The Loss Would Be Mitigated

He found seventeen thousand dollars in a bag. Large bills, hundreds. He didn’t want to report it; he wanted the money. This was two thousand more than he owed on his student loan. He knew he couldn’t tell his wife as she would insist on reporting it lost. He decided he couldn’t tell anyone. He would separate sums and hide the money. He knew he couldn’t use the money in a regular way as one just can’t go and deposit seventeen thousand dollars into a checking account, what with tax reporting and all. He would spend the money on small things like dinners and hotel stays over a long period of time. This meant he would have to carry cash. This meant he was vulnerable. In his usual state of affairs, pulling multiple one hundred dollar bills from a wallet was indeed unusual. What would his wife think when he had hundred dollar bills in his wallet; she would ask.

The hardest part was hiding the money. Obviously he would separate the money so that if a person happened to find a stash, the loss would be mitigated. A thousand a piece made sense to him as one stash could cover some fees for a good while without notice. But this meant seventeen hiding places. (more money more problems). Granted, ten, one hundred dollar bills isn’t that conspicuous but still, hiding and remembering seventeen spots was a bit of a problem. Under the mattress kinds of spots was out of the question as the wife cleaned thoroughly. A safe deposit box was too Jason Bourne-ish. He thought of burying the money but then he would have to bury it at night not to be seen and this became more problematic than the original problem. A locker at a train station or bus depot? Maybe he couldn’t separate the money, maybe he would have to just hide the one lump sum and visit as necessary.