The Talking House Made Me Rich

At six that evening, Sarah came.

She stood in the doorway, her eyes rimmed red, her voice shaking. "Your dad called me. He said you took out a loan from a shark to buy that dump. Kevin, is something wrong with your head?"

"Come in. Come in and I'll tell you why."

She hesitated a few seconds, bit her lip, and stepped inside.

I pulled her over to that wall, crouched down, and pressed the metal detector against the base.

Beep, beep, beep.

Sarah froze. "What is that?"

"A metal detector." I looked up at her. "There's something inside this wall."

Her mouth opened, then closed. "Don't tell me that dream of yours was real."

Not a flicker on my face, not a skip in my chest. "Yeah. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I came and checked. There really is something in there. Tonight I'm breaking it open. If there's really gold, tomorrow we get the license, buy a big place, make every one of your girlfriends jealous."

Her eyes went red and she threw herself into my arms.

"I'm pregnant," she said, her face buried against my chest.

"Found out the day before yesterday. I was going to get rid of it once we broke up…" She looked up at me, her face smeared with tears. "Kevin, don't let me down."

"I won't. After tonight, everything's going to be fine."

At nine that night, the complex had gone completely still.

I pulled the sledgehammer and the crowbar out of my bag while Sarah sat on the couch, rubbing her hands together, tense.

Before I swung, some impulse made me say a line to the wall. "Sorry about this, old man. Once I get the money, I'll fix you up real nice."

But that aged voice didn't answer me.

Something in me lurched.

The thought flickered and was gone. The detector had gone off. How could it be wrong?

I brought the hammer down.

A big chunk of plaster cracked loose, baring the red brick underneath.

I threw the hammer aside and clawed at it with my hands. Broken brick rained down in a clatter.

Behind the brick wall was empty.

My hands froze in midair.

"Where's the gold?" Sarah leaned over my shoulder.

I didn't say anything. Like a madman, I ripped the brick off the entire wall.

The hole grew wider and wider, opening up the hollow cavity inside.

Still nothing.

"This isn't possible…" My voice trembled.

Sarah's face went from hopeful to ashen. "Kevin, don't scare me."

I threw the brick down and went at the ceiling.

The plaster drop-ceiling broke at the first poke, dust falling over my head and face.

I reached in and felt around, and my hand came back covered in dust.

Empty.

I slumped down into the bricks and plaster covering the floor, shaking all over.

Sarah crouched beside me with her hand over her mouth, tears seeping through her fingers.

"Kevin… where's the gold?"

I opened my mouth, my face bloodless. "Sarah, listen to me…"

She shot to her feet and wiped her tears. "Kevin, I'm getting rid of the baby. You're on your own now."

Then she turned and rushed out the door.

I sat alone in the wreckage, a gaping hole torn in the drop-ceiling overhead, the dark cavity above it exposed.

The whole place stank of dust, mixed with the mildew of old wall plaster.

My phone rang. It was my dad.

I picked up, and on the other end came my mom's voice, hoarse from crying. "Kevin, come home, hurry, your dad had a heart attack, he's in the hospital!"

"The doctor says he needs emergency surgery, and I don't have enough money…"

The phone slipped out of my hand, the screen shattering across the floor.

"The detector went off. How can there be nothing…" I muttered to the empty room, but the house gave back no echo at all.

I stared, hard, at the wall I'd smashed through.

And just as the despair was numbing me over, all at once, that familiar aged voice returned.

Once I made out what it was saying, a jolt shot through me and I froze where I sat.