Chapter 6 - The Weight of Green
Mrs. Rose dropped the note onto the table, her eyes sliding back to the heavy white envelope. Her damp fingers broke the seal, tearing the thick paper open to reveal what was hidden inside.
Her breath hitched sharply. Inside the envelope was a dense, banded stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills.
May you like
The green notes were brand new, bound tightly by paper bands, filling the interior of the envelope completely. It was more money than Mrs. Rose had seen in her entire life—thousands upon thousands of dollars, neatly packaged and hidden beneath a thin, decoy layer of grain.
Her hands began to shake uncontrollably, the stack of currency slipping slightly in her wet grasp as she pulled it into the dim light of the window. The cold room seemed to tilt around her. The sacrifice, the public humiliation at the gate, the bitter coldness in her son's eyes—it had all been a terrible, calculated cover to hand over his life savings without raising the suspicion of the woman who watched from the porch.
