Treasure In A Teapot

I don’t recall ever doing it

but it is my house, my kitchen, my teapot
so it must have been me
no one else I know could have reached it
but there it was one hundred dollars
in tens and twenties stuffed in a blue willow teapot

high up in the center cabinet beside the stove.
I had company coming over and we had ordered pizza
I took out forty dollars and paid for it in cash.
The next day I stopped at the art store and bought
two tubes of paint; turquoise and cobalt blue.

I shouldn’t have spent it so quickly
could have saved it for an emergency
but I would never have found it
because I forgot I stashed it there.

Maybe it was my husband who hid it away
but it seems unlikely for him to put money
in my area of the house, perhaps he stashed it as a surprise
thinking I would buy something for the home
instead I spent it on pizza and paints.

Funny how quickly the money was gone
a sudden surprise then “poof,” all spent.

I can remember when a $100 was a lot of cash
now it is like a twenty dollar bill,
handy for incidentals but hardly a treasure trove.
I’m trying to remember the day I put it there.

I seem to recall it was after the earthquake in Haiti.
he and I talked about expendable cash
in small bills so we could use it for gas and water

but if an earthquake came
I never would have remembered
so when I found it
I spent it on pizza and paints.