What you might find in the trash....

Day in and day out, my job was the same thing. Once in a great while, it would be interesting, but not as interesting as this day. I worked for a disposal company as a driver picking up the containers for businesses. Mostly new construction businesses.

On this particular day, it set off in motion the events that led me to a little black book containing the directions and clues to find twenty thousand dollars. The money was located at the bottom of a trash container. Meaning, every clue and direction I read, I would have to dig through it to find the money.

The first clue was where I found the book, I didn’t realize it until I walked to the back of the container to ensure it was empty. This was my third pick up for the day. One of the other employees had given me this pickup because he would not make it.

The book was taped with bright pink tape at the front of the container. It was hard to miss when the container was black. After securing the can, I walked in to peel the tape off. Little did I know there was a little black book. Curiosity got the best of me and I flipped through it.

It had instructions for pick-ups for trash containers on sites that were not on our schedule. It was a Saturday, and the supervisors were not in today because they were off on the weekends. I decided to follow the schedule from the book.

The first pickup took me to a business that was ten miles out of town. The book was specific as to where to dig. It was strange, but I decided to dig to see what I would find. The first can, I found one thousand dollars. It was in an envelope taped in the same color I found the book in. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Was this a scam or was I doing all the work for someone else?

I looked in the book again and read it entirely. It didn’t have many pages and I went through it quickly. The last page read, “Should you succeed and find all seven envelopes, the contents are YOURS to keep. Don’t worry, the money is real and legal. Just take this as a bonus with no strings attached.”

I flipped to the next page to find out where the next pickup was. If I was going to do this, I wanted to ensure I followed the instructions correctly. I wasn’t sure how much money I was to find. Or even if there was money in all the envelopes. So far with the first one, there was a great amount I could use. I was anxious to find the rest of them.

The second pickup was exactly ten miles from the first container. Arriving to the ranch, there were people, and this made me nervous. What if they didn’t allow me to dig through the trash or they knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. Instead, I was greeted with a smile and directed to the container. The little black book was specific that there were two packages for me to find in the same pink tape.

The container was full of wood, dirt and water. This one a little more difficult to dig through. It took me a few hours to find the packages. I was exhausted from moving and digging. The smart thing to do, would be to empty the container at the landfill, but would risk losing a package if it got buried deep. I didn’t want to risk that, so I had decided to dig in the container while the trash was in there.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, I opened one package. It contained twenty-five hundred dollars. The second package contained two thousand dollars. So far, I had retrieved fifty-five hundred dollars. The way things were going, there had to be money in all the packages. Three down, four more to go.

The next location was farther in the next town over. There was a plant where solar panels were housed. Their trash was a lot easier to go through. This place had four containers of trash. The instructions only stated that two of the containers had packages. It wasn’t specific as to which ones had them. This would be a dig. I emptied the containers as I searched through them. It was a lot easier to do so because their trash wasn’t as heavy as the previous two. The first and last container had the packages. These two looked a little thicker than the previous one. I opened up the first package and it contained fifty-five hundred dollars and the second package contained five thousand dollars.

Holy crap! I had collected sixteen thousand dollars! I was excited enough to not want to find the last two packages because this amount was tremendous. Then the curiosity got to me and I wanted to find out how much was in the other packages. That is if money was in there.

The next location was a restaurant back in my hometown. Seeing that it was a restaurant, my stomach turned because the thought of having to dig in a food container was disgusting. I hoped it wasn’t there that I had to dig, but just my luck, it was.

The container reeked of rotten food and liquids. This was a seafood restaurant. For a split second, I was fine not wanting to get the package, but again my curiosity led me to get into the container. It was close to the end of my shift since I had taken most of the day finding packages in trash containers. The sun had taken its toll on the trash. I threw up a few times while I dug, and the smell was awful. This container only had one package.

For this I was grateful that it wasn’t the last two packages at this container. When I finally found the package, I leaped out of the container and hosed myself with cold water. This wasn’t enough to get rid of the smell, but it helped to minimize it.

I always carried an extra set of clothes just in case something would get on my clothes. Unfortunately for me, I had not replaced the set of clothes, so I was stuck in the wet smelly ones. I considered going home and changing, but the instructions of the book to the last location was nearby.

I drove the three miles to the next location and this time, the trash contained clothes, makeup, and pillows to my surprise. It was a department store. This was a relief. I found a shirt my size and decided to change into it. It was better than the smelly shirt I had been wearing. I didn’t find a pair of pants but that didn’t matter. I was close to finding the last package.

I found the package wrapped in a blanket with a note. At this point, I was already past my scheduled work time and hurried back to clock out. I had not opened the last two packages, nor read the letter that came with the last package.

I had found a bag in the last container and decided to put all the packages I found into it. I carried it with me while I went back to work. There were a few coworkers who made fun of me because I still reeked of rotten food. I usually sat down with them and talked about the day, but today was not the day to do so. I hurried up and finished my paperwork, clocked out and left.

I was a single guy who went home to an empty house. I didn’t have any pets because I had no time for them and felt bad leaving them home alone to fend for themselves all day. I have never been married and didn’t have a girlfriend. After my heart was broken a few years ago, I didn’t want to get back into another disastrous relationship. I preferred to be single.

Saturday evenings, I usually left to a bar to wind down the day. Not today. I wanted to get home as soon as possible to shower, change and then open the last two packages.

In the shower, I placed the bag next to the bathtub. I was a little paranoid because even though I lived alone, I felt like I would lose the money. It was a large amount to have in cash in my home. Sixteen thousand dollars. Whew, I could do a lot with that money.

After the shower, I changed into my pajamas and sat down on the floor with the bag in hand. I was a little nervous to open the packages. I decided to wash the package I found in the food container first. I had wrapped it up in plastic beforehand to avoid it stinking up the rest of the money. Opening the package, it had one thousand dollars with a post it note and a smiley face.

Well, a thousand is still a great amount to have. I can’t complain. I already have a total of seventeen thousand dollars.

Before opening the second package, I decided to read the note that was attached to it. It read, “Lucky winner. You followed all the instructions, and we want to let you know how proud we are you went through all the containers to find this last one. We hope you enjoy your prize and do good things with it. As we stated before, the money is real and legit. We are a company of donations that choose a lucky person to participate in our giveaways. Today was your lucky day. Don’t worry either about your job. As far as their concerned, you did your job.”

Participation of a giveaway? I wondered how they chose the lucky person? At this point it didn’t matter because obviously I was chosen. Or was I? This container was supposed to be picked up by another coworker but instead he called me to pick it up because he wouldn’t have time to do it.

At this point I felt horrible because what if this was meant for him? I cleared my thoughts and opened the second package. This one contained three thousand dollars and a note addressed to me.

“Joe, we know you weren’t meant to pick up the first container, but we are happy you did. Don’t worry about feeling guilty, because who ever picked it up, was meant to have this money. Enjoy!”

This gave me the chills after reading the letter. It had my name. it was as if they knew or followed my every move and last minute changed the letter to me?

Either way, I was the winner of twenty thousand dollars. My head spun for a few minutes. I fell asleep holding onto the money tightly and woke up the next morning feeling like a new person. This money was enough for me to pay off debt, start a business, and remodel a few things around the house.

I deserved this money after all the things I went through to find each package. It was clearly meant for me. And to think, whoever might have showed up to pick up that container, would have twenty thousand dollars. That’s if they noticed the little black book and followed the instructions. Lucky for me, I noticed it.