“Poor couple finds cash under floor during renovation. Then, policeman tells them: [Music].
This. When you’re born in poverty and your whole family has been poor for generations, it’s hard to break the cycle. Alice and Finn were trying just that, but nothing seemed to work. They decided it was time. They stopped trying to save money to renovate their house and just did it themselves. If they had known what they would find underneath their floorboards, they would have torn them out long ago.
Alice stood frozen in shock as Finn was hammering away at the floorboard. When Finn gave the final blow to the floorboard with his hammer, he saw the bills. They were trying to understand what had just happened. Then, the realization hit them. They were rich. However, this was the beginning of their misery. Alice and Finn danced around the room in disbelief. That night, they talked about all the things they would buy: food, furniture, and of course, the renovation of their house.
But when they went to the grocery store the next day, something happened that neither of them had seen coming. Once they arrived at the store, things started to go south, and soon, the police even got involved. And what they had to say to them about the money shocked them.
The cashier hesitantly scanned all the products, and there were a lot. During this, she exchanged confused looks with her colleagues, and Finn and Alice couldn’t blame her. They knew how ridiculous it looked. Two dirty, broke people buying two, maybe three months worth of food with what money. And that was exactly what the store manager was thinking when he walked toward the couple and asked them to come with him to the back. Were they in trouble?
‘I’ve called the police,’ the manager eventually said. ‘You’ll have to wait here for them to arrive.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Um, why did you have to call the police, sir? We haven’t stolen anything,’ the manager looked him dead in the eye and said, ‘Not yet.’ Finn was stunned. In all his life, he was never treated like this. He looked at Alice, who looked back at him, and they grabbed each other’s hands. They both knew how badly poor people were treated in certain situations. It was a scary thought, but people sometimes act on their prejudices. Who knew if the police would even take them seriously?
They both realized the story of how they found the money was a bit implausible. They could hear the police sirens coming their way and waited anxiously for them to arrive. Suddenly, the manager walked to the front of the store to wait for the officers and came back with two police officers by his side. They had stern looks on their faces and stood dominantly in front of Alice and Finn.
‘My name is Officer Smith, and this is my partner Officer Hendrick. We can do this either two ways: You two follow me outside and go into the police car willingly, or we have to handcuff you two and do it the hard way.’
Alice looked at Finn, and he could see the fear in her eyes. That’s why he slowly pushed his chair back and stood up. He looked into Alice’s eyes and nodded his head to tell her to get up as well. Alice carefully stood up too, and they followed the police officers outside. When they passed the cashiers, Alice looked at the woman and could see guilt written all over her face.
The car ride to the station was silent. Alice and Finn had never come in contact with the police before, but they knew they had to keep their mouths shut. Everything that they would say to each other could and possibly would be used against them. They had a feeling it would be a difficult case to explain, but they were going to try. Alice knew the money was theirs and wholeheartedly believed they were the rightful owners, but she had to think of a way to make the police realize that as well.
But little did she know, the police would have a very different reaction to the money than she would expect. Once they arrived at the police station, Alice and Finn were escorted to a small interrogation room. But when they arrived at the door, one of the officers took Alice into the room, and when Finn wanted to enter after her, the other officer grabbed him by the arm and took him to another room.
As soon as Alice realized they had split them up, she started to panic. She needed Finn by her side to keep her calm and to guide the conversation in a good direction. One wrong word to her, and she would snap at the officers, making pleading her case more difficult. ‘Hand over the money you have in your pocket,’ Officer Smith suddenly said to Alice. He held out his hand in front of her. Alice hesitated. ‘Will I get it back?’ Alice asked, but the officer chuckled.
We’ll see about that.’ Alice sighed. She knew she couldn’t refuse the officer’s request. She placed the $500 bills in the officer’s hand and sat down. The officer left the room without saying another word, leaving Alice all alone. It felt as if his heart was going to beat out of his chest, and his eyes began to burn from held-back tears. Meanwhile, Alice was still waiting for Officer Smith to return. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Officer Chris walked in. He looked angry and dominant. ‘Alright, since your man doesn’t want to tell me the truth, I’m going to have to get it out of you.’ Alice swallowed. He walked around the room and leaned on the table. ‘Tell me, Alice, where did you get the money from?’
Officer Hendrick began, ‘We were renovating our home and we found-‘ Officer Hendrick sighed loudly. ‘You can stop with those lies, or do you want to join Finn in the cell?’ Alice’s eyes widened. ‘You put him in a cell?’ she asked carefully. Her palms were getting sweaty. She had no idea what she should do. She was telling him the truth, but he didn’t believe her in the slightest. Should she lie so he would believe her? That would be so twisted. Suddenly, Officer Smith walked into the room.
Alice sighed in relief as he looked a lot less agitated than Officer Hendrick. ‘Can I speak with you outside?’ he asked Officer Hendrick, who immediately followed him. They stood in front of the door, and for as far as Alice could see, they were in a heated argument. ‘That was very nice of him to ask.’ Suddenly, Officer Smith walked into the room again and asked Alice if she wanted anything to drink or eat. Alice hesitated, but she eventually asked for a glass of water.
She thought, but why was he acting so differently than the other officer? Not long after, Officer Smith returned with two glasses of water, one for her and one for Finn. He walked through the door, and Alice hugged him tightly. ‘I was so worried,’ she whispered in his ear. They sat down next to each other and held hands as they did before.
So, the test results came back,’ Officer Smith began. ‘Can you tell me one more time where you found the money?’ Alice looked at Finn and began to explain everything. She chose her words carefully but felt comfortable telling the story without Officer Hendrick present. Officer Smith wrote everything down, and when Alice was done talking, he suddenly apologized. He told them there was no record of any money missing and the serial numbers weren’t registered as stolen. The money was also old and had probably been lying under their floorboards for a long time.
Alice and Finn couldn’t believe what they were hearing. The money was theirs. That meant that they were rich. They laughed and hugged each other again. Officer Smith apologized once more for everything, and Alice and Finn accepted their apology.They could understand why they acted the way they did. Once they were released, they returned to the grocery store to rub their victory in the manager’s face. They loaded their card with even more food than they had earlier and confidently walked to the checkout counter. When it was time to pay, Alice gave the lady the right amount of money and winked at the store manager. As for the rest of the money, they used a big part to pay for their house renovation. The other part they put in a savings account and used in their daily life.
Alice was able to go to evening school and eventually got a job as a receptionist. They were optimistic that they were going to break the poverty cycle after all.
