If there is one thing I have learned at Mas Torrencito, it is that there are no normal days here. Extraordinary is routine, and that morning was no exception. The envelope under the mattress by MasTorrencito
It was an ordinary Monday, one of those Mondays when the sun shyly enters through the windows and the birds take care of the alarm clock. I had decided to help the girls do one of the less glamorous but necessary chores: turning the mattresses. Here they are not left to “spoil”; every three months they are turned like tortillas in a frying pan, in order to avoid those so-called “vices” that leave them sagging.
Everything was going well. We had already passed through several rooms with no major news, but then we arrived at the suite. The crown jewel of Mas Torrencito. A super spacious room, with a living room with a 60″ TV, separate bedroom, with a super king-size bed that looks like a cloud, another piece of 55″ TV, … for me the best… And right there, when we lifted that piece of mattress, we saw it.
It was an envelope. A large, brown envelope, worn around the edges, but clearly fat. I froze, as if the envelope was a bomb. My first reaction was to drop the mattress, which fell with a thud. The girls turned to look at me, but said nothing. And there I was, poker-faced, trying to process what was in front of me.
– How so? – one of them asked me.
– No idea… but let’s find out.
I picked it up very carefully, as if there was a treasure or a curse inside. I held it in my hands, trying to guess its contents by touch. “Papers? Photos? A love letter? Money?”, I thought. I had no idea, but one thing was clear: this was not normal.
I decided not to open it there. I took it to the kitchen, my refuge, where important decisions are always made with a cup of coffee in hand. I left it on the table and stared at it, as if the envelope was going to confess its secret on its own. “Shall I open it or not?” I asked myself, while my mind was already going a thousand miles an hour.
The first calls
Since some acquaintances who were occupying the suite had left that morning, it made sense to start with them. I picked up my cell phone and dialed the number.
– Hey, amic! How was your return?
– Good, good… lots of traffic.
– Normal! It’s Sunday, good weather… all the pisapins go up to the Costa Brava! Hahahaha.
– Hahaha, you see!
– One little thing… did you leave anything under the mattress?
– Under the mattress!? What do you say?
– Yes, yes… something, I don’t know… nothing?
– No, not at all. Why?
– Nothing, just me… Thanks for coming, aadeu!
There it was: first discarded. I sighed in relief, but also frustrated. This wasn’t going to be that easy. I then decided to go big: I opened the reservation program to see how many people had passed through that room since the last time the mattress was turned. And that’s when it got complicated.
The Excel nightmare
The last mattress flip had not been three months ago, as I thought, but five months ago. That meant that dozens of people had slept in that room. I opened Excel and started filtering:
- Nationalities (because, let’s face it, the fat envelope profile is usually more specific).
- People I knew (those I automatically dismissed, because what were they going to leave under the mattress?).
- Length of stay (those who stay many days, I thought, are usually more careful with their things).
After much sifting, I was left with a list of 40 suspects. Spaniards, French, Germans, and even a couple of Englishmen with names that sounded like something out of a spy novel. And then, just as I was about to make the first call, Mamas and Mastitwo appeared.
Canine intervention
My two faithful olfactory investigators entered the kitchen as if they were part of the CIA. They began sniffing the envelope with an interest I had never seen them take before. Mamas even let out a couple of low growls, as if she was warning me, “There’s something serious here, human.” That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
– Okay, okay… I open it.
With trembling hands, I broke the seal on the envelope and looked inside. MAAADRE MIA. Banknotes. Lots of bills. 500, 200, 50… It was like opening a safe. I took out the bundles and spread them out on the table. My hands trembled as I counted: 280,000 euros.
I froze. My head was going two thousand an hour. “What do I do with this? What does it mean? Whose could it be? Am I in danger?” I looked out the window, almost expecting to see a black car parked with someone watching me. Suddenly, Mas Torrencito’s kitchen didn’t seem so welcoming anymore.
The master plan
The first thing I did was to put the money in the safe. Just in case. Then, I decided to continue my investigation. I picked up my cell phone and composed a message that I planned to send to the suspects:
“Hello, I’m Miguel from Mas Torrencito. I hope you are well and that you felt comfortable in our little house. First of all, I would like to thank you for choosing us for your stay. I wanted to tell you that we found an… envelope under the mattress. Does that ring a bell?”
Can you imagine receiving such a message? But of course, I couldn’t send it yet. I needed to think of a contingency plan first, because the situation was getting tense. In the meantime, I decided to take a moment to breathe.
We had reached the critical moment: the envelope. Big, heavy, with an air of mystery that made me feel like the protagonist of a thriller. While I tried to solve the enigma in my head, the minutes passed and the stress rose like the foam on a glass of badly poured champagne. That’s when the phone rang. Mireia.
Mireia is my grounding cable, my conscience in moments of madness, the voice that always makes me take a deep breath and think clearly. But, of course, I had no idea of the chaos I was in.
– Hi, honey. How are you?
– Well… well… (long pause). Here, you know, with things around the house.
– House stuff? What stuff? – Her tone changed slightly; she knows me too well.
– Nothing, helping the girls with the mattresses.
– Oh, how nice! Finally getting down to work, huh? – he said with a laugh. – Everything in order?
– Yes, yes… well, more or less… (another pause).
Uncomfortable silence. She knew something was wrong with me. Mireia has a special radar to detect my “weird moments”. And this was a big one.
– Miguel… what have you done? – he asked with that tone of patience and warning.
– Nothing, nothing… we have found… something.
– Something? What something? What did you find this time? – Now she sounded more interested.
– An envelope. Under the mattress.
– An envelope? What kind of envelope? – Here she was completely intrigued.
– A large envelope. With… you know, “stuff” inside.
Then Mireia fell silent. I can perfectly imagine her face on the other end of the phone, with raised eyebrows and that mixture of curiosity and resignation she always has when she knows I’ve gotten myself into some kind of trouble.
– Miguel. Please, what’s inside the envelope?
– Money. A lot of money.
– “A lot” how much?
– Well… more or less… about… 280,000 euros.
Dramatic pause. I could have sworn that even the kitchen clock stopped ticking at that moment.
– WHAT! – he finally shouted.
– Yes, that’s it. 500 bills, 200 bills, 50 bills… one wad after another. It’s crazy, look.
– But… whose is it?
– I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out. I’m making a client list and sifting through it, but this is a mess.
– And what do you plan to do?
– Well, I don’t know. First thing, put the money in the safe. I’ve already done that.
– Okay, good. That’s the first thing. But… what if it belongs to someone dangerous?
– I’ve thought about it. I’m looking out the window every now and then, as if thugs with sunglasses and a briefcase are going to show up.
Mireia burst out laughing.
– Oh, Miguel! How do these things happen to you? Really, what happens to us at Mas Torrencito is like a reality show.
I laughed nervously, but I was still thinking about it. Then she took a more serious tone:
– Cari, listen. The important thing is that you do everything with your head. If someone needs to be notified, we’ll do it. But calm down, okay? Breathe.
– Okay, okay… yeah, you’re right. I’ll keep filtering the clients.
– Good. And don’t do anything crazy, huh? Don’t even think about keeping that money.
– But look! How can I keep it? I’m not like that… well, maybe I thought about it for a second… but I’m not. It’s not mine.
– Better. Because if not, I can already see myself traveling with you to the Bahamas on the run…
We both laughed, and his humor helped me relax a bit.
– Where are you now? – I asked.
– I’m in Olot, leaving a client. I’m going home in a little while. I’ve already eaten bread and food for today. Do you need anything?
– No, no… well, yes, bring me patience and some common sense.
– I’ll take that to you every time, sweetheart. See you in a little while. Kisses.
– Kisses. And be careful with the car.
The calm before the storm. The envelope under the mattress by MasTorrencito
I hung up the phone and sat in the kitchen, staring at the sealed envelope in my mind even though it was already safely tucked away in the safe. Mireia was right: we had to stay calm. Who leaves 280,000 euros under a mattress? How could they not have missed it? And what do I do now with all this?
That’s when Mamas and Mastitwo came back into the kitchen, looking at me with those eyes that seem to read the soul. I sat on the floor with them, caressing them while my mind went over and over the list of customers. I had to solve this mystery, but without losing my sanity in the process.
I sifted and sifted and with the ones I had left I sent them the following message: “We found an envelope in the room, we don’t know if it’s yours or important, if you think it’s yours, please let me know…. “
The envelope, with its 280,000 euros, remained a constant presence in my mind. I had kept it in the safe, but I felt it staring at me from afar, like a magnet attracting my attention.
I decided to relax a bit and do something that always calms me down: I went out into the yard with the dogs. Mamas and Mastitwo were running around happily, not worrying about mysterious envelopes or strange calls. I sat under the big tree that overlooks the entrance to Mas Torrencito, watching them. It was then that an idea came to me that completely changed my mind.
The moral dilemma
I went back to the house and sat down at the computer. I had sifted through the clients, reviewed the reservations, ruled out dozens of potential owners. I had tried to be Sherlock Holmes, but the truth was that I had no idea who could have left that money behind.
I thought about all that money could mean. It was a lot of money, enough to solve more than one problem in my life, but then I looked around Mas Torrencito. This house, full of life, full of stories, barking and laughter, was not just a business. It was a home for my dogs, for those who had passed through here, and for clients who came looking for a place to feel at peace. The money could not be for me. If fate had placed this envelope in my hands, I had to do something good with it.
And that’s when it became clear to me: the dogs.
The decision
That same day, in the afternoon, when Mireia arrived home, I told her everything in detail. How we found the envelope, what it contained, the calls I made and the strange voice I heard. Her reaction was a mixture of surprise, disbelief and, of course, concern.
– So… what do we do? – she finally asked me, after thinking for a while.
– We use it. But not for us. For them. If in a week we don’t know anything… we spend it….
I explained my idea: to allocate that money to associations and dog shelters. To those places that struggle every day to take care of the voiceless, the abandoned, the abused. Mireia smiled.
– I knew you were going to say something like that,” he replied. – That’s why I love you, Miguel. Because even though you’re always getting into trouble, your heart is in the right place.
We decided to do it right. The first thing was to consult a lawyer to make sure everything was in order. No one claimed the money after weeks of waiting, so it was clear that it was in our hands. We contacted several local and national associations and organized an event at Mas Torrencito.
The big day
The day of the event, the courtyard of Mas Torrencito was full of life. People from different associations arrived with their dogs, some rescued, others waiting for a family. We had decided to divide the money into several donations, making sure that it would reach the places where it was most needed: food, medical treatments, better facilities…
Mamas and Mastitwo were excited, running around among the guests, as if they understood that this day was special. Mireia and I gave a few words at the end of the event, explaining how it all started with a mattress and a mysterious envelope. People laughed, but they were also excited.
– This money is not ours. It’s theirs,” I said, pointing to the dogs playing on the lawn. – And we think there’s no better place for it to be.
The perfect ending
That night, after everyone had left and silence reigned again in Mas Torrencito, I sat on the sofa with Mireia and the dogs. I looked around me, at my home, and I felt a peace that I had not felt for a long time.
It had started as a day of intrigue, with an envelope full of bills hidden under a mattress. But it had ended as something much bigger: a reminder that life always gives us the opportunity to do good, even in the most unexpected situations.
And so, in Mas Torrencito, the place where extraordinary things always happen, a new story was written. A story that not only changed us, but also many dogs that now had a second chance.
Because here, in Mas Torrencito, dogs will always be the protagonists. 🐾❤️
From MasTorrencito we wish you a good day and may your dogs be with you!!!!
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