Night Deposit

Nancy's behavior had always been erratic, even from the beginning, but I had put up with it because I believed she loved me with her entire being. It was now the marriage made in hell and I promised myself to see a good lawyer Monday morning, just in case the worst thing possible would come to pass.

First, though, I was going to have some vicious fun watching Nancy try to explain the car's disappearance.

I turned the TV on to some sports program talking about the upcoming Dodgers' season. I didn't worry that much about baseball but it was good background noise; I thought about turning up the volume but I'd just be hurting myself as well, my own headache getting worse by the minute from everything that had happened.

So far, even though it was so obvious if you stepped back and looked at it with cold eyes, everything was circumstantial and I didn't really have any admissible proof even for myself, let alone a lawyer, although that unknown red dress was a screaming siren demanding to be heard. If we were going to divorce, I wanted everyone to know it was for adultery. I would accept nothing less, no matter how ignorant it made me look, how foolish it made me look, how pathetic it made me look; I knew I was going to have to quit the school and just become a full-time landlord. There was plenty of money in that. The 'Vette was from those business accounts.

For now, though, I would let sleeping dogs lie. This bitch was definitely sleeping and now, I was waiting for the lies... how could she treat me like that?

A little after one that afternoon, I could hear the sound of the shower again. This ought to be good, I laughed, yes, indeed. I was amazed that I could laugh at anything, then.

Nancy finally came out of the bedroom wearing her UCLA blue-and-gold sweats, even though the house was warm enough to wear just a T-shirt. I knew she was hiding something she didn't want me to see. Maybe a lot of 'somethings' under that colored cotton cloth...

"What's the matter, honey? Are you cold? I can turn up the heater."

"No, Vince, I just felt like wearing these, again. You know, 'relive that college life'."

Damn woman, how stupid did she think I was? 'Relive that college life'... I'll 'relive that college life,' her. Well, I must be pretty dumb, if she's been doing this behind my back. I felt like the stupidest man alive, just then. I just knew this would somehow become my fault. I've worked in athletics long enough that everyone is always looking to put the blame onto someone else.

If Nancy thought I was going to make lunch for her, she had another thing coming. Cooking no longer held the appeal it once did; she could fix her own goddamned lunch and everything else, for that matter. I felt my anger starting to grow and I did my best to control it.

Walking into the kitchen, I called the police. This should be very interesting, I thought.

"Hawthorne Police Department... please, hold..."

I waited for just a short while. The town must have had an especially quiet night.

"Ah, yes, I'm calling about a stolen car. That's right. Last night..." I gave the information the clerk needed in order to find the report. "What time was that? I see... probably not... you think so? All right, thank you." The call ended but I kept speaking to the dial tone, talking about getting a police report and the imaginary impound fees for the 'Vette safely parked in my brother's garage... and the time the police were called... 9:17 PM. I guess, I thought, it took over three hours to figure out the car was gone since the police arrived five minutes after the call was made... at nine-twelve.

"Oh, God, Nancy... I'm so sorry; they found your car this morning over in Compton. It's been stripped." I tried to look sad and then remembered what she had done to me the night before. It was enough to make me cry so I turned and looked out the kitchen sink window. Let her think I'm upset about the car.

"What's left of it is in the impound lot. I'll take care of it. You shouldn't have to see it... I don't think you'd like it very much."

I opened the refrigerator so that my sad smile would go unseen and then took out the chicken to make a sandwich. As I continued speaking, I sliced a tomato and some lettuce. "It's too bad, really. I don't know what you're going to do to get to work, now. I'll just have to take you to work and pick you up.

"I have to go talk to Al next door. Al needs some help with some wiring on that old car of his. Probably only be an hour or two, maybe a little more."

Before she could object, I left the kitchen and went outside to the back patio.

It was then I realized that I had done all the talking and she had said nothing the whole time we were together in the kitchen.

I leaned against the outside wall next to the kitchen sink window as she grabbed the phone and began dialing. I was amazed; she couldn't even wait a minute or two!

I wasn't going to accept what she had done like some insane men would and overlook it or allow her to continue with or without my approval. I wasn't wired that way. "Might as well listen," I said to no one and leaned against the side of the house, the stucco hurting my skin but not as much as her actions.

"No, the car's GONE... no, I don't know what happened... did Jerry say anything about me? Oh, he did? I don't know, now... I'll tell Vince something... next Monday night... OK... I'll figure out something."

Yeah, I bet she'd try and tell me something. I felt what had to be a dark smile cross my face. So, the bastard's name was Jerry, was it? Shouldn't be too hard to track that asshole down and give him a little American western justice. But, that would have to wait a while until I took care of a few more important things.

She dialed another number. "Hey, baby... how are you?" She listened and laughed. "Yeah... I know, but I still don't understand about the car. It's always been all right there. You're right, Jerry, I should have just driven to your apartment... Yeah, he's pretty upset about that and wanted to know why I had to wait four hours for the police. It's a good thing he doesn't know how early I usually get out. I don't know, right now... He says he'll take me and pick me up... I don't think he'd like that, but I'll ask... I'm still a little sore... Him? Of course not, that's just for you... I've never let him do that and I never will. Oh, yeah, next time, darling, next time."

"Bitch," I said to myself. I knew just what she was talking about. Give it to him and not me, will you? Ah, fuck it.

Now, it was time for some angry, cold-blooded revenge.

I walked to the '57 and pulled the ignition fuse from under the left side of the dash. It was easier than pulling the distributor cap. My Chevy wasn't going anywhere. Now that I thought about it, the 'Vette was in my name since I had bought it with business account money. I laughed and went next door to Al's house. After a while, we took off in Al's old ancient '38 Chevy and went south... just like my perfect life.

I was thinking. Every goddamn away game, I was gone until at least midnight, sometimes later. That had to be when she was stepping out on me... hell, maybe even home games; I had no idea when she actually arrived. How could you constantly check the stands in the middle of a football game?

I remembered the first time I had called her while at an away game and there was no answer. I called five times that night and she never answered. After I asked her about it the next morning, she gave me a song and dance about how she must have fallen asleep and didn't hear it.

Now, I hear her tell her friend that she's been getting off at least an hour earlier than I thought. Damn it!

What if she had been bringing whoever it was to our house, to our bedroom, to our bed? And, now, she wanted something a week from Monday?

"Goddamn fucking bitch. Shit!"

Al looked over at me and grimaced. I was going to say something but stopped... I guessed I'd get to it soon enough.

We stopped near Huntington Beach and had a couple of burgers and a pitcher.

"OK," Al said, "I can't drive all the way to San Diego. What's going on?"

"Nancy's cheating on me, the bitch, that's what's going on. I can't fucking believe it. We've only been married five years. Damn it!" It's not that we only had been married five years; it was that we had been married five years.

I took another sip of beer, too worked up to get even drunk and then my face burned. "Oh, shit! I forgot about the bank! C'mon, we have to go back!"

The old car, now powered by a new V-8, made record time returning the twenty-seven miles north to Hawthorne and after arriving at the savings and loan, I practically ran in.

Opening my wallet, I pulled out my list of account numbers and when I reached the teller's window, I was going to ask for the current balances but I changed my mind. Instead, I pulled out my wallet and filled out a one-thousand dollar withdrawal slip for each one.

"Thank you, Mary." She was the only Negro working there and I always tried to be nice after I noticed the other women tended to avoid her. Even Nancy, herself, wasn't too happy when I talked to the woman. So, she was a Negro... she was still a person who deserved respect... and a very nice one, at that.

"That's one-thousand dollars for this account, 83594, one-thousand dollars for this account, 83595 and one-thousand dollars for this account, 83600. You look a little down, today."

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Mary, just a little tired, that's all. How are you today?"

She looked around and leaned closer. "You know how it is..." She glanced around. I knew what she was referring to but I knew I could never know the pain she felt.

Mary took the information to the daily ledger and looked for the updated balances. Since I didn't have the actual passbooks, she would have made out temporary receipts for each account and filed the deposit slips into the counter slot but she eventually came back with the bad news I expected.

"I looked over and over. There's no money there. I'm sorry, Vince. I don't know what to say."

I smiled and walked away with all the information I needed and no one the wiser... I hoped. Each piece of paper showed me the balance of each account and each one was almost empty. I knew Mary wouldn't say anything.

I tried to stay calm but I could feel my heart beating heavily in my chest and there seemed to be a roaring in my ears and my head was feeling like there was a vise crushing it.

Nancy had never deposited any of my or her paychecks into the account and must have squirreled the money away somewhere else. I stopped walking.

Just then, a woman in a stylish business suit approached me. "Hello, Vincent... is everything all right?"

"No, Mrs. Green, I'm having a little problem with my accounts."

"Please, come into my office and we'll see if we can straighten this out."

I followed her to the other side of the bank where the escrow offices where.

The woman closed the door and motioned for me to sit down. She had known my mother since high school and continued their friendship up to the day my mother had died.

"Vincent, calm down. I can't help you if you're all upset. Now, begin at the beginning and we'll do something about it."

"Mrs. Green...'' I started.

"Vincent, I've known you since the day you were born. You know I've told you to call me Alisa." She smiled warmly, waiting for me to settle down.

I calmed down enough to tell her the entire story, beginning with my ruined dinner and ending with Nancy's two phone calls and the bank accounts.

"Let's take a look, shall we?" she asked, reaching for the withdrawal slips. "Why don't you wait a minute?"

Alisa found that Nancy had four different accounts, each one holding thousands of dollars. There was the missing money... but, what to do about it? I was so damned frustrated and Alisa could see it on my face.

"But..." I stammered. I kept bouncing between total control and total lack of control.

"There's no 'buts' involved, Vincent. She's taken your money. Now, the question is 'what are we going to do about it'."

Alisa said, "You have to accept that the money is gone, but we're going to protect your business accounts right now."

She picked up her phone and spoke; several minutes later, the assistant manager came in with a cashier's check for $122,370.62, effectively closing my business accounts at the savings and loan. At the time, it was an incredible amount of money for someone to have and was the only reason I could afford to stay as a teacher and coach.

"If you'd sign here and here and here," he said.

"May I use your phone," I asked. After she nodded, I called the police and cancelled the stolen car report saying we had found the car and it was safe and sound.

Alisa grabbed her purse and started out of the office. "Well," she asked, "aren't you coming?"

I jumped up from the chair and followed her out.

"After we deposit this in a new account at Bank of America, you're buying me lunch," she told me, "and then we're going to my place."

My eyes widened at what she implied. Glancing over as we walked to her Cadillac, I noticed she had just the beginnings of a smile.

Oh, God, I thought, what have I got myself into? "I have to tell Al to go home."

With her help, the new accounts, one for each building and one for my personal use, were opened without any problems and I learned a few accounting tips that helped me out over the years.

"We're going to do this as a 'DBA' and you're all set."

As we left the bank, she anticipated my question. "DBA," she laughed, "doing business as. We used my home address so there's no way she can discover where that money went.

"Just tell her there've been some problems with payroll. She can use the money she's squirreled away to pay your household bills. What's she going to say? 'Gee, honey, the money's gone, I don't know where?'"

Alisa drove down Inglewood Avenue until we finally came to a small, almost invisible Mexican restaurant.

"I think you'll like this place. Your mom and I came here a lot after your father died."

I wondered why I had never seen it before or why my mom never mentioned it. Another secret the women in my life had kept from me. Damn it, these women all keeping secrets!

I had eaten that hamburger not that much earlier and was only going to have a couple of tacos but when the teenage girl came to take our orders, Alisa rapidly spoke in Spanish and the girl nodded her head and returned with two tequilas.

Lifting her glass, Alisa saluted me and downed it in one swallow. I looked at my glass and just sipped it; the burning liquid slid down my throat.

"Wow!" was all I could say, "But, I think I'll stay with beer."

We were halfway through our food, just making small talk about nothing when Alisa gave me the biggest shock of all.

"Vince, I don't know how to say this too well, so, please, just hear me out.

"Your mother and I were quite close... very close. If you remember, you and your brother were at my house almost as much as my daughter and I were at yours.

"Vince, your mother and I were lovers."

Jesus Christ!!!!! My bottle dropped; it hit the table, rolled off and smashed on the concrete floor.

She ignored the broken glass and the fizzing beer and took my hand.

"Vince... look at me. Your mom and I were together for a very long time... when we were still in high school. I loved your mother as much as anyone could."

Before I could speak, the young girl had brought a broom and dustpan and started sweeping up the beer-covered glass.

In a way, I was glad for the interruption. I quietly took a deep breath and looked out the window at the busy street.

By the time my beer had been replaced, my thoughts had calmed down enough I knew I wasn't going to say something stupid or insulting to the woman across the table.

I remembered when I called her 'Aunt Lisa' and how she and my mother looked so happy together. Suddenly, I realized my right hand had bunched up my pant leg so tightly it brought me out of my reverie.

"What about Dad?"

"When your mom and dad married, she was faithful to him; I mean, as far as, well... you know, that. She liked him as a good friend but I don't think she had that deep love we all look for with him. She always told me that you and your brother were her reason for living after he was gone.

"When your dad died in Korea... well, we eventually got back together. I was divorced by then. I never told Joe but he was broken by it and he left for somewhere.

"Honest to God, I hope that he's happy, now. I made a huge mistake in getting married. I'm so sorry that I did that to him. I told him there wasn't any one else, I just couldn't keep up the charade. He had a PI follow me, I found out later. Naturally, there wasn't another man and no one suspected a woman. I didn't want any alimony. After everything else, I couldn't do that to him."

"Do you hate me, now?" Her brows were furrowed and her eyes closed anxiously.

It was an interesting question, I thought. I didn't know what would have happened if my father had not been killed, but as far as I could remember my mother always loved my father.

"No... I'm OK; but, why tell me now?"

"I don't know... I guess everything you told me... I guess I wanted you to know that I was in your life more than you thought. I..."

"Alisa... it's all right. A little shocking, that's for sure... it's going to take me a while to get it all, especially, now... I mean, with her."

I couldn't even say my wife's name; I was that angry and depressed.

We sat there until early afternoon while I listened to her stories about my parents and later, about her and my mother.

Finally, she knew it was time to recognize the elephant sitting in the room. "What are you going to do? I mean, now that you know?"

My face reddened and my nostrils flared; she later said I reminded her of a bull ready to charge.

Then, something happened in my mind and a calm descended on me. Even the way I was sitting, changed. I was more relaxed than she had seen me all day.

"Well, like you said, the money's out of my control, but she's going to have to use it to pay the bills. That's going to be interesting, I think.

"I'm already screwing with her head with the car. Whether that car ever shows up again or not, I'm not sure right now but I know she's never getting it again. I wish there was a place to store it out of sight, but I'll just leave it where it is, for now.

"I've got a vacant apartment in the Manhattan Beach property, so I'm going to move my stuff there a little at a time. It's not much, just some books and things..."

I sadly realized that was all I had, now... some books and things and a couple of stupid football trophies. Not much to show for my marriage, not much to show for my life.

"Vince, about that; my daughter is coming out here from Texas and she needs a place to stay. She has a scholarship to USC grad school."

Well, I thought, there goes that idea. "Sure, she can have it. When does she arrive?"

"Monday... Amanda wanted to see California again before she starts this summer."

Alisa's request was so very inconvenient. I had planned to live there for a while until the house sold. Now, I would have to make do and find something else or just stay there and share the apartment or worse, stay at the house for the time being. There wasn't a chance in hell I... or she, for that matter, would ever live in that house again once the dust settled.

"Vince, if it has two bedrooms, why don't you just share the apartment? She won't be any trouble, I swear. Please, just give her a chance."

I knew I would help her... what she had done earlier was enough; I owed her.

I still had difficulty picturing my mother and Alisa... in bed, together. I shook my head, trying to physically throw that image out of my mind. It was starting to bother me and I wanted it gone.