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The Talking House Made Me Rich
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
We were getting ready to buy a place and get married, and the agent, working within our budget, pushed a thirty-year-old dump on us. My girlfriend blew up on the spot, said the agent was judging us by...
Chương (4)
第1章
We were getting ready to buy a place and get married, and the agent, working within our budget, pushed a thirty-year-old dump on us.
My girlfriend blew up on the spot, said the agent was judging us by our wallets.
All her friends lived in big, single-floor units, and she threatened that if I dared buy some run-down shoebox as our marriage home, we were done.
I was about to smooth things over, say we could look at other places, when an old, aged voice suddenly popped into my head:
"This girl doesn't know a good thing when she sees it. I've got a hundred pounds of gold hidden in these walls, enough to buy ten of those big fancy units!"
"Won't even take a windfall dropped right in her lap. No wonder some folks stay broke their whole lives!"
……
My whole body went stiff. I stared at the wall between the living room and the bedroom, certain I was hearing things.
That wall really was noticeably thicker than the others in the place.
A hundred pounds of gold. At today's price, over eight hundred a gram, that came out to more than forty million dollars!
Sarah Hughes gave me a shove. "What are you spacing out for? What's so great about this dump?"
I snapped back to the moment. Beside me, Agent Lawrence was still smiling and fawning. "Miss, the place is a little old, sure, but the location's unbeatable. Five hundred yards from the subway, good school district, and the price is really—"
Sarah cut him right off. "A thirty-year-old dump, five hundred square feet for eight hundred grand, and you call that cheap?"
Jackson Lawrence's face went red with embarrassment.
Sarah shot me a glare. "I'm telling you right now. If you dare buy this dump as our marriage home, you and I are finished. I won't be humiliated like that!"
I was about to say a few soothing words when that old voice piped up again:
"Tch, a pack of blind fools. I've still got three million dollars in cash stashed in the ceiling, plus that hundred pounds of gold in the walls. Tens of millions in assets, and you call my place a dump?"
"One bed can't sleep two different kinds of people. The Talking House woman's got no eyes in her head, the man's a spineless pushover. A match made in heaven!"
My knees buckled and I nearly hit the floor.
Three million in cash in the ceiling too?
I couldn't help sneaking a glance up.
It was an old building with precast concrete slabs, a cheap gypsum drop ceiling underneath. Nothing looked off about it.
Jackson hurried closer. "Sir, are you thinking this place isn't so bad either? The old lady's desperate to sell. Her late husband was an accountant at a foreign firm before he retired, a real good man. Just went suddenly, didn't even leave a will."
"She's scared living here alone and wants to go overseas to stay with her daughter. That's why she listed it this low. Market value's a hundred and ten grand at the very least."
An accountant at a foreign firm, and where would he get a hundred pounds of gold? Why hide it in the walls?
"What about the owner's other family?"
"Just the one daughter, already settled abroad. Flying back isn't easy for her. The old lady said everything in the place is thrown in free. Furniture, appliances, do whatever you want with them. She's not taking a thing."
My stomach lurched.
So the gold in the walls, the cash in the ceiling, all thrown in free too?
Pretending to look the place over, I ambled up to that thick wall and rapped it twice. The sound came back dull. Hollow.
Jackson spoke up beside me. "The best thing about these old dumps is you can knock walls around however you like. See this wall between the living room and the bedroom? It was probably put up later, it's not load-bearing. Tear it out and redo the layout, and the living room's twice the size. Just as good as new construction."
Afraid he'd catch on, I quickly pulled my hand back and turned toward the bathroom, pretending to check the pipes.
"Any chance the price could come down a little more?"
Jackson's eyes lit up. "Eight hundred grand's already rock bottom. But if you really want it, sir, I'll go put in a word, see if I can knock off another two or three thousand."
Sarah stared at me in disbelief. "Kevin Perry, have you lost your mind? Do you actually want to buy this dump?"
"Have you not seen how bad the paint's peeling? The bathroom's tiny, the kitchen doesn't even have a window. You think this is the kind of place I deserve to live in?"
第2章
I opened my mouth to explain, but there was no way to tell her, right in front of the agent, that there was gold inside the walls.
Just then that aged voice spoke up again, thick with mockery:
“Tch, still trying to haggle? Don't you know how many people out there have their eyes on me?”
“That good-for-nothing William James next door tried to marry Simon's daughter years ago, out to drain the family dry, and it didn't pan out. Now that Simon's gone, he's got his sights set on this place again. He's coming to see it tomorrow. When the house gets snatched right out from under you, don't come crying to me!”
My mind went blank, and the words just tumbled out “I really like this place. Why don't we lock in the contract today?”
Jackson scrambled to dig the contract out of his bag “That's fantastic, man! Sign today, and we can start the paperwork tomorrow!”
The words were barely out of his mouth when someone rapped hard on the door.
Jackson went to answer it.
Standing outside was a middle-aged man in his thirties, short, wearing a navy-blue jacket, supporting a gray-haired old woman on his arm.
“William? What are you doing here today?” Jackson blinked, caught off guard.
William squeezed a step inside, his gaze sweeping over me and Sarah “The old lady wanted a look first, worried tomorrow might be too late. The house hasn't sold yet, has it?”
Jackson looked a little awkward “Well……Mr. Perry here is in the middle of negotiating. He's pretty serious about it.”
“Let's not waste time,” William cut in flatly. “I'll add fifty grand. Eight-fifty, full cash, and I can wire it today.”
That aged voice flared up in an instant:
“What did I tell you! William, that dog! Back then he clung on like a leech trying to marry in, and Simon wouldn't have him. Now Simon's barely gone and he's already after this house. Who knows what he's scheming! Could it be he knows Simon left a little stash inside?”
Heat rushed to my head “I'll add two hundred grand!”
The whole room went silent. Sarah stared at me. Jackson's jaw dropped and stayed dropped.
William sneered, his face full of contempt “You can cough up a million?”
Jackson looked torn “William, Mr. Perry got here first……”
William patted the pocket of his jacket “I've got eight-fifty on my card, ready to swipe anytime. I just worry the guy who got here first doesn't have the means, all bark and no bite.”
I clenched my fists.
I had five hundred grand total on my card. The rest I'd have to borrow.
But the second I thought about the gold in the walls and the cash above the ceiling……
“I'll have the full amount together within three days. Let's sign the contract today first.”
William watched me coldly “Don't blame me for not warning you. If you sign and can't come up with the money, the deposit's nonrefundable.”
Jackson jumped in “That is the rule, actually. Maybe you want to think it over a bit more, man?”
Sarah finally couldn't take it. She yanked me out into the hallway and hissed through gritted teeth “Kevin Perry, have you lost your mind? A million dollars for this dump? Where are you getting a million? Did that agent slip something in your drink?”
Watching her, frantic and furious, my mind raced.
Tell her the truth? Would she even believe it?
“Sarah, trust me just this once. This house really has……”
“Has what?” Tears spilled down Sarah's face. “I've been with you three years, and you can't even come up with a decent place for us to get married in. Which of my friends got married without a newly renovated place? I didn't hold it against you, and now you go and dump this rundown little wreck on me! You want to sign, then sign, but the moment you do, we're through!”
She spun around and ran down the stairs.
When the contract was passed to me, my hand shook a little.
After I signed and pressed my thumbprint, Jackson tucked the contract away, grinning ear to ear “Man, you're a decisive guy! We'll do the paperwork tomorrow, just pay the full amount within three days.”
William sneered “You'd rather blow up things with your girlfriend than let this dump go. Don't tell me you found something inside the house?”
第3章
My chest went tight.
The aged voice piled on, gloating. "That mongrel's got a sharp nose. Don't tell me he's already guessed there's gold in the wall..."
I stepped forward and pointed at the old carved bed in the bedroom.
"Fine, I won't hide it from you. I've had my eye on this bed."
"It's an antique," I said, patting the frame like I knew what I was talking about. "If it's the real thing, it's worth more than the house."
Jackson's mouth twitched. "You sure about that, man?"
"The contract says everything in the house comes with it, right? So the bed's mine too. Nobody gets to take it."
William's eyes flickered a couple of times. He moved closer, sizing the bed up, then reached out and rubbed the carving on the headboard. His brow furrowed, and he glanced back at me.
I didn't give him the chance to keep digging. I shoved him and Jackson toward the door. "All right, I'm out of here. We'll handle the paperwork first thing tomorrow."
I rode my scooter two streets over, pulled to the curb, and called Sarah.
Seven calls in, she finally picked up. "Did you sign it?"
"Yeah."
Three seconds of silence. Then she laughed. "Kevin Perry, we're done."
"Sarah, just listen to me! Last night I had a dream. I dreamed about my grandpa, and he told me there's something inside the walls of this house—"
Before I could finish, she hung up.
I sighed.
If she didn't believe me, fine. Once I dug the gold out and dropped the cash right in front of her, she'd believe me soon enough.
Eleven that night, I couldn't sleep. I climbed over the balcony and slipped into the dark of that old dump.
I clicked on my flashlight and pulled the metal detector out of my bag.
I crouched in front of that wall and pressed the sensor against it.
Beep, beep, beep. The detector went off.
My hand jerked. I moved it to a few different spots and tried again.
The upper half of the wall gave nothing. Around the middle, a faint response started, and the lower I went, the sharper the sound got.
I sank down onto the floor, my back soaked with sweat, the corners of my mouth climbing no matter how I tried to hold them still.
There really was something in that wall.
My head spun, and I sat there alone in the pitch-black living room, grinning like an idiot.
With this kind of money, I could just kick back for the rest of my life.
Whatever breakup Sarah wanted, it was nothing. When the time came, I'd lay the cash out in front of her. Enough to buy ten big luxury units.
But pretty soon I stopped smiling.
I'd bid the house up to a million to sign the contract, and I had three days to pay it off.
I had five hundred thousand in my account. I was short another five hundred thousand.
The gold was in the wall, the cash was in the ceiling, and without the keys I couldn't touch the wall.
Where was I going to scrape together five hundred thousand?
I stared at the contacts on my phone, my mind blank.
I scrolled to Fred Lawrence, an old high school classmate. The guy ran small-time loans now.
When the call connected, Fred went quiet for a few seconds. "Bro, did somebody scam you? That dump in Brookside Court is worth over a million?"
"Just do me this favor. You name the interest."
Normally I'd never have gone anywhere near it. But this was different.
In three days I'd have the keys, and that same night I'd break open the wall.
Eighty-some million in hand. What was a loan shark next to that?
The day the money landed, my dad called. "Kevin, have you lost your mind? Fred says you took out a predatory loan to buy a house? Playing house-flipper like everybody else?" "Your mother was so scared she didn't sleep all night! Our family's lived honest, down-to-earth lives for generations. I think some agent talked you stupid! You give that money back, don't buy that house, you hear me?"
I gripped the phone and said nothing.
My dad cursed at me a few more times, then hung up.
The three-day deadline arrived.
I wired the full million I'd pulled together to Jackson, got the deed and the keys, and changed the locks the first chance I had.
I shut the door, drew the curtains. Tonight, I'd break the wall open.
第4章
At six that evening, Sarah came.
She stood in the doorway, her eyes rimmed red, her voice shaking. "Your dad called me. He said you took out a loan from a shark to buy that dump. Kevin, is something wrong with your head?"
"Come in. Come in and I'll tell you why."
She hesitated a few seconds, bit her lip, and stepped inside.
I pulled her over to that wall, crouched down, and pressed the metal detector against the base.
Beep, beep, beep.
Sarah froze. "What is that?"
"A metal detector." I looked up at her. "There's something inside this wall."
Her mouth opened, then closed. "Don't tell me that dream of yours was real."
Not a flicker on my face, not a skip in my chest. "Yeah. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I came and checked. There really is something in there. Tonight I'm breaking it open. If there's really gold, tomorrow we get the license, buy a big place, make every one of your girlfriends jealous."
Her eyes went red and she threw herself into my arms.
"I'm pregnant," she said, her face buried against my chest.
"Found out the day before yesterday. I was going to get rid of it once we broke up…" She looked up at me, her face smeared with tears. "Kevin, don't let me down."
"I won't. After tonight, everything's going to be fine."
At nine that night, the complex had gone completely still.
I pulled the sledgehammer and the crowbar out of my bag while Sarah sat on the couch, rubbing her hands together, tense.
Before I swung, some impulse made me say a line to the wall. "Sorry about this, old man. Once I get the money, I'll fix you up real nice."
But that aged voice didn't answer me.
Something in me lurched.
The thought flickered and was gone. The detector had gone off. How could it be wrong?
I brought the hammer down.
A big chunk of plaster cracked loose, baring the red brick underneath.
I threw the hammer aside and clawed at it with my hands. Broken brick rained down in a clatter.
Behind the brick wall was empty.
My hands froze in midair.
"Where's the gold?" Sarah leaned over my shoulder.
I didn't say anything. Like a madman, I ripped the brick off the entire wall.
The hole grew wider and wider, opening up the hollow cavity inside.
Still nothing.
"This isn't possible…" My voice trembled.
Sarah's face went from hopeful to ashen. "Kevin, don't scare me."
I threw the brick down and went at the ceiling.
The plaster drop-ceiling broke at the first poke, dust falling over my head and face.
I reached in and felt around, and my hand came back covered in dust.
Empty.
I slumped down into the bricks and plaster covering the floor, shaking all over.
Sarah crouched beside me with her hand over her mouth, tears seeping through her fingers.
"Kevin… where's the gold?"
I opened my mouth, my face bloodless. "Sarah, listen to me…"
She shot to her feet and wiped her tears. "Kevin, I'm getting rid of the baby. You're on your own now."
Then she turned and rushed out the door.
I sat alone in the wreckage, a gaping hole torn in the drop-ceiling overhead, the dark cavity above it exposed.
The whole place stank of dust, mixed with the mildew of old wall plaster.
My phone rang. It was my dad.
I picked up, and on the other end came my mom's voice, hoarse from crying. "Kevin, come home, hurry, your dad had a heart attack, he's in the hospital!"
"The doctor says he needs emergency surgery, and I don't have enough money…"
The phone slipped out of my hand, the screen shattering across the floor.
"The detector went off. How can there be nothing…" I muttered to the empty room, but the house gave back no echo at all.
I stared, hard, at the wall I'd smashed through.
And just as the despair was numbing me over, all at once, that familiar aged voice returned.
Once I made out what it was saying, a jolt shot through me and I froze where I sat.