What a Find

While renovating her grandmother's home, Ophelia Castaneda made the find of her life. What secrets our elders keep to themselves until it comes to light.

It was only a year ago today that Ophelia had lost her grandmother to a long bout of intestine issues. Which had her visiting the hospital off and on for years, it seems. In her last will and testament she had left Ophelia the home that she had grown up in. Being the only grandchild it was not hard to believe that she wanted her to have it.

After months of paperwork Ophelia was finally able to take ownership of the house. She had not been there since her grandmother was placed in a rehab facility from her last stent at the hospital, which kept her in bed for three years. Unfortunately her grandmother was no longer able to walk on her own and needed to learn how to with assistance along with everything else.

It sadden Ophelia to see her this way and tried her best to cheer her up when she visited. Sometimes causing such a commotion that other facility residents wanted to join in on the fun. They too were sadden by her grandmother's passing, knowing that Ophelia most likely would not be visiting any more. A little ray of sunshine that one person can bring to so many lives; can be so sorely missed when it's gone.

As Ophelia approached the house, she could remember her outdoor picnics on the lawn with her grandmother and planting yellow roses in the flower bed just under the front bay windows. She could not help but smile at all the loving memories she had of her. The house from the outside did not look no worse for wear but she could only hope the inside was not that far off. Unfortunately, no sooner did she turn the key and the locked clicked in its chamber that she realized what she was in for.

The property must have been abandon for some time, because when she opened the door it was as if cracking the seal of a very tightly vacuum sealed can. A breathe of fresh air, blew dust from the doorway floor along with some cobwebs. The house was not as big as she remembered growing up, rooms that she use to run and play in seem to shrink as she walked through them to get to the next. She glanced at all the work she would need to do to make it livable once again.

It was her grandmother's home and now she wanted nothing more than to make it her home as well. She spent the day cleaning off the dust and rearranging her grandmother's affects that still remained in the house. From knickknacks to old books she use to read as a child, she made light of her work. Then came the kitchen, all the lovely smells of her grandmother's cooking brought her just about to tears when there was a knock at the door.

A longtime neighbor of her grandmother's wanted to pay his condolences and took his time in explaining that he had been maintaining the grounds in her absence. After a few more tears and some swapping of stories of days gone by had her exhausted from the day's events. Too late to drive anywhere, Ophelia had bunked up for the night in her grandmother's room. She had found an old house coat and pajamas with some furry slippers in the closet, which still smelled like her.

As she lay her head down for the night, she could recalled the endless nights that she would run into bed with her grandmother just because she was scared. How she used to brush her hair aside and sing to her until she fell asleep. Just the thought of those memories made her fall fast to sleep all over again as if she was there.

It was not until the sounds of the garbagemen emptying the neighbors' cans, that she even woke up. How quickly she got ready to start again in readying the house. Straightening a few pictures along the wall as she made her way to the basement door. It too was locked and she had no other keys on the keyring available to open the door. So began her search through the house to find the key that open that door. She had just gone through the house yesterday but she could not recall coming across any key as she cleaned.

She was about to give up her search and pick the lock instead when as she had braked for lunch notice something shining back at her from a tiny corner. Along the wall hanging from a hook on a shelf there it was in plain site. Ophelia could not understand why she did not notice it before but there it was and not on the keyring for some reason. Beside the nagging question of why the door would be locked anyway; she paid it no mind.

Without a second thought, she unlocked the door and went back to work. Ophelia was obviously curious as to why the door was locked but as she turned on the light and looked around she could find no reason why it would be. Under some old canvass painter drop clothes, she discovered a phonograph and few records of no one she ever heard of. Off to the side of the room was a cabinet that contained some odds and ends of tools and supplies too old to use.

While cleaning off various hidden treasures of memorabilia and personal items of her grandmother, Ophelia found under some boxes a painting. She dusted it off some and brought it closer to the light to see the most beautiful landscape that she ever had seen. It sort of reminded her of their long family trips to the countryside where they would pick apples and fish by the lake. She had liked it so much that she decided to get it appraised again not understanding why it would have been buried under boxes in her grandmother's basement.

The very next day, she waited for the local antique dealer to open its door. While waiting outside its doors, a young man approached her and introduced himself as Jerry Guiller. He was representing a local candidate and wanted to know if he could depend on her vote. Before Ophelia could say a word, the store open its doors and she waved him goodbye as she walked on by.

After some searching online, the antique dealer could not recognize the painter's name but told her that the frame it was housed in was very old. He offered $100.00 to buy the painting just for the frame alone which she took offense to because she naturally liked the painting just to have him discard it like garbage. She returned home with the painting in tact and thought if she just cleaned it up. It would look nicely on the living space wall just off the entryway.

Ophelia laid the painting on the kitchen table to grab a rag and some cleaning fluid. As she turned her focus back on the painting she notice a little tare on its backing. Upon further examination, she discovered something peering through the paper backing. This time she grabbed a knife along with some tape. Ophelia carefully removed its backing and as she cut away at it revealed at least $20,000.00 in hundred dollar bills which concealed a little black book.

At first she did not know what to make of it with every explanation she came up with only led her to more questions. It was not until she started to read what was in the little black book did it make any sense. For you see, it was her grandmother's life savings from every job, investment and sell of her recipes that she ever made. Some how she had squirreled it away for a rainy day that never came. The little black book also contained the locations of buried cans of money that her great-grandparents had stowed away for the same reason.

Ophelia would have never believed her eyes let alone that her grandmother and great-grandparents would have saved so much but what a find.