The Six Million Centavos Man

Entry for The Friday Challenge 9/18/09 Since it's a picture, you really need to look at it to understand the story.




Carlos did a double take at his computer screen, and his jaw dropped as he stared at the strange picture that had been posted on his favorite blog. It wasn't the strangeness of it, but rather its familiarity that had caught his attention.

He rummaged through the papers on his desk and finally found the letter he had received from his grandfather's lawyer last week. He pulled out the enclosed picture and looked at it again. It looked like the same picture, but when he held it up to the screen, he saw it was slightly different. It had the same people, but their expressions and positions weren't quite identical. Except for the thing in the middle. That part was exactly the same.

The pictures showed a dozen or so men, dressed like Mexican soldiers, all with ammunition belts crossed over their chests and another one around their waists. They each had a rifle poised butt down on the dirt. In the center of the group was something that looked like the tin woodsman out of The Wizard of Oz, only he also had the rifle and ammunition belts, and he stood a foot taller than most of the men.

Carlos opened the letter and read it again. It seemed very ordinary, just a letter informing him that his grandfather had left him this picture and some papers which he would be expected to pick up at his earliest convenience and please call for an appointment, etc. He hadn't called yet. It didn't seem urgent, since he was unaware of anything valuable owned by his grandfather.

A week later, Carlos walked in to the lawyer's office, picture in hand. The papers were quite interesting, especially the one that gave the names of the men in the picture, and also the name of the metal man, “Centavos Man.” However, Carlos' grandfather had given him the nickname “The Six Million Centavos Man” after the TV show. Carlos remembered his grandfather watching that show and laughing at its name.

As the lawyer answered his many questions, he learned that each man in the photo had a similar picture, and each had arranged with a lawyer to keep in touch with the other lawyers, and when the last man in the picture had died, all the next of kin would be sent the pictures and receive this same information.

“But why wait until they were all dead?” puzzled Carlos.

“Because they could still be charged with murder if they were alive,” explained the lawyer. “This group of men were known as the Centavos Gang. They robbed quite a few banks in their day, and anything else that had money. But they only took pennies, or in Mexico, centavos. There were a few people that were shot during their robberies, and some died. I've just learned all this myself, now that we could open the papers left in our care by your grandfather.”

Carlos sat in silence, absorbing it all. He had no idea his grandfather had such an interesting past. But where was the money? Had it been melted down and used to make Centavos Man? And if so, where was he?

There were still many unanswered questions, and several more papers to study. Time to meet the other relatives. If they put their heads together, they might figure it out and end up rich. He was going to start with the person who ran that blog.