Buried Treasure

Solo and solitary. That's how 15 year old Jesse goes through life if you don't care for people, you don't get hurt and Jesse is hurting and angry. Jesse prides himself on the fact that he is just like his father a cold and aloof consulting engineer who is constantly away from home on business. Nothing bothers Dad, not even the fact that Jesse's mother has died. But when Jesse becomes involved in a "swarming" incident at the mall, Dad decides Jesse will spend the summer with his father's family in a small port town, a family neither Jesse or his father has seen in 10 years. Jesse can't believe Dad actually leaves him with Aunt Maggie, Uncle John, a fisherman, his cousins, Lia, Mandy and Carrie, and worst of all, his grandfather, a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered old man, who considers anything that moves as fair game for his cane. Jesse is dismayed that his job for the summer is to keep an eye on the old man and constantly check his pockets. It seems everywhere his grandfather goes, he likes to bring a little bit of it back with him salt and pepper shakers from the french fry stand, fishing line from the bait shop, perfume from the drugstore, none of it paid for. Escaping his new found family, Jesse walks high above the lake on a bluff, and comes across a girl teetering on the cliff edge. Eliza's mother has committed suicide and Eliza cannot cope with the resulting turbulent emotions. But that's her problem Jesse decides, not his. Trailing after his grandfather through town, Jesse ignores the old man, especially his talk about a treasure to be found on Needle Point, a long spit of land reaching out into the lake. Jesse figures the old man's treasure is the junk he carts around in his pockets until Eliza explains that in the past people used Needle Point as a place to hide gold coins and jewels. Jesse, his grandfather and Eliza sail to the Point to hunt for the treasure. Day after day Jesse digs in the hot sand finding nothing he thinks. But as he digs he discovers that his grandfather is very much like himself and his father unable to reach out to anyone, to ask for help. Slowly Jesse's solo and solitary armor begins to erode as he helps Eliza come to terms with her mother's death and realizes that buried beneath his grandfather's own armor is a man who needs him and he needs his grandfather. One day while returning from the spit of sand a squall comes up and swamps the boat. Making the decision to give up his solo and solitary Jesse braves the elements and swims to shore to save his grandfather and in doing so discovers the real buried treasure within himself.


Genre: Young Adult Fiction