HIDDEN TREASURES

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     A few days later, Jess and Lilla received a formal looking letter. It was from a local solicitor and they were both asked to attend on a certain date and time if convenient, otherwise a different time, etc., could be arranged.     Both young women attended. The lawyer was aptly named Mr. S. Frost. However his reading of the will made the twins weep silently. The grandparents wrote signed and witnessed documents. They had tried, even employing a private detective for a while to locate Lilla.     On her twenty-first birthday, they were going to share with Jess all they knew. The couple who had care of Lilla were distant relatives. Somehow they had gained custody of the little girl before anyone else could react. Then they had promptly disappeared, changing names and localities.     For some unknown reason, they had wanted to harm the family. No-one ever discovered the reason or reasons.      ...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Lilla made a huge effort to control her emotions and deflect their focus.  "Anyway, I'm happy for you guys." Lilla smiled. "Seen the way you look at each other!"      Jess blushed. "I could pray for a Godly husband for you," she offered, kindly. But Lilla was again angry. "Hey, I'm not some Goody Two-Shoes! When I was ten, it wasn't cool to be the sex you were at birth. My friend had autism - such a pretty girl. We were always giggling at some silly joke. Well, she decided to be a boy and the whole school applauded her in assembly for her courage."     Lilla looked sad. "But you had Popsickle and Mopsickle . I guess you were Topsickle."     Jess looked really hurt, shaken at her attack.     "Sorry Lilla. I am only just remembering you when you were little. I was very ill."  But Lilla was bitter. "Me, I was Icycle, alone. There was a motherly teacher I liked once. I pretend...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     One day, a Saturday, Matthew called into the tiny house and offered to help with the garden - mowing, pruning, weeding.     The women were drinking cup-a- soup and crusty warm bread rolls. It was a mild day towards the end of winter. The lawn and weeds were celebrating by growing high!     Jess gave him a cup and gave the young man a choice of soup. He chose mushroom, his favourite and even devoured two crusty rolls. "Didn't realise I was so hungry," Matthew yawned.     "Look," he continued, softly, "Jess, you said Mops was going to share some important news. Do you think it was about Lilla?"     "We thought that," Jess answered sadly. "Mops and Pops were old for grandparents. We wondered if two children were too much for them."     Lilla was simmering with rage. "Why didn't they at least get together?" Her voice rose. "The folks that got me didn't like children. Several t...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Simon had an alibi for the night in question, but he was cautioned nonetheless. The police said nothing of this to the young woman involved currently, but he had already come to police attention for similar behaviours in the past few years. "We are watching you, Foster! Be advised!"      Over the next few days, Lilla and Jessica spent time together when they were not working. Jess had insisted Lilla stay in their grandparents' house. Lilla had cried. "Why did I never know them?" Jess had suffered terribly when her parents had died, but she had forgotten her sister. Pain had blocked that memory.     Lilla had no idea what had happened. "These grumpy people came to get me from school. I had to call them Aunt and Uncle, but they were strangers. I kept asking about you and mum and dad. All they answered was they would explain when I was older. So I kept thinking you were lost. That's how I hurt my head."   ...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     The scan showed little sign of any major brain trauma. After a few days of observation, Lilla was due to be discharged, but just before that, the police came to find out (now she was coherent), what exactly had happened to her.     "Well," said Lilla, "I was staying with others at the Y.W.C.A. and one night I was late home from work. Then I heard footsteps behind me."     Lilla stopped trying to remember. The woman police officer was recording the interview. "Were you alone, apart from hearing the footsteps? Why did you panic?" She spoke firmly, but kindly also.     "Well," again began Lilla, now joined by Jess, at her request, "it was very dark and when I stopped, so did the sound of someone behind me. Heavy footsteps, then a male voice said, "Wait Jess." Lilla glanced at her twin, "and then I realised perhaps I had finally found my sister. Anyhow I went faster. The man was really angry, ...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Anika Patel asked for Dr. Matthew Walters who was also on duty. She felt that a CT scan was vital to assess the patient with a head wound. In her examination earlier, she had seen a noticeable indentation on the left side of the forehead which was possibly indicative of an earlier head trauma...     He accompanied an orderly to the young woman's room and was surprised to find Jess there. When he saw the patient, he was even more astonished! He looked from Jess to Lilla and back again.     Then he noticed the birthmark of a small rose on the girl's shoulder and remembered noticing the same mark on Jess's opposite shoulder on a warm day when she had worn short sleeves.     Lilla had been awake again and Matthew noticed her eyes were greener than Jess's eyes, but otherwise they were very alike in appearance.     As they were transferring Lilla to a trolley (gurney) for her scan, she explained that ...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Jess stared at the young woman lying, still unconscious on the bed. The face, no longer wrapped around with bandages, mirrored her own. She began to shake slightly. People did not have "doppelgangers," the German word for doubles. Yes, lookalikes, but not identical. What had separated them?     Then the young woman opened her eyes - deep, deep blue with flecks of green. She stared at Jess. "My sister, finally. A treasure from darkness. Jessica. Remember me?" Lilla?"     Then she closed her eyes, smiling. The doctor was delighted. "No more coma!" she exclaimed. "Now she sleeps. Much better."     Quickly she re-bandaged Lilla and left, patting Jess on the shoulder.     "I have to go," she explained. "I will send the nurse with tea for you, and sugar. Now you can be happy, yes?"     But Jess was remembering. For a long time, she had been ill after the car accident, remembering little. Th...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Then Jess had a thought. Why not look up those Bible verses on her phone? She did and the words were beautiful, but also mysterious. How could the dark hide treasures?      The patient moved restlessly and the sheet fell away from her shoulders. Leaning over slightly to adjust the sheet, Jess saw that the young woman had an unusual mark like a rose on her right shoulder, pink and small. That was odd because Jess had a similar mark, but on the opposite shoulder. A mirror image in the same detail like a pink Guild rose opening.     A nurse came in to check the dressings, frowning. Something concerned her and she paged the on-duty doctor.     While she waited, Jess read out the verse aloud quietly, hoping it would calm the unknown patient. Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that I, the LORD, who calls you by your name, am the Go...

HIDDEN TREASURES By Tessa Harvey     Jess is on duty and tasked with sitting next to a young woman who has, it seems, fallen off a high wall.     Dangerously hypothermic, with a suspected brain bleed from the fall, the patient is now out of Intensive Care and in a small side ward. An old man, coaxing his yapping dog had found her inside.     Jess remembers Alice in a similar side ward not so long ago, and feels as though her grandmother wanted to share something important - but death had intervened.          The girl's head is heavily swathed in white dressings, but Jess feels a kind of empathy towards her. She was not allowed to do anything medical, of course, but asked to be a presence in the room. "Try to read to her," an older doctor had said, "or talk about anything. But keep it light, though."     "The monitors will warn us if necessary and the night staff will check this patient often. Just keep her company. It may ...

HIDDEN TREASURES  By Tessa Harvey     Character witnesses had been sufficient to stop the dad going to prison. And later he was allowed access to his kids, now in their unstable mother's care. Estelle was walking home, musing on how close those girls were to her still - Rose and Jasmine all grown-up.     Estelle hurried. The supervisor had made her work late and it was winter. Dark came early and the street felt empty, but a sixth sense told her she was not alone. Quietly she stopped, slipped off her shoes, darted into an alleyway.      Possibly a very stupid move, but she was now desperate. Gripping her shoes, she soundlessly scaled a steep brick wall, as nimbly as she had done as an eleven year old child. Lowering herself as flat as possible to the top of the wall, Estelle waited and prayed to a God she believed was real, trying to breathe softly, and waited, afraid.     The footsteps paused, uncertain. Estelle heard a muttered curse. ...