The Shining Ball: A Short Story by Gary Flory

 

    All the kids were back in school and vacation time was over for most of the families, leaving the beach empty except for a few retired people. I just put new batteries in my metal detector and figured this would be a good time to hit the beach. The weather was nice, so we decided to take the picnic basket and blanket along to make a day of it. I knew of an isolated section of beach where no one walked and there weren’t many houses close by. That might be the perfect place to find some washed-up treasures. We drove up to an old parking lot. Much of it was covered in sand and wasn’t used much. We grabbed our stuff and started walking along the beach. Cath had a sack and picked up some nice shells along the shore, while I found an occasional coin, but no Spanish gold coins.

    After walking a couple of miles, we came upon an old dock. It seemed like a good place to stop and have a picnic. Laying our blanket on the dock, we sat down and started unpacking our lunch. Nothing real fancy, smoked turkey sandwiches, macaroni salad and some barbecue chips, topped off with iced tea. Everything always seems to taste better when you eat it outside, especially when you can hear the ocean lapping the shore. We could see a ship about a mile out. It was a great afternoon to just lay back and feel the ocean breeze against your face - zzzzzzz before we realized it, we were both asleep. For the next hour, the only thing we got was a tan. A seagull flew by making a squawk, waking us up. I told Cath that I wanted to check around the dock before we started back. The tide had gone out, leaving the water less than waist deep.

    I searched along the side first but found nothing. Just when I started around the end of the dock, the detector started to light up. 

    “Maybe it’s the buried treasure you've been looking for,” Cath said. The tide was starting to turn, and the water was getting deeper. That’s when I began thinking about sharks. 

    “If you see anything swimming, let me know. I can feel something with my foot, but it feels like wood. I’m going to try and dig it out.” 

    So, I sat the detector on the dock and bent down into the water to search with my hand. Cath happened to notice a small stick lying there and picked it up. Leaning over the dock, she rubbed it against my legs, which were underwater. I think I jumped straight up out of the water; I just knew it was a shark! She was rolling in laughter. 

    “DARN YOU! You scared me to death!”

    She could hardly get her breath...sorry.

    With the water up to my chest, I went down to the bottom and started to loosen the small wooden box, came up for air... almost had it. The second time down I was able to pull it loose and bring it to the surface, laying it on the dock. The sun was starting to go down and I wanted to get out of the water, so I said, "Let’s just take it with us and head back." By the time we reached the car it was almost dark. On the drive home, we speculated about what could be in the box, if anything. While Cath was fixing dinner, I sat at the table wiping ocean residue and seaweed off the box. 

    “Look at this, there was a row of small symbols on the lid.” 

    “What do they mean?” 

    “I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s no keyhole, not sure how it opens. Maybe the symbols are the key.”

    We ate dinner and talked some more about how to get the box open. 

    “Well, let's sleep on it and see if we can figure it out in the morning.” 

    I woke up around 3 am to go to the bathroom and went back to bed. Once you let your brain start thinking, it’s almost impossible to go back to sleep. I got up and went downstairs. The box was still on the kitchen table, so I sat down to take a second look. What if the symbols were certain sounds, but what sounds? I tried humming different sounds but that didn’t work. Maybe the sounds had to be in perfect pitch - like a piano. I picked it up and sat it on the piano bench with me. I tried middle C.... nothing. Perhaps a black key. When I struck it, the first symbol lit up. Okay, now we were getting somewhere.

    “What are you doing?” came a voice directly behind me, scarring the heebie-jeebies out of me. Cath had come downstairs and was standing right behind me. 

    “I couldn’t sleep thinking about the box, so I came down to look at it again. Guess what, I found out what the symbols are for, music. Certain keys will light them up. So far, I found the first one, watch. It only stays lit for a couple of seconds.”

    It was trial and error going through the different keys until I found the right combination where all of them lit at the same time. When that happened the box slowly opened, emitting a bright yellow orb ball. It was so bright it lit the whole room. We both stepped back several steps not knowing what to expect. There was also a low humming tone coming from it. Opening the lid somehow turned on the light. It was so bright it was hard to look at. Were the light rays harmful in any way? They didn’t seem to be, we almost felt a heavy peace come over us. What was it? What was it used for, good or evil? Cath said, “Maybe we should take it to the scientists in Myrtle Beach, they might know.” 

    “Okay.” 

    As I started to close the lid, my hand slipped off, momentarily touching the orb. Instantly a bolt of energy surged through my body, knocking me to the floor. 

    “Are you alright?" 

    “I…I think so.”

    I stood up, but I knew something was different. 

    “Hand me that book on the table.” It was Gone with the Wind. I turned the pages as fast as I could, going through each page until I reached the end. It took less than three minutes, and I knew every word from memory. I could tell you the tenth word on page 81. 

    Cath said, “What just happened?” 

    “Hand me another book, and another one.” As quickly as I could turn the page, I could remember every word. 

    “Can you imagine how this could change things?” 

    “Well, let’s let the experts look at it.” We drove over to the science building where some of the top science professors in the country worked. As they gathered around the box, I used the special tones to open it. I could tell they were amazed on that point alone. As the lid opened, the bright yellow light filled the room, and it began to hum. The scientists stepped back, just like we did. I didn’t tell them what happened when I touched it. You could tell their minds were racing to try to come up with some kind of explanation of what it was. They asked if they could test the material. I showed them a piece of the box that fell out when I opened it for the first time. They took it to their lab and ran many tests. After a couple of hours, they came back into the room. 

    “Where did you find this?” I wasn’t ready to answer that question just yet. 

    “Why, what did you find out?” 

    "We ran a number of tests on the small piece, and it is not like any known element on earth. It is at least twice as hard as a diamond. Our machine couldn’t register any higher. There is nothing like it. We think the military will be very interested in this, so we gave them a call and they are on their way over." The scientists walked back to the lab to do more testing. I whispered to Cath, "Get the car and have my door open. Leave the car running and have it facing the exit. Call me when you’re ready." She nodded and headed out the door. Minutes later my phone rang, and it was her.

    I quickly closed the box and ran for the door. The security guard wasn’t sure what was going on, but he yelled for me to stop. I didn’t miss a beat, out the door I ran with the box and jumped in the car. 

    “GO, GO!” and Cath hit the gas. As we were leaving the parking lot, two black unmarked cars were pulling in. “Whatever happens, we can’t let this be found. This could change everything, either for the good or bad. Head for the beach, we’re going to put it back where we found it.”

    As she pulled into the parking lot, I grabbed the flashlight and took off running down the beach to the dock. I quickly hollowed out a place in the sand, placed the box into the hole, and covered it.

    On the way home Cath asked, “Do you think they will be waiting for us at home? They don’t even know who we are, and if they would happen to show up, we would just say, ‘What box?’”

    When we got home, no one was waiting for us. I noticed the books I looked at were still on the table. Funny, I could no longer remember the tenth word on page 81. I couldn’t remember any of the pages, only the story in general. The effects must have worn off, but I know where to find it if I ever feel the need.