Whatever happened to the first owner of the monkey's paw?I have named the first owner of the paw Max Smith. I think Max stumbled across the paw by accident.When he was searching through some caves, he bumped into the pedestal that held the paw while walking backwards.He grabbed the paw out of curiosity and decided to take it with him. When Max grabbed the paw it set off a trigger for booby-traps, such as arrows, boulders, and spike traps. Max ran as fast as he could, dodging traps left and right, but he could not escape. Max knew the paw would cause bad luck, so as he was getting crushed by falling rocks he wrote, “Dear whoever finds the paw, don’t use it, it is cursed. I grabbed the paw and now I am dead, please let my family know that I love them. Signed Max Smith.” As he was dying, he grabbed the paw, held it close, and said, “I wish for my family to be happy.” The next day when Max didn’t come home like he promised, his wife, Mary Smith, got so worried she called the police. When they asked her to explain the situation she said, “My husband didn’t come home last night like he promised,” when she saw the look on their faces she said, “My husband was going to search the caves near the outskirts of town, he left at around 9:00 am, he said he would be back before dark, but it’s already the next day.” The officers understood, people around town knew Max as someone who keeps promises, so for him to not keep one, especially a promise he made to his family, was really odd. The police went searching for him in the caves, but when they got there, the cave was completely sealed off. The chief officer, Adam Jackson, ordered for them to break the front of the cave to find Max. When they entered the cave, they found Max lying on the ground underneath a large boulder. When the officers dug him out, it was too late, he was already dead. Adam found his letter to whoever found him, and when he read it, he was shocked. Max was a trustworthy guy, so when he said something people believed him. The medics came and took Max’s body to be examined, they found he died from some toxic fumes that came from the pedestal and not from being crushed by a boulder. Adam found the paw hidden in Max’s coat, He read the note that was connected to the paw, when he read the note he was flabbergasted. The note said, “Whoever holds the paw gets three wishes, there are two rules: you can’t wish for more wishes and you can’t wish to kill anyone.” When they read the note, the officers immediately took the paw to be thrown far into the ocean, never to be seen again. Max had found the paw in a cave far in an African Jungle filled with caves. When they threw it in the ocean it washed up onto the shores of New York Beach. It soon ended up in the hands of  the very wealthy and popular family, the Welton’s, who bought it from a museum in Las Vegas. You might be wondering what happened to Max’s family. They were happy that Max died doing something that he loved, but they were still mourning the death of a loved one. It had been two months since John Welton, the man who bought the paw, had it. John was waiting for the perfect time to make a wish, but little did he know that time would come oh too soon. The first wish John made was to be the happiest man alive. What John didn’t know was that, if he wished to be the happiest man alive, someone he loved would never be happy again. After he saw the consequences of his wish, he used his second wish to undo the first one. John sent the paw to a military base, because he thought they could use it for good. The person who received the paw was General Lance Patton, the first wish he made was to win the war the U.S was fighting against Germany. Lance didn’t know that his wish would kill everyone on his team for them to win. After Lance undid his first wish with his second, he gave the paw to Sergeant-Major Morris. Note that no one has used the second wish for anything other than to undo their first wish. Morris used his first wish to give everyone he cared about unlimited happiness. He never regretted his first wish, even though it would mean he could never be happy. His second wish was to end world hunger, he soon had to use his last wish to undo the second wish, seeing as if he kept the second wish, he would die of hunger in one week. After he made his last wish he went to visit his old friend's family, the White’s. When Morris was done telling his old friend about the paw he tried throwing it into a raging fire, but his friend fished it out. After the family used their last wish, the father Mr.White put the paw back into a cave with a note that read “Dear whoever is unlucky enough to find this paw, please don’t take it out of the cave. It is very dangerous, whoever holds the paw gets three wishes, but there are consequences. I have used my wishes before and they were not worth the consequences. Please, if you do use the paw, make simple wishes that won’t have a bad outcome. There are only two rules that I know of: you can’t wish for more wishes and you can’t wish to kill anyone. Signed the last holder of the paw.” After he signed it, he made a pedestal for the paw in the middle of a cave, and left traps everywhere. He blocked the cave with the biggest boulder he could find, and prayed he would never see the paw again. A couple years later, an explorer found the cave and the paw. He decided not to take it after seeing the warning. After he came a man named Wilbert Sienze found the paw and didn’t take the warning seriously. After he died trying to escape the cave, the cycle started all over again. This is the story of The Monkey’s Paw. Thank You.