You could look at it that Sloane and Amelia had been lucky to find the jewels that their too-many-great-grandparents had hidden away so many years before.
That’s probably how Jacob Hoäl or Thomas Zimmerman or Charles Hoäl or Oscar Kerr would have looked at it. Actually, all four of them thought that they were entitled to the gems. Jacob because it was his money that bought them. Thomas because he was certain that he’d invested in Jacob’s company. Charles because he should have inherited them from his father. Oscar because he did inherit them from his father.
Serendipity had most definitely played a part in Sloane and Amelia finding the jewels. However, had either one of them not bothered to talk, listen, and learn, zemblanity might have kept them apart instead.
Good luck and bad luck can play all sorts of terrible mischief with everyone’s lives. Nothing can be done about that. But our choices matter too. It’s the things we can control that lead to the greatest treasures. Like finding a new best friend. Or a hoard of long-lost jewels.
Neither Jacob, Thomas, Charles, nor Oscar ever really learned that lesson.
But their descendants Sloane and Amelia did. They knew it was wasn’t luck that mattered the most.
It’s how you choose to live your life around that luck.
In Sloane and Amelia’s case, they chose to get some ice cream at Tiny’s Dairy Barn, along with their families and friends. Then they were interviewed on the news.
National news this time, not just local.
Amelia was in heaven. Sloane was not.
However, the next night was Saturday night and everyone had finally left them alone by then. They were both happy, eating cheeseburgers and drinking milkshakes (also from Tiny’s Dairy Barn). It was only open during warm-weather months, so the burgers in their old-fashioned wax paper always tasted to Sloane like summer vacation.
They were eating them together on the sparkling white floor of the Miller-Poe home theater in the sparkling white basement of the Miller-Poe house. Amanda Poe had winced at the sight of the burgers in their greasy wax paper but bit her lip and hustled upstairs without ordering them to eat outside.
“She’s trying to make some changes,” Amelia explained. “My whole family is. Tomorrow night is no longer Miller-Poe Tennis Night. It’s Miller-Poe Silent and Classic Movie Night.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Sloane smiled at her friend and slurped on her hot-fudge-and-marshmallow milkshake. Her Dad was at his Northwest Ohio Orthodontist Association banquet at the Barn Restaurant over in Archbold. With Cynthia Seife. And Sloane was okay with that.
Not great. But okay.
Nanna Tia was also out to dinner, but not at any orthodontist banquet. Mr. Neikirk was taking her out for dinner at Sullivan’s Restaurant in downtown Wauseon to celebrate the fact that she was now a millionaire. Or at least would be, once the jewels were sold.
Of course, he was hoping she’d have him sell the famed Hoäl jewels for her. He was also head over heels in love with her.
“What a gal,” he’d sighed dreamily to Amelia as they left the cemetery the night before. “Have you seen the way she runs that bingo game with an iron fist? She’s like a very scary angel.”
A very rich scary angel. Who had agreed to fund Amelia’s very own film studio.
With Sloane’s help, Nanna Tia was also going to fund the Maisy Osburn Bullying Prevention Program at Wauseon Middle School. Once the jewels were actually sold, Nanna Tia planned on giving rewards to Belinda, Bunny, Mr. Roth, and Principal Stuckey for coming to save Sloane and Amelia. The two of them had sort of hoped that Mr. Roth would release them from doing the rest of the project, but he said they still had to write their three-page paper.
At least he said their interview with CNN could count as both their presentation and their visual aid.
All around, life wasn’t just okay. It was pretty terrific.
Tonight, Amelia and Sloane were going to watch the old home movies from the box Mr. Neikirk had sold Amelia. Sloane had brought along her goose, though she’d traded out the Doctor Who costume for the Queen Elizabeth costume. She sort of thought she’d keep the goose for herself. Nanna Tia planned on giving a big chunk of her money to both Granny Pearl and Granny Kitty, so they’d have more than enough money to buy their own fancy lawn ornaments from Norma.
When Amelia finally got the projector to work, she settled down on the floor next to Sloane. Together, they ate their burgers and drank their milkshakes while they watched the film.
Rather than someone’s black-and-white home movies from the 1930s, the way they had been expecting, it turned out to be an old newsreel.
About a daring daylight bank robbery that had happened in downtown Wauseon back in the 1950s.
“I didn’t know anything like that ever happened,” Sloane said.
But Amelia didn’t answer her.
Instead, the other girl had set down both her burger and her milkshake. She stood up slowly, hands clasped together.
Sloane wasn’t at all sure she liked the look on Amelia’s face.
“Uh, Amelia?”
“I bet it’s never been solved!” Amelia gasped. “It’s a crime that has gone unpunished for many moons! An injustice that needs to be righted! The scales of justice are out of alignment, Sloane! We must heed the cries of those who have been wronged!”
“Amelia, you can’t mean…”
“I do mean it, Sloane.”
Sloane slapped a hand to her face.
Amelia kept on dreamily, “We need to find out who did this.”
“It’s been more than seventy years!”
“That’s sixty less than the last case we solved.”
“We’re not detectives, Amelia.”
“But we could be, Sloane.” Amelia smiled and spread out her arms. “Osburn and Miller-Poe Investigations and Film.”
“That’s not a thing!”
“But it could be,” Amelia said again.
This time, Sloane didn’t correct her.
Because she was right.
It could be.