The Year Money Grew on Trees - Aaron Hawkins [75]
"We better get counting, then, if we're going to finish by tomorrow," she said. "Let's start with the biggest bills."
The biggest bills we had were twenties, and she grabbed them all and piled them into a stack while counting. She wrote a number down and moved on to the tens. Her hands flew as she counted, and her lips moved very fast whispering out numbers. I peeked over at them shyly, amazed at how red they looked against her white teeth.
She made good progress until she came to all the dollar bills. I began to wish that Lisa had given more of those as change to people. The teller counted over fifteen hundred of them, and the clock hit five even before she was done. All the other customers were gone, and the rest of the bank employees were starting to leave.
"Do you have to go?" I asked when she finished with the dollars.
"I can finish up," she said happily.
"I'm sorry it's so much counting."
"That's okay. I'm kind of interested to find out how much is here."
When she looked at the jar of change, she squinted and said, "We might need some help on that one."
She took the jar and poured it into a shiny machine that did all the counting and separated the coins. She wrote down the total and came back to me. She added up some more numbers, wrote it on a piece of paper, and then held it close to her.
"Are you ready for the total?"
"Yes," I said slowly.
"It's $9,180.30."
I was amazed both to hear her say such a large number and that Lisa had been exactly right.
"That's about what I thought," I said, trying to react calmly.
"Would you like to deposit that into an account or maybe get a cashier's check?"
I felt dumb asking what a cashier's check was, so I just said, "Can I just get it in large bills?"
"Whatever you want. Just hope you don't lose them. Do you want hundreds?"
"Can I get $8,000 in hundreds and the rest in twenties and tens?"
She counted out the money and then said, "Let me get you an envelope or two for that."
She brought over some manila envelopes, and we slid the money inside. I noticed for the first time that she wore a small nametag that read Kelly. I felt kind of nervous using her name but said, "Thank you so much for your help, Kelly. I'm glad I got your window."
"My pleasure," she said smiling.
"Can I ask you one more thing? Do you know where I can get a document copied?"
She looked around. "If it's just a page, I can copy it for you."
I reached into one of the paper sacks and pulled out the piece of paper I had gotten from the lawyer's office with Mrs. Nelson. Kelly looked it over curiously and then went over to a copy machine. She came back a few minutes later.
"I think this was a copy, so now you have a copy of a copy and it doesn't look that great," she said.
"That's okay. It'll be good enough."
I thanked her repeatedly as she walked me to the door of the bank. As I turned to say goodbye, I wished I had more money to count. I tried to wave at her again through the glass doors, but she had already walked away.
My mom was sitting in her car waiting for me in the parking lot. "What took so long in there? Where's the money from the grocery bags?"
It had to be obvious why I needed the bank, even if she hadn't brought it up earlier. "There was a line to begin with," I replied, "and ... I'll explain later." I wanted to tell her all about Kelly and the money counting, but I stopped myself and hoped she wouldn't press for details.
"Okay. It's your secret little project. I just hope your father doesn't beat us home."
I ran into my room when we arrived before Lisa or Jennifer could stop me. I closed the door and hid the envelopes of money deep in my closet. All I said to Lisa that night was "You were exactly right about the total." She was so happy with herself that she didn't ask about anything else.
***
The next day after school, I grabbed the envelope full of tens and twenties and knocked on my cousins' door. Sam answered.
"Wanna go for a ride?" I asked.
He walked out the door before asking, "Where to?"
We climbed on the tractor, and I let him drive to