happy ending

Last week we got a call from a lady selling a bunch of furniture from her elderly parents' house.  Our stockpile is growing a little unwieldy at the moment, but said that she had called lots of shops and nobody would come over - so we went.

She had a lot of well-maintained pieces which were not quite our style - but there was this one cute little table we couldn't resist.

The lady said her folks had been keen card players and this was the table they used - it has a nifty fold-out top with a vinyl surface ... nice desk or sewing-table for a small space.

Back at the store we were giving it a cleanup and there was a wierd hollow section on the underside.  Further investigation revealed that the top swivelled 90 degrees, revealing a little compartment.  Not an empty compartment either ...

Turns out that not only were her parents card players, but they seem to have been reasonably successful.  There was a bunch of envelopes full of cash stashed inside the table (all bundles of the old paper $10 notes) - so it was a quick trip back much to her surprise.

Just remember to take a good look before you dump that old piece of furniture on the nature-strip or send it off to the op-shop.  And think back - was your grandma always referred to as "the shark" by her friends?

PS - we have a sweet little folding-top table at the store at the moment if you're looking for one, and (shhhhhhh) it has a secret compartment!