The note was written in a scrawl
Chapter
9) The
Forgive Card
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Churchail took the note out of his pocket again and put it on the desk. The confounded thing.
Strange
how it felt warm and made him laugh because he had no idea what it
meant. The writing was so scribbled. Each time he read it, it said
something different.
He used the magnifier. It was still different. He started over, and it was different again.
He
looked at his law degree on the wall. It didn't change. Closed one eye
and looked at it, and then the other eye. His eyes were working.
He muttered, why is this so hard to read? I need to see the doctor.
Earlier,
he found the note in his desk drawer under a sheaf of papers and almost
threw it out until he saw his mother's name appear on the bottom. It
was written in brown ink. He didn't remember seeing it before, and then
realized his mother's name wasn't there at all.
He was scheduled to meet the road supervisor that afternoon who was bringing a payment from the county bridge builder.
It was a hefty amount, needed immediately to keep construction on schedule. Otherwise Churchail would have to shut it down.
The appointment was delayed. Churchail kept thinking about the note, and read it again.
The
one word he could read for certain was Bank. The word Bank kept popping
up each time, and each time he read that part, the note turned cold. It
was unnerving. His face started to sweat and he almost threw the note
away again.
That was it. He canceled the appointment with the supervisor and started thinking about the election.
He
had to get Statewide Bank on his side, which meant losing support from
the Upstate Boys, which was dangerous. But fighting against the bank
was more immediate since his payoffs were funneled into the Abbeyville
Bank ... at least it was called the Abbeyville Bank until they became
Statewide Bank a few months before.
His old ally, Ricky Buehler,
a timely man of good Swiss European stock, was the bank manager before
the takeover. However good friend Ricky was fired over missing money,
and a new bank manager, Monty Gephart was brought in to replace him.
The
problem was Monty Gephart was one of those bastard northern
ballcounters. He was all numbers and refused to chum up to Churchail
which was beginning to chafe the commissioner's pants.
But more
worrying was that ol' friend Ricky might be discussing the County
Commissioner's banking habits to avoid prison himself.
Secretly
behind the scenes at the highest levels, Statewide Bank wished to
fulfill Mrs Churchail's dream of sending Mr Churchail up to the
bighouse, except bank records were missing.
Apparently, Ricky's
mismanagement and sloppy record-keeping, plus his secretary's
relationship with the Churchail family, and propensity to lose
documents during the bank takeover, caused a befuddled array of
confusion among examiners, as intended.
Statewide needed another
deposit from Churchail to have solid proof. And they knew from a local
source that Mr Churchail was expected to take a payment from the bridge
builder and figured he would come to the bank shortly afterward.
Instead
of falling into the trap, Churchail discovered personal reform at the
last moment, canceled the payoff appointment, and called Monty Ghephart
for a meeting. The phone exchange was down so the operator answered and
said, that's 812, I'll ring the number.
Monty Ghephart, expecting a
call, gleefully agreed to the meeting, then called long-distance to his
boss at the capital to report that Churchail's arrest was imminent and
they should expect Lever Lanky to win the election. The bank was
planning to have the state police send additional men to audit
Churchail's house once the arrest was announced. Good news for all, the
pig was nearly in the poke.
An hour later, Churchail entered the
bank expecting the usual greetings. He waved to the teller, but she
didn't look at him. That put a green feeling to his stomach.
No
matter, his newly minted reform was determined to meet doom with
optimism. Why exactly that thought filled his mind, he didn't know.
In
the mean time, Statewide already heard from their source that Churchail
didn't accept the payoff, so they faced a tough choice: Either hope he
took the payoff later or lull him into confession now.
After a
brief wait in the outer office, Churchail was steered into Monty
Gephart's office, where he was invited to have a seat. Another man was
there, and the three of them acted all cheerful, except the lack of
greeting from the teller told Churchail it was a fix.
True enough since two policemen waited behind a door in the next office.
A
few minutes passed and the Statewide guys hadn't made a move. Ten more
minutes, and still no arrest, or display of incriminating papers, or
discussion of options. Just conversation about the commissioner's
family and general banking habits. But more telling, despite apparent
friendlies, was the ballcounter Gephart’s face getting madder by the
minute.
But dumber yet, the police in the other room touched the
doorknob, causing it to rattle which alerted Churchail to the whole
play, causing him to laugh out loud, and embarrassing poor Monty.
Heh heh, it had been a long time since he played the game, but he had 'dem boys by the shorties again.
The tricky part was Monty still thought there was a chance to nab him, despite quite visible signs that Churchail already knew.
Fortunately
for Churchail, he was a gifted master of pulling stories out of chafed
trousers, and he just fished up a 10-pounder for Gephart.
Although
his transition to personal reform seemed doubtful, his mind was clear
now. He had been wrong all those years, not that he was planning to
pass out refunds, but he felt bad for ignoring the plight of fellow
citizens.
It's amazing what the double barrel threat of prison can have.
Churchail
figured real quick that Statewide needed a loyal commissioner to ease
the Upstate Boys' grip on local business, and grease the wheels of
progress that let the bank destroy local farmers.
Churchail was their man.
He said, you know Monty, I've been thinking about this for a while, you don't mind if I call you Monty now do you?
Monty
decided to shed his lizard skin and add a foil of pleasantry, and said,
oh no Mr Churchail, we have an open door here with our best customers.
The
previous manager kept fresh flowers in the office which Monty replaced
with grim looking filing cabinets. It was a point not lost on
Churchail, who saw a way to stir the hash with these new guys.
Look,
I understand the bank is unhappy about the way things are around here.
We can change that. You see, there are some boys that are causing a lot
of problems. They're running up the cost of doing business. You know
what I mean?
Yes, Monty said. We know about that. Aware now that Churchail was willing to get his hand out of their pocket.
The
other man sitting there was Statewide's Regional President, Louis
Lockman, a former boxer and wizard at creating debt for the purpose of
stealing ownership. He was the perfect man for commercial excavation of
farm properties from distressed folks, and had no personal interest
seeing Churchail in prison, especially having faced prison himself
during the war years for haphazardly shooting a few extra townsfolk
following a bank robbery.
Churchail used the opportunity and
said, let me put it like this; we all know money is a river and you
need an experienced man who can wade out there and get it flowing the
right direction.
If you put the bank behind me in the election, I'll
get things done with Lanky and he can go back to college and do what he
does there, and we can get down to business here.
Now obviously,
Churchail couldn't discuss payoffs and such, but getting the Bank to
support his election would imply their willingness to ease off the
investigation.
Monty looked at Lockman. They knew Lever Lanky
wasn't a politician and would get plowed under by the big money, but
they needed to know if Churchail was really going to double-deal the
Upstate Boys?
The bank was going to play both sides anyway and
Churchail knew it, but that was ok because he was the experienced
bullshitter they could trust.
Churchail turned and looked at Lockman with a big smile, and said, there will be no problem taking on with you guys.
At
this point, with the election just a few months away, it was improbable
that he could beat Lever, but Churchail had a plan to derail the
professor's slide rule.
However, there was another pressing factor.
The Upstate Boys were unlikely to take the loss without dealing death
to someone, but it wasn't Churchail's problem, at least immediately,
because the chance of them shooting somebody else was better than him
going to prison. That chunk of anti-social reasoning caused him to
chuckle. Lockman looked into Churchail's head and saw the joke, and
joined the laughter. The ballcounter missed it and continued steaming
in the stew.
Back home, Mrs Churchail was sequestered in her
house, hiding from friends and wishing to be knees to ears under Mr
Lanky. She was a thin, well-proportioned lady who carried her
aristocratic upbringing to win the state beauty pageant when she was in
college. Which is where she met the pandering philander Mr Churchail,
not that she was inexperienced herself in the desires of men that
fairly accelerated as she got older. Or to put it more directly, more
than several men carried memories of her handiwork.
Mr Churchail arrived home from the bank a renewed man and found his wife hiding in the second wing in an upstairs bedroom.
She was surprised to see him looking like a younger man. Almost fit.
He
dropped to one knee and confessed, all these years, my only love has
been for you. It's my fault. We've been apart too long and I want you
back.
Really, would you fall for that?
Except Mr Churchail was
serious. He didn't know it was true until he said it. She was his only
true love since they met and he wanted her now more than ever.
The
next 20 minutes of kissing and crying, oh you are my love kitten, that
culminated in the bed with a respunked old man doing his best to regale
her passion.
The next morning found the lovebirds chirping in
the dining room with toast and egg omelets delivered from the kitchen
by a Negro girl.
Mrs Churchail blissfully said they should go to the
Lever Lanky rally tonight, oblivious to Mr Churchail's possible rage,
fondly remembering Lanky's large course of mathematical dimensions, and
thinking that her brash attendance, accompanied by husband, would prove
the rumored affair was untrue.
Mr Churchail, loved-blinded by his
stunningly beautiful wife, likewise calculated that their attendance
would stamp his ticket to re-election, dreaming about the previous
night when it came true twice.
That evening, Mr and Mrs Churchail, dressed out in their finest wear, did indeed go to the Lanky rally.
The
event was underway and spectators overflowed at the tent entrance.
Churchail's driver drove directly through the crowd, forcing them out
of the way before dropping off the Commissioner and his wife at the
front.
Onlookers couldn't believe their eyes as the couple entered
the tent ... the crowd parting as the Churchails, arm in arm, regally
strolled toward the stage.
Greetings were shouted and Mr Churchail turned and smiled at the people.
Mrs
Churchail fixed her gaze on Lever Lanky who was on the stage, and
forced to stop talking. Sweet peach in a bowl, that woman was hotter
than a searchlight and he had no idea what to do, except return the
stare.
Lever's lips went dry, and his pants twitched out in a disproportioned tent of its own.
The
Churchails gracefully walked up the steps and onto the stage. She
waited at the edge while the Commissioner walked to Lever with his hand
stretched out in friendship.
Lever the fool, stuck out his hand and smiled.
Churchail wrapped his arm around Lever's shoulders and moved to the microphone.
Ladies
and gentlemen, let me tell you, Mr Lever Lanky here is a fine, fine
man. He is not a Yankee. He is one of us and a true man of the South.
The crowd roared. Churchail had 'em going now. Lever was forced to step
away and let Churchail take over his event.
Churchail's voice boomed out, we need to make changes in this county, and we're going to do it. More cheers.
My
wife is with me tonight, and she is the finest woman in the state.
We've been together 20 years and I've never been more proud of her in
my life for the fine things she has done for our family and this
community.
Blah blah for another half hour, like a drunk preacher talking about jumping off a roof.
When they left the stage, the crowd mobbed them.
So
there he was, the trot horse of human excess, Thomas Churchail, happily
hamhanding the voters at Lever Lanky's political rally, with his wife
by his side.
The tide of the election was turned. And Churchail's
arrival cleared Lever of being a Yankee, and solidified his reputation
with womanhood in general, despite warnings from local houses of
worship to avoid such deviance. Everybody won that day except the
voters, who were going to lose anyway.
Churchail tucked the note
away in a desk drawer forever, possibly needing further reformation en
route to salvation but he was catching on. Next day he had his
secretary send a potted plant, flowers and a puppy dog to Lanky, with
personalized stationary saying thanks.
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