The Day We Left Very Quickly | Lost Cabin Mine

The Day We Left Very Quickly

Jimmy and her search partner had gone deep into the woods again.

They had climbed over logs, checked hidden places, and followed clue after clue until they reached a spot Jimmy had been especially sure about.

“This has to be it,” she whispered.

It looked right.

It felt right.

It was the sort of place that made her treasure-hunter instincts sit up straight and point.

Then her search partner stopped.

He listened.

He looked toward the trees.

And his face changed.

Very quietly, he told Jimmy what he had seen.

Whatever it was, it was close enough to make one thing perfectly clear:

It did not seem interested in sharing the area with surprise visitors.

So Jimmy and her search partner made the universal decision known as:

Let us leave calmly... but not too calmly.

They turned around and started back down the trail.

They walked quickly.

Not running, exactly.

But definitely using their “this is still walking” speed.

Jimmy took one last glance at the spot she had been so sure about.

And that was when it happened.

From the brush beside the trail came a rustle.

A familiar little head popped out.

Round ears.

Bright eyes.

Damp fur.

The soggy raccoon.

He looked at Jimmy with the most smug little expression she had ever seen on any creature, anywhere.

It was the unmistakable look of someone who had been waiting for the perfect moment to appear.

As if to say:

Got you again.

Jimmy stopped.

Her search partner stopped.

The raccoon blinked at them, perfectly calm, perfectly pleased, as if the entire treasure hunt were his own private comedy show and they were simply performing in it.

Jimmy's search partner still looked rattled.

Jimmy herself was beginning to reconsider several of her life choices.

But the raccoon?

The raccoon was having a wonderful time.

He twitched his whiskers, gave one tiny sniff, and vanished back into the brush like a magician ending a trick.

Jimmy stared after him.

Then she sighed.

“At this point,” she said, “if I ever find the treasure, that raccoon had better be waiting for me at the finish line.”

Her search partner laughed, a little shakily.

And Jimmy laughed too.

Because the woods were strange, the hunt was stranger, and somehow that soggy raccoon kept showing up exactly when he was least needed and most expected.

Which, Jimmy was beginning to realize, was almost comforting.

Almost.

To be continued…

Jimmy is a fictional treasure-hunting persona. The raccoon insists he is real.

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