Laura's Big Win (5 page)

“Probably my sister’s, but I can’t even
call her with the phones out. Look, you say we have until 4 PM?
That’s it, no chance for an extension?”

“No extensions. Sorry to say, but the
court warned you several times before taking this action. Looks
like maybe your husband kept you in the dark on purpose. It’s just
that..... I’ve been doing this quite a few years and I’m a pretty
good judge of character; you don’t seem like the type to do
something like this and lie about it. That sort of leaves him,
doesn’t it? Do you have any resources at all, cash? I’m supposed to
preserve all assets, but between you and me, if you got it, hide it
so I can’t see it. Remember, 4 PM. I’ll be back before then. And,
don’t do anything to damage the property; that will only make
things worse; okay?”

“Yes, okay. Thank you; I know you have
a job to do, and I truly did not know about any of this. I’m sorry
for causing a problem.”

“Not you lady, I don’t think you caused
it; but your husband is probably going to get some time over this
if it’s bad enough. Anyway, I’ll be back....by 4.”

With that the officer left, leaving
Laura Nessing with a huge problem, and no answer. Her sister was
the best option if this really had to happen, and it looked like it
was a real enough problem. Nancy was geographically closer than
their parents, and with two kids of her own might even welcome an
extra pair of hands for the few days it would take to resolve this
mess. Why hadn’t Richard let her know? And with that question in
mind, Laura Nessing came to a conclusion she had been avoiding for
a long time: Richard didn’t care; it was that simple. They were
just pawns in his game, expendable at best. It occurred to her also
that she had not seen any of the bills of late, which the post
office box would explain; when she asked Richard about the absence,
he just said they were probably late and she shouldn’t worry about
it so much. But the more immediate problem was money so they could
travel. Laura had always been somewhat saving by nature, put a
little back for the rainy day sort of person, call it mad money or
pin money, and today was surely a rainy day the way things were
turning out. She put a favorite video on for the kids to watch,
mostly to avoid their questions about why the officer had been
there, although it was against her principles to use TV as a
babysitter. She needed a few minutes to get her head straight, and
the video would buy that time. It did occur to her the power could
also be turned off, but she hoped that wouldn’t be the case, at
least for a while.

Heading back into her bedroom, Laura
reached far back into the closet and found a small envelope she had
stored there several years ago and added to the contents now and
then. Counting the cash, it was several hundred dollars, enough to
get them to her sisters she hoped. She was also owed a little money
by a couple of clients; maybe there was some way to collect that
without going through the bank. If this thing was really happening,
she realized anything she deposited in the bank would simply fall
into the debt pit for now, and she had no idea how deep the pit
was, or if it was growing. What to do first. She had always prided
herself on keeping fit, and one of the things she enjoyed was
riding her bike, even with the kids loaded up, one in the carrier
and one in the trailer. It looked like that was their option for
now, since apparently the van would not be coming back. Having
resolved that issue, Laura spent some time considering what to take
along for the trip, realizing that what they didn’t take they might
not ever see again but knowing she could only handle so much
carry-on. By then the video was over and she told the kids they
would be going for a bike ride, and maybe the park. That suited
them just fine on a warm summer day, and off they went.

The ride was somewhat fruitful,
although the two customers she did manage to contact were a little
puzzled as to why she suddenly needed their accounts paid, and in
cash. She assured them it was just a minor cash flow problem she
had to deal with, that everything would be fine. Back home again
she realized her remaining hours were down to four, and she needed
to tell the kids at least a little basic something about what was
going on.

Calling them into the kitchen for a
snack, Laura tried to explain to them that they had to go on a trip
because there was a problem with the house. “I’m not sure what is
going to happen; maybe your dad can take care of things when he
comes back in a couple of days. In the meantime, we have to move
out of the house. I need to tell you that I don’t have much money,
and we don’t have much time. So, here’s what we’re going to do.
We’re going to visit your aunt Nancy for a few days until all this
is settled, so pick out a couple of things you want to take along.
I have a little room in the duffle bag beside our clothes, but
remember I have to be able to carry it, at least a little ways. I’m
sorry all this has happened on a day we should be out having fun,
but I’m sure it will all be worked out in good time. So, find a
couple of things and let’s get ready to go.”

That went well, she thought, until Jack
asked: “Where’s dad; did you call him to come get us? I don’t
understand.”

“Jack, it’s okay if you don’t
understand; I don’t really know what’s going on either. But to
answer your question, no, I haven’t talked to your dad. The house
phone is out of service and so in my cell phone, so I can’t call
him. But that means his cell phone is also out of service, and as
much as he uses it, I’m sure he knows there’s a
problem.”

“Then why doesn’t he come,
mom?”

“Jack, I’m sorry. I just don’t know
that answer. But, I do know the policeman has a job to do and I
don’t have any choice right now. The best thing I can think of is
to go visit your aunt Nancy until I can get control of this
problem, whatever it is. It’s going to be a long bus ride; I don’t
have enough money for us to fly, and we can’t get there by train
even if I did have enough money, so I have to ask you kids to be
good and make the most of this for right now. She’ll help us out
for a few days, and by then maybe gramps and grannie will be back
home and we can visit there if we have to. You know they’re out
sailing around on the ocean right now, so I can’t talk to them
either, and I can’t afford the fare to go that far. But, look, this
will all work out; things are just a little disorganized right now.
Okay?”

“Okay mom. I’ll watch Mandy for
you.”

“Thanks, I knew I could count on you.
You hear that Amanda? Jack has my permission to watch over you so
we’re all safe. Okay?”

“Yep mom. I’ll get my dolly and some of
her clothes for the ride. Okay?”

“Yes, okay. I think we better finish up
now. The policeman just came back.”

Laura returned to the front of the
house to let the officer know she was aware he had returned. Again
she tried to engage him in discussing what was wrong with
everything in the Nessing household and why they were being
essentially evicted from their home. “I thought people who filed
bankruptcy, like you say my husband did, at least got to have a
place to live. Why do we have to leave? I don’t understand why I
have to travel a day in a bus with my kids after doing nothing
wrong. Can you explain that?”

“Look lady, Mrs. Nessing, believe it or
not, I feel rather badly about all this. I mean, it’s not much fun
evicting people anyway, even if some of them deserve it. You don’t
seem like that type at all, so I’m sorry about that, but I’ve got
my orders. I did do a little inquiring around since you truly seem
to have no idea what is taking place here; you’re either a really
great actress or I just can’t read you. Anyway, I asked a few
questions. Seems your husband had re-mortgaged the house, took all
the equity out, so he agreed to let it go back to the bank sixty
days ago; they’ve been waiting for you to move out, not knowing you
had no idea. That’s how the eviction process got started. The other
thing is, and this is just what I heard as kind of a rumor, your
husband hasn’t paid bills for months in some cases, and he stopped
making payments on your van; that’s why the tow truck was here
after it. Whatever assets you may have had in a bank were seized
today. So, that’s about it. Now, you need to vacate this house, by
4 PM. Have you decided where you’re going?”

“Yes, to my sisters, but it’s a full
day bus ride with two little kids. I don’t even know how I’m going
to get to the bus station.”

“I think I can help with that, seeing
as how you were blindsided by all this.. It isn’t something I’d
normally do, but I guess one exception won’t hurt my record. Are
you about ready?”

“Yes. Kids, come on; we have to go now.
This nice officer has agreed to let us ride in his patrol car to
the bus station; won’t that be fun!” Laura said, hoping the patrol
car ride would help ease some of their trepidation at these strange
events.

And so, they left their home in the
back of a patrol car, with few belongings, but at least with a
destination in front of them. The kids, and to some degree their
mother, looked forward to the visit; it would add stability for a
few days until Laura could get her feet back on the ground. The bus
was late arriving, but not too bad, and at last they were on their
way to Aunt Nancy’s place. The kids were amused by looking out the
window at the passing scenery for a while but the overtaking
darkness took care of that. It was not a particularly crowded
coach, so they were able to spread out a little, but they had to
change to the express bus after two hours and that had less spare
room. Laura ended up with Jack beside her and Amanda on her lap
most of the time, finally getting some sleep herself in the late
hours of the night. Things could be worse, she thought; at least
she had a little money left after paying for the bus tickets,
enough anyway to buy some snacks at the rest stops. The kids slept
into the next morning light for a few hours, awakening when they
were down to about eight hours left of the road trip. Playing
travel games helped, and Laura had the foresight to bring along a
couple of books both the kids enjoyed listening to.

Late that afternoon, nearly 24 hours
since the outset, Laura, Jack, and Amanda arrived at the bus
station in Conyerville, Nancy’s current home town. Laura carded the
payphone and looked forward to hearing a friendly voice for a
change. After several rings, a familiar voice, but certainly not
Nancy’s, answered bruskly.

“Yeah? Who is it?” came the voice of
Nancy’s husband Leonard, or Lenny as he preferred to be
called.

“Oh, hi Lenny. It’s Laura. How are
things going?” Lenny had never been exactly a favorite friend of
Laura’s, but she was always careful to not show her dislike for the
man. After all, he was her sister’s husband.

“Not bad, considering. You know I lost
my job when the factory shut down; haven’t had much work since.
Things are pretty tight right now. I suppose you wanna talk to your
sister?”

“Sure do. Is she around somewhere
close?”

“No; she and her girl friend drove over
to the metro-mall this morning. Don’t know why; we ain’ got any
cash to spare. Anyway, she won’t be back until really late tonight,
probably after midnight. You could call her then. We gave up our
cell’s to save money.”

“Lenny, I have sort of an emergency. My
kids and I are here in Conyerville at the bus station and we need a
place to stay for a couple of days. I was sort of counting on Nancy
to help us out a bit. Can you put us up until she gets
back?”

“Well…..uh…..look: we just don’t have
anything to spare right now and I don’t think we can do that. Tell
you what, grab a room for the night and call her in the morning.
Okay? See ya then kid. Bye.”

Silence, deafening silence. Laura was
stunned by this sudden and unfortunate turn of events. All her
hopes had assumed Nancy would be there for her, and instead of
Nancy, Laura got her lout of a husband, Lenny, who had frozen her
out in a heartbeat. Laura wondered if it had more to do with her
family being seen as better off than Nancy’s, or was he just being
an ass of some sort. Regardless, they needed a place to stay for
the night, and with money in very short supply at this point,
charity was becoming the answer. Screwing up her courage, she
approached the part time ticket agent, a pimply faced youth of
generally unkempt appearance, but her sole source of information at
this point.

“Hi. Can you help me with
something?”

“Yeah, what?” the youth responded as
though he had been busy doing anything at all.

“We seem to need someplace to stay for
the night, and I don’t have any money. Is there a Y here, or
someone from whom I might get help?”

“No,…wait a minute. There’s some place
for homeless people over on second avenue, old hotel that’s been
converted. Isn’t much of a place, but then I guess you can’t be too
choosy can you…..unless maybe we can work out something else.” The
kid leered at her in what he probably believed was a suggestive
manner, but which only showed his lack of dental
hygiene.

“Fine, thank you. That should be good
for now.” Laura responded, and thought about adding ‘I’d rather
sleep with a dog than you’ but restrained herself as the lady she
was. “Come on kids; we have a walk to take; it’s not very far.”
Laura lugged the heavy duffle bag along, thankful that she at least
knew Conyerville enough to know where they were going.