The parks department might not have been amused by all the digging, but three children had a great time using a metal detector to search for buried treasure at a playground. You might expect they found nothing more than bottle caps and other random bits of metal, but you'd be wrong. Some crafty pirate had buried a treasure chest right there near the slide!
The oldest of the three spent a good 45 minutes sweeping various parts of the playground. All he turned up was a mysterious hunk of metal, heavy and badly rusted, it obviously wasn't anything to get excited about. But then over near the slide, he found sometimes more interesting. First, a penny and then more coins. "Oh my God! A nickel! A quarter!"
This find was a promising start, but hardly the untold riches they were hoping to unearth. In fact, it wasn't even enough to buy a candy bar! Still, the area by the slide was definitely worth further investigation. And indeed, there were soon more beeps from the detector. A little digging revealed a wooden box. This was the mother lode! While his younger brother and sister looked on, the lucky treasure hunter jumped up and down screaming with excitement. "It's a treasure chest! Oh my God! There's a jewel. Oh my God! Oh my god! There's a diamond!" Among the jewels, gems, and strings of pearls, there was even a pocket watch, "an old pirate thing." Once they had the treasure chest home, there was further examination of their newfound riches: "A diamond... Crystal. It's the same thing." In a sense he was right!
Needless to say, it was the dad who planted the "treasure chest." It certainly made for a fun trip to the playground. How they reacted to finding out it wasn't quite what they thought it was, we don't know. Assuming dad has even told them yet...
