Sambor Prei Kuk Temple, Cambodia © Google Maps
“Have I seen you before?” The old woman at the gate eyed me suspiciously as I paid my way in.
I got that all the time, even in spite of the fact that it had been nearly twenty-five years since my father, Jake Plunder, had been a world-renowned treasure hunter. I was little more than a semi-colon in my mother’s belly when he was in these parts raiding lost temples for gold.
I strolled through the ruins and waited until no one was around before slipping into the temple. Once inside, I waited in the darkness for the solstice sun to creep overhead and fill the chamber with light.
When the light hit Shiva and the mouth of the statue opened, I removed the pink diamond from my pouch and returned it from where it had been stolen twenty-five years ago. I turned to leave.
Only six more to go.
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150 words
This has been an edition of What Pegman Saw. To read more stories inspired by the prompt or to submit your own, click here.
I was so excited to see the early birds submitting their story. Looking forward to reading everyone’s take on the prompt.
In other news, I’m down to the last 35 pages of editing my novel The Kwan Factor. By this time next week I should be done with this round in the ring with what has turned out to be an unexpectedly challenging novel to write. Looking forward to finishing up very soon. I’ll be glad to move on to the next.
k. Rawson 
Righting his father’s wrongs with a sort of Indiana Jones feel or “Son of Indy”.
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heheh it seems so! Thanks for reading James.
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Fantastic story here. I think you may well have the makings of a great YA adventure series. I love the way you wrote this.
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It was so much fun, I wanted to stay in this world and hang out awhile. I may wind up in this world again, who knows? 😉
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Nicely done. I feel like reading about the other 6 💎.
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😀 Thanks for reading!
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Nice! The ending was a surprise, and I like it. So cool to put those treasure hunting skills to good use.
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Looks like my treasure hunter fared better than the one in your story. Those pesky Nangalangs!
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Haha! At least yours was “putting things back.” Maybe that’s the difference. 😉
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Others beat me to it but definitely a Young Indiana Jones feel, with a conscience. Great fun.
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Thanks Iain!
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I like the timing of the solstice sun – planned by the character, I’m sure! I was totally and pleasantly surprised by the ending. Now, I, too, want to know about the other six. So cleverly done, my dear.
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Thanks so much Lish.
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Karen, what a lovely twist! And a very well written story.
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Thanks Penny!
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Love this Karen, the righting of old wrongs, the sins of the father redeemed by the son. And Josh is right – what a gret idea for a YA series! I can see him trying to return stolen artefacts and with every turn stumbling across more thieves, more smugglers, more issues to put right, stumbling blcks to his goal. Oh, you could make a career out of that idea 🙂 Good luck with the last few pages of your WIP and with the next one too. Do you know what you’re writing next?
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Thanks Lynn. It does sound like a fun series! I’m not sure which story I will move on to next. I have another half finished YA, but I also middle grade I started once… or maybe something brand new and different. Thanks so much for reading!
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Oh, not enough hours in the day, are there? I have a few novel ideas that bounce around, with me thinking how much I’d love to commit to writing them but not being able to with other things going on. Look forward to hearing about whatever you decide on.
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Effective flash:) Righting past wrongs. Loved it.
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Thanks so much! Thanks for reading 🙂
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Dear Karen,
Loved ‘semi-colon in my mother’s womb.’ A reverse treasure hunt. Great idea. You’ve certainly hit this one out of the ballpark.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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😀 I’m glad you liked it. It was fun when I realized what this treasure hunter was up to!
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Now, that is a great story…returning of treasures to their rightful owners. Ought to see more of that, methinks.
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Thanks Jelli, glad you like it. I agree, the world could use more of that.
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Jake Plunder…excellent name choice. and “little more than a semi-colon” is brilliant!
Congrats on hitting the final stretch. I’m so proud of you! And I can’t wait to read it.
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🙂 Thank you, my friend. You’ve inspired me. We have a couple novels that were a long time coming.
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Everyone has said what I thought, Karen. I agree with all these effusive comments. I cannot think of anything else to add, other than wanting to read more.
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Nice one! I thought he’d be following in his father’s footsteps and was quite surprised when he replaced the jewel 🙂 Love the name “Jake Plunder”!
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Little more than a semi-colon, that is such a cute image and a very vivid story.
Lovely read
Click Here to see what Mrs. Dash Says
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thanks so much! So delighted to see your story, too!
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I was expecting him to steal some more hidden treasures! Nicely done and especially loved the semicolon 🙂
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