In Case of Emergency

“Not more rain,” Scott mumbles, as it begins to pour just as he’s about to exit. He slows down as a semi flies by on his left, he frowns. As he navigates the blinding rain and other drivers, his cell rings.

“Hello?” he answers, hands free.

“Hey babe! I just wanted to make sure you made it safe, I hear the weather’s awful”, floats the voice of his girlfriend on the other end.

“You would not believe it, I’m not even at the motel yet! My flight was late, there was an accident as soon as I got on the highway, then it started pouring. Getting off the highway now, and the motel should be right here. Charlotte, how are you?”

“Good! I just got home from work, took the dog out, picked up some pizza”, she giggles. “I mean, why would I cook for one?!”

Scott grinned. “I’ll probably order the same once I’m checked in.”

Charlotte sighs, “I miss you already”

“I miss you too, love. I’m pulling in, I’ll call before bed, ok?”

“Ok honey, love you!”

“I love you, too”

“Stay dry!” Charlotte’s voice tinkles with laughter.

Scott parks, grabs his suitcase from the backseat and makes a dash for the lobby.

Scott is soaked to the skin by the time he walks inside, even though he ran maybe 10 feet.

He walks up to the sad looking counter and rings the bell. A crumpled old man walks out, sneezes, and asks his last name for the reservation.

Scott steps into his dingy motel room, sighing and looking around. His company doesn't pay much, and their paid travel isn’t much better. But otherwise life is good. Charlotte’s job pays a little more than his, and they have a cosy home together. They certainly aren’t rich, but they make ends meet. Their 4 year anniversary of their first date is in two and a half months. Scott has been wanting to propose for about a year now, and really wants to do so on their anniversary. But he wants to make sure he has just the perfect ring, which has started to become an issue.

They’ve talked about marriage and children, something they both want. Charlotte has a small black notebook she’s had since she was a teen, covered with glittery stickers peeling at their edges from age, and filled with everything she wants in a wedding, including her dream engagement ring. It’s nothing fancy, quite simple really; a heart shaped diamond set in rose gold. She wants to be able to add onto it for her wedding ring. Scott has already done his research, and the cheapest he can find is 1 carat for $5,000. Now while that may not be a lot for some people, it’s a lot for him and Charlotte. Being new home owners isn’t everything people say it is and they have a very small savings account for home emergencies. “Play money” just isn’t something they have. They’ve been putting a small amount away each month for “fun”, loosely talking about vacation. Sadly it seems when it finally looks like they might be able to go on vacation, something always manages to happen. For instance just last month, out of the $2,200 they had saved, $1,800 went to new tires for Charlotte’s car, and a new laptop for Scott’s job. Obviously both were very important.

Scott dumps his suitcase on the extra bed, plugs up his cell and jumps in the shower. Once in his pjs, wet clothes hanging to dry on the shower curtain rod, Scott pulls back the covers, flips on the TV to drown out the quiet, and grabs his phone. After placing a pizza order for delivery, he opens his laptop to do some work to prepare for his meeting in the morning. He doesn't even bother to unpack aside from his toiletries bag. He’ll be checking out bright and early, and catching a flight home after the meeting.

Right before falling asleep he calls Charlotte as promised. She’s already in bed, hair wet from her bath and snuggled next to Wishbone, their Jack Russell Terrier. Wishbone wags his tail at the sound of Scott’s voice. They talk for a while, before blowing each other kisses and wishing sweet dreams.

In the morning Scott is rushing as usual and he grabs a plastic grocery bag from his suitcase to put his now dried clothes in. He certainly can’t wear them again. Luckily he always brings an extra pair of everything, even when it’s only one night. He texts Charlotte their usual morning greeting, grabs his few belongings and stuffs them into his suitcase, along with his laptop. He takes one last look across the room before leaving, eyes lingering on the closet. He didn’t hang anything, but he put the hangers back he had used.

Finally he was able to check out. It took a while due to the family taking forever; it seems the husband didn’t reserve an extra cot and the wife was yelling at him, both kids looking like they weren’t related to their parents. The crumpled old man was still there, looking even more disheveled. He was quite exasperated by the time Scott walked up, and kept forgetting what he was doing all while throwing furtive glances at the family who were now shouting by their car, it seems the husband also forgot a sleeping bag.

Scott ended his meeting on a high note. He managed to not only secure a very large deal for his company, but he was also able to talk his client into signing an additional smaller sale on the side for one of their other products. Scott doesn't work on commission so though this won’t make himself extra right now, he might just be able to meet the department’s quota for that quarter, which would mean everyone on the team gets a $500 bonus! He’s already allotting that money towards a new washer/dryer set; theirs are on the brink of breaking down any day.

Scott heads to the airport. While waiting for his flight he texts Charlotte.

“Be home in about three hours! Want me to pick up dinner?”

“Yes please! How about our favorite?”

“You got it!”

Scott takes an Uber home (luckily his job covers that). Wishbone is beside himself with joy.

“Ahh boy, how are you? You take good care of mom while I was away?”, scratching Wishbone under his chin. “How about you and I hop in the car and go grab dinner?” Wishbone’s tail was in danger of wagging off. Scott dropped his suitcase in front of their closet. He’s gloriously off tomorrow; he’ll unpack then and wash everything up.

Scott and Wishbone pick up dinner at his and Charlotte’s favorite taco place. Not fancy, but special to them all the same. He got Wishbone a meaty treat also.

That night he told Charlotte all about his trip, from practically swimming to the motel, to the family whose father seemed to be quite forgetful, to his big business deal. Charlotte squealed with delight at the large number Scott’s sale was.

“Honey, that’s amazing!! And hey even if your department doesn't meet its quota, who cares?! You've worked hard and have a client for life! Plus who knows, maybe your client will start referring people to you.”

“Well thank you, my love,” Scott smiles, as he leans in for a kiss.

The next day Charlotte heads to work while Scott sleeps in. As Scott unpacks his suitcase, he starts a load of laundry and sets his travel toothbrush out to fully dry before putting it away. As he reaches into his suitcase for his laptop charger at the bottom, his hand brushes against something. It's a black bag, like a grocery bag. He frowns, pulling it out. The only grocery type bag he had was for his dirty clothes, but it was light brown. He sits down and opens the bag.

Scotts eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. Inside the bag was...cash. Wads of cash. Lots of wads of cash. All kinds of bills; rolls of hundreds, rolls of fifties, and some rolls of twenties and tens. He sifts through it all not quite sure what to do. He also wondered how in the world it got in his suitcase. He thought back to his stay two nights ago. He didn’t leave his motel room at any point, and he recollected that he pointedly did not unpack because he wasn’t going to be there but a few hours. He went through his motions of packing…

That’s it! When he was putting his dirty clothes in his own grocery bag, he had set the bag down on the shelf of the closet so he could hang the hangers back that he had used for his wet clothes. At that precise moment his phone rang (his boss, reminding him of a point for his meeting...a point he had already pointed out), and that’s when he absentmindedly grabbed his toiletries bag off the counter, and the dirty clothes bag off the closet shelf. This black bag must have been up there and he didn’t even notice as he shoved everything inside his suitcase since he was in such a hurry. He looked over at Wishbone, who was busying himself with a new bone. Scott looked back down at all the cash, not sure what to do. He then noticed the slip of paper at the bottom of the bag. He pulled it out and read in a whisper the curly letters written in green ink, “in case of emergency”.

At this exact moment Wishbone dashed to the window, barking. Scott jumped and dropped the bag, wads of cash rolling across the carpet, one even went under the bed. Scott looked up to see the mailman making his rounds.

He leaned down, picking everything up. “This is a lot of money,” he murmured. Scott started unrolling the wads and began to count. There were a few recounts along the way, but finally with the use of a calculator and pen and paper, he finished. If possible, Scott’s eyes widened even more as he read his last addition, “Twenty thousand dollars!”

All day Scott was worried; what if this was meant for a mobster and what if said mobster was supposed to get the room, but the crumpled old man rented it to Scott instead and now the mobster was following Scott, waiting for the right moment to strike! Almost as if on queue, Scott glanced out the window but their street was quiet as usual. What if this money was in hiding for someone really sick who needed it for medical bills. Should he turn it into the police? That motel didn’t look that seedy. Should he...keep it? Scott wasn’t in the business of taking things that didn’t belong to him. But also...the motel was 4 states away. Whoever put this there was probably also 4 states away and aside from a note there was no other information in the bag to point it in the direction of its rightful owner. Also something about the note, “in case of emergency” struck a chord with him...

Scott decided to sleep on it. The next day he woke up bright and early, making Charlotte breakfast before she left for work.

“What are you up to today, babe?” She asked, grabbing her purse and keys.

“I have to go run some errands, pick up more dog food, you know the usual,” he walked over and kissed her.

“Well, have a good day, I’ll see you tonight,” Charlotte grinned, winked, and walked out the door.

Scott watched her go, lost in thought.

He had made a decision. He went upstairs, picked up the black bag of cash, got his own keys and left.

About 20 minutes later, Scott was walking into the jewelry store. “Engagement ring, here I come!”