Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,42

nervous glances behind them. Jack had finished the freshly made ice cream and was scooping it into bowls. Noah was finishing a joke: "Two potatoes are standing on a street corner. One of them is a prostitute. How do you know which one it is? She's the one wearing a sticker that says "Id-a-Ho". Everyone groaned. "I've got a million of them."

Josie laughingly clapped a hand over his mouth. "That's what we're afraid of."

Jack gave Dana a quick look as he handed her a bowl. "What's wrong? You look a little pale."

"I'll tell you about it later,”she whispered.

Oscar settled comfortably into his chair. "I'm afraid I've become a little spoiled. I doubt that I will ever again find another group of guests as warm and compatible as all of you."

Henry licked his spoon. "What about Brett and Austin?"

"Fortunately, they pretty much kept to themselves. It might have been a different story if they had wanted to socialize."

Rose huffed. "You mean we would have been hiding out in our rooms to get away from them?"

"Rose, that's just mean,”Grace chided her.

"So?"

Dana scraped out the last bit of ice cream from her bowl and handed it back to Jack who silently refilled it. "Are you still going to open the castle up to paying guests now that you know about the antiques?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. What I really want to do is try to restore Raven Keep Castle to her original glory. I'm hoping that the sale of a few selected antiques might allow me to at least begin. When I pass, I plan to leave the castle in trust to an historical society. Hopefully, they will be able to continue the work and then eventually open it up to the public."

"Oscar, you've got a lot of years left,”Henry declared forcefully. "I'm sure you'll be able to do it yourself."

Giving up his post by the ice cream, Jack lifted Dana out of her chair, sat down and then pulled her onto his lap, where she immediately made herself at home. "I can just see you as a tour guide, Oscar, telling people about the history of the castle and stories about ghosts and treasure. D, remember that old guy at Shadows-on-the-Teche?"

"Yeah, and that lady at Kate Chopin's house. Jack's right, a really great guide can make all the difference. Jack and I have seen bigger or prettier houses than those, but we remember them particularly because of the guide. Someone who enjoys people and who not only knows, but loves their subject the way you do, can be the highlight of the whole visit."

"Then you wouldn't have to worry about die-hard treasure hunters like Brett and Austin who would just as soon dismantle the place than enjoy it,”added Henry.

Warming up to her ideas, Dana continued, "And if you really wanted to keep it open for guests, you could maybe just have it as a bed-and-breakfast."

"It would be a shame to waste the talents of Mrs. Babineaux,”Henry said with a laugh. "Maybe you could have reservation-only special dinners from time to time."

Grace joined in eagerly. "Maybe around Halloween you could have a Haunted Weekend. And at Christmas you could do a candlelight tour."

Oscar held up his hands in surrender. "Please, please, you've given me a lot to think about. I want to thank you all."

The two teenagers had quickly lost interest in the discussion about the future of Raven Keep Castle and had been having their own conversation. During a lull, all heads turned when they heard Josie say loudly, "Now I know you're lying."

"I'm not! Dana, tell her I'm not lying."

"He's not lying,”she replied obediently. "What did you say now?"

"We were talking about movies and I told them that Jack can connect anyone with anyone through movies."

Dana grinned and looked up at Jack. "Actually, that's true. Well, maybe not anyone with anyone, but he can connect anyone in the movies. Once he even connected Gandhi with Hitler."

"But they weren't in the movies,”Josie protested.

"No, but they were portrayed in the movies. Jack, how did it go again?"

Jack gently bit her ear in retaliation. Dana chuckled, knowing that Jack was always reluctant about demonstrating what he referred to as his freakish gift. Dana had always found it fascinating. "Gandhi was played by Ben Kingsley who was in 'Schindler's List' with Liam Neeson who co-starred with Jodie Foster in 'Nell' who was in 'Silence of the Lambs' with Anthony Hopkins who once played Hitler in a TV-movie called 'The Bunker'."

Dana smiled proudly at everyone.