In the wild, the hummingbird is asserting its territorial right to all the zinnia flowers in the garden while the monarch butterfly is trying to ignore the bird. Yesterday, a giant yellow swallowtail was harassed by another hummingbird. Two hummingbirds chase each other off all the time too. And a red-bellied woodpecker is not happy that the cardinal is on HIS feeder, chowing down.
My two-year old granddaughter is the same way. “Mine,” I hear all day. Even when she knows it’s not, if she claims it, she feels she has a right to it, unless Grandma says, “No, that’s Grandma’s.” And even then, if it’s something she really wants, she will insist, “Mine.”
Depending on what it is, Grandma will let her play with it, but it’s still Grandma’s.
During my research, I’ve been reading about people who take metal detectors on “abandoned” property, looking for treasure. The property is owned by someone, maybe an absentee owner who still pays the taxes. So when the trespasser obtains the “treasure,” is it really…his? When someone finds something that’s of a huge value, after he’s bought the property, can he keep it? It seems that yes, sometimes, sometimes, no.
So I changed my story to the owner finding the treasures in her shop as part of her inheritance, rather than buying the property from someone who had inherited the property and sold it off. End of gray area. And it makes it more personal for the character also.
A point in fact: A master’s painting had been stolen from a museum. It had to be returned to the museum. A beautiful antique chest had a secret drawer and the new owner, while refurbishing the furniture, found it full of jewelry and cash. He could have kept it. But he didn’t. He contacted the owner and gave them their treasured possessions. He wanted the beautiful chest. That was the treasure to him.
In another case, a man was digging on his new property, to plant a garden, and discovered a cache of jewelry and other valuable items. It turned out his neighbor had been robbed by the previous owner and the items were buried in the backyard! If he’d tried to sell it, the police might have been alerted that the property had been stolen. And that would certainly be a new twist to a story, wouldn’t it.
So it’s something to think about when you find buried treasure. Hopefully…you won’t find buried bones.
Okay, I’m off to write. I wrote 2,000 words on my day “off.” Isn’t it awful to have a day off from writing, only to spend it babysitting? lol Though we have fun. I hope to take her to Galveston Island to the glass pyramids one day to see the aquarium and tropical pyramid.
Have a super day!!! I’m off to get busy. The days is all MINE.
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
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