"Oh Minerva dear, you simply must come to my party tomorrow. You said that you would. You must come even if you are a bit sick and by the way you don't look very sick!" Lillian said to her sister at afternoon tea.

"I can't, and I won't come! You always make me come to your stupid parties and I never want to because you talk to me for five minutes and then you leave me alone. I don't like any of your friends! So no, I will not come to your stupid party." As soon as the words had left her mouth Minerva was sorry she had said them.

"I am so sorry………"said Minerva. Minerva then tried to tell Lillian that this was a stressful time and that she didn't mean to be so rude.

Lillian was mad at Minerva for not wanting to come to her party because she wanted everyone to think that she was close to her sister. Lillian wished that something could be done about Minerva's attitude. Later that night when she was in bed, she started to think. She wished she could change Minerva to be more like her, but how?

Meanwhile on the way home from tea with Lillian, Minerva saw her old friend Susan. They talked and talked and talked for quite a long while. Minerva kept the conversation going because she didn’t want to go home. She didn't want to go home because she hated her home because it was small and empty. She had just moved to a small house because she was getting a divorce. She had almost no money right now. Her husband had made all of his money before they got married and then he had retired. They had been living off his money. Because they were getting a divorce, he had the right to take all his money. Now Minerva barely had enough money for food. No one knew about this, although some people were catching on. That snobby Lacey Grenshaw had noticed that Minerva had worn the same dress three times, and had asked why she was driving herself home.

The next day came all too soon. It was the day of Lillian's party. There was so much to be done. Lillian worried would Minerva come? As the day went on everything went smoothly. The guests started arriving one by one. The Peterman's were the first to arrive as always; they were “early birds”. Last to arrive was as always Minerva. She came alone because of her divorce.

"Minerva! Why, I thought you couldn't make it!" Lillian said quite loudly. She wanted everyone to know that Minerva had come.

Minerva was very pleasant that night, she danced, she talked, she laughed, ate and drank (maybe a little too much). Until she went up stairs to "use the bathroom," as she told her sister. She didn’t just use the bathroom; she took something that wasn't hers. Minerva took Lillian's new diamond necklace that was estimated to be worth $500,000.00; at least that is what gossipy Lacey had said it was worth. Lillian had thought about wearing the necklace, but then the Petermans had arrived early and she left it on her vanity table. The Peterman's were annoying; Mrs. Peterman had a big goiter on her neck that no one liked to look at. As Minerva walked by the vanity table on her way to the bathroom she noticed the necklace; it was so tempting to take. She was losing all of her money because of the divorce, but if she could get the necklace and sell it she would have money again. She knew it was wrong to take the necklace, but she was desperate so she took it anyway. It was a daring moment for Minerva who rarely did something that she could not tell the world about. When she came downstairs no one noticed anything different about Minerva.

She hid the necklace in her purse. As the night went on, Minerva forgot about what she had done. It only came to her attention that she still had the necklace when she got home. When she got her keys out of her purse there was the necklace.

The next day Minerva woke up with a terrible headache that felt like something was pounding on her head. She felt horribly guilty.

On Friday there was a party at Lacey Grenshaw’s. Minerva was still mad at her for asking nosy questions; such as where was her driver and why was she wearing the same dress as she had worn at her last party. All this made Minerva want to get back at Lacey so much. Minerva had a plan. Lacey kept all of her money in a safe in the basement she also kept a china hutch that was to go in her house in China. She would have to find an excuse to go down to the basement.

Minerva remembered that Lacey had told her that she used her birth date for every combination. Then she turned all pale and giggled and said you would never use it though right? 12/15/20 that had to be the combination. It was perfect.

The only problem was where to put the money she was going to take from the safe? In her hand bag! That was it she would bring the big Gucci hand bag with the diamonds on the handle and the real Italian leather. It would also go perfectly with her Versace blue and indigo dress.

As the night went on the perfect opportunity presented itself for Minerva to slip down to the basement. Lacey had walked outside to show everyone her new rose garden and everyone besides Minerva had followed her. Minerva rushed downstairs and found the safe; she tried the combination, but was it 12/25/21 or 12/15/20. She tried 12/15/20 and it worked JACKPOT! There must have been over $1,000,000.00 in cash. Good thing that she brought the big purse. Oh no people were coming. She closed the safe and her purse and started towards the stairs, but Lacey got there first.

She saw Lacey look down the stairs. "Minerva dear what ever are you doing down there?" Lacey questioned.

"I was going to the bathroom while you all left to see the roses and when I came out I couldn't find anyone so I looked around. I remembered that you had gotten a new china hutch and it was down in the basement. I wanted to see it because I was thinking about upgrading my hutch."

"Oh, that was a long sentence, and I think that I heard something about a new china hutch and yes we do have a new one do you like it?" said Lacy. "Well dinner is about to be served would you like to join us?"

"Yes I would thank you." Minerva said.

The dinner went on and it was boring for Minerva as all parties that Lacey hosted were. Lacey thought that she was better than everyone else and tried really hard to impress everyone. Lacey was also bossy and demanding and she had anger management issues.

Minerva continued stealing from her friends. As she stole more and more she felt better about it because she stole only from people like Lacey who were rude and thought they could boss everyone around. As time went on though she felt badly about that first night when she stole from Lillian and she had heard Lillian's crying. It turns out that that necklace had been Queen Genevieve's and Lillian had just received it because Queen Genevieve left it to her. So when Lillian's daughter Elizabeth had her coming out party Minerva brought the necklace back up stairs and put just where she had found it.

As summer went on it became time for the end of the season party at the Walter's. The Walter’s were the richest people of their time and they were the only people in the world that owned a “$1,000,000,000,000 bill". It was kept in the 3^rd level down of their basement and there were countless locks and codes around it. It was impossible to get past all of them some said. Supposedly there was also a moat with blood thirsty alligators and a night in shining armor there ready to attack. Although, Minerva believed none of this because alligators were illegal where she lived. Also, how would they get someone to stand there night and day wearing a suit of armor? And for the lock she would use her German lock pick to open them it was so incredibly simple.

The plan was that she would get to the party early maybe 5 minutes after the Peterman’s so she could say hello to a few people and then slip downstairs. She would reach the first lock and use her lock pick on it. (She had to special order it from Germany because the pick was illegal in America)

Minerva didn't get to the party as early as she hoped, although she did get there before most guests. She said hello and how are you doing to a few people. Just by looking at the basement you couldn't tell that there was anything extraordinary about it. She easily got to the third floor. The first lock was huge and her pick was not, although it still opened the lock.

Then there was a maze.

"Oh no" Minerva said under her breath as if it were a curse word.

How could she get through this it would be horribly confusing. And it looked so long. She started on her way. She turned to the left. She walked along it for awhile then it became a dead end. She had to go all the way back to the beginning of the maze. Then she realized that, the first way was the only way to go. There had to be a walkway that she missed. Minerva started down the path again looking for the next lock or door that would show her the way to the money.

Minerva decided that she was going to have to do the maze as well as she could and if she couldn't get it then she would give up. But it couldn't be that hard because the Walters weren't that smart.

She was through the first part of the maze. Then she saw the next phase it was a locked door which she picked easily.

Then there was a moat with live alligators. The moat was only about 2 ½ feet wide so she just jumped over it easily. (Minerva wasn't sure why they went to the work of building a 2 ½ foot wide moat)

Last was a big steel wall that was just in front of her with nothing on it. She knew that there had to be some kind of trick to it that made it really easy to get past. Although for almost 30 minutes she looked for some way to move it. Then she looked for some kind of button or lever that would open it. After another 30 minutes of that she was about to give up then she saw a bust of Mr. Walter's head and that was it she pushed it and the wall slid to the side. There it was in a glass case the $1,000,000,000,000 bill that would save her from living on the street and going broke. She lifted off the case and she touched the money. It was so surreal. She took it and put it in her purse. She had it and it was all hers. She would take a nice vacation to Rome, then go to a bank there and put it in her account. She could almost feel the new clothes and the beach and the new house and everything that she could ever want in the money.

She went through the maze backwards and went up the stairs to the party. When she got up there everyone was eating dinner.

The rest of the night went smoothly and Minerva enjoyed herself. She thought she would be able to leave and be free to start a new life.

The next day she told everyone that she had to move because she was needed in Illinois by her parents because they were very sick. Most weren’t very sad to see her go because none of them were her real friends. Although there were many going away parties and presents.

Minerva didn't actually move to Illinois to care for her parents. Her parents were already dead so how could she do that? She actually moved to London England and she bought her self a house She met a man and they wed (she never had to wear a dress twice)

Lillian led a much less stressful life. She had lots of parties and she always wore the Necklace from Queen Genevieve so that it was not to be stolen again. NO ONE ever knew that it was Minerva that did the stealing.

Lacy became more uptight and even less fun to be around. She was mad all the time about the 1,000,000.00 dollars that was not in her bank account. She had a hunch that it was Minerva because she was the only person out of the family that knew the code.

The Walters were extremely mad that almost all of their money was gone and that they would have to move and start working which they had never done in their lives before.

So it is almost a happily ever after except for the Walters who are now blacksmiths.

THE END