A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 29

This is the 11th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas.

Today’s story: A Multimillion-Dollar Stimulus Check Mistake Made an Ohio Teen Temporarily Rich.

A teenager got an unexpectedly large coronavirus relief check. Melik Pointer, an 18-year-old in Ohio, told local TV news station 10TV there was a major mistake with a direct deposit to his account before the error was corrected. According to 10TV, Melik had stopped by an ATM when he noticed he had a balance of nearly $5 million in his bank account — $4,999,285.52, to be exact.

“I was shocked,” Melik told 10TV. “I thought it was fake, to be honest, I’m not even going to lie.”

But the Columbus teen wasn’t on a secret prank show. After putting his bank card in one more time, the balance was still there — apparently a mistaken disbursement from the IRS as part of the rollout of the $1,200 stimulus checks most people in the U.S. will receive.

“Me and my aunt was just talking about the guy that had $8.2 million in his account,” Melik said, referring to a similar story out of Indiana. “I was like, what if that just happened to me? And then, well, what a coincidence.”

According to a report earlier this week from WGN, a Chicago-area TV news station, a volunteer firefighter in New Chicago, Indiana, named Charles Calvin found he had $8.2 million in his account, much more than he expected to have after getting his $1,700 stimulus check.

“It kind of sucks,” Calvin told WGN. “You go from being a millionaire one second then back to being broke again.”

What if you suddenly discovered millions of dollars in your bank account? What would you do? This is what a New Zealand couple did:

They took the money and ran, leaving the country, leading to a worldwide manhunt.

Here’s my take: Keeping with this month’s focus on female leads, let’s imagine a group of young women who are stoners. That’s right: Female. Stoners. Have we ever seen a stoner comedy with female leads?

Zoey, Kat, Rachel, and Yvetta are… what else… stoned. No more munchies in the messy apartment they share, they shamble their way to a local ATM machine. Each tries to withdraw some cash so they can reload at the local 7–11, however, none of them have the minimum $20 to make a withdrawal.

After a lengthy debate about banks and the injustice of not being able to make withdrawals in one dollar increments, Zoey gives it a try. Blinks. Blinks again. Asks the others to check it out. The account balance reads: $4,807,235.

That takes a few minutes to process. To test it out, Zoey withdraws $500, the maximum amount. Amazingly, the machine spits out the cash.

Yvetta is like, “Cool. Let’s hit the 7–11 and go chill.” Kat and Rachel concur. But Zoey says, “What. The. Fuck. Y’all. There’s over four million dollars in my account, and y’all wanna just grab some Onyums, get stoned, and watch nature docs.” Sounds good to the others, but Zoey has other plans.

Spend the money. As fast as we can before whoever made the mistake discovers it.

What would four stoners do to purchase as much stuff as possible with a ticking clock winding down?

They can literally walk into a Tesla dealership, plunk down Zoey’s bank card, and buy a $150K car.

Complications ensue, of course. Bank officials. Law enforcement. When word gets around among some criminal types, perhaps they they coerce the girls to buy stuff for them.

I envision a comedic mad dash fueled by cannabis and good old capitalist greed, a cat and mouse match between the stoners and a bunch of folks tracking them down.

There you go, my 29th story idea of the month. What would YOU do with it?

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Day 15
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Day 18
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Day 21
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Day 23
Day 24
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Day 26
Day 27
Day 28

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.