Just as she was about to walk out the door to head over to her spot, her “me” spot, she heard the phone begin ringing in the living room. God, how she hated that sound. Its shrillness jarred her nerves, sending chills down her spine. She did not want to answer it because lately, phone calls usually meant that someone she knew had died, someone wanted her to do something that she simply did not want to do, or the call was a telemarketing ploy by some company in the Philippines just looking to scam her out of her money.
But, she had to answer it. This was part of the phobic personality that had become her life. She feared that if she did not answer that call, then the person on the other end of the line would cease to exist. And she did not want to be responsible for ending someone’s, ANYONE’S, existence.
Yes, she knew that was a ridiculous way of thinking. She even had proof that nothing was going to happen to anyone if she did not pick up the phone. There were those times when she had not picked up the phone and the callers had been her parents or friends. THEY were still alive. However, as with any phobia, this fear had such a hold over her that she had become convinced that it would happen, someday. Just because it had not happened yet was simply a matter of luck.
Taking a deep breath, she picked it up, “Hello?”
“Congratulations!”, the disembodied voice on the other end of the line said, “You have been selected to be a finalist in our latest million-dollar sweepstakes! All that you need to do now is go online to our website at www.million-dollar-sweepstakes.com and register. One of our representatives will reach out to you shortly with instructions on how to claim your prize!”.
She hung up the phone. Ok, maybe her phobia would have done some good in that situation, she thought to herself, “If only I was a precog.”. Picking up her keys from the chair where she had dropped them, she opened the door.
Just then, her cat, Squiggles, decided that he was hungry. Running over to her, he bumped up against her legs, looked up at her, and meowed insistently. “Feed me!”, he seemed to be saying, “I am STARVING!”.
“Ok, ok, ok…” She said, laughing, “I’ll feed you before I go!”. Closing the front door again, she went over to the cupboard, opened a can of Friskies, and bent down to put it in front of Squiggles. “There… are you happy now?”
“Meow!”, the cat answered back, looking up at her for a moment. Then, he turned back to the bowl and went back to eating.
She laughed.
…
Once she had gotten outside with no more interruptions, she proceeded to get into her car. Now she would be able to relax. She did not have to worry about hearing the ring of a telephone or having to answer said phone. Where she was going, there was not going to be a phone for miles! At least it felt that way.
As she turned onto the road that led to her “spot”, she was surprised by the number of vehicles that were there. Normally, there were maybe one or two others, but today, there were maybe eight to ten! With more on the way, judging by the line of vehicles in her rearview mirror.
“What was going on? Who were these people? Why were they there?”, she wondered.
Just then, she noticed the long black limousine that was parked at the front of that long line of vehicles.
“Wow”, she thought. “I wonder who that could be?”
After finally finding a parking spot nearby, she slowly got out and, sort of ignoring the melee of reporters and cameras that had begun to mingle nearby, headed down a small path. Luckily, no one noticed her. She continued her trek.
Her spot turned out to be a small beach, next to the ocean, where she could sit in peace and watch the world happen. It was, usually, a quiet place. Today, however, as with the line of cars on the road, there was a barrage of boats out on the water, and helicopters in the air.
“What in the WORLD?”
Unlike most other people, because of her phobia, she tended to not have a cellphone with her. Therefore, she could not simply go online and find out that two young men had disappeared from their yacht while supposedly fishing in the area. She could not have found out that these same young men were the suspected telemarketing scammers who were being investigated by the CIA and Interpol for international fraud and other computer crimes. If she had, she might have thought of the phone call that she had received earlier that morning.
As it was, that wouldn’t happen until later that evening when she turned on the television to see the day’s news.
…
As she watched the ruckus going on out on the water, she noticed two backpacks in the water just a few feet from where she was sitting. Using a nearby branch, she was able to pull them nearer to her and hoist them out. This was a chore, as they were actually pretty heavy.
She opened the first backpack, then the second. Peering inside each of them, she was able to count at least 7 bundles (or bricks) of $100 bills inside each backpack. Considering the fact that there are 100 hundred-dollar bills to a strap, and 10 straps of these bills to a bundle, there had to be over a million dollars in these backpacks! This was more money than she had ever laid her eyes on!
Having decided that she needed to turn this into the authorities, she hurriedly packed up her things, grabbed the two backpacks, and headed back out to where the cars were. Hopefully, she would be able to find someone there to talk to.
…
She was still unaware of the details of what had happened, although she had overheard words like “dead” and “crime” and “Interpol”. This led her to believe that she was right by turning the money over to the authorities. Whatever was going on, she wanted no part of it. She hurried on.
Out by the vehicles and the throngs of reporters and now, police, she suddenly felt unsure of herself. What if the police decided that she was involved? She had heard horror stories of innocent people just trying to do the right thing, ending up in prison for crimes that they were not involved with. On the other hand, the money in the backpacks was of no use to her. It was just not in her nature. She could not, in good conscience, use it herself, so why put a bullseye on her own back by keeping it? Surely someone would come looking for it sooner or later. The safest thing for her to do was to turn it in and deal with whatever the fallout may be later.
Standing on the pier was a man wearing what appeared to be military clothing. He was standing with a group of 4 or 5 other men, looking out over the water. Every once in a while, he would look over at someone and bark an order at them. He seemed to be the agent in charge.
She made her way up to him, dragging the backpacks, and dumped them at his feet. Tentatively, she spoke.
“Sir? Are you in charge here?”
“Yes ma’am”, the man said, looking at her. “How can I help you? What are these?”
She proceeded to tell him about how she had gone to her little spot that morning and had discovered the backpacks floating in the water. She told him how she had looked inside to see what was in them and said that she thought there must be a million dollars or so inside of them. “I have no idea where this money came from, or who it may belong to, nor do I wish to know. All I want is to be rid of it and to go home.”
The man, whom she eventually came to know only as Detective O, looked at her, seemingly trying to determine if she was telling the truth. After asking her a few more questions and taking her name and phone number, he thanked her for giving her report and turning in the backpacks with the money. He told her that he would contact her if he had any further questions and that she should be on her way.
“There is no reason that you need to be down here now that you have made your statement. You are free to go.” He told her.
Relieved that this had all gone so smoothly, she made her way back to her car and drove home.
…
That evening, after having taken a quick shower and having a bite to eat (although not in that order), she sat down on her couch with Squiggles curled up next to her. She poured herself a glass of wine and turned on the television. She wanted to watch the news to see what she could find out about what had happened earlier.
What she discovered made her glad she had done what she had. It turned out that the money was, in fact, stolen. It also turned out that she had been correct in her calculations, and the amount of money that was in the backpacks had come to total about $1,400,000.00 US Dollars.
Allegedly, according to the news, the men who had been on the yacht of interest had been scamming rich older women for thousands of dollars over the past two or three months. Once these men had discovered that they were under suspicion and being investigated by Interpol for fraud, money laundering, and smuggling, however, they had decided to dump their money where another group of their pals could retrieve it and leave. But it seemed that Mother Nature had other plans.
That would be the reason for the disruption this morning down by her “me” spot. According to the news station, there had been a freak water cyclone in the area, and the smugglers’ yacht had, unfortunately (fortunately?) been right smack dab in the epicenter of the storm. After having capsized the 50-foot yacht and depositing its contents all up and down the nearby seashore, the cyclone simply dissipated into nothing. The sea was once again calm.
According to the news, the smugglers, who had been sleeping below deck, had all been killed by the incoming sea. However, investigators were able to piece together much of the story using the documents which they had found- dry and totally intact- in the ship’s safe, along with the accounts reported by the CIA and Interpol.
The money was going to be returned to the women from whom it had been stolen. It seems that the thieves had been meticulous record keepers and had kept a list of each number that they had called, the names of the women who were scammed, and the amounts of money that each woman had given.
After a few more minutes, the news concluded that story and continued with another story about some up and coming young Hollywood socialite’s upcoming wedding. This type of news was not really her cup of tea, so she turned off the tv and snuggled with Squiggles for a few more minutes before making her way to her bedroom and climbing into her nice and warm, soft bed. The moon was full and shining brightly into the room through the open window and there was a soft, cool breeze flowing over her. She was feeling quite content. She was happy to be where she was.
Smiling softly to herself, she drifted off to sleep.
