Author's Note: When I read Buried Treasure I was kind of thinking that Cody should do the right thing because he knew in the first place that it was wrong to take the hook, especially after Clarence had given the boy instructions. Cody seemed like the loner if he was "always looking for a quick buck."
Before in Buried Treasure by Patrick Carman: Clarence Buchaman loses his hand in a tree felling accident, so he wears a golden hook made of his father's gold. Clarence prepared for his death at age 91, with the help of Cody Miller, who is always looking for a quick buck. When the man dies, Cody is instructed to bury Clarence with his treasure, but instead Cody takes the golden hook from the coffin and takes it for his own.
Cody stirred the cast iron stove and sat there in silence. He wondered if he should be doing what he did, stealing Clarence's golden hook. Well, Cody had learned not to live with any regrets since he was a kid on the run, poor and alone.
"Money is money and I ain't given this back, I need this money for myself," the boy muttered to himself. He fumbled with the hook as he readied to put it in the fire. As he go closer and closer to the fire, the more guilt started to devour him.
Hand shaking, he tried with his other arm to guide the hook into the hearth. "N-o-o-o-o!" Cody wailed. "I cannot do this!!!" He put out the stove, took his coat and hook and then headed out the door. As fast as he could run, Cody ran to Clarence's grave.
The shovel was right where he left it and started to dig; his tears soaked the dirt concealing the coffin. "What have I done? All I have done in life is cheat and steal. I cannot do this to Clarence. He was a good man and I shall honor that," Cody told himself aloud. Taking the hammer, he bent the nails so that the coffin was open. Seeing the corpse was all too much and Cody started to sob as he tried to replace the hook.
The boy thought he heard Clarence's voice say over and over, "That's what you get for not burying me with my treasure."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Cody kept on screaming. He tried everything to put the hook back on, but he gave up and let the golden hook rest over Clarence's heart. Then Cody put the nails back and fixed the coffin like it was.
