theinkwell writing challenge | Money is for you dummy

Money is for you dummy

---

It was a gloomy afternoon as in this small-town kept operational through a local plastic factory. The wind howled heavily as Paul struggled to pry open his trunk to get his work gear. He thankfully wasn't in a hurry to work for once as he had planned for the icy storm thanks to a tip from his wife the night before as she realized their kids would have a delayed school day at best.

The icy weather had frozen his trunk shut and now he struggled to open it as if he were about to get Smaug the dragon's treasure after it opened. That was not the case. In fact, quite the opposite. He finally gave up and headed to the backseat of his car, where he was able to lower the seats to fangle his gear out of the trunk.

Hopefully, this isn't a sign for how the day will go for me, Paul thought to himself. Walking into work though, proved this initial thought to have more validity than Paul was ready for- despite literally thinking about moments prior.

A group of people were huddled outside of the Human Resource office and tensions were high. Paul could hear yelling and frustration in his coworker's voices as he hurried over to see what the commotion was.

"This is insane. Just before Christmas too, you're vile!" Paul heard one coworker spit out in rage at the HR manager. Another yelled, "Criminal! This should be criminal"

Paul sensed something was amiss. He hurried over to a friend he spotted among the crowd. Quickly talking together, the two were engulfed in a shared rage as Paul's coworker explained how the factory would be closing down. To make matters worse, it was closing today with Christmas only weeks away.

Disappointment washed over Paul as if a tidal wave had swept his emotions into a flood of worry. As the news became real with official announcements from management and other formal memos being passed around, he shuffled out of the factory.

He headed down to his favorite breakfast place to lighten his sorrow. As he entered the diner, the restaurant was empty but an old man sitting in the corner. Paul grabbed a seat and ordered a coffee as he shared the bad news about his job with his waitress, a makeshift therapist for Paul this morning.

She offered him a coffee cake on the house considering the bad news and as Paul enjoyed this delicious pastry, he thought about what he was going to do for Christmas. His 12-year old son may understand the troubling timing of his job loss but his 7-year-old daughter certainly wouldn't.

As he thought about how to explain this to her, dipping his coffee cake into his warm coffee, the old man walked by his table and dropped a heavy envelopment. Paul looked up in bewilderment. As his cake started to turn soggy in his warm coffee, Paul croaked out a question to the man, "What's this?" referencing the envelopment.

"Open it" the old man replied. Quickly, Paul took the large manilla envelope and tore it open to find a bundle of cash. Again Paul looked up bewildered and asked the old man, "What's this for? Who is this for?" as he referenced the money in the envelope.

"Money is for you dummy," the old man said quickly and firmly. Paul looked back down at the money and back at the old man but he was gone. Looking around even more confused, Paul didn't see any signs of the old man.

Though he looked around for a few moments, there were no signs of the old man. He stammered to his waitress who now stood in front of him, "Did you see him- that old man?" She shook her head no. "Sir you're the only one who's been in this morning, we just opened minutes ago."

Paul paused and looked back at the envelope of money in his hands. Confused and gratefully he heard the old man clear as day, "The Money is for you dummy." He laughed to himself, certain he had just experienced a Christmas miracle that he would never be able to explain.