The Ladies' Room Read Online Free PDF

savings account in
this bank"
    He smiled. "That is wonderful. Just wonderful. I've prepared a list of Gert's assets just like she told me to do"
    I wondered why he'd be so eager to keep Aunt Gert's miserly
amounts of money in his bank. She'd barely made it on her
Social Security income. Worn secondhand clothes and jewelry. Used coupons at the grocery store. Wouldn't even put in a
window unit for air-conditioning.

    "I'm not here to move anything," I assured him.
    The papers he shoved across the desk were inside a manila
folder. I opened it carefully, expecting to find a hundred dollars in her checking account and half that in savings. What I
saw almost stopped my heart. What I'd brought from the other
bank was a mere drop in the ocean compared to the figures
before me.
    "As you can see, your Aunt Gertrude was a very wealthy
woman. Her folks had money, invested well, and left it all to
her. She and her lawyer came in here a few months ago with
instructions that I was to hand you this report after she passed
and the will was read," he said.
    I was in total shock. I pinched my leg. It hurt like the devil,
so I wasn't dreaming.
    "The interest off the money should provide a healthy monthly
income. Will you be selling the house on Broadway Street?"
    I was surprised I could even utter a sensible word. "No, I'm
moving into it tonight."
    "Good. I'm sure that would make her very happy. She
hoped that you might ... let's see if I can remember her exact
words ... come to your senses and face what was right in
front of your eyes and do something about it-though I'm not
sure what she was talking about."
    "I am"
    "Good. Then I've passed on a message from her. You'll be
drawing on the money to repair the old place?"
    "Yes, I will. And thank you for your help today. You'll take
care of these two deposits?"
    "Yes, I surely will. I'll take care of them personally. How
do you want to handle this?"
    "I can write checks on Aunt Gert's account starting right
now?"
    "Trudy, you could have written checks on her accounts six
months ago, when she found out about the cancer. Everything
was taken care of then"

    "Then put them both into a savings account"
    He pulled paperwork from a drawer in his desk and showed
me where to sign. Then he took the checks to a teller window
and deposited them into the new account. He brought back a
deposit slip and handed it to me along with his business card.
"Thank you again for keeping your business here. We will do
anything we can to be of assistance to you. Feel free to call
anytime"
    I nodded toward the folder as I stood up. "Thank you. I can
take this with me?"
    "Yes, ma'am. Gert came in here on the first day of every
month for a folder like that. You'll probably find them all
stashed somewhere in her house, filed neatly and labeled by
the year. She was a stickler for keeping good records."
    I shook his hand. "That sounds like Aunt Gert. Thanks
again."
    I must have sat there sweltering in the broiling heat with
the car windows rolled up for ten minutes before I turned the
key to start the engine as well as the air conditioner. I actually
shivered when the icy cold air rushed over all the sweat on my
arms and face.
    It was only five minutes from the bank to Aunt Gert's house
on Broadway Street. Her parents had built the two-story house
somewhere around 1910, right after statehood, and back then
it was one of the more prosperous homes in the area. But in
the sixties things started falling apart, and she ignored them.
For fifty years very little maintenance had been done on the
place, and it showed.
    I parked in the gravel driveway and stared blankly at my
new home. For a minute I almost wished the helicopter bearing those boys in the white jackets would appear on Gert's
overgrown lawn. A padded cell, whether in a state-run facility
or a private one, was looking better by the minute. I left all the
paperwork I'd been given that day lying on the car seat and
opened the