Lost: Casa Perdida [Completed]

The Book, The Princess, And The House

Alice Boe

We opened the lid of the metal box that Kirt and Timothy brought up from the river bed. It was a very old box, worn out. I could see engravings on the sides of it. The box looked like the sort one would find in movies about a treasure hunt. Opening the box itself took us a lot of time because we had to look all over its exterior to find out if there was a latch that we had to unlatch in order to see the contents of the box. The latch was strangely under the box, so we had to flip it over before opening it. When we opened the box and inspected its contents, we saw skeletons of two creatures, possibly rodents, in it.

"Those buggers probably snuck in before they sealed this thing," remarked Timothy.

In the middle of the box was a huge book, one probably bound with leather. Kirt took out the book and kept it aside. We looked at the other contents of the box. We found a pistol, and old one, along with some pellets. There were also some clothes. Shifaly took the old pistol and looked at it, before putting it aside while Timothy took the clothes, which were dry and brittle.

"Wow! they waterproofed the box. Wonder how they got that technology back then," said Kirt, observing the dryness of those pieces of linen. How the box was waterproofed puzzled me too. The box seemed so out of place. If only we had the time, and manpower, we would have scoured the lake bed to find any other treasures like the box. The only value we found in the box was that we could use it for storage; none of the contents was useful. There were only bones and something which looked like food which had been rotten for years. I know the thought is weird, but I wondered if wine left for long in a box such as that would be edible or not. While I thought about that question, Shifaly lifted the book that Kirt kept aside and stroked its spine.

"It's in Spanish," said Kirt, looking at Shifaly inspect the book that we all found inside the box. "But pretty old Spanish."

While they were speaking with each other, I took a look at the box itself. It must have been an ornate one, probably made for a king or a queen! Wait, it was supposed to be for a king or queen. I remember that I saw the words 'En El Nombre Del Rey Y De La Reina De España'. The patterns engraved on the metal depicted some kind of battle. There were men on horses wielding lances fighting figurines of possibly native men. I wondered what was depicted there. Was it Hernan Cortes' army fighting the natives, or was it the last of the Incas fighting the Spaniard before the fall of their territories into the hands of the mighty Spanish crown? Those two events were the only events that I know about South American history, besides the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Those were also the two events that brought about the most debates, whenever they were brought up during class discussions in history class.

"Isn't it like those pieces we had to analyze for AP Spanish? Try reading it, Kirt," Timothy said.

"You know Spanish?" Shifaly asked.

"Well, yes. I do take Spanish in school, but I know only basic Spanish. It's only a few months ago that we began analyzing old texts though. I'm not sure if I could fully read this," Kirt replied.

"I can help you, Kirt, I know Spanish really well," I said, "I've worked with classic texts that Señora Cobos gave us."

"Okay then." As soon as he opened the book, some parts of the binding disintegrated, barely leaving the pages held together.

"Be careful with the paper, it's really old. We might damage it by accident," I said.

Kirt paid attention to my words and slowly opened the book. I knelt beside him as he observed the book.

"It's handwritten," Kirt said, "looks to me to be more of a letter than a book. It's just one huge letter."

"What? A big letter?" said Shifaly.