My mom refused to let me fix the clogged kitchen sink pipes, and what I eventually found inside left me speechless.

Just tired.”

But I didn’t buy it. Something in that house felt off. When she left for the grocery store that afternoon, I made my decision.

Whatever was eating at her, I was going to fix it… starting with that creepy sink. I grabbed the wrench and got started. The pipes came apart easier than I expected.

Years of mineral buildup flaked off like old paint. But when I reached the elbow joint, my fingers hit something that definitely wasn’t supposed to be there. Plastic.

Wrapped tight around something hard and rectangular. I pulled it out carefully, my heart pounding. Inside the waterproof wrapping was an old flip phone and several thick rolls of hundred-dollar bills.

I counted them twice, thrice. Thirty grand… stuffed in our plumbing like some kind of suburban treasure chest. “What the hell?”

The front door slammed.

“Jeremy? I’m home!”

I scrambled to stuff everything back in the wrapping, but it was too late. Mom rounded the corner and saw me sitting on the kitchen floor, wads of money scattered around me like confetti.

The grocery bags slipped from her hands and green apples rolled across the linoleum. “Oh God! What did you do?

Oh no, no, no!” She pressed her hands to her face. “Why did you have to find it?”

“Mom, whose money is this? And this phone?”Continue reading…