Chapter 11

"Charles, get to the bank and get your money out right now!" Melissa ordered her husband in an alarmed voice. She had heard from Murial Brown and Madelain Waters, (McConnell) that some of the stockbrokers were alarmed by the fact that the Dow-Jones had dumped their holdings in a panic.

"Melissa, I'm alone in the store."

"Then call the bank, I'm taking the girls to get down there to withdraw what we've got."

"But..."

"But nothing," she fumed. "If all this is wrong, we can always put it back. If I'm right, we will be in deep trouble and lose everything we have."

"How are you going to carry all that money?" he asked.

"NEVER YOU MIND!" she shouted. "Call the bank. Michelle and me are going down there now. She's already talked to Michael. And don't waste your time calling him until you've called the bank first. Now get off the phone and make that call!" Melissa ordered hanging up on him.

"Mommy, what's happening?" Mona asked. She was now seven and sensed her mother's fright. "Did something happen to Daddy?"

"Nothing happened to Daddy," Melissa embraced her daughter. "How would you like to go with me, Aunt Michelle, Briget, Olivia and Jenny to downtown."

"Yay!" Mona jumped up and down clapping her hands. "Can we get some new clothes?"

"It's not a promise but we'll see," Melissa hugged Mona again.

"Goody!" the child smiled running out of the room to change into another dress.

Melissa took a few deep breaths to calm herself then got up to change herself. It was October 29th, 1929 and she had heard of the rush to sell the stocks as the Dow was falling like a rock in water. The phone rang.

"Hello."

"Melissa, I have Briget and Olivia all ready to go. I'm on my way over to pick you and the girls up," Michelle told her sister.

"I'll be ready."

The mothers and four little girls were sitting at the bank president's desk. After a futile attempt to reconsider, he managed to scrape together the quarter of a million dollars for both of the Mays' families. Melissa and Michelle were adamant about getting their money out of the bank. Actually the plan was not to take it out of the bank, but to transfer it their private lockbox where all the jewelry minus one gem were stored along with cash of their own. They were escorted down to the vault area where they signed in and after the keys were inserted, each pulled out their lockboxes. In the years after John and Thomas' deaths, they had to rent another large box keeping the jewels and cash separated. The ladies wanted to take a quick peek into the one containing all the gems.

"Look at all of this," Michelle commented, trying to rearrange the box holding the bills. It was almost full to begin with. I don't think we can put anymore in it. The four girls were in a room right outside the vault area being entertained by the vault supervisor. They pulled out all the cash only containing one hundred dollar bills wrapped in five thousand dollar increments. They did a quick count, which took them an hour, to come up with the sum total of over two million dollars.

"I'm glad we just let it sit here and not invested in anything," Melissa said putting all the stacks back into the box. When they ran out of room they quickly debated on taking some home or stacking it in the container holding the jewelry and raw, uncut gems. Deciding to take a thousand a piece, they quickly took inventory of precious stones plus some small gold coins and then stacked the rest into the second box. After putting the containers back and locking them, they retrieved the girls and walked upstairs to a mob scene where many people were lined up to withdraw their money but the May's sisters had just about depleted all the reserves the bank had for the day. Smirking and giggling, the mothers, with their kids in tow walked out into the chilly winds of Chicago's downtown area.

"Let's have lunch," Melissa suggested.

"Brewers?" Michelle started the car.

"Why not, we saved our hubbies behind. We deserve a nice meal," Melissa smiled. She looked at the four angels in the backseat. "How about it girls, Brewers?"

"Brewers are fine, Mommy," Mona answered. "Mommy, why were all those people at the bank shouting and swearing? What does fuck mean?"

"Nice young ladies don't use that word," Melissa corrected her kindly. "The people were upset because they wanted their money and can't get it."

"But you got yours."

"Yes, Mommy and Aunt Melissa got there first so we did get ours."

Charles was pacing like a madman when Melissa walked in. The girls ran to their Daddy and leaped into his arms.

"Well?" he asked.

"We got the money and it's in a safety deposit box," Melissa answered, pulling a long hat pin from her beautiful hair. "We got there just in time."

"How much did we get?"

"We got it all, a quarter of a million each."

"We dodged a bullet," Charles released the girls. "This panic is going on nationwide."

"Thanks to your wife," Melissa smiled embracing him. She wanted a hug right at the moment and it felt good to have his strong arms about her. "Wanna fuck later?" she whispered almost silently in his ear.

"Definately," he kissed her. He felt her tongue enter his mouth while at the same time she savored his hardness poking into her navel area. It boded well for both. They would have great sex later that night without the stress of losing their money.

"Here I took a little out for us, I have a feeling that checks aren't going to be any good for the time being. Girls, get out of the those dresses if you're going to run around," she told her daughters as Jenny was chasing after Mona squealing at having fun.

For the rest of the week, the financial news was not good. As bad as things seemed at the moment, few believed that it would get worse. A lot worse. And eventually Charles and Michael would lose their stores. However at that moment the thoughts of this lasting was believed of in days and weeks, not years. Still they had their money safe and sound.