When the Wave Collapses by Norah Woodsey

Author:Norah Woodsey [Woodsey, Norah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

C

Monday, March 11, 2013, 9:15 AM

Daniel hadn’t been looking forward to spring break. Most college students in the city got out of town on vacation. Some of his study-group friends had pooled their money and driven to the beach, but what money Daniel had was needed for his living expenses, so he used the opportunity to get in more hours at his uncle’s shop.

It wasn’t simply a money-making maneuver. Something had been bothering the older man over the last few weeks, but he wasn’t likely to tell Daniel. It might be related to his lady friends; his heavyset, hairy uncle had a surprisingly large number of admirers. Rather than pry, Daniel minded his own business and hoped Joe would settle down with someone nice.

It was early on Monday when Daniel flipped on the lights in the office. The shop didn’t open until ten o’clock, so he had time to research. Today he’d focus on a wallet with an embroidered [MP38]name, an expensive-looking doll, and an engagement ring. After setting up his laptop and grabbing a cup of water, Daniel started his search with an online classifieds service. There were many wallets listed, mostly plain ones lost by people still hopeful they’d get the contents [MP39]back. Nothing matched the wallet on the desk.

He leaned back in his chair and examined it again. The wallet was empty but it felt expensive. The warm brown leather had faded to honey gold near the embroidery. The leather and stitching seemed good quality, and the name “Miguel” was surrounded by intricate floral motifs. Daniel sat forward again and launched an automated translator tool. He entered some keywords and returned to the classifieds website, changing the language from English to Spanish. He found descriptions of similar wallets, but nothing identical.

After another hour of searching English- and Spanish-language newspaper classifieds, Daniel heard the buzzer for the back door. His uncle had returned. Daniel suddenly realized he hadn’t opened the shop at ten. He pushed aside the items he was looking into and minimized his search window.

“Danny,” his uncle shouted, “you gotta open up the damn shop if you’re going to come in early. That’s the deal.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

He flipped on the lights, checked that the aisles were in order, then turned the Closed sign to Open. He drew up the two curtains and unlocked the front door. No one was outside, and it was unlikely they had missed any customers.

Daniel returned to the office, preparing to apologize again. His uncle was looking at the wallet in confusion.

“What’s going on here?”

Daniel felt his ears redden. He didn’t want to keep it a secret, but he didn’t want to tell his uncle about it either. “Oh, I was just seeing if any of this stuff was mentioned online. If there were rewards or whatever. Could bring in more money than, you know, what we’d make selling it.”

Uncle Joe considered this for a moment until a thought occurred to him. He shook his head violently. “No, Danny, no. Some of this stuff, it’s .

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