The Ladies' Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

framed
her delicate face. Neither cellulite nor gravity had attacked her
body, and every inch looked firm and taut. Did she iron shirts
and make two meals a day? She'd better learn if she didn't,
because Drew Williams didn't pay for a maid or a cook.
    "And what can I do for you today?" she asked when I
reached her.

    "Would you please check the total amount in my family's
savings account?" I was proud of myself for not grabbing a
handful of that blond hair and jerking her through the opening
in the teller station. It wouldn't be difficult to send her sailing
through the plate-glass front window like a giant Frisbee.
    "Your account number, please."
    I told her, and she poked a few buttons, then sucked air for
a few seconds before she looked up at me again.
    "Mrs. Drew Williams? Do you have identification?"
    I flipped open my wallet and presented my bank card. "Right
here. How much is in that account?"
    "Fifty thousand, four dollars, and twelve cents," she said.
    "I'll be withdrawing all but the twelve cents right now"
    "But, but ... oh, dear. I'll have to make a phone call." She
reached for the phone.
    I slapped my hand onto hers and looked her right in the eye.
"I want a cashier's check for fifty thousand, four dollars. And
then you'll see what's in my joint checking account. I want to
withdraw all of it except thirteen cents. Do you understand
me, Charity?"
    "I think you'd better talk to the bank president. I can't authorize such a large withdrawal."
    I yelled at the teller all the way at the other end of the row.
"Hey, Mindy, go get Horace, and bring him up here. I want to
take money out of my accounts, and Charity can't take care of
my business."
    Mindy nodded toward Charity. "Give her what she wants.
That's Trudy Williams. She and her husband are among our
best customers."
    Charity gasped as if she'd been tossed over the side of the
Washita River bridge in nothing but her sexy little thong underpants and concrete shoes. It was ten minutes before two,
and all bank business was concluded promptly at two o'clock.
I'd made sure that my transactions would go into that day's
business and she couldn't call Drew to warn him until the deed
was already done.
    "Mindy, tell her to hurry up. I want these transactions done
before the two o'clock business goes in," I said.

    "Get a move on it, Charity," she said.
    Charity handed me two checks just as the clock ticked off
the two o'clock deadline.
    "Thank you for your help. Now you can call Drew on his
cell. Tell him he's a lucky man. I only wiped out what I could.
The two bits I left are for you. Seems fittin', don't it?"
    The ringtone on my cell phone let me know Drew was calling when I crawled into the car. Miss Two-bit Charity hadn't
wasted much time. The cat was out of the bag now, and there
was no turning back. If I regretted my hasty decision in ten
years and found myself living in a tar-paper shanty on the
Washita River, my newly found hot temper would be to blame.
I tossed the phone out the window.
    The bank president at the other bank in Tishomingo met me
in the foyer and ushered me into his office. "Trudy Williams,
I was hoping you'd come here after the funeral."
    He was new in town, and his instant warmth scared the
bejesus out of me. What if Drew had called him with instructions to keep me there until the mental institution could send a
helicopter to take me to a padded cell in Norman?
    He motioned toward one of the leather chairs. "Please have
a seat, Mrs. Williams"
    I didn't want to even think about the name Williams, much
less be called it. "Trudy. My name is Trudy."
    "Thank you. I'm hoping you will want to keep your business here. Gertrude was one of our bank's biggest customers,
but I know you and your husband keep your affairs at the
other bank in town."
    I laid the cashier's checks on his desk. "I'm going to keep
everything right here from now on. I've got a couple of checks,
and I'd like to open a checking account and