by Gina Kincade
‘Who can say where their road goes?’
By mid-July the Thursday night Red Bulls for the road were no longer precautionary, they were necessary. She was doing better judging by her lines and cash outs, but by the third night, she was dead. With the improvement came more confidence and with confidence she had begun to venture out onto the floor.
The first tip base pay check was little more than a piece of paper, as the tip base basically went to cover the taxes on the tips. She hadn’t seen that coming. She needed to re-evaluate what she did with her nightly cash outs as it would be no time before the tip base check wouldn’t cover the taxes and she’d owe money to the house. She could not afford to get upside down in her earnings.
The third week of July, her fourth Thursday on stage, Rae Rose was back. After the second show the little woman brought up the end of her line again, her eyes twinkling as she walked up when it was her turn.
“Whatever you’re doing sweetness, keep doing it. You look great!”
Once again they took a picture, but this time Maggie snagged her before she walked away and smothered her in a giant hug.
“Thank you so much Rae. You made all the difference.”
The little woman giggled and fussed at her dress.
“Don’t you thank me none darlin’. I had my time as queen. It’s somebody else’s time to shine. Can’t really hand that kind of thing off, somebody’s gotta step up, earn it, and hold onto it. I’d say it’s yours if you want it. Go get it beautiful.”
Maggie gushed. She would have kept her talking but there were more in her line suddenly and she shouldn’t make them wait too long. Sadly, she let Rae Rose walk away hopeful she’d return again.
The exhaustion had every joint screaming for heat and sleep twenty minutes from home in spite of the Red Bull. The high from seeing Rae had her staying a little longer, hoping to catch another few moments with the woman in the casino. She didn’t see her at all and the cash out line was longer when she finally went to go. It had all added up to departing over an hour later than normal. Her body’s answer to the scenario was not timid, it was rebellion.
She made it home, still rebuking herself as she walked in. She was going to go straight up but doubled back and grabbed the mail. She could just as easily grab it with Friday’s additions later in the day, but for some reason she had to grab it.
A large manila envelope was stuffed in the box with several pieces of junk and the water bill. Seeing the return, she cursed herself for not waiting until daytime knowing she would not be able to sleep now without opening it. The envelope was from the attorney.
Maggie changed into some cotton shorts and an old t-shirt. She washed her face with cool water in an effort to be more alert than she felt before opening the missive. She chugged a glass of cold water, grabbed the envelope, and flopped on the sectional.
She had noticed the machine blinking furiously, likely with multiple messages from Joseph if he was aware of the envelope. If not Joseph it was Jade or Thorne. No one else called usually. Jade would be calling to beg again which night she and the girls could come to the show. Thorne would be calling to try to once again reschedule the dinner they had been rescheduling on each other for three weeks and counting. Since starting on stage, their schedules seemed to be exact opposites. It had been a good thing, and not, in different ways. They would need to get together soon or he was likely to show up and wait as he had once before. Maggie knew she could hold her ground now, no matter what he did or said. She still didn’t want to tempt the repeat.
She stared at the envelope and took several deep breaths before she broke the seal on the flap. She skipped the form letter of pleasantries at the top. As she skimmed the pages she found a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo that she didn’t understand. Following the jumbled Webster’s on paper, she came to the official results of the investigation and a summary of the deposition accounts. She set them aside.
The last group of paper started with a summary of the settlement. Maggie needed to back up. She had not agreed to a settlement.
Snaring the first page, she made herself read through the ‘we tried to reach you by phone’ and ‘hope this letter finds you well’ parts to get to the entre. Buried three paragraphs into the letter she found it.
The railroad company (defendant) accepts culpability for the accident to the extent that the failure of the cross arm coming down did not warn or impede the vehicle operated by Jane Ann Donald. Records reveal the problem was predicted but not addressed timely. The situation was however further mitigated by blowing snow, an act of God, which prevented Ms. Donald from acting on her own behalf to avoid the engine that stuck her vehicle.
The defendant cannot be held liable for the influence of natural events. In light of these circumstances, which have been corroborated by multiple witness accounts (see attached item 5D); the railroad is offering to settle out of court for $3,200,000.00.
Miss Donald we need to speak with you regarding this matter no later than Friday the nineteenth at three o’clock pm central time or the offer will expire, becoming null and void.
Maggie set the paper down. She picked it back up and looked at the number. She set the paper back down. Ho.ly. crap on a cracker.
Maggie hit the wall fast and blind. If it was shock or exhaustion was anyone’s guess. She was dead to the world, sprawled on the sectional, drooling on the envelope until well after the knock had become and insistent pounding sometime mid-morning Friday.
‘Who can it be now?’
Joseph stormed in before she had the door fully open.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Maggie was still tired and in no mood for his questions.
“Working.”
He looked at the answering machine scowling.
“I guess we can’t expect you to return calls if you don’t listen to the messages.”
Maggie was done. It normally took longer, but not this time.
“You know what Joseph? You can stop right there. I work until two am, sometimes later trying to NOT tap into the savings account. Last night was my Friday so you can cut me some slack and stop yelling, or turn around and get the hell out.” She was pointing to the door when she finished.
Joseph was scowling at her cussing and yelling back, but stopped himself from launching into a new diatribe. He ran his hand over his face several times and blew out a hard exhale. He noticed the attorney envelope contents scattered on the living area floor, pointing at it when he began again, strained, but calmer and quieter.
“I see you got it.”
Maggie sighed and moved to make coffee.
“Yeah. I got it...at three-thirty this morning.”
His eyes flew open.
“Three thirty? What the...” he reigned himself in “never mind, we’ll get back to that. This has to be dealt with today by three o’clock.”
Maggie looked at the clock on the microwave, it was nine-thirty, entirely too early for rational thought after a work night. She looked back at Joseph who was reassembling the packet.
“Can you give me a few minutes? I was still asleep.”
She nearly giggled thinking it served him right when he grabbed the drool-damp envelope muttering, “Yeah, I can do that.”
Maggie took a quick shower and slipped on jeans and a pull-over, re-emerging ten minutes later. Joseph had poured two cups of coffee and was inspecting the leather wall with one in hand, pointing with the other when she came out.
“This is interesting.”
Not wanting to entertain the inquisition she headed for the cup of coffee and just said ‘Thanks.’. She fished a bowl of cut fruit from the refrigerator holding it up to offer some before reaching for a spoon when he declined. He launched as soon as she took a bite, short answer inquisition away.
“Did you get to read the packet?”
“Yes and no.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning some yes, and some I didn’t understand enough to get far.”
“Did you read the top letter?”
Maggie glared.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And what Joseph? They are at fault but so is God so they want to settle? What kind of crap line is that?”
Joseph wanted to laugh but didn’t.
“Something like that and a lot of crap, but what it is.”
“Yeah. I read that part.” She answered the original question.
“And?”
It was too early for this. Maggie waved her spoon in the air.
“And what?”
Joseph set his coffee down, scratched his ear and sighed.
“What do you want to do Maggie?”
She looked at him with one eye closed and her head in her hand.
“I have no idea how to decide that.”
At some point he figured out she really had not gotten through everything. He asked the key points quick, ripping the band aid off to find out where they were at. There was little time for a long learning curve. Time was already almost up.
“Did you read the part about similar cases?”
“No.”
“Did you read the part about after the attorney fees?”
“No.”
“Did you read the attorney recommendations?”
“No.” she was obviously getting frustrated.
“Do you want the quick and dirty?”
Maggie folded a bit, rolled her eyes and hung her head.
“Yes please. I got it at three-thirty this morning and read some before I passed out exhausted, which I still was when you nearly beat my door down.”
Joseph took a deep breath and downed the coffee before he began.
“Basically the packet says this; the railroad is responsible because the equipment failed and they knew ahead of time that it possibly could but didn’t act timely to prevent the accident. There are other factors, but that part is their liability. There are other cases where this has happened and the amount they have had to pay has been between six hundred fifty thousand and five million in damages. They are offering three point two million which is kind of the middle because of the other circumstances. With me so far?”
Maggie nodded. “Yes. Go on.”
“If you accept the offer, it’s done. You can’t come back for more later, but we don’t have to go to court, it’s done. Understand?”
“Uh huh. And?”
“And, the attorney gets his fees from the top, so this amount after fees would leave about two point five million to you.”
Maggie took a drink of coffee and set the cup down nibbling disinterested at the fruit. The number was huge.
“That makes sense too, so what do we do? How does that help me decide?”
Joseph held up a hand.
“The rest of the papers are all the justifications for the offer. The attorney’s points are this; if you take the offer, it’s reasonable and justified, but depending on the jury, it could be more. It also, depending on the jury, could be less. They are guessing that it would likely be more because of you being without your other parent already. They also think there is a case against the old apartment that had her out in the first place.”
Maggie set her spoon down. “That’s just greedy.”
Joseph nodded. “To you and me, yes it is. That’s the legal system though. The downside is with court, if the decision is higher or lower you are looking at more legal fees. The attorney can and would seek to have the railroad have to pay them, but again that decision would depend on who is deciding the case. You could end up with the same amount, less or more. It’s an unknown.”
Maggie got up and paced the room. There were a few things of her mother’s around, but not much worth anything beyond the memories attached to them. As she paced and debated the truth became plain. She stopped behind the chair she had vacated, resolved. She looked him in the eye and announced her decision without question.
“I want to settle and be done. Even after the attorney gets his cut it’s a lot of money. Any more or less won’t bring her back. Haggling for a little bit more doesn’t do anything but dredge up all the details again and I for one don’t really want to sit through that to get sympathy money. Mama wouldn’t want that. I want to let her memory stand. Can I do just that much for her?”
Joseph was pleased. It was evident on his face before he spoke.
“I personally think that’s wise. Your mother wouldn’t want the circus.”
Maggie refilled their cups before sitting back down.
“I only have two questions.”
Joseph was mid-drink, speaking between swallows with the cup still held to his lips. “Which are?”
“One, what do I need to do today since it has to be today? And two, how long does this all take to be final, payments to be made and we get to move on finally?”
He set his cup down.
“Well, we have to go to the attorney and you sign to accept the settlement today. It gets communicated to the railroad attorney then and they have to present it to the court to accept the settlement and dismiss the pending case. I presume that happens before or on the court date at the latest, so August fifth?”
His thought process made sense even though she heard the question at the end before he continued.
“Once that’s done, I want to say it’s thirty days or something on the payments from what I read. Since they offered the settlement, there is no payment delays like with a court ruling or if we had asked for the settlement.”
Maggie nodded as he spoke.
“Then let’s go sign for one. But, I want the timeline nailed down of what happens when, the final dollar amount, as well as when and how that is paid in writing before we leave today.”
Joseph finished his coffee and stared at her as she finished hers. He was making her nervous.
“What?”
He beamed at her.
“You have become quite the shrewd business minded young woman. I couldn’t help but think that I hardly know you. You surprised me with your attention to the details after seeing everything scattered when I walked in.”
Maggie waived off the praise.
“Somebody told me recently that I can’t let fear or nerves beat me out of what’s mine. I have to step up. If it’s mine and I want it, I have to go get it. This is me stepping up. The scattered papers were me being exhausted.”
Joseph nodded grabbing the two cups heading for the kitchen, talking over his shoulder. “Someone gave you great advice. I’ll give you another piece.”
Maggie turned in her seat to face him.
“Get your shoes. They won’t let you sign barefoot and you’re burning daylight.”
MAGGIE STARED OUT THE open slider into the night. She had signed a billion and one documents all in triplicate at the attorney’s office. A packet with a full set of original signatures had been couriered to the other attorney’s office at two-fifteen, beating the deadline with plenty of time left.
By mutual agreement, the names of the parties, as well as the actual settlement amount would be withheld from all but the required legal documents, thus the news media. Her attorney would try to get an audience with the judge prior to August fifth to get the pending case dismissed. He would file that request Monday morning. As both parties had agreed, there was no reason for further delay and he expected none.
Once the settlement was formally accepted and the case dismissed from the docket, it would be forty-five days or less before they would get paid. The funds would change hands between the attorneys. Her attorney would deduct his fees, some six hundred forty thousand dollars and the balance would be distributed per her instructions. Joseph had been excused when the conversation turned to the distribution of funds as accounts needed to be created and since she was of age, she did not require his signatures.
The lion’s share of the money was going into trust for safe keeping. Multiple other accounts were established for the rest. FDIC account caps made a single account for a non-corporation not an option. P
er her request, five additional trust accounts would be created, funded with one hundred thousand dollars each. Her mother’s siblings would be notified only after it was done. Maggie had lost her mother, but she was not the only one who had suffered the loss. After attorney fees and funding the five accounts, Maggie would net just over two million dollars from the three point two million dollar settlement. It was a figure she still couldn’t completely fathom hours later.
As she stared into the night, she ran the numbers in her head, still not quite believing they were real. With the life insurance money in her savings account still intact, Maggie’s net worth was going to become a whopping two point one million and change in the next forty-five to sixty days depending on the court. A single star twinkled through the city lights out the slider. If only in her mind, mama had just said, ‘Well done my little pili-grim.’.
MAGGIE WAS STILL STARING out the slider as the morning sun broke over the lake miles off in the distance. She had spent the night refining plans and weighing options. She knew she needed to see Thorne and resolve his lingering question. She had a question of her own to ask now too. She was finally ready to take the next step.
Somewhere in the night Maggie decided too to let go of her job at Wenstry’s. It was time. For now, she’d keep the casino, but that would likely end once the settlement paid out as well. She was not in any hurry to become a trust fund brat, but she was in a hurry to start chasing her future down. For as long as she had been planning it, she was well past late in getting to it. She knew what she wanted and it was high time.
The casino was fun, but it was a haul too. There was no easy way to balance the situation as she was unwilling to move, at least closer to the casino. It wasn’t part of the plan. She’d revisit the other choices when the time came.
She clicked the ringer on the phone back to ‘on’ and hit play on the answering machine. She had twenty-four messages starting from Tuesday. Six were the attorney. Another half dozen were Joseph. Two were from Jade, two were sales calls and the remaining ten were Thorne. Maggie took her cup of coffee in the shower and planned her attack on the day.
