The Lucky Finder

The Lucky Finder

It was the year 1933. Life was arduous. Drought took over the crops and land which forced my husband, Spencer Smith, and I to move from New Mexico to California. Luckily, I already had family there. My cousin, Daria, had a house for sale. We made the important decision to move there. Moving to California was the best thing that could have happened to me. Life had never been the same.
After making the decision, we followed through with our plan to travel. Though it took way longer than expected, we had finally moved in the year of 1934. From the additional money that I receive every year from selling crops, we had enough money to buy a used Model-A Ford car, land, and our new house. Spencer worked out plans with Daria and her husband, Lucifer, about the house and land. We were starting a new life!
A few weeks passed since we moved. Most of our belongings had already been unpacked. "Emily, don't you think it is time to start farming again? We've spent most of our money on transportation, the land, and the house," Spencer said. He was right! We seriously needed to earn some major money to get back to where we started. I grabbed some gloves, put on some boots, and jogged into our back yard. Since the land was uneven and looked liked an Indian burial mound, I knew I had lots of work ahead of me. After an hour and a half of leveling the land with my shovel I hit something rigid. I groaned. It was another rock. How can my day get any worse? I started to dig around the rock when some color started to show. What? No...could it really be...gold? I was astonished, really happy, and excited. After the shock, I ran to get Spencer. "What is it?" Spencer asked.
"Come quickly. There is something I must show you!" When Spencer's eyes met the sight of the gold, they lit up with excitement.
"Is it real?" he asked.
"I don't know. I'm going to get a mineral examiner to come to our house. In the meantime, could you dig the rest up?" By the time the examiner and I got back to our land, Spencer had the rest of the gold dug out of the ground. There was enough to fill two fist fulls! The examiner inspected the gold and conducted some tests. Some of the tests included biting it, weighing it, putting it in water, and seeing if it was magnetic.
"I'd reckon that the gold you have here is real. It fits all the tests," the examiner explained. Spencer and I exchanged looks. "Well, since you found it on your property, it's yours to keep. You know what they say, finders keepers. I'd estimate this to be worth about $80,000." There was dead silence. "If you wanted to, you could just give it to me now. I would retrieve the money at the bank for you, free of any charge." I thought about it for a minute and replied, "Thank you. That would be very nice of you." We offered him a ride in our car and drove to the bank. While at the bank, I set up an account for ourselves. Putting $80,000 into our bank account was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. When I said my day could not get any better, I was wrong! My day could and did get better...much better.

Daria
The news of the lucky gold finders spread quickly. It was outrageous! They didn't deserve the money. I had once owned that land. Therefore, the gold should not belong to them, but rather to Lucifer and myself. I was so angry. "That's it! I'm driving over to Emily's house and demanding that I get the money!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Hold on!" Lucifer exclaimed. "Do you really think they are just going to fork over the money?" Lucifer thought for a moment. "I want the money just as much as you do. I definitely think it is unfair and cruel of them to keep it all to themselves. Maybe I have a solution...we will rob the bank!" I looked at him with a puzzling look on my face.
"Are you serious? Rob a bank? That is the dumbest idea I have ever heard of in my life! We might as well go and tell the police we are going to do it. We'll get caught and put in jail anyways," I yelled. Lucifer looked like he had been slapped in the face.
"But wait! There's more. We could throw a celebration party for the Smith family to express our joy for their discovery of the gold. Then, the same night we rob the bank we would "go on vacation." That way, it would look like we weren't there. We wouldn't even be a suspect." Lucifer did have a point, even though it wasn't the brightest. He would never give up, and so I made the immature decision to say yes.

Emily
A few days ago, I received a letter in the mail. Daria and Lucifer had invited us to a party to celebrate our finding the gold. When we arrived at Daria's house, it was decorated with beautiful flowers. Daria had baked a delicious cherry pie. We ate it while having a nice chat. "So, congratulations on finding the gold! How much was it worth?" Lucifer asked.
"It was about $80,000. I have you to thank. We never would have become rich if we had never moved here," I responded. Daria's face fell.
"You're welcome. So, I heard you have a locked safe in the bank. Am I right?" How did she even know this? We never told anybody. "My friend works at the bank. That's how I know," she added.
"Yes. Anywa-" Daria cut me off. "What are your plans to do with the money?" I felt like I was being interrogated. Spencer answered her question for me. "Well, we were thinking about just saving the money, but we are also going to donate $2,000 to the church."
"Wow, that's a lot!" Daria remarked.
"We've been here for quite a while now. Maybe it's time we leave. Thanks for the party," I said.
"You're right. Have a good day. Bye... Oh yeah, I forgot one more thing. Lucifer and I are going to be out of town tonight. We are visiting a friend."
"We hope you have a good time," and we left. "They seem jealous, don't they?" Spencer asked.
"Give them time. They will cool down," I said.

Daria
"We have all the information we need. Tonight is the night we will take action. I have everything planned. Our faces will be covered so nobody will know who we are," I explained to Lucifer.
"Good. Tonight we will become rich! They won't be able to brag about how much they are going donate to the church," Lucifer said with hatred in his voice.
It was one o'clock in the morning. Most of the town was asleep. Lucifer and I were dressed in black and on our way to the bank. In my bag, I had a rope, an axe, and a sack. We entered the bank through the front doors and removed the rope and sack from my bag. "Hand over the money from Spencer and Emily Smith's safe," Lucifer yelled in his most threatening voice.
"Or what?" asked the lady behind the counter.
"Or this..." I took out the axe and chopped it into the top of the counter.
The lady was frightened. "Please. No. The safe number is 2346."
"Tie her up, Bob," I ordered. "Then she won't be able to escape and tattle to the police." Bob was Lucifer's code name, and Joe was mine. While Lucifer was tying her up, I ran to the back of the bank and using the axe, I chopped off the small part of the safe that looked like a locker door. Inside the safe, there were thousands of dollars! It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life! I grabbed the money and stuffed it into my sack as fast as I could. "Joe! Hurry up! There is someone coming!" After grabbing the rest of the money I ran out the back exit.

Emily
"I can't believe it! Someone broke into the bank and took all our money!" Emily complained.
"It's ok. In a small town like this, the burglar is bound to be caught," Spencer replied with a reassuring voice. Not only had the thief taken our money that we got from the gold, but they took all the money we had earned in New Mexico as well. I broke out into tears. There was a knock at the door. When I opened it, there was a police officer standing there.
"I am really sorry about the break-in. I am here to inform you that we will be searching through everyone's houses in town. Thank you for your time." Sadly, I didn't get the chance to say anything because he just shut the door and walked away.
While waiting for answers, I thought of possible suspects. Could it be Old Man Walter? One of his eyes were green and the other brown. That freaked me out. Maybe it was Johnny "Sticky Hands" Humphreys," the local teenage shoplifter. Really, I didn't know what to think now.
Two days passed since the police office visited. There was another knock at the door. "Hello," the officer said in a joyous voice. "Come in," I said. This time it was a different police officer. His name was Christopher. "We have good news. The burglar was caught! Inside the house we found the black masks and clothes, rope, and an axe." All things that were reported by the bank teller when the break-in occurred. The full load of money was found stashed inside a grand piano." I was confused. "But wait. Who stole the money?" I asked. "It turns out there were multiple people acting on the robbery. The criminals names were Lucifer and Daria Hitler," said Christopher. I was astonished.
"Wait, Lucifer and Daria? Daria is my cousin!"
"I am sorry. Greed can sometimes get the better of people," Christopher replied quietly. He pulled out the money he had been carrying in his bag. Here is all your stolen money. I advise that you put it someplace safer. Have a good day ma'am. Oh yeah, and one more thing. Daria and Lucifer are in a cell at the town's jail. You don't need to worry about them. G'day."
So that was that. That is the story of my greatest discovery. Spencer and I had our money back and that was good! We were definitely going to pay Daria and Lucifer a visit in jail sometime in the future. "I know they will enjoy the company," I thought with sarcasm!