The big headline that appeared in the Jacksonville Daily News read: Billionaire Malcolm Fellerhouse III dies. The tycoon who contributed to America’s growing wealth since the end of the Depression had died of natural causes: old age and a weak heart. In fact, when each of his family members were called about his death, none were surprised.
Fellerhouse did not have a large family like many of his wealthy companions; He had only two children, their wives, and four grandchildren. Malcolm taught his sons, John Fellerhouse and Sally Fellerhouse Thompson, important principles on how to lead a modest and moral life that made them honest and upright. In turn, John and Sally raised and taught their two children the same moral lessons. But there is always a relative who was born far from the apple tree. Among the four grandchildren, William, 30, John’s youngest son, lived a reckless life. William spent a lot of money on cars, drugs and women, he begged his parents for more and more money. However, they did not give him anything. William ended up in jail more than several times. When William learned of his grandfather’s death, he rejoiced because he knew he would inherit a lot of money.
His family was called to the local attorney’s office to have the deceased billionaire’s will read. He had specified in his will that his grandchildren would inherit his fortune.
To each of my four grandchildren, Julian, Patsy, Lewis and William, I leave five hundred million dollars.
After the attorney’s office read the entire will, the grandchildren were told that their money would be deposited directly into trusts. However, William was told that his money would be available later. “What ?! I can’t have my money right now like everyone else ?? !!” I ask. “I want my money now !!”
The lawyer frowned. He picked up several documents and looked at them. The deceased mogul had included and found one labeled, special instructions for William. The document specifically stated that William would have to wait three months and then receive his share of the trust. But, the lawyer had been instructed not to read the rest to William until the three months were up.
William was furious. He cursed the lawyer and his family, then stormed out of the office.
Three months later, the lawyer called William and gave him information about his inheritance. “Your grandfather wants you to go to Las Vegas, Nevada, to a place called The money selector, where he would receive half a billion dollars in cash. William was so excited that when he stopped talking to the attorney, he called the airlines to make a reservation for Las Vegas.
After flying to Las Vegas, he called a taxi and told the driver to take him to a place called, The money selector. The taxi driver asked him why he was going there. William distrusted him and lied, saying he was there to gamble. The taxi driver with a New York accent said, “It’s a very guarded place … it has a lot of money! You will like it if you want a lot of money!”
William said nothing because he felt that greed had reached its highest point. Several miles later, the taxi stopped in front of the Money picker. After paying the taxi driver, William surveyed the fort-like building. He walked over to the vaulted door and knocked. An intercom came on and a deep voice said, “Who is it?”
“I am William … Fellerhouse.” There was a pause, then some conversations.
The same voice sounded again. “Are you the grandson of Malcolm Fellerhouse?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“We were waiting for you. After the bell, open the door!”
A buzzer came from the door and William struggled to open it. Two men dressed as armed guards were behind the door. One of them said, “Follow us!”
William followed the guards up the steel stairs to a basement. The fluorescent lights flickered in no particular order until William clearly saw a large room with about twenty machines that had metal claws dangling over large piles of cash.
“What is this ?!” William screamed.
“Your inheritance, William! $ 500,000,000 worth of machines. They don’t deliver those money packages easily, so you have to be precise and patient.” a thunderous voice from a loudspeaker. William recognized the voice. It was his grandfather, Malcolm. The voice continued, “This is what you reaped by leading a greedy and worthless life.” William knew it was just a recording of his grandfather before his passing.
“As you can see, the machine claws must be operated by you. To get some of the money, you have to put a dollar in and the claw will move over the cash that is wrapped in bundles of hundred dollar bills. I must try to grab a bundle. at the same time. Not as easy as it sounds, is it, William?
William’s face turned red and he screamed, pounding on the door with his fists. The recording continued. “You can’t break the machines to take what you want, or an alarm will sound and the guards will take you to jail.”
A few hours later, as soon as William recovered moderately, he tried several of the machines, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t maneuver his claws to pick up any of the bundles of dollar bills. He successfully broke into a machine and stole so many bundles of dollar bills. But it didn’t get very far.
A day later, the headline for the Las Vegas Tribune evening addition read: The billionaire’s grandson goes to jail.