Think Before You Act
Arthur loved learning new things, whether it was something brand new that no one had ever thought to do or something that everybody but him knew about, and he finally discovered it. That was Arthur.
He was the nicest and friendliest person you could know. Honest, to a fault, self-disciplined, self-reliant, and a great listener. He had his opinions but was open-minded. He was helpful and generous, and everyone trusted him.
If he had one problem, it was his curiosity. Though it brought him lots of knowledge and new adventures. It also brought him several mishaps. This was one of those days.
Arthur went to his job at the university, where he worked in the library department. One of his responsibilities was to research sources for materials that the library had acquired. On this day, there was an ancient book of local history, dating back over 300 years, sitting on his desk. The book certainly looked old. Its tattered cover held loosely in place, with weathered pages and handwritten notes adorning the margins of each chapter, stood out as Arthur picked it up to examine it. A few phone calls would have verified if this was an authentic book or not. It might even have identified who had left it on his desk.
Instead, when he opened the book and looked briefly at the contents, his eyes focused on a chapter heading that said, “The Lost Treasure of Lord Warren.” The chapter heading was marked with a star. Arthur’s curiosity got the best of him. Reading the chapter, he found it included a map illustrating exactly where this supposed treasure was buried. It failed to mention what exactly the treasure was. Arthur, being a good problem solver, chose to let his curiosity out-vote logical thinking and ran out to find the treasure.
Anyone else would have questioned where the book came from. They might also question the language used in the text. Some of those words did not exist 300 years ago. They might have researched who Lord Warren was, in which case they would have discovered it was a fictional name. But Arthur did none of these, he was too curious.
Having made a copy of the map, Arthur quickly deduced that the location of the treasure was located somewhere within the confines of the city zoo. Being an animal lover, he had been to the zoo many times and convinced himself of where the exact location would have been 300 years ago. In actuality, it was a lucky guess. He went directly to the walk-through aviary.
He was able to sneak a fold-up shovel into the zoo in his backpack. The security guards recognized him from the library and hadn’t bothered to check his pack. Beautiful pictures of the different types of birds in nature that had been sketched by the local Birdwatcher’s society hung outside of the Aviary. An avid art lover, Arthur stopped to admire them.
Arthur entered slowly into the enclosure, and when he got to the point where he thought the spot was, and no one was looking, he ducked behind the nearest tree.
He looked carefully at the ground and started to dig into the earth. He tried to make sure he was being quiet so as not to be observed. It never dawned upon him that something that was buried 300 years ago would not be close to the surface of the ground. He was patient and persistent and kept digging. He was about a foot and a half down when he hit something solid. Carefully he dug a little deeper and discovered a rather large bone.
“What the….,” he called out.
That was a big mistake, for he certainly was heard.
Security guards came rushing and found him standing next to a hole in the ground, with a shovel in one hand and a large bone (that was certainly not from a bird) in the other hand.
Security held him in custody until the police came to take him away. He was taken to jail; the charge was trespassing and destruction of public property. As he was being charged and processed, the police forensic unit analyzed the bone he had uncovered.
Arthur thought he would be released soon, as both charges were misdemeanors. That was until it was discovered that the bone that he uncovered was, in fact, a human bone.
Further digging at the zoo and DNA evidence matched the bones to a missing person report. Since it was unclear whether Arthur was digging up or burying evidence, an added charge of abetting a murder was added to his supposed crimes. He was in big trouble.
Three things happened that saved the day. 1) Forensic evidence was found linking one of the zoo’s security guards to the murder. 2) A disgruntled co-worker of Arthur’s, who wanted to get back at Arthur for telling his boss about a misdeed the co-worker had done (remember I said he was honest to a fault) came forward with the fake book that started Arthur on this journey and claimed responsibility for creating the book and putting it on Arthur’s desk. He just wanted Arthur to go on a wild goose chase and get in trouble for not verifying a source. It was pure coincidence that the map pointed to a spot where the murderer had buried his victim. 3) The security guard in question, when confronted by detectives, confessed to the crime.
The final result was that Arthur was fined for trespassing and destruction of public property. He did get reassigned to a different part of the library. The co-worker was fined for abetting a crime and subsequently fired by the university for giving the university a bad reputation. And the security guard was arrested and convicted of multiple counts of murder and obstruction of justice. He is still awaiting sentencing.
Arthur continues to be curious and learns new things, one of which is being honest to a fault is not always the best policy to follow.
