This stinks! Peter thought as they pulled into their new driveway. Peter and his family had just moved to Pennsylvania from Georgia. Peter didn’t like a lot of things. He didn’t like to read, he didn’t like music, and he definitely didn’t like sports. There was one thing, however, that Peter loved. That was money. He loved money so much that as soon as he finished unpacking he immediately started going around the neighborhood asking if anyone needed any work done, for a small profit, of course. Almost everyone rejected his offer. Peter was beginning to lose hope. As he got to the end of the street he noticed that one of the houses was different from all the rest. Most of the houses on the street appeared to be new while this one was very old and worn out. The paint was peeling, there were cracks in the door, and most of the windows no longer had glass. Peter was finding it hard to imagine anyone actually living there. He walked up the long and narrow sidewalk. He knocked on the door several times. Each time receiving no answer. Eventually he got tired of knocking and slowly started walking away. As soon as he reached the end of the sidewalk he thought he heard a faint whisper. He turned around and noticed a very old lady. Standing next to her was a dark black cat. Peter guessed she was in her nineties. She was unusually short. Her hair was white and extremely out of place. The lady’s skin was decrepit and her face had an excessive amount of makeup on it. It was as if she was trying to look young again.
“Yes” the old lady said once more.
“ Oh I just moved in the house at the end of the street and I was wondering if you needed any help around the house. I could mow the lawn or fix your windows.” Peter explained.
“what’s wrong with my windows” Asked the lady
“ oh nothing. Just an example” Peter replied nervously. The old lady’s questions were clearly making Peter uncomfortable.
“ What is it that you really want? Do you want to help an old lady out or do you simply want my money?”
Peter stared at her with a blank face.
“ answer honestly” declared the old lady
“ I just want a little extra cash” exclaimed Peter
“ If all that you desire is money, then at precisely three forty-two AM go to the old pond. It is located in the yard next to your house.” explained the lady
“ Thank you” replied Peter now more ecstatic than ever.
Peter ran off back too his new house and started to prepare for the night. What Peter didn’t know was that the two neighborhood rebels had been listening to the whole conversation and now wanted a part of it. As Peter reached the head of his driveway, the two boys approached him.
“ We want in!” yelled the first boy.
“ What what what are you talking about” stuttered the now frightened Peter.
“ You know what we are talking about. The old lady told you that if you go by the pond you’ll get all the money in the world. We want some of it.” screamed the second boy.
“ Yeah. What makes you think I’m going to let you have some.” Peter talked back.
“ Because if you don’t split the money with us we are going to tell everyone that you stole it.” answered the second boy snobbishly.
“ Fine. But we don’t tell anybody about this. You got it?” demanded Peter.
“yes” the boys agreed in unison.
So as the old lady advised, at exactly three forty- two AM the three boys headed to the old pond. On the way there Peter couldn’t stop thinking about how much he wanted the money for himself. Somehow he had to get rid of the other boys.
“ look there it is!” yelled the first boy.
All three of the boys raced towards the pond, but what they found was more than disappointing.
“ There’s nothing there” complained the first boy.
“ This was a rip.” agreed the second boy.
“ Wait I think I see something” cried Peter.
“ What is it?” asked the first boy.
Without answering Peter put his hand into the pond and scooped up a handful of golden coins. The boys all gasped in awe. That’s when Peter developed a fabulous plan.
“ Somebody is going to have to get buckets. We can’t possibly carry all these coins back too our house with just our hands.” explained Peter.
“ Oh! My dad has one in his garage. I’ll go get it!” the second boy said. Then like he had said he would, the foolish boy ran off to his garage to go and fetch his fathers bucket.
“ We are also going to need a shovel. I just moved in, so the only shovel I have is packed away in box. It would take way too long for me to search for it.” said Peter deviously
“ That’s ok. I think I have one. I’ll be right back.” answered the nonsensical boy. And just like the first boy had done he ran off to get the shovel.
Peter had finally gotten rid of the two boys. Now he had to figure out a way to make sure that they wouldn’t come back. While Peter was coming up with a way to make sure the two boys didn’t get their share of the money, the boys met up to come up with a way to make sure that Peter didn’t get any money.
The two boys decided that they were going to knock Peter out with the shovel. That way he would get amnesia and forget all about the money. Peter had also figured out a way to keep the boys away from the money. As silly as it seems he decided that he would call the boys parents and tell them that he couldn’t get to sleep because the boys were running around obnoxiously outside his house. Peter ran as fast as he could back to his house to fetch the phone book. Amazingly he returned back to the pond before the boys did. He hurried up and called the boys parents. He told them that they were walking about the street. He explained it carefully, so that they wouldn’t find out about the pond. A few minutes later the two boys arrived at the pond with the bucket and shovel. As they had planned they hit Peter in the head with the shovel and knocked him out.
“Yes” They both cried out in joy.
But as they turned around, they discovered that both of their mothers were standing there. They had seen the whole thing. The boys mothers called Peters mom and Peters mom took him to the hospital.
At exactly three forty- two AM the next night, Peter woke up to the nurse telling him that he had a visitor. Peter looked at the entrance curiously. He was wondering who would be visiting him at that time of night. Peter was shocked to discover the old lady walking towards him.
“ Hello, remember me?” asked the old lady. Peter nodded in agreement.
“ You could have had everything. You never would have had to work again. Your life could have been perfect, but because of your greediness you lost it all. You could have been killed. Your lucky that all they did was hit you on the head with a shovel. I hope you learned that money isn’t anything.” Before Peter even got a chance to say anything back, the old lady turned around and went to exit the door. She took one more look at Peter and disappeared. Poof! She was gone she never even got to the end of the room. Peter was amazed. It was magical. The nurse entered the room once more.
“ where did the lady go?” she asked. Peter didn’t give her an answer. He couldn’t. He didn’t know the answer himself.

A few weeks after the incident, Peter went back to the pond. He reached his hand into the water, but there was nothing there. What Peter had experienced, he couldn’t explain, but he was glad that it happened.