|
THE LOAN
"Here's my appraisal," Rollie raised his eyes and plopped it
on Ellen Sue's desk. He was a heavy set man who moved like a high
school football player, even in his fifties. His ruddy cheeks and
blond eyebrows framed the blue twinkle of conniving cunning eyes.
"The location is all we can pump this one up on, those old
Stuckey's were one trick ponies. If you are sure that the highway
commission will give her the I-Road sign, they might have some
business. They put in diesel pumps the other side of the clover
leaf and maybe a few road warriors might drop in. I can see why
the Stuckey's went down, a bit out of the way for a salted nut
roll, if you ask me. I just did the property, you have to package
it up for the hot food gear and the booths. $750,000, just what
you thought. Any more assignments?"
"I got a twenty unit townhouse apartment next week, maybe. Just a
regular old chicken coop, Barger wants to add it to his
portfolio, needs a roof and siding, about thirty years old, had
new carpet...uh, lets see....call you next week, OK?"
"Sounds fine to me, see you next week Ellen Sue."
She wasn't that big on opening new restaurants. Sure she had
done a Subway, a Bob Evans, but those were chain franchises. The
Texans, the barbeque stand, Ellen Sue was up in the air. Sure the
diesel-stop was there, but they sold greasy spoon already, then
again the road warriors were from all over an could want a taste
of back home. With a forklift shop on one side and a tire dealer
on the other, there might be some lunch activity. The deal took
in a field behind the old Stuckey's so the renovation would let
them park there, but only ten rigs. Another half dozen could park
on the frontage. Ellen Sue had to decide. $1.5M. that was
investment banking in Ellen Sue's ballpark. She dreamed of
rubbing elbows with the Melons and the Salomons and the rest, in
her forties her career could have a chance at that! Ellen Sue had
been "sleeping on" this one for a long time. As she sat in her
office looking out at the tellers, she decided. "They won't be
calling me Ellen Sue-Super-Teller' from now on!", she said to herself.
When she got home she found her little black pitbull Spunky was
playful as could be. He ran in circles feeling the excitement
exuding for Ellen Sue, Spunky licked her face in joy as Ellen Sue
hugged him, excited by the big deal. He went on a "bully run"
about her living room and kitchen, and begged to get out in the
yard. It was a great day.
The closing went just splendidly. Ellen Sue was at her best
ushering the parties about in her sophisticated matronly yet
warmhearted way. Looking like the reincarnation of Donna Reed, she
always had a huge warm smile on her face,
it was not a large peasant-like partying sort of smile, just
sincere and open, when she laughed she sort of chortled it
politely like an attractive Miss Hathaway from the Beverly
Hillbillies. The Texans were pleased and pleasant and the group
exchanged their dreams, talked about their Lexus 400s and their
old lady's Cadillacs and how good it was to keep a few head
around on the country place. Ellen Sue was so charmed by them she
felt a warm flush all over as she dreamed of awaking someday in
their "maker and shaker" environs. Big Jo even asked Ellen Sue if
she would like to open a place of her own on a limited-partner basis,
she could have the secret barbeque sauce and the same signage.
"Well, I could see doing that, but I got a great position
here VEEPing this bank. How much time would I need to put in to
it?"
"'Bout as much as me," Big Jo laughed. "Right after this
launch, we'll fix you up. You get a commish on your own
...........................................
Months went by after the closing, and the "BIG JO" barbeque
opened on time. Big Jo himself oversaw the remodeling and
promised he would pave the back lot. Ellen Sue saw the food biz
really flourish at the grand opening. Indiana was hot for
barbeque and the guys from the forklift dealer and tire store
were there for lunch without fail on Tuesdays and if there was a
coupon. Ellen Sue heard a rumor that a trucker got to the end of
his run, and had to be treated for food poisoning back in
Louisiana. Ellen Sue herself tried the barbeque and the mild
sauce was still too hot for her taste, she was at heart a chicken
pot pie woman.
Anderson and Anderson rang her office one day, and asked for
the paper work for the "BIG JO" deal, they said it was a
formality with all restaurant deals. Ellen Sue pulled the file
immediately and forwarded it, along with her e-files over the
net.
"They ain't getting a sign," said Rollie as he walked into
Ellen Sues office with another appraisal. "Guys at the truck stop
says the highway commission froze the funds."
...............................................
Ellen Sue went to the restaurant to see how it looked that
afternoon. There were three cars out there in the front lot and
about ten people were sitting in the fifty person dining room.
She scraped her sandy shoes on the floor trying to get the mud
from the front entrance off her shoes.
"I hope your going to vacuum up my truck," said a little wiry
man in a cowboy hat. "Why don't you pave that lot anyway?
This barbeque is a little greasy, you expect me to pay for
this?"
Ellen Sue called Big Jo's office in Galveston. His secretary
was working a bit late and said he was out on the gulf in his new
boat. The secretary mentioned that the lot was being paved soon
as Big Jo got his construction crew back from a job, and that the
payment on the loan was in the mail.
When she finally got back to Spunky, who she totally forgot,
the smell of his excrement filled her nostrils. He had the
diarrhea real bad and had knocked down the kitchen barrier and
done his job all over the livingroom. Ellen Sue was dismayed by
the restaurant operation, and now this. Her cordial hostess
manner flew right out the window and she grabbed an old newspaper
to reprimand Spunky for what he had done, and as she whapped him
on the head he cowered. The second whapping, he uncoiled and
buried his teeth in a vise like grip in her wrist, bit her to the
bone. With only a forty pound dog attached to her wrist Ellen Sue
found it impossible to reach the phone as Spunky tugged and shook
his head.
The breeder said his dogs never attacked anyone, but he took
the dogs with in the truck wherever he went and they obeyed the
slightest finger snap. Ellen Sue had made the mistake of treating
Spunky like a French Poodle, and always hugged him like a Pooh
Bear. Now Spunky had tasted blood, her friend and guardian had
turned into a vicious animal. Ellen Sue had betrayed the most
emotional of all dogs, the pit bull. Spunky's grip did not loosen
and his instinct to munch and hold had his teeth moving up her
arm. Ellen Sue needed to make ten steps to the commode in the
living room through the huge mess on the carpet and get her
revolver. She got there after loosing a lot of blood and in
terrific pain. She grabbed the gun and fired, but as Spunky shook
she shot her own arm above the wrist. What incredible pain, the
noise of the first shot resounded in her ears. She pinned Spunky,
still attached to her arm, against the wall, held the muzzle to
his skull and pulled the trigger.
Ellen Sue laid in a pool of blood when the next door neighbors
arrived. They heard the two shots and ran in as fast as they
could. The man and woman had enough sense to stop the bleeding
with direct pressure, although she was unconscious. The Emergency
Medical van was at the scene in minutes and rushed her
successfully to ICU who hooked her up. The surgery to the arm
took six hours and the scars would be permanent.
Two weeks later Ellen Sue was still conducting the majority of
the banks business from home. The day she had the first bandages
off was an extreme shock for her. The lines Spunky's teeth made
in her arm were a half inch across and turning blue with healing.
Her warm hostess nature as the bank VEEP seemed so foreign to her
now as she sat in her living room. She stared at the commode
across the room. Big Jo had already asked for another loan to
keep the restaurant open, and talked about opening a fishing
charter in Galveston. He asked her down for a visit and tried to
cheer her up, having heard of the dog attack. Ellen Sue faintly
recalled the day they went to close the "BIG JO" deal and how she
was ascending the ladder of success, and would some day soon be
asked to partner with Melons and such in IMF
loans. She really had her dreams.
Now she hurt badly inside recalling the half heard comments of
the tellers at the bank, she was a beautiful woman in her day,
but now with the scarring her thin attractive graceful arms would
always need to be covered, she did not feel like the gracious
hostess. She stared at the commode in her living room a long
time, how could she return? Almost in a dream she went to the
commode with the beat of blood in her temples, opened the door
and picked up the revolver. She blew her first big deal and was
now a new person on her way down in life and could not accept her
fate. This Friday afternoon she saw how her career would unroll in
destiny before her eyes and she could not be the person she
wanted to be from now on. It was impossible for Ellen Sue to act
out her part.
As she had muffled the shot with a pillow now one knew what
had happened. Ellen Sue laid on the floor until Monday, when the
bank people developed a concern about not receiving her call. The
office was in utter shock and terror since the "BIG JO"
restaurants were moving into receivership everyone thought that
Ellen Sue was cut into the deal and might disappear with her
share. To find the bank might go under due to her miscalculation
did not dull the blow any. Ellen Sue's replacement had a real
mess to clean up, not finding any cash or pass books at the
house, the real shock was that this all was the result of an
honest mistake.
Short Stories
|