treasure Special K "Here," he said, "I can show you this." He held in his hands a wooden box, like a small loaf of bread gone dark and old. I don't know what type of wood it was; walnut, teak, those are the sorts of things I do not know. With one hand he lifted away the lid, and tilted the box toward me. Teeth. Hundreds of tiny, daggery teeth in all shapes and sizes, some no bigger than a sliver, some the size of a grown man's thumbnail. "Where... where did these come from?" My jaw is open, my eyes wide. "I found them all," he said, "one at a time, on the beaches in Florida." He lifted first one, then another, calling them by name. "This one's a bull shark, this one's a Mako. See this?" He held between his thumb and forefinger a notched piece of bone, black and shiny. It wasn't very much like a tooth, to my eyes. "This is a tooth from a stingray." I think he said stingray, maybe it was skate or manta. I didn't really listen, I was staring like a child into the dark box of treasure. "It's going to storm," he said, looking over his shoulder to the patio outside. The sky was indeed growing darker. He covered the box and replaced it on the shelf. "Come on," he said excitedly, "let's go outside and watch." We sat in springy wrought iron chairs, fidgeting, staring at the sky, waiting for the rain. 010731 ... Teenage Jesus My oldest boy (3) calls little pieces of wood his treasure. (He's mine!) 010731 ... freakizh i always keep my friends' drawings and writings as a treasure. every little picture they draw on my notebook, or the correction of math problems, everything. i don't know if it is for personal joy, or like an investment, waiting for my friends to be rockstars/presidents, so i can sell the pages and get some profit. 011112 ... a thousand i heard this once.. inside evry heart there is locked a heart which keeps that heart. inside evry heart is locked a million crystals that compose the very structure of that heart. and inside evry crystal, locked, is the true essence of what we are. somehow we have to share it and by god i wish i could. 020804 ... me maybe "just" to you, i'll take it for almost everything; were it an end i'd keep it no more dear. i love you. so much, too much. still i cry to remember your sorrows, i hope they're abated by hugh. 030509 ... neesh they were not, he could not help; i can't help. what idiocy to treasure some words of thanks when i can do nothing. maybe i should blathe this under tears? 030716 ... stork daddy joey would often walk down the street, and he'd wonder how many people passed some story by that they never even knew was there just because they were always on their way to the same places over and over again. how many people saw the ring lying in the gutter that would lead them to the kind-hearted old man who wanders at night and is worth a fortune, or followed the lost dog to the most beautiful woman in the entire city's house? then again, he thought, how many trash cans actually hold winning lottery tickets? still, he wanted to live in a world where each item had significance to some quest, a world like a video game. he wondered how many people he let pass by like that in any given day, how many people lonely, or hilarious, or on the verge of something big sat there like a locked treasure box waiting for a key. and were they keys did he passed by, and what if they were ones he already had? he remembered the time he threw away a love letter he had wrote to a girl his freshman year in high school and wondered if anyone had ever found it, if they remembered a phrase from it and recited it to themself like a prayer everynight before they went to bed. somewhere he hoped so, somehow he thought that would be an even better use than if he had just given it to the girl. 030826 ... nick Love letters for you, in blue on blue, marked the path for my scattered mind, and when I read them, and I found the way back, I could finally stop looking for the treasure I found. love always 040131 ... jane i found a purse. i was surprised at what i could tell about this person from her purse. she had a flier for "arts industria presents: from new york with love. she had a silver cigarette box liner that had been ripped out. she had a box of wooden matches that said "zocalo" on it. written in the corner was: macy's 212.6954400. there was also a glass vial. in the glass vial is one small leaf of marijuana. 040215 ... Old Man "Where is your treasure, so too is your heart." 071109 what's it to you? who go blather from