glimmer, sparkle, sweet gold of yonder hills

it so happened that duggan’s abandoned gold mine sat smack dab in the middle of 125,000 acres of prime northern blue gum timber. the old miners in this country had long since vanished after turning in their pick axes for chainsaws and began ravaging the endless miles of pristine wilderness until the emerging environmental laws had driven them out of work, and into the legends of a bygone era. these hills were riddled with tall tales of tragic fortunes, won and lost. now all that was left out here were the ever-watching eagles, the shadowy black bears, and the lurking of the ghostly timber wolves. the legend of duggan’s gold was thought to be just that, nothing more than rumor and campfire legend, but sure as a skunk’s teet, there she was. it was by sheer chance that danny had found her at all. he had just crossed the narrowed neck of the snake river just beneath the old mine and had glanced up the towering face of boar’s canyon at just the right moment. she sat squarely in the middle of the ancient granite cliff like a festering black mole on a lunch lady’s back. danny wiped his forehead and began working his way up the eroded path to the mine’s opening. the entrance sagged from years of neglect like the ass end of an aging plumber. the afternoon sun lit a few yards into the mine and he could see the various piles of rubble from decades of dusty cave-ins. he ventured cautiously down the darkened cavern and began to catch the glimmer of what appeared to be precious metal sparkling in the dust. his heart began to creep up his throat with a thunderous beat. he bent down and slowly reached his shaking hand around the old timber beam… suddenly a strong hand snatched his wrist. “after my jar of pennies again are you danny?!” his older bother snarled. with one mighty jerk, he pulled danny by his wrist from underneath his bed and pushed him out the door of his bedroom. danny stumbled down the hallway and fell crumpled to the carpet. he turned just as his brother slammed his bedroom door. danny picked up his spiderman flashlight and mumbled to himself, “oh i’ll have that gold damn you, i’ll have that gold.”