Picture this, you are on a motorboat far from land with your significant other (SO). Returning from a scuba diving expedition with no land in site suddenly the boat comes to an odd scene; paper floating in the water by the dozens. With no other boat insight, you suddenly hear a thunk. Something hits the boat, it’s a duffle bag in the water. Curious, you to bring the heavy canvas bag on board and notice it’s locked. What do you do?
Let’s pretend you are talked into opening it, which requires a sharp object to cut into the bag. Inside you find a million U.S. dollars, a bag of 2-carat diamonds, a handgun, cell phone, and USB drive. All of the items have been protected from the elements. So, what do you do? Play along, think about your next steps. Then, ask your SO what they would do. I’m curious if your plan matches with theirs.
My response and my husbands are below the book review, so scroll down when you have your own answer in place.
Something in The Water: A Novel, by Catherine Steadman, was our recent book club book. I personally really enjoyed the book. We were trying to find a fun beach read with it being the end of summer. This thriller is told in first person POV and the MC, named Erin, is a spunky young woman who makes a lot of decisions that had me yelling at the book, “What are you thinking?!” However, I think Erin’s actions were all plausible and not too outrageous. Her job is to create documentaries and she is about to be married to her. During her work project, Erin makes some solid connections with inmates that play an important role in her decision making later in the story. Her soon to be fiancé Mark is a bit flat, but he’s facing a life-changing situation so I chalked it up to that. The two find themselves in a tricky and dangerous situation (similar to what I describe above), every decision they make leads to greater danger. It’s a page turner for sure. I call it a light thriller because it’s not a thrasher, which is what I prefer. The end is also a good one, enough questions are answered that you aren’t hanging there un-climatic like, and it wraps things up well. Overall I really enjoyed the book and I thought that Erin was quirky and fun.
Okay – my response to the question I posted above. I would cut that bag open (it being locked only piqued my interest) and see what’s inside. I would take the cash and maybe a few diamonds, I mean what the heck am I going to do with a full bag of diamonds? Then I’d toss the rest back into the ocean and be on my merry way, with an elevated heart rate and visions of new shoes in my head.
My husband said he would have opened the bag, but upon seeing the “shady” contents he would call the authorities. Clearly, we are not on the same page here. I explained to him what I would want to do, and while I smiled and went into detail about how awesome and sane it would be to walk away with a million bucks, he continued to shake his head and replied, “Clearly we are in over our heads here.” That’s a firm no from the hubs. I really thought he’d run away with me and a million bucks. Guess I don’t know him as well as I thought. I suppose he wouldn’t help me bury a dead body either. I guess I’ll have to call my girlfriends if that ever comes up.
Photo by Théo Roland on Unsplash
Melisa Peterson Lewis 