I had found a wallet with a week’s wages while sweeping the public transportation bus my father drove. I was rich! However, after treating lots of kids at school to snacks, buying many things for myself, and keeping the secret from my mom, I was beginning to feel trapped by my wealth. I still had Q18.00 quetzales and it seemed to me this money was multiplying! I decided to go around the neighborhood and when I found a group of kids playing, I would take coins from my pocket and leave them in places where they could easily find them. I would hide somewhere nearby to hear their happy voices as they would discover the money. They would search the area to make sure they had not missed any money and then make a run for the store to buy candy, popsicles, or gum. I would then go find another group and do the same thing again. It was a good feeling!
One morning after doing my chores, I was on my way to give more money to the poor when I noticed my stash was smaller. I was very angry at first and very hurt that my brother would do such a thing. While I was asleep he had gotten the money out of my pocket! I was robbed! As I sat there thinking, I finally reasoned that it was probably better that way because somehow having all that money had become a burden. I talked to my brother Armando about the money I was missing. He denied to have taken it. I accepted his story but couldn’t help to notice the big wad of gum he was chewing and the nice new marbles he was showing off. Hmm…
By now candy, ice cream, and of all those junky snacks had lost their enchantment. I was down to eight Quetzales from the twenty three Quetzales I had found. Some nights, I would lay in my bed thinking about the money and where I was going to hide it next. My brother watched me like a hawk and tried to get me to tell him where I kept the money but I couldn’t trust him with that anymore.
Continued in Part 4…