DEALING WITH THE HEAT... & more (Part 174g)

DEALING WITH THE HEAT… & more (Part 174g)

By the time I got both the ledger and signature cards there were customers at Joanie’s desk so, reluctantly, had to put the thoughts of my good fortune aside. I tried to get back to doing the research but by the time the noon siren was blowing I hadn't accomplished that much more. But, by then I had some other thoughts to contend with. I’d not call Junior about the neighbor women and Elle was holding on the phone for me. I got Joanie to come over to my desk and told her to tell Elle I’d call her when I got back from lunch, trusting that she’d put it in a way that didn’t make me seem like I was ‘ducking’ her… which I was. The other thoughts were more concerns than thoughts. First, should I tell my father about the two accounts that had been discovered and the second was should I tell Elle. Decisions… decisions… decisions…

I was holding for Junior to pick up the phone on his end when Lynda walked in. It was a rare treat to see her in the bank and I had a feeling it was important. Joanie was at lunch so I waved her on through the gate and pointed to the side chair beside my desk. She ignored that but came up to me and whispered that the stock sale had been delayed. I acknowledged it and she turned and walked back out. There was one thing that made her visit stand out and that was it was clearly obvious she wasn’t wearing a slip. As she made the turn for the front door I had a perfect silhouette of her lower half. That got my attention, for sure. I had to wait way longer than I’d wanted to talk with Junior and when I explained the situation I felt a bit embarrassed. He explained the absence as “family foolishness” and I could hear the tone of his voice change as he spoke those words. It was sort of a negative tone but I didn’t feel it was towards me. He went on that it should be all “sorted out” in a day or two. I told him I’d checked the house and all seemed OK. He closed by saying that he hoped to be out for the weekend. My next call was to Elle to get her ‘off my back’. She wanted to talk about it but I told her I was busy and hung up on her even knowing I’d pay for it later.

The news of the postponement on the stock purchase was greeted by me with mixed emotions. I’d not been all that excited about it to begin with and in making the decision to go with it I’d committed to selling a stock I liked but hadn’t performed all that well. This would give me time to sort it all out. I’d also not been to lunch and had missed my normal time. Bret was still out and Trish was due to go as soon as he returned. With lobby traffic still slow because of the heat I told her I was going to take a break and head for the Board room for a few minutes. I had all the materials that Liz had given me along with a pad hoping I’d be able to get an idea of exactly what it was that I had. Not to belabor the point I found the account(s) had been opened right after our births with a $100 deposit. It appeared that a short time after each of our birthdays another $100 was deposited. In my case the last deposit was made right after my 20th birthday. In the account for my brother the deposit was made in the same year but at that time he would’ve been 17 years old. Then, after that, it appeared the only activity was to have the earned interest posted in the passbooks at the end of each year. Looking at the ledger cards it showed the last activity to have been in December 1958, hence the accounts showing up as abandoned as of January 1, 1969. Liz had told me the bank had an additional six months to make contact with the depositors by running an advertisement in the local paper. If that didn’t generate anything the money would be sent to the state… and that’s where the bank was when Liz spoke to me.

Not wanting to get too excited about my ‘windfall’, I sat there trying to decide the course of action I should take. I knew enough about the banking law to know the money was legally mine if I could prove the owner of the account was, indeed, my grandmother. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced I’d have to go to my father and get him to sign documents attesting to it. I still can’t come up with the reason for my trepidation. It didn’t end there as I still had to figure what to do about telling Elle.

Because my brother was a part of the discovery I finally decided to let my father know about the accounts. I called after we’d let the employees go which was about 4pm. Before I could even get to the point of the call he told me the heat wave would be coming to an end, probably before morning. That was definitely good news! When I told him of the accounts and how they’d been set up I could hear him chuckle. I asked what was funny. He declined to answer saying that it just sounded like something his mother would do and said he’d get the paperwork necessary to release the money to my brother and I. Hearing that I decided to just let the subject go and if circumstances allowed, pursue it then. That left me only the decision of whether to tell Elle or not. I didn’t make up my mind until I pulled up the driveway.

It was pretty much the same scene as the day before with the sprinkler going in the back yard and Elle on the chaise. As soon as Elle saw my car she popped up from her lounging position and was by my car door before I could get the key from the ignition switch. Her reason was to hear about what Junior had to say about his sister and wife and their reason for leaving without saying anything. She wasn’t mad like I’d expected but seemed sincere in her interest. I told her the same word that Junior had given to me… that it was “family business”. When I told her that Junior planned to come out to the house on the weekend I could see her relax a bit as she let me get out of the car.

My one weekly duty with the race car had become changing the rod bearings in the motor. I’d worked out a way to do it by myself and actually liked it better that way. While eating supper I allowed myself to wander from the family to the race car. It came to me that as long as the other crew members were working on various components of the car I’d be unable to do what I had to do. When the guys left the previous night it was agreed we’d show up on Wednesday when Cliffy had assembled all the replacement parts. It made sense to me that if I went that night I’d have the shop to myself and decided that I’d go... even with the heat. When I told Elle… that’s when she got mad... and I decided not to tell her about the money.

When I arrived at the garage it was locked, as expected. Cliffy’s parents lived in the house right next door to the shop so I headed there to see if I could get in. I’d known the man since I was eight years old and, as a close friend of Cliffy, had spent quite a few nights with the family… so he gave me the keys. I opened both the large front and rear doors hoping for a little breeze and then started in. I’d gotten the job down to taking under two hours. To give myself a challenge I tried to beat the previous best time. On this night I barely beat it and was putting the tools away when I felt a gush of wind blow from the back of the shop to the front. By the time I got everything in order I could hear thunder coming from the back (North) side of the building. I was going to have to close the door anyway so headed in that direction. Just as I arrived I saw one of the biggest flashes of lightning I'd seen in my life followed almost immediately by an explosion of thunder. Even as a young boy, lightning and thunder never bothered me but I have to admit… this time was different. Knowing Elle’s history with thunder storms I got both doors down, locked the door and headed home not knowing what I’d find when I got there.

To be continued…