Beth's Big Move

Beth parks the car in the garage, hits the garage door button and bursts excitedly through the garage access door. “Honey, you’ll never believe what just happened! Never in a million years!” George gets up from his easy chair and approaches Beth. “OK, OK, calm down a bit. Wow, something’s got you all..” “I just won $20,000!! Look at this scratch-off card!” Her husband replies, “you bought scratch-off cards?! Why? We both know those things are for idio…” “Just please look at this!" George skeptically examines the card. “My God, Beth, you’re right!! It looks like a winning lottery card!” Beth exclaims, “I never win anything! This is so strange!” The two start hugging and hopping up and down and dancing on the kitchen floor. Then, George’s brain immediately kicks into overdrive. “Let’s take a trip! Or, no! A new car! The old pickup has over 200,000 miles on it. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe it’s time. What are your thoughts? What do you want to do with it?!” How to spend it hadn’t really crossed Beth’s mind; she was still basking in the glow of having actually won something. How should they spend it? A vacation? New car? Give it to their boys? “Well…I really don’t know yet. Can I think about it?” “Yeah, of course! Let it sink in, we’ll redeem the card at the regional lottery center, and we can both start thinking about our options.” “OK, that sounds good! Thanks, hon.” The rest of the day was carefree, quiet and restful.

The next morning, George stares at Beth lovingly while he sips coffee from his favorite mug. Married for nearly 43 years, boys all grown up and married off, life is comfortable. George made a successful banking career, their house is all paid off and they even made home improvements along the way. “So, are there any new thoughts about our sudden windfall?”, George asks with a wink and a nudge. Beth bats him a playful look and replies, “Yeah. Maybe. I was thinking, this is all very exciting, but we really don’t need the money, do we? We’ve been doing all right, haven’t we? The kids are grown, married and on their way. The house is paid off.” “All very true,” George acknowledges. “I mean, if we really wanted to, we could take a vacation anytime we wanted, and could well afford it, right?” “Yeah, I guess you’re right. So, what are you thinking?” Beth looks at George sheepishly. “Well, I was….kind of….thinking of….giving it away?” “Like, a local charity? Not a bad idea. Disadvantaged children, a food bank? I like it! You’re right, we’ll be fine. I would have never done what you did, so I say, do what you’d like with it.”

A couple weeks later, Beth began making a plan. She would host a party at her house and invite some targeted guests. She would divide the money into four equal portions, and give away $5,000 to each of four people. The lucky persons included her cousin, Mike; her best friend, Julie; her dad, Edmund. She wasn’t totally decided on who the fourth person would be, though.

The evening of the party had arrived. George was in on the plan, too, and loved Beth’s idea. In the middle of the evening, everyone sat down for a while. Beth delivered her proposition. She began, “so, there is a reason why George and I invited you here tonight.” Mike replied, “yeah, we figured as much. It’s not often that anybody has their cousin, their best friend, and their father as the only guests at a party.” “Yes, what’s going on,” Julie said, “are you guys renewing your wedding vows or something?” “No, nothing like that, although that’s a good guess,” Beth replied. A brief awkward silence, then Beth continued, “a couple of weeks ago, I bought a couple of scratch-off cards at a convenience store. Kind of on a whim, I hardly ever make such impulse buys.” Mike and Julie seemed indifferent; Edmund was nodding off. “One of them was a winning card worth $20,000.” Suddenly, Edmund’s eyes flew open. “What?! That’s incredible! Congratulations,” exclaimed Julie. “Mother Mary Jesus of all that’s pure and holy,” said Mike. Edmund added a bit gruffly, “So…what? Invited the three of us over so you can gloat?” Beth replied, “No, of course not Dad. We…want to gift some of it…to each of you. $5,000 each.” Beth hands each of them an envelope. “Inside your envelope is a cashier’s check.” The three guests have a look of pure shock on their faces. Mike leaps out of his chair and lunges toward George to hug him, while Julie does the same with Beth as her intended target. “Oh, I can’t believe this!! But why us?!” Beth said, “no need to worry yourselves about why you were chosen instead of someone else. There are no stipulations on how you spend it, either. Except, maybe don’t lose the check. That would be sad.” “Well, bust my britches,” said Edmund, “I can’t figure it, Little Peach, you don’t want none of it?” George replied, “Beth and I are fine. Really, we are.” After a moment of disbelief, Mike said, “well, who gets the last $5,000?” Beth replied, “honestly, I have not decided yet.” “I have some ideas!," replied Mike. “I bet you do,” said Beth, “but I will figure it out. Don’t worry!” “I don’t know what to say,” said Julie, tears welling up in her eyes as she reaches out for another hug from Beth. “We’re going to enjoy watching how this all unfolds with each of you,” added George.

The evening ended with Mike ecstatic, Julie endlessly sobbing tears of joy, and Edmund questioning the logic behind Beth’s big move. The three guests were eventually ushered out of the house, where they got into their cars and drove off. George and Beth locked the front door and stood in the entryway staring at each other, both with a goofy smile. “This is gonna be fun,” Beth said, “I can’t wait to see what they each do.” “A new ‘adventure’ for everyone involved,” added George. “But, I am curious, too. Who’s the lucky person that gets the last $5,000?” Beth replied, “I have an idea.”

The next morning, Beth drove downtown. She decided to gift the last $5,000 to a complete stranger. She parked the car, got out and started walking toward a known area where homeless people seek shelter. As she approached the area, she noticed a thin woman sitting against a brick building. Beth’s mind was set. She crouched down beside the woman and said, “if I give you $5,000 will you tell me your name?” The woman looked up at her quizzically for a moment and replied, “you…want to…buy my name?” Beth chuckled and said, “no, I want to give you $5,000 cash, but in return I’d like to know your name, so I might have a chance to learn how you decided to spend it.” Beth produced an envelope full of $100 bills and offered it to her. “Oh, my,” she said, slowly reaching for the envelope. “Uh, thank you, miss. My name is Carolyn Carruthers. I live with these nice people under that overpass. It protects us most of the time. ‘Cept when it gets real cold.” Beth replied, “well this could help you in a variety of ways. Call me at this phone number someday, OK? God bless, Carolyn.” Beth then returned to her car and drove back home to tell George what she’d done. She also bought a little black book in which to keep notes on her four different ‘experiments’.

Months passed, with no word from any of the four chosen ones. Beth began to feel like she’d made a huge mistake. One day, a postcard arrived in Beth’s mailbox. It was from Julie, who wrote: “Hi, Beth! Your gift changed my life. I used it to travel to Argentina, where I met Pedro, the love of my life. He proposed to me yesterday. Will you be my bride’s maid?!! Love and Hugs, Julie.” Now it was Beth’s eyes that welled up with tears. She had always hoped Julie would find love. She taped the postcard into her little black book and held it tightly to her chest.

A few months later, her cousin Mike called to say that he was able to throw a huge, over-the-top 80th birthday party for his grandmother who was suffering from macular degeneration, thanks to the money she had given him. Such an event would have never been possible on his salary if it had not been for Beth's generous gift. Beth was filled with joy as she made another entry into her black book.

About one week after Mike’s phone call, Beth’s dad stopped over to say hi. Edmund was beside himself with a look of giddy mischief. “Hey, Little Peach, I just had to come over and give you the news. I bought a whole truckload of them plastic pink flamingos, you know, those pink things you sometimes see in people’s lawns as a prank on your neighbors? Well, I always wanted to try that prank, and now I can do it anytime I want!! My old Vietnam comrade, Al, will never know what hit him! I’ve never had so much damn fun in my whole life!” Edmund roared with laughter as he turned about and walked away. “See ya later, Little Peach!!” All Beth could do was just smile and laugh. She got out her little black book and wrote the whole episode down.

A few months after Edmund’s visit, there was a knock at Beth’s front door. She opened it to find a thin, but well-dressed woman. “Hi. I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Carolyn Carruthers, the woman to whom you gave all that cash nearly eight months ago.” Beth drew back with mild surprise. “Yes, of course I remember you. To be honest, I was wondering if I would ever hear from you again.” “When you gave me that money and drove away, I noted your license plate number and swore to myself I would not forget it. So…here I am.” “Oh my gosh, well please come in! Sit for awhile!” “OK, thank you,” replied Carolyn. The two talked like a couple of gabby girls for nearly an hour. “Instead of simply calling you, I wanted to come talk with you in-person,” continued Carolyn. “I wanted to tell you the impact that money has had on my life.” Beth replied, “Well, it certainly helped upgrade your wardrobe! You look great!” “Oh, there’s much more than just these nice clothes. Before I became homeless, I was an event planner for a downtown firm. Business dried up and I was laid off, lost my home and eventually burned through what little savings I had. When you came along with your gift, I decided to use my skills to leverage it. I started a soup kitchen for the homeless on 87th and Grand in downtown. Things started out slowly and it looked like it might fail, but other community leaders and citizens starting backing it and word spread around the area, and now it’s thriving. We feed over 100 people a day. You should come visit sometime and see what you enabled.” Beth was stunned and her eyes welled up again. All she could do was stare in awe at this woman who had done this incredible act. After awhile, Carolyn bid Beth goodbye and Beth promised she would visit the soup kitchen soon. Beth broke down emotionally for a good hour, writing everything down in her little black book about all Carolyn had told her. It was one of the most emotional times in her whole life that she can ever recall. Beth and George are now frequent, generous donors to a variety of organizations in their community.