The Fist-sized Nugget Of Gold

• Genita Wongpaibool, Grade 7, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College
• Short Story
• 2020

Excellence Award in the 'The Inside Story 2020' competition

It was just that day when I was roaming around my backyard. It couldn't have been worse if my dog didn't roll in the mud.
"Jimmy! I beg you, please stop rolling in the mud!" I yelled as I grasped my dog's collar and dragged him out of the mud. "Now I have to wash you clean!" I shouted while I glanced at Jimmy, whose eyes gazed with satisfaction.
As I was scrubbing Jimmy's light brown fur in the backyard, I saw shadows lurking from behind the backdoor. The shadow came closer and closer. Tap, tap, tap. The sound of footsteps coming closer.
"Hi, honey! What are you doing?" asked mum who stared at me with exasperated eyes. She crossed her arms as she lifted her head, looking down at me and waiting for my reply.
"Oh, mum! I-it's j-just y-y-you! T-this is..." I stuttered while using my back to cover Jimmy. Mum will be furious if she knew Jimmy rolled in the mud!
"Trying to cover up for Jimmy again? Well, it doesn't work with me," said mum strictly, "your consequence is that you have to go plant some trees for me in the backyard. The backyard looks so plain, gotta decorate it with some plants."
"Of course...." I replied as I peered at Jimmy. Mum soon left to do the laundry.
"Now, time to start gardening..." I sighed with a not-so-cheerful-voice. Gardening isn’t a very exciting activity for me especially when your mum is all about plants and gardens.
I started to dig up dirt to make a giant hole. Clank! The sound of something under the dirt. It was something, I hit something! I started digging deeper. I couldn't resist the urge to find out. Curiosity hit me like a bullet. I saw what the object was, it was shining through my eyes.
"Woof! Woof!" Jimmy started barking at me. His bark sounded like he was encouraging me. My imagination ran wild. What is it? Is it a treasure, a piece of metal, or just some useless stuff that a random person left by accident? I ditched the shovel and reached out my hands to seize the mysterious shining object. I pulled with all my strength, the power of my curiosity gave me strength. Finally, I had pulled it out, it was...it...was...Gold! I couldn't believe what my eyes have seen. A fist-sized nugget of gold! I'm gonna be rich! Oh, I have to tell my mum about this. We're gonna be rich!
And that was the story of 30 years ago. Here I am now, owning one of the richest companies. My name is Jeff Bezos and I own Amazon. I became rich because of that fist-sized nugget of gold and I used it to spend on a website that seemed useless. Later on, I heard that Obama used to live there and he left the gold in his backyard. If it wasn't for Obama then I wouldn't be here today with a mansion.