Exercise 4 - The Bedside Drawer
A first attempt at writing like this
Exercise 4 - The Bedside Drawer belongs to the following groups:
Writing WorkshopThe house was old, very old in fact. No one had lived in it for at least twenty years until I moved in. Old and dusty yet not dirty. Obviously the family who had lived here had taken well care of the house. It looked like they had just cleaned up, locked up and walked out of the house. Those were also the words that the solicitor had used when he sold me the house ten years ago. Ten years – how time flies.
The house was furnished when I bought it. It came with what looked like it’s original furnishings. Antiques at least one hundred and fifty years old and appreciating in value each time I managed to restore a piece. Amazingly every cupboard, sideboard, door, drawer and window had it’s key in the lock. All bar one bedside drawer that is.
The house had a history as well. Built in the 1850’s with the proceeds from various illegal activities that the infamous Muttovski family had undertaken over generations, the last Muttovski had walked out of the house nearly thirty years ago and never returned. There were two rumours that regularly did the rounds in town. Firstly it was thought that the last Muttovski, Anton, was ashamed of where his family fortune had come from and had simply walked away from it all; deserting the house and everything in it and had started a new life elsewhere.
The second rumour was much more interesting though. Said to have been taken in the middle of the night by a rival Denbuttovian syndicate, the family to be held until Anton delivered the map to his families vast fortune of gold and jewels. The map, drawn by Anton’s great grandfather, was said to show the location of a treasure that would rival those in the great treasure houses of the Tower of London and the Vatican. Jewellery, gold, uncut diamonds, rubies and said, most importantly, to include the legendary Holy Grail. The unfortunate thing for Anton’s family was that he never knew where the map was hidden. With his father dying before he could pass on the location of the map, Anton was left in an obviously difficult situation.
It’s here that the myth became rather vague; as no one was ever able confirm what happened to Anton or his family. All that was known is that neither Anton nor his wife or family ever returned to the house. With twenty years worth of back taxes owing, the Council finally decided to sell the house and recoup the taxes due to them. Sold for the amount owing, that was how I came to buy the house and all the furniture within.
It had been a quiet ten years that had become rather hectic of late due to the incessant phone calls from newspaper and television reporters. The discovery of a wrecked car in a deep chasm off the notorious Alpine Highway, with the now identified remains of the Muttovski family inside, had raised again the spectre of the map to the family treasure. Most wanted to do a story on the house but a few were more interested in whether or not I had found the map in my ten years of living there. No visit, no story, no map, no further comment. Even so, it had got me wondering. Did the map really exist? Did the treasure really exist? Do I want to waste my time looking for a map and a treasure that more than likely did not exist?
And then I thought about it. I had been over the whole house in my ten years; from attic to basement and had looked around, under and in each piece of furniture in the house. After ten years there was only the drawer in the bedside table without the key that I had never been able to open. Could it be there after all those years?
Slowly I inserted the tip of the screwdriver into the drawer and hit it with the hammer. As the lock finally give away the drawer sprang open. I pulled the drawer out and placed it on the bed. Leaning forward I looked inside for the map. My eyes widened in surprise.
The furniture restoration is still my main source of income and I have decided to open the house to a TV show doing a story on the Muttovski family, which will also pay well. As for the drawer and the map – I’ll leave that to your imagination.
jcmontgomery
As a first attempt it does quite well. Thank you for participating. I hope these exercises help you re-discover your creative writing. Also, you can go back and do any you wish, or do them more than once. Nothing previously posted in the forum or on our homepage has a deadline.