Chapter 23

"Mr. Wilcox," Sammy said standing at the telephone in his store, a half-eaten Oreo in his hand, "you won't remember me, but we met before the war when I was looking for work. My name is Sam Williams. We live out Rockville way."

"You are right, sir," Wilcox said, "I do not recall you offhand, but what can I do for you? Do you need a job?"

"No sir, we're looking for some investment advice, me and my wife. She just inherited some money. Her parents died at the Knickerbocker Theater."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "two of our bank officers and their wives were there; one was killed and another is still recuperating with two broken arms."

"Could we come in and talk with you or somebody about the best thing to do with our money?"

"Of course," the banker said, "that's why we are here. Most of our funds are invested in mortgages you understand, some in sound insurance companies but mostly local homes, property and buildings."

"Yes," Sammy said, "my wife believes the best thing would be to buy some land."

"She'd make a good banker. Tomorrow?" asked Mr. Wilcox, "I'll set up an appointment for you with our Mr. Lewis.

"About ten," Sammy said. "We'll come down on the trolley. Too cold to drive an open car."

"Very well, ten o'clock. I look forward to seeing you again."

They rode the streetcar through Bethesda and Tenleytown into Georgetown where they paused at the plow pit. Even in the city, snow hid in shaded alleys and deep doorways. At the bank, they were shown into an anteroom with leather chairs, and Mr. Wilcox soon appeared, shook Sammy's hand and bowed and expressed his condolences to Polly. He led them to an office with tall widows that looked out on the busy street.

A half hour later they left with a sheaf of papers, their heads filled with more information than they thought possible to understand, a multitude of choices where before they thought there were only two or three. They lunch at a cafeteria in the bustling city and did some window-shopping at Polly's insistence. On the car heading back into Maryland, they sat on the wicker seat and quietly considered the problems of having money and smiled at each other.

Jenny was happy to see them and hurried off to save her mother from her children since they had been home from school for a while. Polly took some of the folders and tables of figures home, and Sammy spread others on the counter and tried to study them and absorb a whole new vocabulary of financial terms. He concluded that the old saying was true, death and taxes were sure and everything else was a gamble.

All that week, he and Polly talked about what to do with her money and eventually they decided to put half in the D.C. bank as an investment and to also open a checking account at the Farmers' Bank in Rockville and to buy a farm or some property as soon as possible. Sammy put the money in their checking account along with cash from a week of store receipts, but in his mind, still thought of it as Polly's money. The Rockville banker, who asked about Caroline's health but not Seth's, looked at the Wisconsin check suspiciously and said they could not draw on the full amount for a week.