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Once we got back to the Chateau John B and Kiara go to one section of the house and I follow JJ as he pulls a bag of bread out of the cupboard above him along with a jar of peanut butter. "You want some?" He asks and I contemplate it for a second as Pope enters the room.
He glances at what JJ is making before scrunching up his nose is disgust. "That bread has mold in it three days ago." I immediately shake my head, nausea washing over me. "Yeah I'll pass I don't want moldy bread."
"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's a natural organism." He says cutting the sandwich up and I shake my head. "Nope."
"You guys!" I hear Ki say and I glance at JJ before we get up and go over to where John B is sitting at the table. JJ takes a bite of his sandwich and immediately gags, spitting it out. "I told you.." I mutter softly and he just rolls his eyes before we both pull our attention back to John B.
He tears the package open and pulls out a folded piece of paper. He then continues to unfold it and once he does there are so many things to looks at. It seemed like his dad must have found something out there cause there were tons of coordinates and little notes jotted down everywhere.
"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope points to the large X on the map, somewhere between the island and the sea. "Longitude, latitude." He points to both lines before pausing, "Wait, there's something else in here."
He then reaches over to the envelope and pulls out a tape recorder and I gasp. "What is that?" JJ asks from next to me and I raise my eyebrows at him before answering, "Its a tape recorder." Ki laughs before adding, "Dumbass."
John b presses a button and it starts playing. "Dear Bird.." A look of confusion crosses everyone else's face and JJ jumps to the question everyone was dying to ask. "Who's bird?" John b smiles to himself, "That's why my dad called me."
" I hate to say I told you so but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the merchant either." there's a clattering sound on the tape and I glance at JJ and then to everyone else as the tape continues.
"You're probably right call me out. Wasn't exactly father of the decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, were listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack in Costa Rica livin' off past investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for."
"There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll se you on the other side." then the tape ends.
I can tell that John b is holding back tears as he turns the tape recorder off and gets up from the chair, walking to the other side of the room and grabs onto the frame of the doorway. "Hold shit, he did it! Big John.. he found the merchant." JJ exclaims from next to me as John b's sobbing is heard in the background.
