220;At least we can get some money for this at the recycling center. Not much, but if we collect enough bottles we could get some lunch!” I looked hopelessly at the bottle. Darn! I was hoping for something else, anything else. Oh, God, please help us!“Mommy?” Emily’s voice shattered my desperate thoughts. “There’s something in the bottle!” “Oh Em,” I replied dubiously.” It’s probably just some trash someone stuffed in the bottle.” I gazed into my daughter’s hopeful eyes and sighed. “Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look, eh?” Somehow I managed to pry the worn lid off the bottle. Wow. This bottle must be 100 years old, I thought to myself while gazing at the worn, illegible lettering on the side. “What’s in it mom?” Emily jumped up and down with excitement. I gazed one-eyed into the bottle. “Hmm,” I replied, fingering the paper out of the bottle’s stubborn neck. “I believe it’s a note of some sort.” Holding the tattered top edge, I carefully unrolled the yellowed scroll-like piece of paper. “Oh Em!” I said astonishingly. “It’s a letter! Oh, I wonder who it’s to?”“Read it Mommy, Read it!” Emily shouted eagerly. It made me smile to see my little girl so happy. It had been such a long time since I saw such a smile painted across her angelic face. My eyes skimmed down the paper. Most of the words were quite legible, but sadly enough, they were written in a different language. “Oh honey, I wish I could read it to you, but the words, they are written in Italian or Span- -” Before I could finish my words, I noticed the name so diligently signed at the bottom of the letter. It read “Christopher Columbus 18 September 1493.” I couldn’t breathe. Could this be real? I laughed hysterically as I continuously scrolled my eye...
