Free Valley of the Scarecrow by Gord Rollo

chewing on what Kelly had said, not entirely sure she wasn’t yanking their chain and making the whole thing up. Dan evidently didn’t find her story amusing.
    “Rich and I going bankrupt is hardly something to kid around about, Kel. I know you still hate me, but we’re in some serious shit. I thought you wanted to help?”
    “What?” Kelly said, standing up and shaking her arms in front of her face to cut him off. “No, you got it all wrong. I don’t hate you…and I am trying to help. The story’s true. I swear it is.”
    “Then how come we’ve never heard about any of it before?”
    “Yeah. I’ve heard of Miller’s Grove, but none of this juicy shit,” Rich said. “Where is Miller’s Grove anyway? Sure as hell isn’t around here anywhere.”
    “Not anymore it’s not,” Kelly said, defending herself and once again sorry she’d even brought up the topic. So much for helping out; all she was accomplishing was making Dan mad at her. “And no one around here knows about it because that’s the way the villagers wanted it. They wanted all memories of what they’d done to die with them, I think. Makes sense to me, anyway.”
    “And your grandfather swears this shit is all true?” Dan asked, looking her straight in the eye. It was his no-bullshit stare and Kelly knew he wanted nothing but the absolute truth. “Your ancestors killed a priest and abandoned the whole community, leaving behind everything, including a possible fortune in harvest loot?”
    “That’s what he said, yeah.”
    “And you believe him?”
    “Yeah. I do. You would too if you’d been there. I don’t know exactly what happened in Miller’s Grove, but something sure did. I’ve never seen my grandfather so afraid in all my life.”
    “Okay, I believe you.”
    “So do I,” Lizzy said, “but I still don’t see how this helps. You’re not saying we should go on a treasure hunt for this lost gold, are you? That’s crazy talk…isn’t it?”
    “Why?” Kelly said. “If Joshua Miller’s treasure is real and more importantly, if it’s still there, why wouldn’t we go after it? Even if there isn’t much there, it’s probably more than enough to get Dan and Rich back on their feet. Maybe even enough for me to start my restaurant.”
    “Will there be enough for me to open a hair salon?”
    “One way to find out. What do you think, Dan?”
    “Shit, I don’t know. Sounds too good to be true; and even if it is, someone must have found the gold after all this time. Besides, we don’t even know where to start looking, right?”
    “I can find it,” Pat said, then looked shocked when everyone burst out laughing at him. “What? I can. Well, maybe not me. My dad. He’s a geography teacher, remember? He has a whole shitload of old maps and local charts down in the basement. Far as I know, they go back hundreds of years. If Miller’s Grove existed out in the backwoods of the state, I’m pretty sure we can find some record of it there.”
    “Wow,” Dan said, warming to the idea a little. “Might be worth a look, I guess. Too bad your gramps didn’t just tell you where their old village was. Did you ask?”
    “He’s not telling us squat. In fact, he freaked when I mentioned the gold. He made me promise I’d never tryand find it but what do we have to lose? Every last one of us is out of work right now. Well, Lizzy, Pat, and I anyway. Rich and you won’t be far behind us, right? So why not take a shot at this. If we’re wrong, big deal, we’ll turn it into a camping trip and drink a few beers. But if we’re right…”
    Kelly left the sentence open-ended, looking around at her friends’ faces but finding it hard to judge their reactions in the flickering light of the campfire. For a while, the only sounds were that of the crackling logs and the silence was getting unbearable. Pat felt the tension in the air too, and snapped a few pictures while everyone stood around waiting for someone else to speak. Kelly ran out of