In 1979, we moved from Utah to Missouri. To get ready for the move, my dad cashed out his retirement savings. He was planning to use the money for the trip to Missouri and for a down payment on a new house. He went to the bank and got seventy-five $100 dollar bills for a total of $7,500 in cash. He put it in a nice stack and secured it with a rubber band.
Then he found a large, old book. He opened the book, took a pencil and drew a line around the stack of money. With an x-acto knife he very carefully cut out a hole the perfect size to hold the money. Satisfied with his work, he closed the book and put it on the shelf. It blended in perfectly. There was no sign of the treasure held inside. It was safe.
A couple of weeks passed and the family began packing for the move. As we packed we sorted the things we wanted to take with us into one place and the things we didn’t want any more into another place. A week or so before the move, we had a huge yard sale to sell the things we didn’t want.
The day of the yard sale came and people came from miles away. Many wanted to buy things, but some were just curious to see the old schoolhouse where we lived. During the day a woman bought a box of books. She offered my dad $1.00 and eager to clear everything out, he accepted her offer. After the yard sale was over, we took the rest of the things that hadn’t sold and gave them to Deseret Industries.
Late that afternoon the phone rang. "Hello," Dad said. It was Irene Tisdale, a woman from our ward.
“Hello. I was wondering if you might have sold a book that you didn’t really want to sell.” As soon as she said that, a sick feeling came over Dad and he looked at the shelf to see if the book was still there. It was gone.
“Yes, Irene, I think I sold a book I didn’t want to. You found the $7,500, didn't you?”
“I found it. I have it here. I’ll bring it back to you.”
Dad was so relieved. Irene brought back the book and Dad felt incredibly grateful. He was so glad she was the one who bought the books. And so glad that she'd looked through them that day instead of storing the box away to go through another time. We'd have never known where to begin looking for that book.
Dad took the money out of the book and never tried that trick again.
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