Hello there! I’m Thea. You probably won't believe it now, but I'm a millionaire. Or, to be exact, a would-be millionaire. Ok, let me explain it now. My family’s a typical one. We’ve never been poor. But we can’t be called rich either. We usually had enough money, but we spent most of them on the necessary things - food, clothes, medicines and all that jazz. Sometimes there was some money left for all sorts of pleasant things such as an amusement park or the vacation at the seaside.
But we didn’t see some luxury or something like that. Well, we didn’t bother about this. We had a good life without diamonds, expensive cars and other things rich people are happy about.
So, it was hard to describe our surprise when we got the very news two years ago.
One evening, someone knocked at the door. It was a postman who handed dad a letter in a beautiful envelope. We even joked that I finally got a letter from Hogwarts.
Everyone wanted to find out what it was. So, we sat on the couch, and dad solemnly opened the envelope and started reading.
The letter said my great-grandmother who lived on the other side of the country, left some inheritance to me as the youngest successor. I thought there’d be something like a gramophone or an old tea set. Well, or some centuries-old clock with curls. And the interesting part of the letter would end.
But the next phrase shocked not only me but also my parents. It turned out my grandmother left me the money. And not just the money, but... a million dollars.
We didn’t know what to say. Inside, there were both sadness from the loss of our great-grandma and the joy of an unexpected wealth. And we were surprised granny had such money. Dad read on.
And here, the thing started. As it turned out, in her will, she set one condition. I can only get the money after I’d work for two years... as a janitor. Yes, only a janitor and no other job. The will said this is how she wanted to educate me and tell me how hard it is to get the money. She wanted me to respect all the jobs and control my money right. Granny instructed her lawyer to watch me working. He was the only person who’d give me the money.
I freaked out. I didn’t get all this. Million dollars. Janitor. Lawyer... What does it all mean? I didn’t even know what to say!
The lawyer, mentioned in the letter, came to us the next day. He had a very nice talk with my parents. He repeated all the conditions again. He showed the copy of the will and said the main condition should be fulfilled as soon as possible. And we better start the next day.
I wasn’t against it. First, I was a hundred percent sure all these’re simple formalities. And no one would really make me sweep the streets for two years. And second, I didn’t see anything difficult in such work. Almost nothing to do there: you hold a broom, collect leaves, and that's it.
There were just a lot of janitor jobs around the city, so I started working in a couple of days.
They showed me my site, handed me over all the necessary tools - well, there was a broom, a rake, and the bags. And they said my working day will start at six in the morning. After that, I’d go to school. This news freaked me out. But it was only the beginning.
For the first week, I was so tired that at the weekend, I didn’t want not only to go outside, but also to get out of bed at all. The next few weeks were the same.
I always wanted to sleep. I was angry with the passers-by stomping my collected heaps of leaves. I listened to my angry boss every day. And, my arms and back were aching very much.
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