*All Ages
The Mystery of The Missing Time Capsules
By Steph
July 15, 1966
Nell Frayne rushed out to the backyard of Ten Acres where she saw her handsome husband, James Winthrop Frayne, fixing a picnic table.
She yelled, "Great news! Winthrop was just on the phone. He and Katie are the proud parents of an 8 pound baby boy, and they’ve named him James Winthrop Frayne II. Mother and baby are doing fine. And he has red hair just like you and Winthrop!"
James picked her up and spun her around and said, "That’s wonderful. We must send flowers right away and I will contact Mr. Rainsford next week about setting up a trust fund for him for when he gets older. Since Winthrop is the only child of his generation in the Frayne family, I hope little James is the first of many."
They rushed inside where they sent flowers to the hospital. Nell said, "I have an idea. Let’s make a time capsule to commemorate little James’ birth and later figure out where to bury it."
James agreed and together they filled a box full of mementos to be found someday in the future.
A few weeks later
Nell and James Frayne were finishing making lunch when they heard a horn honk. They knew it was their nephew, Winthrop, his wife, Katie and James the second.
They rushed outside to greet them and fussed and oohed and aahed over their grandnephew. James told Winthrop about the trust funds he had set up and said everything would be little James’ in the future.
Winthrop said, "I have so many hopes for him. He is going to grow into a good man and find a great career and then find a nice woman and raise a family with her. We are so lucky. Katie didn’t have an easy time of it. In fact, the doctor told us we probably shouldn’t try to have more children."
Nell said, "Katie told me that on the phone last week so that’s one of the reasons this young man is so important to all of us. We created a time capsule that we are getting ready to bury. I am going to choose its hiding place, but only give James clues."
Katie said, "That sounds great. We can also write things to put there and put some things in it ourselves. Let’s do it."
They spent the rest of the day filling the box with things they wanted and then gave it to Nell to bury.
May 5, 1968
Helen Belden put her four day old daughter in her crib just after they had brought her home from the hospital in the beautiful pink nursery she and her husband, Peter had set up.
She was so happy to have a baby girl after two rambunctious boys. They had just moved from the city into her husband’s family home, Crabapple Farm, two months earlier.
She was so happy to live out in the country finally. She loved living in Sleepyside; such a great small town to raise a family in.
Helen headed downstairs where she found her older son Brian with her husband. She kissed them both and Peter said, "So how is one of the two most beautiful women in Sleepyside?"
Helen smiled. "I am fine and the other one is fine too. Finally got her to sleep. She’s so active already--always looking around herself and trying to see everything. Maybe she will be a detective someday in the future."
Peter laughed. "A girl detective! That would be interesting. Right now I think she just wants to concentrate on eating and sleeping."
Brian said, in his young two and a half year old manner, "I know it’s my job to take care of Trixie since she’s my little sister and I always will."
Both parents patted him proudly on the head and Helen said, "We are counting on you and Mart for that. That’s what big brothers are for, after all, and as the big brother you also have to keep an eye on Mart."
Helen headed to the nursery as she heard Trixie crying.
She went over to the crib and picked up her beautiful daughter who looked so much like her with the curly blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She smiled and headed with her to the rocking chair Peter had built when Brian was born.
As she rocked her to sleep, she said, "Trixie, your father and I have so many plans and hopes for you in the future. I only am sorry about your name. Your father wanted to name you after his mother who died six months ago but we will shorten it to Trixie for your whole life. I just want everything for you. There are going to be so many things you can do that were never open for me but I also want you to find a good, strong, handsome man to share your life with like your father. I love you, sweetheart." Trixie fell into a contented sleep; Helen rocked her a little longer and then put her back in her crib.
Later that same afternoon
Helen Belden was dusting the living room and thinking to herself, It will be so nice when Trixie is old enough to do this for me. I hate dusting! when the doorbell rang.
She opened it to find Nell Frayne standing there holding a covered dish in her hands. "Welcome, Mrs. Frayne!" Helen said. "It’s so nice of you to stop by!"
Nell said, "Call me Nell. I just wanted to see the new baby and also give you this casserole to make one less dinner you have to prepare in the next few days. How are you doing?"
"Really well. This was easier than with the boys and Trixie is a real beauty. We’re so happy to have a little girl. Actually I hear her waking up. If it’s okay, why don’t you put this in the kitchen and I’ll get her so I can introduce her to you."
A few minutes later the ladies were sitting in the kitchen with tea and Nell was admiring little Trixie and saying, "She’s a real beauty. You must be so happy."
They talked for a little while longer and then Nell headed home, already starting to think.
Nell arrived home and found her husband sitting in the living room and said, "I think I found the perfect girl already for little James. I know he’s not even two but the Beldens' beautiful baby girl would be perfect for him. Helen is such a great mother and everything and I love that family."
James agreed and Nell went upstairs to write in her journal her experiences and thoughts of the day and her hopes for the near future.
Later that summer Nell died from a rattlesnake bite and James fell into a deep depression and never even found out where she had buried the time capsule.
13 years later
James Winthrop Frayne I knew that his last days were coming soon but he was greatly bothered by things he heard in reports of his grandnephew, James II, and his treatment at the hands of his stepfather.
Losing his nephew five years earlier had been tragic. He had died soon after being diagnosed with cancer; his wife Katie had died not too long ago, leaving James II in the care of his stepfather and now James I had heard these reports.
He contacted his attorney Mr. Rainsford about getting procedures started to remove Jonesy's legal guardianship and make other arrangements for his grandnephew.
He knew that he might not have enough time to get things going but wanted to ensure his nephew’s future so he sat down to write a letter and also cleared everything with Mr. Rainsford.
He died a few weeks later before getting everything started, but hoping that his nephew would find happiness.
10 years later
Trixie Belden, age 23, was sitting at her kitchen table writing her own wedding vows when the buzzer sounded, and when she saw it was her handsome fiancé, she buzzed him right in.
She saw he was carrying a box and, after they kissed, she asked him what it was.
He said, "It arrived from my uncle’s attorney, Mr. Rainsford. It was to be given to me when I married and since we are getting married next week he sent it to me now. I wanted you with me when I opened it."
Jim opened the box and inside was a letter that was from Mr. Rainsford explaining that he wanted Jim to see it before his wedding and also inside was another letter.
It read:
"Dear young James:
As I write this I am looking towards your future in the hope that someday you will find a woman you love and want to marry.
I want you to know how honored I was when your mother and father chose to name you after me and am sure you are carrying the name on well.
I have enclosed your Aunt Nell’s journal with this letter. She also buried a time capsule before she died. but I was never able to locate it. Hopefully you’ll be able to find clues to its location in the journal.
I want you to know that wherever I am when you receive this letter, I love you and am very proud of you.
Your Uncle,
James the first "
Jim had tears in his eyes as he picked up the journal and he and Trixie started reading through it and finally they found the information about the time capsule and became determined to find it. After all, Trixie was already known as one of the best detectives in the state.
They first decided to look up the entries around his birth and finally found:
July 15, 1966
Today Winthrop and Katie became parents of a little boy, James Winthrop Frayne II. James is so honored to have his grandnephew named after him and immediately has set to setting up funds for him to ensure his future.
We have so much hope for our young nephew. We know he is going to do many wonderful things to make us all proud of him. We both can’t wait to follow him as he grows up.
After that they skipped ahead to the week Trixie was born, remembering Mrs. Belden mentioning to them that she had visited them a few days after Trixie’s birth.
They both gasped when they saw what it said.
May 5, 1968
Today I visited the Belden family at Crabapple Farm to meet their beautiful baby girl, Beatrix Marie. Helen and Peter are such a handsome, happy, nice couple who have done such a good job with their two young boys and now their girl.
Being a hopeless romantic I have to admit I immediately had thoughts about my young nephew, James. Someday in the future he will need a wife who is loving, supportive and would become a good mother later. Certainly Helen would set a fine example of wife and motherhood for her to follow.
The Beldens are such a fine family. There is so much love in that house. I just hope that young James finds a beautiful woman someday and maybe little Trixie is the one.
Trixie and Jim smiled at each other and kissed. It was meant to be for them from the beginning!
They naturally wanted to find the time capsule and looked through the journal for clues.
Aunt Nell didn’t mention the time capsule much after the entries around his birth, but they wanted to find it so they wrote everything down and went over it again and again.
They finally realized it probably was buried outside the door of the summerhouse.
They knew how much his aunt and uncle loved that place and knew that his aunt would be likely to bury something near there for them to find.
Trixie and Jim had decided to make the Ten Acres land, along with fifty acres Mr. Wheeler had given Jim on his 21st birthday, the location of his school as well as their home which was all under construction as Jim planned on opening the school in two years.
Their home was right now just a few rooms and would be added onto over the next two years but they had plenty of room to live in with a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining room.
They wound up spending the better part of the day digging up the area around the summerhouse, which they planned to turn into a changing house for the pool for the school which was going to be built there.
When they finally pulled it out, they sat down together on the ground to open it.
Inside they found things that Jim knew he would always treasure. There were wedding pictures of his parents as well as his aunt and uncle.
There were also his first baby picture and Trixie teased him a little about that and kissed him knowing how much these things would always mean to him.
Afterwards they took the box back into the house where they put it in a special place on the mantle of the fireplace in their living room.
They took some of the pictures from the box and went into town and had them framed, wedding and baby pictures on the wall to go with some of the pictures from the Belden family.
They couldn’t wait to add their own wedding, and pictures of their own children, to the collection.
Afterwards they sat down to dinner and Jim mentioned he would like to name their first son after his uncle and Trixie agreed so they decided on James Winthrop Frayne III for their first son.
They were married a few weeks later at Crabapple Farm in a beautiful ceremony.
A few years later they welcomed their first child, a handsome healthy redheaded little boy they named James Winthrop Frayne III.
The End