After Husband’s Death, Poor Old Widow Finds His Parents’ Will in a Cache in the Wall – Story of the Day

Sarah decided to visit her depressed widowed grandmother, Agatha, at one point. She also offered to spruce up her living room. She got to work and discovered a wall made of wood, which collapsed with little force. But then, something inside the walls shocked her.

“Grandma, you’ve been here alone for a long time. I think it would be better for you to move in with me and my husband,” Sarah told her grandmother, Agatha, for what seemed like the millionth time. The older woman was stubborn and didn’t want to leave the home her husband, John, had built. He died several months ago, and Sarah didn’t want her to be alone anymore.

They were both at the kitchen after dinner, and Sarah thought it was time to discuss why she visited in the first place. She lived three hours away, and her house had a mother-in-law suite Agatha could use.

“I’m perfectly fine here, sweetie,” Agatha countered while cleaning the kitchen. “This is my home. John made this house for me. I don’t want to leave it.”

“I know you don’t, Grandma. But you’re getting older. No one lives nearby. It’s time to come with me to Orlando where I can take care of you,” Sarah continued, but Agatha shook her head. “At the very least, you have to let me fix this place up.”

“I don’t have the money for that,” the older woman stated.

“I’m paying for it. But that’s my point. You can sell this house once we fix it up and live the rest of your life comfortably with that money,” Sarah insisted.

Something inside the walls started moving.

“I don’t want to sell it.”

“Grandma, please. It’s the best option. You can’t stay alone here anymore. But let’s go one day at a time. We’ll fix things up and see what happens,” Sarah hedged, trying to get her grandmother to at least agree to fix a few things. The living room and several bedrooms were in serious need of some TLC, and Sarah was great at that stuff.

Finally, the older woman agreed, and Sarah smiled.

***

After a long trip to the hardware store, Sarah was ready to start sprucing the living room up. She moved the furniture outside, and Agatha helped wherever possible. But she mostly sat back and watched her granddaughter doing stuff or cleaning the kitchen. It was time to remove that old wallpaper. She planned to plaster the wall and coat it with paint. They didn’t need wallpaper.

She got her tools ready and started working on the wall between the living room and the kitchen. But she suddenly noticed something. It was not made out of the same tough wood as the rest of the house. It was flimsier, and she might be able to remove it to create an open floor plan. It would raise the value of the home for sure.

Sarah was knocking around the wall when her fist suddenly went further than she intended on the upper part of the wall. Pieces of wood and plaster crumbled under her fingers. “Oh!” she yelped, and Agatha came out of the kitchen to see what it was about.

“Oh, dear. Are you hurt?”

“No, Grandma. I’m alright. I just don’t understand why this wall is so flimsy, and I never noticed,” Sarah commented, getting her hand out and dusting off.

“I think your grandfather said something like it didn’t need to be sturdier like the rest of the house,” Agatha said.

“Well, I’m going to take it completely off because people like it better when their houses are more open,” Sarah told Agatha and grabbed a sledgehammer to get the job done quicker. She had crushed several pieces, reaching the bottom of the wall, when something inside the walls started moving. It was a stash of cash!

“Grandma! Grandma! Come here! What is this?” Sarah yelled for Agatha to return. The older woman had gone to her bedroom for a nap, but she came out quickly.

“What happened?”

“Look!” Sarah shouted as she smashed more of the lower part of the wall to reveal even more stacks of money.

“Dear God! Where did all that money come from?”

“Grandma! There are stashes and stashes and stashes. Most of them are in 20 or 10 dollar bills. Oh my God!”

“How did they get in here?”

“If Grandpa built this house, I’m guessing he did it. He never told you about it?”

“No! I wouldn’t have relied so much on our kids to keep living if I knew,” Agatha said, holding one hand to her face.

“Well, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about money ever again,” Sarah started, getting the stacks out as she knocked over more of the wall. Suddenly, she discovered an envelope. “There’s something more here.”

“What is it?” Agatha wondered as Sarah opened the yellowed envelope and started reading.

“It’s a will. Grandpa’s parents left him the money in their will. He never told you?”

“No, of course not,” Agatha replied.

“I guess we’ll never know why Grandpa hid them inside the wall. But I wished he had deposited it and earned some interest on this money,” Sarah commented, looking at the wads of cash around them. “We’re going to do that first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, dear,” Agatha agreed, nodding and smiling.

“And I guess you don’t have to move or sell this house anymore. You can live pretty comfortably the rest of your life,” Sarah added.

“You know what? We might never know why your grandfather hid the money like this, but I think he wanted someone to have it at some point. I would love to move in with you, and probably use this money to have a little fun,” Agatha said, shocking Sarah. The younger woman was pleased.

“That would be fantastic!”

What can we learn from this story?

• Allow your family members to take care of you. Some older folks are too proud to accept help, but they must do it, especially when they have a granddaughter like Sarah.
• You might never know someone’s reasoning. They had no idea why Grandpa John left all that money hidden, but Agatha intended to enjoy it in her golden years.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a rich man who dressed in poor clothing to check on in his hotel staff.

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