No Fairytale

Nanna’s voice echoed in her head, “It’s going to be alright baby, God will get us through, somehow.” Cassie can't help but feel everything is far from being alright. How could Nanna of all people, even believe what she was saying. They were officially on their own and for the first time in 7 years she was feeling like she had when she lost her parents in the accident. This feeling took her back to remembering her parents in the front seats of the car. They were there singing their hearts out as the light turned green not knowing this would be their last. They pressed forward, then what felt like milliseconds later were t-boned by a truck, causing them to spin into a light pole which instantly took the front passengers. Cassie, herself was knocked unconscious by the blow but reclaimed consciousness unlike her parents.

She could have never imagined her family’s regular Saturday trip to Nanna’s would end in a more permanent stay for her without her parents. Her family shrunk, leaving her Nanna and her Uncle Beau to care for her. Now, here she was the day after her uncle’s trial had concluded and he was sentenced to 15 years in a federal facility for drug trafficking, she had lost another figure in her life. She was barely a kid anymore and knew that her uncle was legally wrong, but still couldn’t believe that what he used to support their family and maintain stability was now the cause of their ultimate loss. What would she and Nanna do without him? Nanna in her old age and bad health couldn’t possibly work and a job at the local chicken spot for her after school wouldn’t come close to covering the mortgage, Nanna’s medicine, much less college.

Though months before Uncle Beau had her dreaming of colleges she’d want to go to, she couldn’t even imagine that being a reality now. She would have to take care of herself and Nanna, and couldn’t see how in a couple of years she’d even be close to a space where she could leave for college. Despite his attempt to save for a rainy day for them, Uncle Beau’s case took all but $3,000 from Nanna’s account. Cassie knew that she would have to come up with a plan quickly, that money could probably cover one month of expenses for her and Nanna, and then what would they do. While Nanna was praying about it, she had to be making a strategy and the only person she could possibly talk to was Uncle Beau before he was transferred to his first facility.

The next weekend during her and Nanna’s visit to see Uncle Beau, Nanna prayed over Uncle Beau for his safety and protection. He told Nanna that he had some guys on the outside that owed him and could help her out for the next few months, but she instantly shooed that away. Nanna refused to get caught up with any of the mess that had landed him there in the first place and she believed the Lord would provide a miracle. Worked up from the discussion with Uncle Beau, she finds herself needing to go to the bathroom.

As Nanna went to the bathroom, Uncle Beau tapped Cassie instructing her to listen and listen carefully. “Mama wouldn’t be able to do this, so it has to be you, Cass. I need you to catch everything I’m saying and do this so that y’all can have enough for the next six months and more if you do exactly as I say. When you get home, go to the backyard and enter the crawl space under the house. In there, you should see a Folgers container with a lid on it. In the container is a small black book of important information.” Just as he was saying this we saw Nanna easing her way back over to us with her cane. “We don’t have enough time to talk, but once you get that book, start reading it. I will call with the minutes I have on the phone, but you’ll have to read the book so you can know exactly what questions you have for me to help with the next steps.” “Ain’t that right Cassie?” Uncle Beau said as Nanna sat back down.

As we left the prison, all I could think about was, what information would this book contain that would lead to money. Did I have to sell drugs or something? I didn’t know what to expect, especially knowing Uncle Beau’s line of work. But that couldn’t possibly be it, since he always told me he did what he did, so that I could do better. All I knew was that whatever it was, we needed it, and I had to do it as soon as we got home. After taking the bus back home, it was dark outside and I knew Nanna would be suspicious, so I’d have to wait until tomorrow to get the black book first thing in the morning.

The next morning, I got up and got dressed pretending to go for a walk to the park down the street, while Nanna watched a Sunday service. As Nanna belted amens and sang hymns, I was bracing the crawl space. As I attempted to feel around the crawl space, I realized that I’d clearly never been in one because I didn’t bring a flashlight with me. Then I remembered my flashlight app on my cell. As I waved the light around the space, I noticed the container to my left and instantly opened it. Just as Uncle Beau mentioned, there was the black book. I closed the space and sat on the back porch reading the book to find the answers to my questions and problems.

In the book, there were entries of locations and directions which contained money. For the first two entries there were amounts next to them that said $2,000 and $3,000. If this was the amount of money I could find at the locations, Nanna and I could breathe for a couple more months. But the remaining entries didn’t have an amount listed, what if someone else found these spots and all the money is now gone. No matter what, we need the money now, and if Nanna isn’t going to take the help I have to go get it.

The first location was another crawl space, yet this was at the local barbershop one of his friend’s owned to clean money. This space was a lot smaller but the money was exactly where the book said it’d be, I guess no one wanted to enter the small space behind the dumpster around back. I can’t believe my eyes and seeing so many dollar bills I’m scared of losing it. Seeing it in another can, I realized I should have brought a bookbag with me. Walking around with a coffee can and a journal would probably draw attention and stares. If I go home and grab a bookbag, Nanna will think something’s up. Wanting to avoid this, I decide to go to the corner store nearby and buy a small bag or bookbag if they have one. In the corner store I see a few bags, grab one of the bundled twenty-dollar bills from the can and purchase the first one that looks like it’ll do the job. As soon as the cashier passes me the change, I open the bag and toss the change and can in. Leaving the store, I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone from the store was following or watching me. The last thing I needed was to find the money and someone rob me. Seeing no one paying me any mind, I pull out my book and head to the next location. After making five stops on the list, I’m grateful I got a bag to store the cash and could toss all the cans. I'm in shock at how much money I’ve seen and can’t wait to count it. At this point, it’s been a few hours and I know Nanna will be wondering where I’ve been so I head home, but first I put the bookbag in the crawlspace under the house.

It’s dusk, Nanna and I have finished dinner so it’s time for her bath and then her usual whine down time. As she heads to the bathroom and I hear the water running, I sneak outside and snag the bookbag from the crawl space. I knock on the bathroom door to tell Nanna I’m just going to head to my room to do some homework and lay down. Once in my room, I lock the door and empty the bag, dumping money onto my bed. Seeing money sprawled on my bed, I stood there frozen, the money Uncle Beau stashed away, was real. To think, this would be a solution to so many of our present problems was unbelievable. It was probably enough to take care of the bills for the next several months, but probably still was enough for college. Then again, I needed to live for two more years before college was even a real concern, so that thought would have to wait.

I started separating the twenty and hundred dollar bills and began to count and write down the amounts in the bundles. I counted 200 twenty dollar bills and 185 hundred dollar bills, if my math is correct, that is over $22,000. If I budget like Uncle Beau said I could make this last for awhile, but also how was I going to get Nanna to use the money without telling her where it came from. He told me about a friend of his that could help me open a custodial bank account who wouldn’t want anything in return. She’s always told him to invest his funds and that she wanted him to make better choices. I had to get in touch with her to figure out the next steps.

I looked up Uncle Beau’s friend's social media and directly messaged her to connect. She responded an hour later and sent me her cell phone number so we could talk. I called her immediately and she helped me to come up with a plan to anonymously make the mortgage payments for Nanna so she would think it was a miracle. She also told me I would need to look for a small part time job and I could have Nanna come with me to open up a custodial account for my job. The next week I got a job as a cashier on weekends and Nanna fell right into the plan. Over the course of the weeks I would place a thousand in each week and give Uncle Beau’s friend the $800 a month to make a payment for Nanna’s mortgage. A few months of payments and stability, we were ready for me to begin to make small investments that would yield some more funds.

I thought investing would be fast but it was looking like I’d have to play the long game. Problem was, even though we would be fine for a while, we couldn’t count on the long game. And since the rest of the spots in the book yielded no additional funds, I would have to increase my hours from the weekends to the weeknights to save as much as possible for the time when what we had would run out. I knew I couldn’t count on dreams because my life was no fairytale. But the little black book was my temporary miracle, sparing us even if only delaying the inevitable for a later time.