“Madison, please,” I corrected him.
He shook Chase’s hand as well, then set his weed-whacker down across a long thin shovel he’d been carrying. And that’s when I realized, it wasn’t a weed-whacker at all.
“Is that—”
“A metal detector,” the man smiled. “Yes.”
“What are you doing with it?” asked Chase.
“Detecting metal,” the man said, laughing at his own joke. “Just a dumb hobby of mine, really. I’m a bit of a history buff. I like digging things up from the past.”
“Way out here?” I squinted.
“Sure!” he said excitedly. “This is old land. Farms on top of farms. People have dropped things here for centuries.”
He opened a canvas pouch at his waist, and pulled out a few rusty objects. All of them were unrecognizable.
“What are we looking at here?”
“Reins guide for an old harness,” he said. “Top of an oil lantern. Broken horseshoe...” One by one he dropped each item back into his pouch.
“That’s not treasure, it’s junk,” said Chase.
“Never said I was looking for treasure,” Edgar smiled. “I’m looking for history.”
“That uh… shredded can of soda you’ve got right there,” I pointed skeptically. “That’s history?”
“No, that’s junk,” the man laughed. “But I take everything I find along with me. No sense in not cleaning up, right?”
Edgar wiped at his forehead with one arm, then looked back in the direction we’d just come.
“Is Nolan looking for me yet? I usually do this on break, or between busy times when—”
“No, no,” I assured him. “In fact, he didn’t even mention you.”
“He hired me at the beginning of summer,” said Edgar. “He’s much too old now, to muck out the stalls. And feeding all the horses? You know… with his foot all twisted…”
“We know,” said Chase.
Edgar grinned back through the dirt and coughed. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any water, would you?”
Chase pulled out the long metal flask of ice water we’d been sharing. When he offered it to the man, his eyes lit up.
“Ah, thankee!”
For a long time Edgar drank his fill, upending the flask until it was nearly empty. Chase looked over at me and rolled his eyes. I smiled and poked him in the ribs.
“Hey, it’s okay if I do this, right?” the man asked, suddenly concerned. He handed the flask back with a firm nod. “I mean it’s your property, and all. If you didn’t want me to—”
“No no,” I smiled waving him off. “Go for it. It’s totally fine.”
“Yeah,” said Chase. “Unless you find something good, though. Like a cache of diamonds, or a chest of gold coins.” He grinned at Edgar and winked. “In that case we’re splitting it.”
There was a slight pause as the man slid his headphones back over his ears and pulled his gloves back on. “Totally,” he grinned back, with a twinkle in his eye.
Forty-Six
MADISON