THE RUMMAGE

THE RUMMAGE

ONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE

BY RENITA GUYTON

Ann was exhausted after moving into a new apartment and sifting through one rummage sale after the other. Ann’s was on her way home, but it was something about an old ugly green sofa sitting on the curb with a free sign on it that caught her attention. Ann stopped her truck and walked around and around the sofa checking it out. Despite the old fabric, and ugly color; Ann saw potential in the sofa. She paid the son of a neighbor to go back and help her retrieve the sofa and take it up the stairs to her new apartment.

Feeling the aches and pain of a long busy day, Ann decided to run herself a hot bath. Meanwhile something about the sofa, she just found kept drawing her attention to it. Ann stared at the sofa contemplating on all kinds of ways she could reupholster it and make it to look like an expensive piece of furniture. She began to check out how sturdy the sofa was and came across a small tear that prompt her to stick a few fingers inside of it. Ann snatched her fingers out quickly, as if she were frighted by something.

After gathering her composure Ann started to tear away the rest of the fabric to figure out what she had touched that startled her. To her surprise it was just a little black notebook surrounded by a lot of cotton balls that had been glued to it.

Ann opened the book and started to read. She noticed the book was a year old by the dates in it. She started to read aloud. “Hello, my name is Melvin Powers, and if you are reading this notebook, that means I am likely dead.” Ann jumped in terror dropping the notebook to the floor as she ran to turn off the tub of water that was now flooding her bathroom. She quicky tore through boxes looking for towels and clothes to soak up the water before it starts to flood the apartment under her.

Once all the water was off the floor Ann threw all the wet linen and clothes inside of the tube and planned to visit the laundry matt in the morning. She thought she was exhausted earlier, but after clearing up the small flood in her bathroom all Ann wanted to do was go to sleep. It was then that she remembered that she never made time to set up her bed. That was not the worst of it, Ann decided she would just gather some blankest and sleep on the floor, but every blanket she owned was now soak-n-wet inside the bathtub.

“What else could possible go wrong?” She mumbled to herself as she curled up close to the sofa. Remembering the small black notebook, Ann looked around for it and started to read it again. “Hello, my name is Melvin Powers, and if you are reading this notebook that means I am likely dead.” Ann paused for a minute before reading on; she pondered on the thought of what if what she just read is real.

However, curiosity got the best of Ann and she decided to keep reading. Again, she started over. “Hello, my name is Melvin Powers, and if you are reading this notebook, that means I am likely dead.”

1

“I don’t know how you came upon my notebook, because of where and how I hid it, but you too can also be in danger if you are not my killer.” “A few weeks ago, I won twenty thousand dollars at the casino, and someone has been following me ever since.” “I hid the money…

Alice dropped the book without going any further and started tearing at the sofa like a mad woman. Before long she had stripped the sofa of every piece of fabric that was still covering it. She found nothing so she picked the notebook back up and continued to read it for more clues about the twenty thousand-dollar Melvin mentioned he had won. She thought maybe he had hidden it in the sofa with the notebook, but it was not there.

Picking the notebook back up she continued to read. “I hid the money in a different location than this notebook; maybe I will revel where maybe I won’t.” “As I mentioned earlier if you are reading this I am in all likely dead, and you could be in danger too.” “If you can find out who I am and what happened to me; it could lead you to the money.” Ann continued to read the notebook until she fell asleep.

The next morning Ann loaded up the wet stuff from the bathtub and headed to the laundry matt. On her way she passed by the house that had sat the sofa out on the curb and wondered if the money could be inside the house somewhere. It looked as though the tenants were moving out so she decide she would stop and ask question.

As they were loading a moving truck, Ann approach one of the occupants, and asked if they were moving in or out. Tammy a thin aging woman turned and responded to Ann letting her know that she was moving out. Ann extended her hand to shake the women’s hand and too introduced herself. Then she went on to ask Tammy if the house was going to be up for rent anytime soon. Tammy revealed to Ann that she had lived in and owned the house for the past thirty years and was now moving out to let her oldest daughter and grandchildren have the house.

Ann decided to take a chance and ask about the ugly green sofa that Tammy sat outside. Tammy told her that she bought the sofa a little over a year ago with the intent on reupholstering it, but never got around to it. She remembers buying it at an apartment building that auctioned off furniture that is left behind by tenants and gave Ann the information.

While Ann was doing her laundry, she searched the web and public data base looking for a Melvin Powers. To her surprise she found a Melvin Powers death certificate, and it was associated with the address Tammy had given her. Ann continued to search, and she also found a newspaper article about Melvin’s death.

2

According to the article he was found murdered in his apartment about a year ago, and no arrest were made. The article also mentioned that the killer or killers tore the apartment up as if they were looking for something.

After Ann was done with her laundry, she decided to drive by Melvin’s old apartment and check things out. She notices there were several vacancies which prompt her to go into the office and inquirer as if she were looking to rent and apartment. The manager was a graying middle age man named Bill that turned out to be very chatty. Before Ann could ask any question, he started giving Ann the 411 on the apartments and its tenants.

When Ann asked Bill about crimes and break-ins, he assured her except for one incident over a year ago, the neighborhood was very safe and well kept. Ann asked Bill if he was working there at the time Melvin’s murder happened. Bill acknowledged that he been working there for the past fifteen years are so, and that he was working the day they found Melvin dead. He told Ann that Melvin’s apartment was still vacant because they have not been able to rent it out to anyone since his murder.

Bill went on to tell Ann what a nice guy Melvin was and how he did not deserve to be bludgeon to death. He told Ann that Melvin was quiet, kept to himself and paid his rent on time. Ann asked if she could see the inside of Melvin’s old apartment. Bill was shocked by her request but decided not to ask her why instead he led the way. Ann noticed that Bill was reluctant to go inside when he unlocked the door, so she asked him if something was wrong.

Bill admitted to Ann that he also was not comfortable with going into Melvin’s old apartment. He let Ann inside and told her he would wait for her on the outside. She could hear Bill still talking to her through the wall. He was going on and on about how some people get kicks out of going inside of dead people’s homes. Ann noticed that there was still some furniture left inside of the apartment. There were two nightstands, a taped-up box of who knows what, a microwave oven, and bags and bags of cotton balls.

Her heart pound with excitement of what if the money was still there somewhere and she had a strong feeling that it was. Her mind raced with thoughts of places Melvin could have hidden it, and what if its inside of the furniture that was left behind. After a while Bill shouted in to ask if she was okay.

She emerged from the apartment trying to keep her composure while asking Bill if the furniture in the apartment was for sale. Bill told her she could have it for free if she hauls it all out herself. Ann could not believe it was as simple as that, but she immediately started to put the stuff on the back of her small pick- up truck, and hurried home.

3

Once Ann unloaded everything into her apartment, she started tearing into the stuff looking for the twenty thousand dollars Melvin hid somewhere. She opened the taped-up box and found more cotton balls. Suddenly for some strange reason it came to Ann the reason for all the cotton balls. She remembered how Melvin camouflaged the black notebook with all the cotton balls clued to it and stuck it inside the couch. This led her to the microwave oven. Ann felt around it and noticed It felt different. She found a screwdriver and began taking it apart, and it was filled with cotton balls.

Ann tore all the cotton balls out; low and behold there was the twenty thousand dollars. Ann was ecstatic, but her heart pumped with both fear and excitement. Suddenly out of nowhere came a loud continues knock on her door. she was so afraid that her body went stiff from fear preventing her from speaking or moving.