
the bottle and toss it in the ocean."
"It'd be funny to hear about some doofus digging up Space Mountain looking for Confederate gold! But where
can we find a bottle old enough?" Ty asked as his foot kicked Jeff in the gutter, "Hey!"
"Well, that does look old enough. Though I cannot figure out how it came to be in the street without being
broken. It's not like it was buried in sand for a century."
"I bet some burglar stole this 100 year old whiskey and drank it not realizing it was more valuable. Then he
just tossed the empty out of his car and it landed on this garbage pile so it didn't break."
"Could be? Let's wash it up, and then we can write the letter and make the map."
The boys took the bottle home and washed it out. Jeff felt so weird with the soap, hot water, and bottle brush
scrubbing his inside and outside. They left him to dry sitting on shelf by the window, and went to work on the
Confederate forgery. If those boys put in half the effort that with their studies that they did in forging the
map and letter, they would have been Valedictorians. They spent weeks perfecting the letter and map, before
they took out the ancient ink and paper and carefully penned the final copy. When it was completely dry, they
rolled it up and put it inside Jeff the bottle. Then they hand cut an old cork that was in the antique desk
with pins and tacks stuck in it, and cut it with a pocket it knife to fit into Jeff's mouth. It felt like he
was being gagged as they hammered it in. Not satisfied with just a cork. The two lads used an entire sealing
wax candle to seal the cork inside Jeff. Then they threw the bottle into the water out while standing out on
the breakwater at the harbor.
The current carried Jeff out to sea, and he floated along the waves for ever so long. At last he washed up on
a beach and was left half buried in the sand.