He\u2019d told them no publicity. But the news had leaked out.\nLeaked? Gushed more like it. Three phone calls this morning. \u2018My wife needs a\nlung transplant and fifty thousand will enable her to\u2026\u2019 \u2018Our donkey sanctuary\ndesperately wants funding to the tune of\u2026\u2019 \u2018Good morning Mr York, I\u2019m calling\non behalf of the local women\u2019s refuge and if you can find your way to donating\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How long\nbefore they began calling round? And if he opened the door, how many would put\na foot between door and doorstep and craftily intrude into the house, one pace\nat a time along the hall, until daily callers were lasering walls and nooks,\nand shining searchlights into hollows and corners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
After\ndepositing a cheque for a million in the bank, he\u2019d asked for ten thousand in\nloose change. The cashier counted out the fifty-pound notes. His reasoning: stow\na big pile of readies at home, and that way avoid a hassle every time he went to\na hole in the wall to make a withdrawal. No scrum of beggars ingratiating and\nwheedling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seemed\na good idea. But it was exhausting finding a hiding place in the house for the\nmoney. He\u2019d wandered around wondering where to secrete it from the world\u2019s\ntentacles, the claws of the greedy, the snouts of the relentlessly curious, the\nlock-picking eyes of ever-ready, plausible chancers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the\nstairs in that still good, battered portmanteau of his grandfather? But every\nroom of the house opened its secrets to a keen eye. Then he\u2019d picked up the newspaper\nand read an article on keeping your important items safe from thieves. One\nrogue said he never looked in a pantry, never searched in a cereal packet or\nbag of flour. So he\u2019d put the bulky wad in a clever spot in the pantry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every half\nan hour he returned to feel the silky texture of the banknotes, smell their\nnewly-minted, indefinable odour, crisp them between his fingers. It was so\npleasurable, you could almost taste them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his anxiety\nlevels rose massively when the postman delivered the mail. Dozens of charities\nwanted a percentage of his win; and a congratulatory card from his alcoholic son\npromised he\u2019d be round in the morning to toast fatherly success. He\u2019d given him\na backdoor key years ago. Fool! Now he couldn\u2019t keep him out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He scuttled\nback and forth to the pantry, checking, rechecking, wondering if it was\nson-proof, until he was worn out, and his heart began to palpitate. He went to\nbed, twitching with foreboding, trepidation making his heart thump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next\nmorning his son, dry-mouthed from the previous evening\u2019s binge, opened the tea caddy\nto make himself a drink. Inside he found an enormous bundle of notes. He went upstairs\nand discovered his father dead in bed, his fingers clamped around his debit\ncard. The son pocketed card and money, then rang the police, thinking of the\ncopious G and Ts he\u2019d soon be raising to his father\u2019s memory. R.I.P!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He\u2019d told them no publicity. But the news had leaked out. Leaked? Gushed more like it. Three phone calls this morning. \u2018My wife needs a lung transplant and fifty thousand will enable her to\u2026\u2019 \u2018Our donkey sanctuary desperately wants funding to the tune of\u2026\u2019 \u2018Good morning Mr York, I\u2019m calling on behalf of the local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,55],"tags":[56,57],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-august","tag-after","tag-lottery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-1T","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}