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The boy had often wondered what was contained within the old man’s piece of furniture. He had been delivering papers for him for two years now and each week the old man would answer the knock on the door and allow the boy to stand in the doorway while he counted out the change he was to receive. The beat up old piece of furniture with its incredibly old lock didn’t look like it would put up much of a fight. What could the old man possibly have inside there?

He had heard rumors that the old man had survived the Great Depression and kept all his money rolled up in big wads and stored in coffee tins. Thousands of dollars, some said. Even though the house looked like it hadn’t been taken care of in a very long time, the old man must have had money to be able to afford to buy that Terrier of his a roast every couple of days to eat. That damn dog ate better than anyone the boy knew.

God knows the old man’s relatives thought he had money stashed away somewhere in the house. The old man said he didn’t like any of them. They didn’t care about him or the dog, he said, just visited every now and then in the hopes they would be mentioned in the will. “I like you.” he said to the boy, “You take the time to leave the paper by the door so I don’t have to walk to the street to get it.”

The next week, when the boy knocked on the door the dog barked, but the old man didn’t come to the door. The boy turned the knob and to his surprise the door opened and the dog jumped up at him excitedly. In the corner of the room the old man sat slumped in a chair. The old lock seemed to be taunting the boy.

This is aamora member John Linton’s contribution to the “Secret” Project. You can check out John’s other aamora posts and the other “Secrets” by clicking on the links in the next column over there —>>