Laura's Big Win

by Michelle Tschantre'

Chapter Four - Eviction

  The midweek day dawned like any other: no Richard home for a couple more days, summer day activities to get the kids ready for, maybe a trip to the pool, a little laundry to take care of, and she needed to call the appliance repair shop about the dishwasher dripping water on the floor. Some days she actually wished they had a dog to walk; every day was a new adventure to a dog, she thought; maybe some of it would rub off on her life. But Richard would hear none of that; he made it painfully clear he would allow no animals where they might cause even the slightest problem with a client, always the client, never a thought about his family or their needs. Laura was slowly coming to the conclusion she and the kids were all just some part in his scheme for success, the up and coming business man with his picture perfect wife, two kids, and beautiful house, all just parts in a plan, nothing more. Shaking off the dark thought, she had only a few minutes of quiet before the kids hit the floor at full throttle; time to call the repair place and get that arranged.

  Laura flipped through the book to the right page, found the number, picked up the wireless, and punched the number in one-handed. The beauty of working with numbers a lot was that she automatically memorized the configuration of every keyboard for every appliance in the house, even on her mini-van door locks; she could key anything without looking, even in the dark. Phone to ear, she waited for the usual ringing tone; silence. Checking the number, this time she confirmed the number entry and re-tried. Silence. Undaunted, she headed into the office to try the wired set in there. Silence. Someone must have dug up the wires again, she thought; it had happened once before during some neighborhood excavation. Not a problem; her cell was always in the countertop charger and ready to go. Number in, hit send, silence. The tower wouldn't accept her phone. This was becoming an irritation. She would have to load up the kids and drive to the phone company and to the cell store to get things straightened out, and there was still the dishwasher problem; strange that both phones quit at the same time, but she didn't put too much concern into the coincidence.

  The kids were climbing out of bed now, anxious to start another day of summertime fun. Laura found their favorite cereals for starters, and enjoyed another cup of coffee while they dined mightily. Amazing how much food went into those little mouths; she thought: 'If I ate that way, I'd weigh 200 pounds in a week!' although in truth she weighed what she weighed the day she graduated from college; she did not consider having two children to be an excuse for "letting go". Even at that, she often thought there must be something wrong with her body, or maybe her looks, or something about her that kept Richard away. It had been a long time since he had even looked at her as a women. But as usual, she banished the thought to the back of her mind and looked forward to a day spent with her children. Now, if it weren't for the miserable dishwasher and the phones, the day would be a little brighter.

  When the door bell sounded, Laura thought it a little early for anyone to be calling, but headed for the front of the house to respond. Opening the door, she saw a rather rough looking, unshaven man in blue coveralls with a "Bud" name patch over the pocket, and noticed a tow truck sitting in the drive.

  "Morning ma'am. I'm from A1 Towing and Salvage; I'm here to repo your car. Usually I just take 'em, but this looks like a nice neighborhood so I figured there wouldn't be any rough stuff. Now, all I need is your keys and I can get on with it. Okay? All sets if you have more than one, although the locks get changed anyway as soon as they're impounded."

  "Repo? I don't understand. I haven't done anything. What's the problem?

  "Look lady; I just repo 'em. If you want details, ask him." As he gestured over his shoulder Laura noticed a police patrol car sitting at the curb.

  "Okay, just wait a minute until I get this straightened out with the officer. I'm sure he can clear up this mistake in a second. Will you wait a minute?"

  "Sure. Take five if you want, but the van goes with me when this is over. I got my orders."

  Laura walked out to the patrol car, from which a somewhat portly, older officer was now emerging. This all had to be some sort of big mistake, first the phones, now this. It didn't make sense. And it didn't exactly look great having a patrol car sitting in front of their house.

  "Good morning officer. There seems to be some misunderstanding here about my van; this gentleman says he's going to tow it, one way or another. Can you help get this figured out?"

  "Morning ma'am. Yes, I can get it figured out; I just didn't plan on starting this early. Anyway, I have to inform you that he has a right to tow the van. One of the reason's I'm here is to see that he doesn't have any problem with the impoundment, since it's court ordered. Now, would you get the keys for him, or do we do this the hard way?"

  "No, no problem getting the keys. I'll be right back, if that's what you say, but I don't know what's going on here. I haven't done anything wrong; what's the problem? Can you tell me, or should I call a lawyer?" Laura realized the futility of her last statement when she recalled that none of the phones were working, but it sounded good anyway.

  "No problem lady. Just get him the keys as he asked, and I'll fill you in, as if you didn't know."

  Laura found both sets of keys, and after removing the house keys, handed them to the tow truck operator. "Can I take our things out of the van before you go?"

  "Sure, anything you want, but I need to get moving now so hurry it up if you could. I have a couple more to do this morning."

  The kids were finishing breakfast as Laura went to find a laundry basket, the quickest thing she could think of to hold the assortment of things in the van. Realizing something was going on, they followed her to the driveway, excited at seeing the tow truck and not realizing it was not entertainment but bad news.

  "Where's the car going, mom? Is it broke, is that why there's a tow truck here?" Jack asked.

  "No, it isn't broken, that I know of. This man just needs it for a while for some reason, so he's going to take it along for now. I'm sure it will be back soon and everything will be fine. Okay? Now, stay out of the way. You can watch from the sidewalk." And with that Laura removed their assorted belongings and handed the keys to the operator.

  "Sorry lady; you look like a good sort; I sure hope you can work things out. Nice kids. Sorry. Gotta go." With that he loaded the van on the tow truck and drove off.

  Left with the police officer, Laura invited him inside, followed by the kids, now curious at this new event in their lives. In the kitchen, she offered him a cup of coffee, which he refused, and again asked what was going on.

  "You really don't know? You know, I deal with this a lot, and most people are just playing dumb, but you don't seem like the sort for game playing. So, you don't know about the bankruptcy? For real?"

  "No, I have no idea what you're talking about, and I can't call my husband to ask him; for some reason the phones aren't working just now. What's going on? Please, can you tell me something, anything about this repo?"

  "Look lady, Mrs. Nessing, that's you, right? Laura Nessing, Mrs. Richard Nessing?"

  "Yes, I'm Laura Nessing; Richard in my husband. He's on a business trip at the moment but I'm sure he could clear all this up in a second, if I could just get hold of him."

  "Mrs. Nessing, your husband filed bankruptcy last month and declared no assets. I don't know much about it, and I don't think I could get the states attorney to talk about it much with a case pending, but what I do know is this: since he declared no assets, everything you have is subject to impoundment, except your clothing and identified personal items. We don't normally enforce impoundments, but since this is a bankruptcy, we have to get involved and protect anything of value. The other thing I need to tell you is that as of 4 PM this afternoon you must vacate this premises. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. You can go anywhere you want at this point, since only your husband is involved in the bankruptcy filing. He'll probably be called to testify when it goes to trial, but since you say you don't know anything about it, all I need is a forwarding address
where we can contact you later if needed."

  "I still don't understand; how could he file bankruptcy? He has a good job, I work part time, we have money. We put money in the bank all the time, and I'm sure he keeps the bills paid."

  "Are you telling me you haven't seen any of the notices for payment due? How could you not? We impounded the contents of your post office box yesterday afternoon and put a seal on it; the thing was packed like you hadn't emptied it in days, notices from everyone under the sun: power, phone, cable, the bank, credit cards, all that stuff. I'm probably telling you what you already know but give me a break lady; you owe everyone, and it's no surprise your services are being cut off one by one. And you still say you didn't know?"

  "No, not a word of it. You say a post office box? We don't have a post office box; all our mail comes here."

  "Mrs. Nessing, if you really don't know, then I'm sorry you have to find out this way, but you owe everyone in town and then some. Come to think of it, the letters I saw yesterday only had his name on them, not yours, but the bankruptcy affects all joint property, including the house. To tell the truth, I did hear some talk about him owing a ton to the casino over on the state line; is he a gambler"

  "Yes, he is, only I thought it was just for fun. I had no idea things had gone this far. I don't have any idea what to do, and I have two kids to take care of. What should I do now?"

  "I can't advise you in any way; I've probably said a lot more already than I should have, but if it were me, I'd head for a friend or relative and lay low until this gets cleared up and you find out how bad things are. Do you have anywhere you can go for a while?"

  "Probably my sister's, but I can't even call her with the phones out. Look, you say we have until 4 PM? That's it, no chance for an extension?"

  "No extensions. Sorry to say, but the court warned you several times before taking this action. Looks like maybe your husband kept you in the dark on purpose. It's just that..... I've been doing this quite a few years and I'm a pretty good judge of character; you don't seem like the type to do something like this and lie about it. That sort of leaves him, doesn't it? Do you have any resources at all, cash? I'm supposed to preserve all assets, but between you and me, if you got it, hide it so I can't see it. Remember, 4 PM. I'll be back before then. And, don't do anything to damage the property; that will only make things worse; okay?"

  "Yes, okay. Thank you; I know you have a job to do, and I truly did not know about any of this. I'm sorry for causing a problem."

  "Not you lady, I don't think you caused it; but your husband is probably going to get some time over this if it's bad enough. Anyway, I'll be back....by 4."

  With that the officer left, leaving Laura Nessing with a huge problem, and no answer. Her sister was the best option if this really had to happen, and it looked like it was a real enough problem. Nancy was geographically closer than their parents, and with two kids of her own might even welcome an extra pair of hands for the few days it would take to resolve this mess. Why hadn't Richard let her know? And with that question in mind, Laura Nessing came to a conclusion she had been avoiding for a long time: Richard didn't care; it was that simple. They were just pawns in his game, expendable at best. It occurred to her also that she had not seen any of the bills of late, which the post office box would explain; when she asked Richard about the absence, he just said they were probably late and she shouldn't worry about it so much. But the more immediate problem was money so they could travel. Laura had always been somewhat saving by nature, put a little back for the rainy day sort of person, call it mad money or pin money, and today was surely a rainy day the way things were turning out. She put a favorite video on for the kids to watch, mostly to avoid their questions about why the officer had been there, although it was against her principles to use TV as a babysitter. She needed a few minutes to get her head straight, and the video would buy that time. It did occur to her the power could also be turned off, but she hoped that wouldn't be the case, at least for a while.

  Heading back into her bedroom, Laura reached far back into the closet and found a small envelope she had stored there several years ago and added to the contents now and then. Counting the cash, it was several hundred dollars, enough to get them to her sisters she hoped. She was also owed a little money by a couple of clients; maybe there was some way to collect that without going through the bank. If this thing was really happening, she realized anything she deposited in the bank would simply fall into the debt pit for now, and she had no idea how deep the pit was, or if it was growing. What to do first. She had always prided herself on keeping fit, and one of the things she enjoyed was riding her bike, even with the kids loaded up, one in the carrier and one in the trailer. It looked like that was their option for now, since apparently the van would not be coming back. Having resolved that issue, Laura spent some time considering what to take along for the trip, realizing that what they didn't take they might not ever see again but knowing she could only handle so much carry-on. By then the video was over and she told the kids they would be going for a bike ride, and maybe the park. That suited them just fine on a warm summer day, and off they went.

  The ride was somewhat fruitful, although the two customers she did manage to contact were a little puzzled as to why she suddenly needed their accounts paid, and in cash. She assured them it was just a minor cash flow problem she had to deal with, that everything would be fine. Back home again she realized her remaining hours were down to four, and she needed to tell the kids at least a little basic something about what was going on.

  Calling them into the kitchen for a snack, Laura tried to explain to them that they had to go on a trip because there was a problem with the house. "I'm not sure what is going to happen; maybe your dad can take care of things when he comes back in a couple of days. In the meantime, we have to move out of the house. I need to tell you that I don't have much money, and we don't have much time. So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to visit your aunt Nancy for a few days until all this is settled, so pick out a couple of things you want to take along. I have a little room in the duffle bag beside our clothes, but remember I have to be able to carry it, at least a little ways. I'm sorry all this has happened on a day we should be out having fun, but I'm sure it will all be worked out in good time. So, find a couple of things and let's get ready to go."

  That went well, she thought, until Jack asked: "Where's dad; did you call him to come get us? I don't understand."

  "Jack, it's okay if you don't understand; I don't really know what's going on either. But to answer your question, no, I haven't talked to your dad. The house phone is out of service and so in my cell phone, so I can't call him. But that means his cell phone is also out of service, and as much as he uses it, I'm sure he knows there's a problem."

  "Then why doesn't he come, mom?"

  "Jack, I'm sorry. I just don't know that answer. But, I do know the policeman has a job to do and I don't have any choice right now. The best thing I can think of is to go visit your aunt Nancy until I can get control of this problem, whatever it is. It's going to be a long bus ride; I don't have enough money for us to fly, and we can't get there by train even if I did have enough money, so I have to ask you kids to be good and make the most of this for right now. She'll help us out for a few days, and by then maybe gramps and grannie will be back home and we can visit there if we have to. You know they're out sailing around on the ocean right now, so I can't talk to them either, and I can't afford the fare to go that far. But, look, this will all work out; things are just a little disorganized right now. Okay?"

  "Okay mom. I'll watch Mandy for you."

  "Thanks, I knew I could count on you. You hear that Amanda? Jack has my permission to watch over you so we're all safe. Okay?"

  "Yep mom. I'll get my dolly and some of her clothes for the ride. Okay?"

  "Yes, okay. I think we better finish up now. The policeman just came back."

  Laura returned to the front of the house to let the officer
know she was aware he had returned. Again she tried to engage him in discussing what was wrong with everything in the Nessing household and why they were being essentially evicted from their home. "I thought people who filed bankruptcy, like you say my husband did, at least got to have a place to live. Why do we have to leave? I don't understand why I have to travel a day in a bus with my kids after doing nothing wrong. Can you explain that?"

  "Look lady, Mrs. Nessing, believe it or not, I feel rather badly about all this. I mean, it's not much fun evicting people anyway, even if some of them deserve it. You don't seem like that type at all, so I'm sorry about that, but I've got my orders. I did do a little inquiring around since you truly seem to have no idea what is taking place here; you're either a really great actress or I just can't read you. Anyway, I asked a few questions. Seems your husband had re-mortgaged the house, took all the equity out, so he agreed to let it go back to the bank sixty days ago; they've been waiting for you to move out, not knowing you had no idea. That's how the eviction process got started. The other thing is, and this is just what I heard as kind of a rumor, your husband hasn't paid bills for months in some cases, and he stopped making payments on your van; that's why the tow truck was here after it. Whatever assets you may have had in a bank were seized today. So, that's about it. Now, you need to vacate this house, by 4 PM. Have you decided where you're going?"

  "Yes, to my sisters, but it's a full day bus ride with two little kids. I don't even know how I'm going to get to the bus station."

  "I think I can help with that, seeing as how you were blindsided by all this.. It isn't something I'd normally do, but I guess one exception won't hurt my record. Are you about ready?"

  "Yes. Kids, come on; we have to go now. This nice officer has agreed to let us ride in his patrol car to the bus station; won't that be fun!" Laura said, hoping the patrol car ride would help ease some of their trepidation at these strange events.

  And so, they left their home in the back of a patrol car, with few belongings, but at least with a destination in front of them. The kids, and to some degree their mother, looked forward to the visit; it would add stability for a few days until Laura could get her feet back on the ground. The bus was late arriving, but not too bad, and at last they were on their way to aunt Nancy's place. The kids were amused by looking out the window at the passing scenery for a while but the overtaking darkness took care of that. It was not a particularly crowded coach, so they were able to spread out a little, but they had to change to the express bus after two hours and that had less spare room. Laura ended up with Jack beside her and Amanda on her lap most of the time, finally getting some sleep herself in the late hours of the night. Things could be worse, she thought; at least she had a little money left after paying for the bus tickets, enough anyway to buy some snacks at the rest stops. The kids slept into the next morning light for a few hours, awakening when they were down to about eight hours left of the road trip. Playing travel games helped, and Laura had the foresight to bring along a couple of books both the kids enjoyed listening to.

  Late that afternoon, nearly 24 hours since the outset, Laura, Jack, and Amanda arrived at the bus station in Conyerville, Nancy's current home town. Laura carded the payphone and looked forward to hearing a friendly voice for a change. After several rings, a familiar voice, but certainly not Nancy's, answered bruskly.

  "Yeah? Who is it?" came the voice of Nancy's husband Leonard, or Lenny as he preferred to be called.

  "Oh, hi Lenny. It's Laura. How are things going?" Lenny had never been exactly a favorite friend of Laura's, but she was always careful to not show her dislike for the man. After all, he was her sister's husband.

  "Not bad, considering. You know I lost my job when the factory shut down; haven't had much work since. Things are pretty tight right now. I suppose you wanna talk to your sister?"

  "Sure do. Is she around somewhere close?"

  "No; she and her girl friend drove over to the metro-mall this morning. Don't know why; we ain' got any cash to spare. Anyway, she won't be back until really late tonight, probably after midnight. You could call her then. We gave up our cell's to save money."

  "Lenny, I have sort of an emergency. My kids and I are here in Conyerville at the bus station and we need a place to stay for a couple of days. I was sort of counting on Nancy to help us out a bit. Can you put us up until she gets back?"

  "Well?..uh?..look: we just don't have anything to spare right now and I don't think we can do that. Tell you what: grab a room for the night and call her in the morning. Okay? See ya then kid. Bye."

  Silence, deafening silence. Laura was stunned by this sudden and unfortunate turn of events. All her hopes had assumed Nancy would be there for her, and instead of Nancy, Laura got her lout of a husband, Lenny, who had frozen her out in a heartbeat. Laura wondered if it had more to do with her family being seen as better off than Nancy's, or was he just being an ass of some sort. Regardless, they needed a place to stay for the night, and with money in very short supply at this point, charity was becoming the answer. Screwing up her courage, she approached the part time ticket agent, a pimply faced youth of generally unkempt appearance, but her sole source of information at this point.

  "Hi. Can you help me with something?"

  "Yeah, what?" the youth responded as though he had been busy doing anything at all.

  "We seem to need someplace to stay for the night, and I don't have any money. Is there a Y here, or someone from whom I might get help?"

  "No,?wait a minute. There's some place for homeless people over on second avenue, old hotel that's been converted. Isn't much of a place, but then I guess you can't be too choosy can you?..unless maybe we can work out something else." The kid leered at her in what he probably believed was a suggestive manner, but which only showed his lack of dental hygiene.

  "Fine, thank you. That should be good for now." Laura responded, and thought about adding 'I'd rather sleep with a dog than you' but restrained herself as the lady she was. "Come on kids; we have a walk to take; it's not very far." Laura lugged the heavy duffle bag along, thankful that she at least knew Conyerville enough to know where they were going.

  The shelter did turn out to be an old hotel, better than sleeping in the open but not by much. Finding the night super, Angie Costello, Laura told her their plight, how they were virtually penniless with no place to stay and a relative that had turned them down. Angie had heard a lot of stories and was not particularly impressed by this one since it sounded like a familiar refrain, but she did have a room adequate for the three of them. She also had some rations left in the kitchen to tide them over, but she had to point out the building problem they had just encountered.

  "Our central air never did work very well, and this afternoon during this heat wave it just stopped working entirely. I'm sorry; I know you've had a tough day already, but we just do not have the funds to get it fixed right now. The best I can do is get you cots and you can stay in the day room on this floor. At least there's a little breeze through the windows. It's taking its toll on all of us. Can you live with the cots for at least tonight?"

  "Sure, we'll make do. I'm sorry to be such a bother; things have just not gone well for us the past day or so, and to tell the truth, I really don't know what to do next. Maybe a night's rest will bring some new idea. Thanks so much for what you've already done. I didn't relish the thought of sleeping in the street with two little kids."

  "Not a problem. Here, there's some room here you can settle into for now. Grab a couple of chairs over there to mark your space.....that sounded bad didn't it.....and we'll bring the cots as soon as we can uncover them in the storage room. It's strange it being this hot so early in the summer, but I guess stranger things have happened. Like that camera crew over there filming our problem. Must be a slow news day for them to come in here." Unbeknownst to the night super, stranger things indeed were about to happen.

  Laura got some chairs to, as the super said, "mark your space", and settled in to maybe rea
d the now tired and restless kids a story to entertain them for another night until they could drift off to sleep in the stifling heat; surely the cots would arrive soon. Amanda was comfortable on the duffle bag for now, and Jack was sitting on the floor; Laura was a little concerned about the floor part of it, but reconciled herself with the thought they had just spent an entire day breathing other people's exhaled air on the bus; could the floor be any worse than that? Some time later, just as she was getting well into reading the book, she noticed a small entourage coming through the door to the rec room: the night super, a tall well appointed woman probably in her early sixties, and a man so big he literally filled the doorway when he came through. And they were clearly headed right for her small assemblage. 'Oh, hell' she thought to herself, 'now what's wrong?' and just as quickly chided herself for even thinking language she did not want the children to hear. Things just couldn't get worse could they? And the answer was, no, things weren't going to get worse. In fact, they were going to get a whole lot better, even though it would take Laura a little time to get past her recently well developed wariness of new situations. She and her children were about to be rescued by persons who knew what they were doing, but not why; it would be some time before all would understand.