The Outsider

by K'Anne Meinel

  “I’ll do that. Thank you,” the young woman responded politely. As Joy left, she thought about the last couple of hours. She’d enjoyed the lawyer and felt her advice was sound.

  As she left the building she saw a pay phone. On impulse, she pulled out the number of the financial advisor and dialed it.

  “Hello, Whitley Investments. How may I direct your call?” a male voice answered the phone.

  “Good afternoon. My name is Ms. Parker and I’d like to make an appointment with Mr. Whitley?”

  The voice on the phone frosted over, “Ms. Whitley is unavailable. May I take a message?”

  Joy cursed herself for not having heard Lenora tell her it was a woman and not a man. She’d just assumed and now felt like a fool. “My apologies,” she quickly stated. “Ms. Abner recommended I call.” Ms. Abner should have told her that it was MS. Whitley instead of MR. Whitley, or maybe Joy should have asked, she didn’t know.

  “Ms. Abner over at Duncan, Huebert, and Shanks Law?” the voice confirmed.

  “Yes,” she admitted, wondering if name dropping would help or hinder her.

  “One moment please,” the voice asked and she was put on hold. The music sounded like something the elevator would play, but they weren’t gone long. “Ms. Whitley has an appointment this afternoon or another tomorrow if you would like?”

  “I’m downtown now. Where is Ms. Whitley’s office?” Joy was excited. Maybe she could get this started today.

  They calculated how far she would have to walk and Joy was on her way to the appointment, anxious to hear what Ms. Whitley had to say. She wondered why they had accommodated her so quickly, not realizing that name dropping would have its effect. She also didn’t realize that as soon as she hung up the phone, they would have checked her story with Lenora.

  “Hello, I’m Ms. Parker. I have an appointment with Ms. Whitley?” Joy said as she came off the elevator. It was late in the day, the sun was already down, but they had given her the appointment and she was anxious to meet with this person.

  “Yes, Ms. Parker,” the male receptionist greeted her. “If you will come this way?” He escorted her into a richly-appointed office that was lined with wood shelves and books as well as knickknacks. Behind the matching desk, a short, round woman rose to greet her.

  “Ms. Parker? May I call you Joy?” she asked, reaching out her hand to shake the younger woman’s.

  “Yes,” Joy said, feeling a little overwhelmed by the royal treatment she was receiving.

  “Lenora told us to expect your call, but I didn’t expect it so soon,” she said with a smile as she indicated Joy should sit in the plush leather seat across from her own.

  “Well, she did say that you could help…” Joy began hesitantly, unsure how to proceed.

  “It’s okay,” the woman told her. “Lenora explained your unique situation and we are going to take good care of you.”

  Joy sat back, wondering if she was being conned somehow, but she really didn’t feel that way. She was treated very, very well. Annette Whitley explained they would help her money earn more than simple interest through investments. They would create a portfolio for her that would include high risk as well as stable earning investments. “I don’t believe in doing all one or the other,” she explained. “You have a responsibility when you have this much money to balance it, to make sure it keeps earning more than what your taxes will take,” she laughed a little, a self-deprecating laugh. “We want the maximum return on your investment here and we can defer taxes…” she went on as she explained so that Joy could understand. She found the woman was quite knowledgeable, made her comfortable with the terminology, and was not pushy at all. “We want you comfortable with what we are doing with your money,” she explained at length.

  After a couple of hours, well past dinner time, they stopped talking about money. “May I take you to dinner?” Annette offered helpfully, realizing how hungry she was and how hungry her potential client had to be.

  “I don’t know…” began Joy. She’d gotten so much information that day she was feeling overwhelmed. She needed to absorb some of it.

  “I know, I’ve thrown a lot at you. I’m sure Lenora did too. That’s how we both work so you can make an intelligent decision with the information we give you.”

  Something about the way Annette said that made Joy pause. “Are you two a couple?” she wanted to ask, not sure if she could or should. It was really none of her business. As she glanced at the woman before her, she could see why people would find her attractive. Next to her Joy felt dowdy. She was clean and wearing nice clothes, but she was nowhere near as sophisticated as this woman or Lenora had been. They wore their clothes and their confidence as a second skin. Still, they were both older than her by at least a decade or more and had had time to learn. She hoped her course the following week would give her some insight in how to become like that.

  Annette was not completely done with her. “I want you comfortable with your decisions. If you have any questions, even if you think they are dumb,” she made quotation marks in the air, “I want you to ask them. It’s your money we are talking about here, always your money, and ultimately it’s your decision what we invest it in.”

  Joy nodded numbly, feeling as though her head was going to explode. Still, she tried to wrap her head around it all. “Well, I think I should think about everything and get back to you.”

  Annette nodded. “That’s a wise course of action. Think about it. Google us and find out what people say about us. I want you comfortable with all of this,” she indicated the brochures she had brought out to explain the different investments she was proposing.

  “Thank you,” Joy said simply, unsure of what else to say. She had no idea what ‘Google us’ meant.

  “Now, about dinner…” she began, but Joy interrupted her.

  “Actually, I think I’m just going to head back to my hotel. It’s been a rather full day and I need to think.”

  “Of course. Remember, if you have anything to ask, anything at all, please call.” She made sure to hand Joy her card with her cell phone number on the back.

  As Joy left the office to catch a cab back to her hotel, Annette was on the phone to Lenora. “Hey, want to catch dinner?” she asked when the other woman picked up the phone.

  “I thought you’d never ask. Did the meeting with Joy Parker go okay?”

  “She just left. I’ll tell you at dinner,” she promised. They arranged to meet and both hung up the phone.

  “So, do you think she’ll blow it all?” Lenora asked her as they ate noodles at a little Asian restaurant they both enjoyed.

  “No, actually, I think we’ve seen a rarity…a responsible teenager,” she replied, taking a sip of her drink.

  “Think she’s scared to spend the money?”

  “No, not scared really. I don’t know her backstory and she was pretty close-mouthed about it, but if you believe anything her brother says on that news report, she ran away, has been living on the streets, and she’s mentally unbalanced.”

  Lenora knew she couldn’t mention that Joy was not planning on leaving anything to her siblings, but she asked, “Do you think she’s mentally unbalanced?”

  “Not in the least,” she shook her head. “That kid has smarts. Maybe they are street smarts, but she took the time to dress nice and see the right people,” she indicated both of them.

  “Is she going to put her money in your firm?”

  “I explained I was giving her the best information I could so she could make an intelligent decision. Now it’s up to her really.”

  They both nodded at this. They could only do so much. The rest was always up to their clients. They had both referred clients to each other over the years, building each other’s customer base that way.

  “You should have seen Duncan try to weasel her account away from me,” Lenora confided.

  “Why’d he give it to you in the first place then?” She gestured with her fork.

  “Because he saw
she was a kid and thought she couldn’t possibly be important enough for his esteemed self.”

  Annette smiled, almost evilly. “He was wrong, was he not?”

  Lenora laughed. “And boy was he!”

  “How’d you tell him?”

  “I waited until he and the others were in one of their coffee clutches and asked if we could use the condo for a client.”

  “I bet that made him thrilled,” she commented, knowing that Duncan was a penny-pincher.

  “Yeah. Of course, he wanted to know why, and when I explained it was for our new client, he wanted more information. The others were listening.” She smiled in remembrance as she told him that Joy Parker was the new Powerball winner and needed to move out of her hotel, needed a place to hide from the press. They had all seen the TV reports speculating about the new winner and where she was hiding. “He nearly peed himself as he said he’d be happy to take over drawing up her documents.”

  “Yeah? How generous of him,” she sounded sarcastic.

  “Was it not?” her sarcasm was tinged with real laughter. “I explained that she wanted to work with me and that I’d be handling all her legal matters.”

  “Did he challenge you?”

  “Oh, yeah. He started posturing about being a named partner and all that bullshit,” she sounded angry as this had happened before, but she’d been prepared for him this time. “I pointed out that she is the single largest account we have and if he wanted to scare her off, I was thinking piss off actually, that he was welcome to try.”

  “Are you keeping her account?”

  “For now,” she sighed, knowing how precarious her position was. She didn’t even know if Joy would want to keep her as her lawyer. Duncan could, and would, try to steal her away.

  “Is she going to stay in the condo?”

  Lenora nodded. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

  They went on to discuss other matters, but it came back to their client. “What would it be like to have that kind of money?” Lenora asked dreamily as she cut into her cake with her fork.

  “I think if I was not raised with money that it would actually scare me.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense.”

  “I mean, it seems she hasn’t spent any of it. Maybe on some clothes if she really was living on the streets.”

  “We both saw that news footage of her buying the ticket. She was wearing the same clothes, looking worse for wear when she tried to redeem it.”

  “She looked unrecognizable in the mall.”

  “Didn’t she though?” she answered admiringly. She hoped the girl would let them help her. If the media hadn’t found her yet, it was only a matter of time before someone at the hotel turned her in.

  It was a good thing that Duncan and his firm allowed Joy to move to their condo. Someone had decided to capitalize on the fame for turning Joy Parker in to the news media. She’d packed her bags and checked out, putting all her things in Lenora’s car and getting away from the hotel. In fact, they saw one of the TV vans turning into the hotel as they pulled out.

  “Looks like you moved out just in time,” Lenora commented as she shifted her Lexus.

  “Why do you say that?” Joy looked up and around from admiring the luxury sports car.

  “See the news van?” she pointed with her chin.

  Joy looked worried. She felt so hunted. She’d been so careful, but her name must have given her away. How long until the hotel footage of her coming and going would be shown on the news and they would know she was in San Antonio and how she now looked? “Am I never going to have a life of my own again?”

  “That’s why I asked if you ever considered changing your name. It wouldn’t be difficult to start going by another name.”

  “My name is my own. My parents gave it to me,” she asserted forcefully.

  “It would give you some privacy,” she pointed out, not trying to argue.

  “I’m just the flavor of the month. They’ll get past it.”

  Lenora was not so sure about that. Still, she would respect her client’s decision.

  * * * * *

  Joy was ensconced in the company condo. It was a nice place with two floors, access to a pool, a weight lifting room, and a sauna. She didn’t have a swimsuit, so she didn’t take advantage of the amenities. Instead she hiked to a grocery store and ate frozen dinners for a few days. She watched the news too, and sure enough they had footage of her coming and going from the hotel. Apparently, she kept her head down and they hadn’t gotten a clear shot of her face, so it was hard to tell what she looked like. The TV news kept assuring their audience that the new Powerball winner was in San Antonio. Joy was worried that someone would recognize her, so she hid in the condo.

  By the time her course came around, New Year’s had come and gone and Joy was restless. She wanted to start her life and she had some ideas about it. She’d seen one news report where they interviewed her brother. He hadn’t aged well and his pleas for her to ‘come home’ were pathetic. She knew the only interest they had in her was the money; she was not stupid. The thinly-veiled reference to a mental illness pissed her off. She knew if anyone was mentally ill, it was her siblings. Who holds onto a hate such as they had for that long? She had been an innocent child and still they had been mean and resentful to her. As she looked at the pictures she had copied of her and her parents, she didn’t miss her siblings in the least.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Hello, I’m Joy Parker,” she announced to the woman taking people’s names to be sure they were registered for the seminar. Joy looked at the banners for THE FINAL TOUCH. They all emphasized everything she had read at the library in Milwaukee: Civility & Social Capital, Etiquette, Generational Differences, Personal Branding, Communication Skills, Technology Management, Emotional Intelligence, Image Management, Posture & Presence, Dining Etiquette, Customer Service, Travel Safety & Security, Leadership Coaching, Servant Leadership, Ethics, Presentation Skills, Career Development, Conflict Management, Assessment Tools, Health & Self-esteem, Corporate Culture, Life Skills and much more! Another banner read: Social & Business Etiquette, Civility, Dining, Art of Communication, Posture & Presence, Wardrobe Building Blocks, Understanding Your Body Type, Social Media Manners, Personal Coaching, Building a Strong Self-esteem, Developing & Maintaining a Positive Attitude, Basics of a Great Complexion, Makeup Techniques & Color, Hair & Nails, Photo Techniques, Nutrition, Art of entertaining, and Character Development.

  “I see you signed up for our Gold Package,” the woman said with a smile. She was impeccably made up with a business suit and skirt, matching shoes, and manicured nails.

  Joy felt dowdy across from this woman. Although she was clean and had light makeup and a nice outfit, she didn’t feel as sophisticated as the woman across from her, much less those in line behind her. They were all older and talking about how much this course and the little classes they would attend would help their careers. Joy didn’t have a career. In fact, if they knew she merely had a GED, she knew they would disdain her presence there. Still, she had paid for the course and she was going to get everything out of it that she could.

  Trying to pack all those things into the hours given to them at the convention was insane. Still, the same people went from one class to another. Some of them were presentations where they showed various scenarios and how to behave, others were smaller courses where you had to partner up and evaluate each other as you tried out the concepts they were trying to impart. Lunch was also a learning opportunity as the many women and few men showed off their manners and the skills they already had. The teaching of the placement of your glass, fork, or even your napkin bewildered Joy at first. She was not the only one. It amazed her that twenty- and thirty-somethings, even a couple of forty-somethings were attending this seminar and knew as little as she did.

  “So, which firm do you work for?” she had been asked time and again by the fellow students. Joy was tired of telling them she was taking this for herself, not to get ahead at work. She
finally began to tell them she worked for Fam Pharmaceuticals, a made-up name she concocted to at least have something to say. It amazed her that a couple of the women said they had heard of the company. She was also physically tired by the end of the courses. She learned a lot. She felt she got value for her money, but it was not giving her the insight she felt she needed. Something was missing.

  “You know, we do offer personal and private courses to a few, select individuals,” one of the instructors told Joy as they finished up the course on Character Development.

  Joy smiled as she had been taught and nodded. “Thank you,” she added politely, but she didn’t add to it. The way the woman was looking at her was making her uncomfortable. She’d gotten a few vibes, but this woman was a little more obvious about it. She looked at Joy as though she was contemplating something and Joy was confused. She had no idea why she was made to feel uncomfortable, but she was.

  “I think if I could afford it I’d enroll in Château Mont-Choisi,” one woman mumbled as they sat, once again, for another course.

  Joy wanted to ask what that was, but kept silent. In fact, she had been quiet most of the days of the courses in order to observe. She waited, impatiently, for someone else to ask the woman and was soon rewarded.

  “What is Château Mont-Choisi?” she was asked, the questioner garbling the French-sounding name.

  The woman had obviously been waiting for someone to ask so she could show off her knowledge and make herself look well-informed—it was apparent as she began in a superior-than-thou tone. “Château Mont-Choisi,” she began, giving it the French tone and flavor that showed she knew things the other women did not, “is in Switzerland. It is nothing like this course,” she waved her hand dismissively at the conference they were all attending. “It was founded in 1885 and is on the bank of Lac Leman,” she relished saying the French words, showing her information and superiority to the mere peons she was addressing. “They teach so much more than this,” she showed her disdain. “In January and February, they even take the students to Crans-sur-Sierre to ski.” She continued with her knowledge of the finishing school for quite some time, adding with a self-deprecating little addendum, “If Mummy and Daddy could have afforded it, I would have gone long ago.”