Incest Justin Thyme by Callicious

[Ramesh_Rocky]

When we went to pick one up I understood why he suggested both of us pick it up. The case weighed nearly a hundred pounds!

Between us we got it up on the desk and Grandpa pulled the key ring out of his pocket. "I don't know if there is a key on this ring that will fit the chests or not, gentlemen. Sam Johnson had this ring in his pocket when he was killed." He picked out a couple of smaller keys and tried the first one, but it would not fit. Everyone held their breath when he tried the other key, which slipped into the slot and turned with a soft 'click'. Grandpa stepped back from the chest and gestured to Ben. "Would you like to do the honors, sir?"

Ben Jorgenson's hand was trembling as he reached for the lid. Fifty thousand dollars doesn't sound like all that much money these days, but at the first of the twentieth century it was quite a lot! Ben opened the lid and we all could see short rolls of $20 gold coins, quite a lot of them, in fact. Ben Jorgenson pulled one roll of coins from the case and hefted it in his hand before passing it along to the other two gentlemen, who each looked at it reverently, before looking up at Grandpa, and then over at Michael and me. Ben's voice was hushed as he said, "Thank you very much, gentlemen. Your honesty speaks well for you."

Michael shrugged and said, "It's the right thing to do. I always try to do what's right, although at times I fail." I nodded in agreement.

Grandpa interjected, "The reason we called you and are returning this is not for the reward offered by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad, but because we think it is the right thing to do. Actually, under Arizona law the kids are entitled to half, as treasure trove, but none of us believe that to be the right way to go about things. The reward offer however was never rescinded, so it was carried over to the Southern Pacific, and then to the U.P. in the merger."

Ben Jorgenson nodded his head. "I see nothing wrong with that at all! In fact, we were discussing what should be done on the way down here. None of us knew about the reward offer, but then we didn't really have a lot of time to research things. Do you know how much the reward offer was?"

"Yes sir. It was for $5,000, and that brings up a little different matter. The value of the gold has increased by over 70 times since 1901. Now please understand, neither of these young men are asking for that kind of an increase, but I as one's Grandfather, and as the other's attorney, am asking a reasonable consideration. By my best calculations from the spot prices on gold today, the $50,000 in these chests are now worth in excess of three and a half million, without even taking into account any numismatic values on the individual coins. Of course, we had not opened the chests before you just did, so I have no idea what is in there."

Charles Weigle, the legal counsel for the railroad spoke up. "I think what you are asking is entirely reasonable, and to be honest, if you had just melted down the coins, or had sold them off as treasure trove no one would have been the wiser." He looked over at Ben Jorgenson and Pete Fleming. "I'm thinking since the reward was for $5,000, if we were to pay them the $5,000 in gold coin, they would also reap the difference in value, plus if they get lucky and find a valuable coin they would have that as well. Even at that the railroad is going to come out very well." Both men nodded their agreement.

"Would you be willing to sign a receipt and a quit claim agreement on any treasure trove claim?" Charlie asked.

I nodded, as did Michael. Grandpa spoke up. "If you will draw something up we will be most happy to oblige. I know we lawyers like to make things complicated, but it need not be. Just a simple document will more than suffice. Michael didn't even want to take a reward, feeling it was only right to return your property, and Justin didn't ask about one. I had to talk to Michael like a Dutch uncle to get him to agree to what was his fair share."

Ben Jorgenson looked over at Michael, then at me, before saying, "Your attitudes are indeed commendable, and not something I run across every day. Michael, tell me, what do you do that you don't need the money? Are you in school, or what?"

Michael actually colored a little bit. "My needs are simple. I don't need more than I have. I wrote a computer business program and a couple of apps that I've sold, and I'm quite comfortable from them. I just try to do the right thing and don't worry about the rest of it."

Ben nodded. "What kind of program did you write, if I may ask?"

"It's a bit of software for tracking stocks and plotting trends. I actually wrote it for my Dad because he didn't understand what his broker was trying to get him to do with his investments. Dad showed it to his broker, and it stirred up some interest and I ended up getting a very nice offer from a software company, plus royalties for it." He told them the name of the program.

Pet started in his seat. "You wrote that? How old are you anyway, if I may ask?"

"I'm twenty-two, sir. I actually wrote it when I was in high school. Like I said, I just did it for Dad, and some people got interested."

"I use that program. I bought the Beta version when it first came out, and I've upgraded every time you have put out an upgrade. That software is marvelous! Are you interested in a job? The UP could use your talent, and you can pretty much name your price. We've had programmers trying to do something with some of our scheduling software, but they can't seem to get it done. Your concept for investing seems to be along the lines I think they should look."