By Sheree Stubblefield and Jake Seidman
Recently, the CYCA held a summer story contest for the kids of Cooper-Young. The Lamplighter is proud to announce the winner of the contest is 8 year old Jake Seidman. Jake is a 3rd grader at Idlewild, loves the TV show Camp Kikiwaka, the movie Garfield 2, lizards and pizza. He is a big brother, a self-professed cat whisperer and according to his dad Jeff Seidman, “the most fair-minded person I know.”
The only thing he hates are Mondays and lizards on his pizza because who doesn’t?
Read on and enjoy this tale of his magical summer adventure!
This story of my summer is entirely real. There are some parts that might seem fake, but I swear this is what happened.
My summer started with summer camps, at Taekwondo where we practiced our moves and then to the Lichterman Nature Center, where we got to play with nature. That was my favorite camp, we got to learn about reptiles, and even got to touch a snake.
I also spent time at my cousin’s house in Texas, but I never could get used to the height of their stairs. My oldest cousin had a birthday party, and had the tallest waterslide I have ever seen. We even had a unicorn cake.
Then they came to my house in Memphis, and we got to play for a whole week. I wish they could have stayed longer, I always get sad when they leave.
We also went to zoo, had backyard movie nights, and went to Mud Island. But for sure, the best part of my summer happened when we went to Florida for a week. For the first few days, e caught crabs on the beach and collected shells. One day, when putting these shells away in a box in the house we rented, I found a key. Under the key was a riddle that promised to lead to a buried treasure. Me and my dad figured out the first clue, which led us to check the pages of a book in the house, and we found another riddle!
That clue actually told us to go to the restaurant down the street, and that we had to order a root beer float and tell them that “Whitebeard sent us”. Well, we did, and then the restaurant owner came out and handed us a real treasure map! With a compass and an “X” and everything. It led us to the beach, and it was hard to find the “X” but we did. We dug and dug until we came across a letter that warned us that if we weren’t the ones with the map and the key, we should leave the treasure alone or be cursed. This had to be it, and then we did find a wooden box, closed with a lock. The key we found in our house fit, and we opened up the box to find an honest to goodness treasure! Coins, shells, a ring, and a sand dollar.
I never thought we would actually find a real pirate treasure, but I always look for an X now. I still have some summer left before school starts, and I can’t wait for more adventures. But nothing can top finding buried treasure!
