What is the problem in Sammy Keyes Cold hard cash?

Answer 1

The problem is that Sammy Keyes not only scares a man to death but ends up in a tremendous moral quandary. It all begins when Sammy must sneak into the apartment she illegally shares with her grandmother in the Senior Highrise.

As usual, she climbs up the fire escape. Since it's nighttime and she's not worried that someone will see her, she's zoning out as she makes her way up. At the fourth floor landing, the door begins to open, so she hides behind it. An elderly man steps onto the landing; he spots Sammy and is obviously terrified. Suddenly, he chokes and falls onto the fire escape. She realizes he's having a heart attack and tells him she's going to call an ambulance. But the man gestures to his pockets and begs her to "Get rid of it."

Sammy is shocked to discover huge bundles of money in the stranger's pockets. When she asks repeatedly if he means for her to get rid of all his money, he begs her to throw it, so she tosses the bundles into the bushes below the fire escape. Imagine how she feels when the man, whose name is Buck Ritter, actually dies. She has scared a man literally into his grave! And then she remembers about the money.

Amazingly, the bundles of cash are still there in the bushes, just waiting for Sammy to scoop them up, which she does. While she wonders if she's doing the right thing, she keeps remembering how Ritter begged her to get rid of the money. Isn't she just fulfilling a dying man's last wish by hiding it in her backpack? When her friend Marissa's family runs into financial problems, Sammy (for once) can help her out. She can also sneakily ease Grams's money burdens. And how about a nice gift for her lovely friend Hudson? Unfortunately, Sammy's spending must be done covertly since the money really isn't hers to spend. Or is it? After all, Ritter did tell her to get rid of the cash, which is exactly what she's doing.

Of course, the whole time Sammy is sneaking around with her newfound riches, she not only has that moral quandary niggling away at her but she also wonders why a man who seems as poor as Ritter even had that much money to begin with. Naturally she can't resist trying to find out what the real story is. And soon very strange things are happening, all related to her secret stash. .