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I watched the tension in Ronan's shoulders ease up. "Looks like you've got quite the fan club here, Tyler. I say have them stay and check out whatever we find."
The players cheered.
"Okay, everyone." I waved for them to gather round. "Let's see what's in this safe-deposit box. I don't want to wait any longer."
Maggie beckoned for us to follow. "Come on, everybody. I've got the vault ready."
We walked through the bank's marble-clad hallways with our footsteps echoing off the polished floors. The air was cool and crisp while I detected the faint scent of cleaning products. We passed by framed photos of Blue Harbor from decades past. They helped create the illusion that we were stepping back in time.
"Wow," Andy breathed. "This is so cool."
Maggie instructed the players that they needed to wait for us outside of the vault. Normally a loud bunch, they were suddenly quiet. I watched eyes open wide as they took in the grandeur of one of Blue Harbor's most venerable institutions.
The door to the vault loomed ahead of us as the guardian of our community's riches. Ronan tensed again as we followed Maggie inside.
She slid the safe-deposit box out of its slot. Ronan pulled the key out of his pocket, and she nodded. With a steady hand, he inserted the key into the lock. As he lifted the lid, I looked over his shoulder.
"I'll hold the box," he whispered, "and you pull it out."
Reaching down inside, I lifted an aged cylindrical metal canister with both hands. A loose key also rattled in the box, and I took that, too. We returned the safe-deposit box to Maggie, and she locked it back up.
We all followed her to a conference room. It was an elegant space with a long mahogany table in the center and high-backed chairs arranged around it. The walls held bookshelves full of leather-bound volumes. "The board of directors meets here," whispered Maggie, "but my boss already agreed we could use it for you to take a look at what came out of the box."
As we gathered around the table, Ronan rubbed the surface of the canister. I saw the year, 1974, etched into the outside.
I broke the silence. "This reminds me of a book I read about the expedition that discovered King Tut's tomb back in 1922. Howard Carter, the archaeologist, had spent many years searching for it. When he finally found what he was looking for, the whole world held its breath, wanting to see what was inside."
Andy grinned. "So, is our lesson for the day that you're like this famous archaeologist, Coach? You're the guy to call if we want to dig up treasures in Blue Harbor?"
I laughed. "I guess in a way I might be along with Ronan here. We've uncovered pieces of our town's history already, just like Carter did in Egypt."
"So if you're Howard Carter, then who am I?" Ronan bumped my shoulder playfully.
"Hmm, you can be my trusty sidekick, always ready to provide some witty banter and a helping hand."
The players laughed. "Hey, Coach," Ace spoke above the noise, "If we find any mummies in that little can, I get to be first to take a selfie with it."
"Mummies in Blue Harbor? You're crazy, Ace," Coop scoffed. "I bet the only things we're gonna find in there are old fishing lures and maybe a rusty can."
"Don't knock it down yet." I held up my right hand. "One man's trash is another man's valuable piece of history."
Ronan nodded. "Listen to Tyler. What we find in here might not seem like much to us, but for the people who put them inside here in 1974, they were important enough to save to show to future generations."
"It's almost like a message in a bottle," Maggie added. "Instead of having it travel across an ocean, they tucked things in there to travel across time."
"So, are we all ready to read the messages?" Ronan asked.
"Yeah!" cheered the players.
As Ronan carefully placed the canister on the table, everyone leaned in. The anticipation was almost too much to bear. The room was silent again, and all we could hear was the soft scrape of metal on metal as Ronan turned the key in a lock and then pulled the cylindrical container apart.
"This is it," I whispered, "the moment of truth."
The first items Ronan pulled out were documents, thin pieces of paper that had yellowed with age. One was a proclamation by the mayor, explaining that it was a time capsule suggested by old Ian Gallagher himself. He expressed a wish to celebrate whatever Blue Harbor residents of the future were looking at the items contained inside.
"Check this out." Ronan held up an old newspaper dated June 3, 1974. The headline blared the news that Blue Harbor's high school baseball team won the state tournament.
A cheer erupted from the players. I grinned. "You all were the first Blue Harbor team to win at state since then."
