Goodnight Elizabeth

John sat bolt upright in the bed. He had been torn from his sleep by a disembodied voice and he was certain he’d felt the covers suddenly jerk across his legs. John sat panting and stared into the inky darkness of his room. This was not the first time he’d been woke up like this lately. His eyes bounced from one piece of furniture to the next. He shook his head when he realized he had hoped to see an actual person standing in his room, a noisy burglar would be a comfort. ‘Normal, sane people can have a burglar’ he thought ‘but a ghost, That’s a one-way ticket to the nut house!’

John had recently moved to the French quarters of New Orleans. His dream was to have a jazz band. However, for now John was just a waiter living in a brightly painted house with several other young men. To say he was a starving artist would be accurate. It didn’t matter to him though; he’d felt a pull to this city so strongly he could taste it. He knew he was where he was supposed to be, and nothing would stand in the way of his dream. Not even insanity. John took a deep breath and with some work he’d almost convinced himself that he had dreamed the whole thing when he heard the voice again. This time he was sure that he’d been fully awake and there was no denying it. A female’s voice echoed through his room. His eyes widened and having had time to adjust to the dim light he could now see around the room clearly. The chair at his desk suddenly moved backwards about two inches scraping the wooden floor and as he looked on in disbelief, a woman began to materialize in the chair. John’s breath caught in his throat and his body went rigid with fear. The woman was dressed in clothing of a bygone era, her hair was long and curled tantalizingly around her shoulders. As she looked back at him, she smiled slyly and exclaimed, “Finally! it’s about time you’ve seen me! John’s jaw dropped as he struggled to form sounds that were close enough to actual words. “Who, what” he stammered. “I’m Elizabeth.” She said casually as if this was a normal meeting. “Now that the formalities are behind us, get up boy! We have work to do!”

Elizabeth informed John that she had ran a bar and inn back when New Orleans was bustling with pirates and riches. John was impressed by how intelligent and cunning she’d been. She ran her Bar without the help of any man. She met the boats of liquor at the docks and fearlessly haggled with the river pirates over prices. When a fight broke out with the locals after they’d tied on one to many her small size didn’t stop her from commanding silence and order in her establishment. As her story continued, he sat riveted by the tales of her life. “Long story short,” she explained. “I have over twenty thousand dollars of Spanish Doubloons hidden beneath the stone floor of the fireplace in this room, and I’ve been waiting to lead someone to it for years.”

John was still trying to wrap his mind around talking to a ghost when the reality of what she was saying hit him like a train. The value of the Spanish doubloons today would be significantly larger than what they’d been in her day. It would be a small fortune. “Why do you want anyone to find it, how’d you get the money, and why me?” He said in one long breathy question.

She chuckled and sat back in the chair. She knew she now had his interest. She told him a story of how she’d taken the money from one of the most fearsome men that had sailed in and out of the port of New Orleans, and that she had died at the harsh hands of that same man. Her reasoning for choosing John to recover the cash was because she had heard him sing and knew by the songs he wrote in his little black notebook, that he was a good man. Plus, he’d been the first occupant of this room to be able to hear and see her. He was literally in the right place, at the right time for once in his otherwise Insignificant life.

John got out of bed and despite his legs trembling and his palms sweating he went to the fireplace and did as he was instructed. Prying the bricks up proved to be no easy feat despite the state of disrepair that the fireplace was in. After lifting out five bricks he started to doubt Elizabeth because nothing lay beneath the dusty bricks. When he turned to face her, she again had a knowing smile on her face. “Boy don’t look at me like that, now dig beneath the mortar under the bricks. I didn’t steal twenty thousand in gold coins by being simple minded, and if the coins had been easy to find I’d have lost the money instead of my life.”

John turned once more to the job at hand, shortly he had the mortar chipped away and a wooden box did indeed lay beneath it. His hands shook as he lifted the box from where it had laid for so long. When he placed it on the table, he flung the lid back to reveal the treasure she’d promised.

They both squealed with delight and as he looked at her face, he saw a peace wash over her. She put her hands on her chest and exclaimed. “That was what I needed.” John scrunched up his face, clearly confused, and before he could ask what she meant She began to glow as if she’d been lit from the inside. The light was warm and radiant. “Thank you, John, you’ve set me free. I’m not bound to that gold anymore. It’s your treasure now. My advice to you is simple. Don’t let a wishbone grow where a spine should be, be bold, take chances and enjoy the treasure.

Enjoy it he did, John listened to her advice and took a big leap. After purchasing a rundown building and putting in some hard work he became the proud owner of his own jazz bar which he named, ‘Elizabeth’s Doubloon’. He could be found on stage playing music and weaving Elizabeth’s stories into songs nightly. His bar quickly became a hot spot for locals and tourists alike. The story of a waiter who’d found pirate’s treasure had spread like wildfire. It was part of the lore that drew people into his bar, but his talent kept them coming back. His bartenders loved to spread the tales but secretly questioned the validity of them among themselves, but as john flicked off the last light at closing time he could always be heard saying “Goodnight Elizabeth”