September was a scorcher. Heat records were broken. And for some reason, I felt like the sun was trying to stop me from digging. I shoveled out the dirt and plopped it into a pile until the fall wind blew it into the air, a rotating cyclone that entered the bay and drown in the water. I watched the glassy ocean and the leaves carried out to sea, and stared at the island where the vanishing lights appeared and disappeared. 8 more hours of this and I’d sleep for a day. I was thinking of the things I would buy and wondering what kind of treasure I’d find. I hit solid wood for the twentieth time and smashed the lock with my ax. Out came a body with its sword stretched towards me, screaming a bloodcurdling cry. I leapt aside and the sun did the rest. Its body floated away to a place never seen by the living. Dealing with the undead was becoming routine.

“Maybe we should call you a necromancer,” Gordon said.

“Hey, I thought you were afraid of ghosts.”

“It’s not so bad, since I’ve been watching you. Can I give you a hand” You’ll still keep all the money.”

“Swell,” I said.

We were digging graves under the shade of enormous Elms and when we cracked open the box, and heard the screams, the sun did not intervene. I pulled out my sword just in time and the undead leapt upon me. It had twice the strength of a normal man and sunk its sword an inch from my head. Gordon pulled off his glasses and reflected the light at the bearded apparition until a hole burned squarely through its head, curling in flame, like a cigarette butt burning. When it vanished, I looked at its leather tunic and gasped. “A map, or half a map. I think this is what we’ve been looking for.”

“You mean, what I’ve been looking for,” the superintendent said.