Casey ‘quest’ wins Friends of the Library short story contest

Editor’s note:  Lioba Casey was the first place winner in the 2010 first ever Friends of the Library short story contest. Residents had to be age 16 and over to enter. The stories, 750 words in length, had to take place in the city of Maricopa. They were judged on originality, creativity, entertainment value and the ‘wow’ factor.

The Quest to Sierra Estrella Diamond

As the sun rose above the Sierra Estrella mountains, on a chilly winter morning, they rode into Maricopa, five horsemen dressed in black with grim looks on their faces.  They had set off on their expedition with high hopes in their hearts, the five of them eager to find their quest.

Frederick Custavo was the leader of the five, a mountain of a man, whose nickname was Bulldog as he was great at barking out orders. Second in command was Kurt Almond, weighing much less than Bulldog, though slightly shorter. Kurt was usually called Pretzel because of his agility. The third equestrian was Matt Crock, sometimes called Genius, an intelligent and intellectual man. The fourth man was short and stocky, with straight black hair, as dark as night, a Cherokee man they called Blackbird. Fifth was Andreas Englasias; this man was the handsomest of the five, called Andre for short.

They had been traveling for weeks when they ran into a cold desert storm, causing them to look for a cave for shelter to wait out the miserable storm. Blackbird had an eerie feeling there was more to face, as there were wolves howling in the distance. Building a blazing fire, Blackbird instructed his four companions in a spirit dance. Being their motto was to stick together through thick or thin, the four men haltingly followed Blackbird’s instructions regarding the awkward dance, which they soon found to be going smoother, giving them an energy they never felt before. They woke before sunrise and were excited to resume their mission since the only thing they had in mind was to find the Sierra Estrella diamond, a quest that many had tried to accomplish but had never managed.

Riding into Maricopa, they were grimly determined to find the diamond, as a secret map Andre had found in a very old book, showed Maricopa as the location of this diamond.  Dismounting from their horses, the five of them made their way into an inn for a good breakfast and inquired into seeking employment, as their plan was to make a life in the town so they could secretly continue their search.

As luck would have it, Samuel Dodd, who owned the largest ranch in the area, gave three of the men work on his spread, leaving Andre and Blackbird in the town doing odd jobs wherever they could find them. The five men would meet once a week at the inn where they would compare notes and what they had discovered, never leaving their search for the wonderful diamond.

They made it through the burning heat of the summer in the Sonoran Desert, the months flying in a haze. Every spare moment was spent combing the mountains in the area, following any clues that came their way. None of them ever panned out though, leaving the men discouraged, but still determined to find their quest.

Samuel Dodd had come to depend on his three new hands and had hired Andre and Blackbird to work for him also; the five men back together again. Working on a ranch was hard work, the days beginning and ending in the dark. The men found they had less time for their diamond search as time passed; the demands of ranch living taking most of their time, just keeping up with existence in a rugged desert home.

Time went by and Bulldog, ever the leader, became the head foreman for Mr. Dodd, running his ranch more efficiently, making Pretzel his top hand and Genius the bookkeeper for Mr. Dodd. Blackbird married a woman named Juanita Gonzales, moving into Maricopa, where the two of them ran a bakery together. Once a month, the five friends would meet at Blackbird’s bakery, going over events, finding themselves talking more about ranching and daily living than the diamond they’d never found.

They all remembered and often talked about the spirit dance they had participated in that stormy night before they arrived in Maricopa, and they would remark about the exciting and strange energy they had each experienced. Somehow, it made sense that they had traveled to Maricopa and had stayed, the five of them together. Then, they would laugh, enjoying Indian fry bread and Juanita’s Mexican beans.

Andre would sometimes take the secret map out with a smile. For he knew even though the five friends had not found a diamond, they had found their life treasure in Maricopa.

Lioba Casey

Photo by Joyce Hollis