The Long Journey to Sunshine

Untitled Part 1

                                                               The Long Journey To Sunshine

Even though the weather was freezing cold on that January day, it did not prevent Ana from going to Central Park just to get away from it all. It was her usual way of decompressing. The forty nine year old Hispanic housemaid was puffing on her cigarette as she eluded her mind with thoughts on how to shake things up in her life. Stuck for the past twenty five years in a life that she never imagined was going to be hers, the helpless middle aged maid foresaw no solutions in sight.

Married to Miguel Morales at the age of twenty three, Ana remembered how she fell for the charms of the once handsome sweet talker, Miguel. Just a few years into their marriage, she saw the true ugly side of him. He was a lazy drunken man whose short lived jobs were scarce and far apart, thus relying on her to put food on the table and raise their two Children, Javier and Andrea. In his mid twenties, Ana's jobless son, Javier, grew up to be self absorbed, selfish, and lazy just like his father. And not much better off was her twenty three year old daughter, Andrea, who was a drug addict and a single mother to a five year old boy, Manuel. They all lived under one roof with Ana who found herself to be carrying the whole burden of supporting all of them. She felt she was constantly being taken for granted and not being appreciated despite working herself to the bone in order to provide for them. In brief, she was the glue that held the family together.

While sitting on the park bench absorbed by her thoughts, she heard someone speaking to her. Turning around, she saw this smartly dressed fellow sitting on the bench close to her reach out:

"Hello there... sorry for my intrusion but may I say something even though it's none of my business?" Said the middle aged gentleman. In reaction, Ana just nodded her head cautiously before the man added:

"You look very tired and stressed out! I'm sure there's a story behind that! Now this may sound a bit strange but I have a proposal for you; one that will wash away the obvious pain that is written all over your face from your life forever. But before going any further, would you be interested in knowing what this proposal is? If not, I'll just walk away and consider none of this happened!" Said the middle aged man.

"Go ahead!" Replied Ana suspiciously while examining the man sitting next to her by looking at him from top to bottom.

"A seventy something year old very wealthy Mexican woman passed away in Mexico a month ago leaving behind over thirteen million dollars stashed in a bank account... thirteen million eight hundred thousand to be precise. In her will, this money was supposed to have gone to her daughter. For some reason, the mother failed to update her will even though her single daughter passed away a year ago in South America. Mother and daughter had lived most of their lives abroad! Now... if we could get someone to impersonate the daughter, we could get her to claim this whole money. The conditions are simply ideal for us to put our hands on it before it goes to the state... that is if only we find the right person to replace the daughter... someone around her age! You seem to fit the profile! Would you be interested in playing that role? Your share would be 30% of the whole amount!" Said the man.

"This sounds too good to be true! Doesn't this woman have any other relatives who might show up at anytime to claim the money!" Asked Ana.

"No... no one! No one has claimed this money ever since the mother passed away. I am assuming that no one knows about it in her family or else we would have been contacted by now! The bank where I work was contacted by the deceased's lawyer who said he wasn't able to get in touch with the daughter. Apparently, he's not aware of her passing! It was by a stroke of luck that I found out about her death!" Replied the man.

"Why me? Why pick me? I mean how can you trust a total stranger just like that?" Asked Ana next.

"I have been coming to this park for the past years and always see you puff your cigarette on this very bench with the same sad look on your face... something that spoke to passers by like myself! It's as if you're carrying the burden of the whole world on your shoulders! They say happiness isn't all about money... but money sure plays a big role in making us happy! It's not as if we're stealing this money from someone or denying anyone their rights! And it's not going to be sitting in that account forever! If you agree to this, you needn't worry about anything... everything will be taken care of by me. You see... I am the bank manager at the bank where this money is deposited. If you agree to play along, I'll walk you through the whole process and explain to you all that needs to be done. All you have to do is meet with the lawyer of the deceased, come in to the bank a number of times to sign some papers... and after that we're done! Anyway... here's my number. Take some time to think this over and let me know when you're ready... but don't take too long!" Said the gentle looking man before walking away.