Scrap CH TWO part four

CH TWO 4
Jason wakes at six in the morning to the sound of activity in the yard. He rubs frost from the window and peers into the gloom to see Danny skulking around in the barn, apparently searching for something. Ha, just as he thought: he knew it was too good to be true that he would be so accommodating without there being something in it for him.
He pulls on his clothes and creeps out to see what is going on. ‘Christ, you nearly made me jump out of my skin,’ gasps Danny, as Jason shuts the door noisily behind him. ‘Maybe now you’ll tell me what you are up to,’ he suggests. ‘Okay, don’t get your knickers in a twist,’ smarms Danny. ‘Rosa told me your dad had hidden a stash somewhere so I thought I’d help you look for it. We’ve looked everywhere else so if there is anything it must be in here somewhere.’
Jason tries to hide his reaction with an angry scowl. ‘I might have known you wouldn’t be helping me out of the goodness of your heart,’ he growls. ‘Nobody ever mentioned to me about a hidden hoard. How do you know that it wasn’t just another one of dad’s jokes? And how come Ma didn’t say anything? Surely she would have known if there was anything worth having amongst this lot?’
Danny shrugs off the questions and suggests they get on with clearing the junk. ‘I’m having breakfast first,’ says Jason and returns to the house where his mother is starting on a fry-up. ‘You two are eager,’ she says, without looking round, ‘the kettle is on. Make us a brew while I get the breakfast sorted.’ Jason does as she asks, then lays out the cutlery and crocks. Danny comes in as Ma is dishing up and they sit in silence stuffing their faces. Ma senses there is something up but she knows better than to comment. ‘I’m taking a cuppa up to Rosa,’ she says, leaving the room with a mug for herself as well. She is happy to leave them to it and snuggle up in bed for another hour or so.
‘How come dad told Rosa about this so-called treasure trove and never mentioned it to me?’ asks Jason. ‘No, I can answer that for myself: he didn’t trust me. Either that or it was just some story he made up after all. But why didn’t you and Rosa tell me? Don’t you trust me either? Or were you planning on keeping the loot for yourselves?’
Danny finishes his breakfast and makes ready to leave the house. ‘Think what you like,’ he snaps, ‘you will anyway.’ And with that comment evaporates any idea Jason may have had about sharing his find with his nearest and dearest.
The radio is playing loudly enough to excuse the lack of communication as they heave the rest of the junk from the shed and either deposit it into the big new skip or into the gulley of the crusher. Suddenly Danny shouts out that he has found something, bringing an old, rusting biscuit tin from a drawer in a metal filing cabinet. Jason follows him outside and they prise open the lid, only to reveal it is full of old coins from around the World which Bill’s brother had collected on his travels with the merchant navy and given to Jason when he was a boy. ‘I remember pawing over this treasure and pretending I was Long John Silver,’ laughs Jason. ‘I thought I was rich until dad said the coins were of little or no value. He must have stuck them in the drawer when I lost interest in them. Some ‘precious hoard’; I’m surprised he even kept them.’
Danny is not in a happy mood as he sits down to dinner, having worked for best part of two days on a project which will bring him no reward. Rosa tries to cheer him up with news that the new lorry is ready for collection, but he scowls at her. ‘That’s your baby,’ he grunts, ‘I don’t want anything to do with the haulage side. All the aggro you get isn’t worth the carrot.’ Rosa scowls back at him; ‘you won’t be interested in any of the profits then,’ she snaps.
‘Come on you two, can’t we have one meal in peace?’ asks Orla. ‘Why is everyone so miserable these days? We still have each other.’ Hmm, that’s the problem, thinks Jason.
Safely locked in his room, Jason retrieves the strongbox and tipping out the contents onto the bed he counts the coins without interruption. There are two thousand and twelve full sovereigns and seventy half sovereigns; more than enough to buy him his own yard and anything else he might need. But he can’t spend it because questions would be asked. The more he thinks about the dilemma the worse it gets but one thing is certain: he won’t be sharing any of this with his thieving brother-in-law. He does feel a bit guilty for keeping his good fortune from Ma but not as much as he felt yesterday and it won’t be long before he feels none at all.
Deciding that he must find a more secure hiding place, he removes the big heavy drawer from the bottom of the wardrobe and places the strongbox on the floor beneath before replacing the drawer and loading some old LP records inside for good measure. He reasons that if anyone does come snooping they won’t try to remove the heavy drawer or to move the wardrobe. It will remain a worry for him though until he can find time to deposit the gold in a bank vault without being detected. Being deceitful is not in his nature; yet.