Our ancestors buried valuable objects in the dirt of this town. It was something we laughed about as children. The whole idea of ancestors was absurd.
   
Then my sister found the box.
   
I said, Open it.
   
She licked the nickel lock. Salt, she said. Earth.
   
The lock crumbled.
   
I tried to keep her from showing the box to her school friends, but she insisted. Later, she told me these girls took the delicate fabrics and shoved them in the boys' faces. The teachers kept saying, Girls, boys, history is alive!