The Parker Stone
A Sequel Story
Photo by Pedro Miguel Aires on Unsplash
This is a sequel story. If you missed the first story you can read it here:
Prompt: Treasure
Prompts for 26 June 2026
Write about a surprising hidden treasure
predetermined randomness
“I will keep going”
A character from another country
Jenny fingered the stone her mother had given her and looked up. “Another doorway” she reflected. “A simple design. No windows inside. A small loft. A brick fireplace. No windows. Hardly any furniture.” Jenny took a quick look outside to discover there were no hydro wires. She also noticed a furious woman rushing across the yard toward her.
“And who might you be?” inquired a woman with a familiar accent.
“Hello,” called out a surprised Jenny. “My name is Jenny Parker.”
“Well now Jenny Parker there will be no nosing around our cabin when we are not here.”
Jenny pulled the purple glowing rock from her pocket causing the woman to gasp immediately.
“ Goodness gracious. My apologies Jenny Parker. I had no idea. Where are my manners.? I am Sadie Parker. Let us go over to the fire pit and sit to visit for a bit.” She turned and walked to the firepit where there were a couple of stumps and a huge pot hanging over a small fire with glowing embers.
“I noticed that your last name is Parker,” Jenny stated as she watched the woman lift a large ladle and stir the pot.”
“Our dinner,” stated Sadie as she sat down on a stump. “It’s too hot to cook inside this time of the year so I spend all my time out here preparing meals and gardening.”
Jenny looked around the area that surrounded the cabin. Stumps were in various stages of char. There was a forest behind the house and a small barn off to one side. “
“So tell me Jenny, how did you come across my stone?” asked Sadie as she pulled an identical stone from her pocket.
Jenny gasped, her eyes widening. “I didn’t make the connection. You’re a Parker.”
“I am. How do you have possession of my stone?” asked Sadie as she concentrated her eyes on Jenny.
“My mother gave me the stone in 1898.”
Sadie thought for a second and nodded. “Rebecca Parker. A nice woman. She visited here once not too long ago. I have wondered for a while about what happened to her.”
“She died a year ago.”
“Sad. I am glad that I had a chance to meet her. My great granddaughter I understand.”
“She never said anything about her visits with relatives.”
“Tis the way of the Parkers to keep their secrets. I suppose it is for the best.” Sadie smiled a sad smile. “We do tend to move around a lot. Something about needing some advice. I did it myself when I was younger.” She looked off towards the field at the smoldering stumps.
“Can you tell me something about the name Parker? I have noticed that all of the women have a Parker last name. Even me, although my father is not a Parker.”
“Oh Now. You have touched on a sensitive subject with me husband. There are not many rules to the Parker Stone. I gather you have seen the larger one.” She looked to Jenny for confirmation. Jenny nodded. “Where is it now?”
“In a museum in Toronto.”
“Toronto?”
Jenny thought for a second before remembering that Toronto had a different name in 1832. “York,” she said.
“In York. Well now and in a museum,” she asked quizzically. “I suppose it is as good a place for it as any. I couldn’t keep it,” she said quietly.
“You had it here,” asked Jenny, a little wild eyed.
“Aye,” acknowledged Sadie. ”I have it here.”
“You do? Can I see it?”
“Nae,” replied Sadie with her Irish lilt. “That is the bone of contention with me husband. He is a proud man and accepted that I would keep my last name, on the condition I use his when necessary. He also didn’t like all this movement from place to place. There were other things associated with the stone that bothered him.”
Jenny wasn’t surprised that there were other things associated with the stone. She wanted to ask. “The Parker name for women?”
“That I can tell you. All Parker women have the last name of the family. They have to use it exclusively although there are a few exceptions.”
“Exceptions?
“Legal documents where it is necessary to use your legal name although for us women so far that has rarely been an issue. We have no legal rights.”
“But in my time they do.”
Sadie eyed her balefully. “Yes. I heard tell of that from your mother. Glory be.”
So she kept her name Parker because…”
Because in order to use the stone you have to have a Parker name and be a woman. No one else can use the stone.”
Jenny frowned. “THe tour guide in Toronto picked up the stone and turned it around. I could clearly see the name.”
“You are a Parker. It was reacting to your presence.”
“So if I am near a stone something will happen?”
“Yes,” replied Sadie as she eyed the distant border of the field where a man was gathering objects. “You are here because you need something. That is the essence of the stone.”
Jenny leaned forward on her stump.
“I have to be quick as me husband approaches.” She watched the field as she talked. “Your cousin in 1912 needs your help. You need to give her my stone so she can come here where it will be safe for her.” She held out the stone. “Take it child and go,” she hissed between her teeth. “Time is of the essence.”
“I will keep going,” said Jenny, “and I will return.”
“Go.”
When Jenny touched the stone she disappeared from 1832, reappearing in a run down tenement where loud voices were being heard.
to be continued
Oh yeah✨