Chapter 4

[Friday, June 20th, 1986]

Up in my room, I started with setting the box on my bed and pulling things out. I liked a few of the shirts she had in there, so it was good to see them again. I had no interest in the stuffed animals, but maybe Anne would like them. There were a few crystal animals in there, they would probably go to Anne too.

One of them did not look familiar to me, hell, it probably came from some other guy. That’s kinda funny actually. I can’t be certain it wasn’t from me, but I didn’t think so. The letters and cards at the bottom were trash as far as I was concerned. I didn’t even open any of them.

I stuffed all of the things that were trash back in the box to be taken out later and set it by the stairs. Shirts went into the laundry basket, I left the pile of animals on the bed for Anne to look at later. I didn’t want to spend too much more time up here, it gets really hot.

I dug the debit card out of my wallet and verified it was from the local Credit Union. I should also have a checkbook around here somewhere. Yep, in the nightstand.

The checks were the type that came with a carbon copy for each check, but the register was of course not filled out. I had no idea what the balance was. Well, that was stupid of me.

Wait, I looked more closely at the card. It wasn’t even a debit card. This thing was only good at the ATM for that branch, and whichever ones they were affiliated with. Well, at least I didn’t try to use it to make a purchase, that would have been even more embarrassing.

It was way too hot in my room and I was starting to feel hungry, so I headed back down to the kitchen. None of the leftovers in the fridge looked overly inviting. There were a few eggs and I saw a ham steak. That will work. I grabbed the items, plus a block of cheddar cheese, and set them on the counter. Some quick knife work turned the ham steak into way more diced ham than I needed.

The extra ham went into a small bowl, covered with some cling wrap, and was put back in the fridge. I shredded a small handful of the cheddar cheese with a box grater that was probably older than I was. Three eggs were cracked into another bowl.

A pinch of salt and some black pepper went in next. I looked for some hot sauce but wasn’t shocked to not find any. It wasn’t a staple in our home growing up. A dash of cayenne pepper would do, and she did have some of that. I mixed it all together well with a fork.

I put a small skillet on the stove and got it hot. A splash of olive oil went into the pan with the diced ham. When the ham was nice and hot, with a little color on some of the sides. I added a bit of butter, let it melt, then poured in the egg mixture.

I gently used the fork to stir it a little then set the pan off the heat. I quickly washed the bowl, it only took a few seconds, then I got the pan back onto the heat and kept moving the eggs around as they cooked.

When the eggs were just about how I like them I sprinkled on the cheese. I gave the eggs a final stir in the pan then transferred them into the bowl. I put a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster and washed, dried, and put away the pan. No mess.

I smiled because Mom would be proud. Shocked too, I was never that neat when I was a teenager. I grabbed the toast, buttered it, and sat at the table to enjoy my little brunch with a glass of milk.

As I ate, I looked at the clock and saw it was almost 1 pm. I had plenty of time to get to the Credit Union, as they’d be open until at least 5 pm on a Friday. I wasn’t in a rush, but I did want to get it done today.

I cleaned up what little mess remained and hit the road. There were several cars in the parking lot when I got there, and I went inside and got in line. It didn’t take long to get to a teller. Sarah was often a bit on the nosey side, but that is kind of expected from a small town Credit Union employee.

You got the impression they all gossiped about everyone’s business. Somehow I didn’t think I would be a customer for too much longer. I might keep the account with a little extra set aside, but I’d do my serious banking from a National Bank.

I said “Hi Sarah, how are you today?”. She smiled and replied, “So far, so good. What can I help you with?”. I responded, “Well, I can’t remember the PIN for my card and I need some cash for the weekend.”

She nodded her head and said “Sure, I can help with that. You’re account 2413 right?”. “I think that’s right, I don’t know how you guys do it. There is no way I could remember people’s numbers that way, but most of you guys manage to do so more often than not.”.

She replied, “It’s a gift.”, and then she whispered, “They encourage it as being better customer service”. I whispered back “I think they’re right, I just couldn’t do it myself” while smiling some more.

She had been typing away at the terminal in front of her, then she grabbed a pen and jotted down my new PIN for me. None of this “choose your PIN nonsense”, you used the PIN they gave you and liked it buster!

I thanked her and asked about the balance. She told me I had $635.73 in the account, with $610.73 available. I asked for $50 in cash, she nodded and filled out a withdrawal slip for me to sign. I signed it while she was counting out 2 twenties and a ten for me. She wished me a good weekend and I wished the same for her.

I bet you’re wondering why I was so flush. That was a pretty nice balance for a teenager who’s family isn’t made of money. Well, I had a job right up until a few weeks before graduation. I worked three nights a week doing light janitorial work for a guy who had contracts with a dozen or so businesses around town.

I’d clean the bathrooms, vacuum the occasional carpet, and maybe mop a few floors at whatever place he sent me to that night. I quit that job when he informed me he was hiring his wife’s nephew to do my job for the summer, and he was going to have me train him. Then he’d probably have to cut my hours back some.

I let him know he could do his own training instead and collected the last of my pay. Plus, I had just graduated back on Tuesday earlier this week. I remember making out ok with gifts from the Grandparents and assorted Aunts and Uncles, most of them gave money with their cards. I must have deposited the bulk of it into my account.

I could use more money in the short run, it wasn’t going to last until my big plans came through. Winning the lottery, the way I wanted to do it, was bound to take a while. I might even want to wait an additional month or two before claiming it. That should help the news outlets forget about it to some extent. Mom is going to be on me about getting a job pretty soon if she hasn’t already, and I’m going to have to do something or move out.

What I could use is someone I trusted who was 21 years old, or over. Gambling was likely to be involved, and Mom would NOT approve. I could skip all of this and use the 21-year-old version of myself, but I was in the AirForce by then. I was kind of hoping to avoid it if I could. I don’t regret my time serving, but that lifestyle is more regimented than I want to be right now. Nah, best avoided I think.

I’d have to think more about the over 21 person, but if it was quick money I was looking for ... I wonder if it’s too late to buy another lotto ticket. I headed to the nearest convenience store, coincidentally it was another Cumberland Farms, but on the other side of town. I asked the cashier if I could still get a ticket for tonight’s lotto drawing and he replied, “We can sell them right up to 7:30 pm, but not a minute after”.

Perfect, I went over and filled out a slip with the numbers 6, 13, 14, 30, 34, 40, and bought a second ticket for myself. I intentionally got the last number wrong. The lotto display said that 5 out of 6 numbers should be good for about $2,000 depending on how many sold, and that would probably make a nice seed to my bankroll. I might not even need to go to Lotto Headquarters to cash this in. I had another plan for claiming the big prize that would hopefully keep it anonymous.

I headed back to the house. It looked like Mom was home, her car was in the driveway. As I stepped into the house she looked up and said “Hi sweety”. “Hi Mom, back from playing chauffeur for the rugrats? Where are they at?” I replied. Mom explained that: “Michael and Anne are spending the night at the Hummels, maybe for the entire weekend. We’ll have to see how it goes. Jack and Grace wanted both of them to go to the races tomorrow morning.”

Jack Hummel and Michael were very good friends from school, and he had a younger sister, Grace, who was only a few months older than my little sister Anne. They all spent a lot of time together as a group. They lived only about 10 minutes away if you were willing to walk through the woods, much less by car. Mom got along well with their parents too, so there were a lot of co-visiting opportunities between our households.

Jack raced BMX bicycles, he did pretty well at it too. But at only 10 years old, his competition wasn’t exactly world-class either. Michael had been making noises about getting into the sport too. I bet I could help him out with that this time around. That would be fun.

I looked at the clock, it was almost 2:30, and I asked Mom, “What are we doing for dinner tonight?”. She said, “I was thinking of Meatloaf, but with the little ones being gone, and Marybeth out with Tom, that leaves just you, me, and maybe David. It seems like a little too much.”

I said, “Let’s see if we can find out for sure who will be here, and then order some pizza. I’m buying.” She smiled and said, “OK big spender. I’ll see if I can track them down.” With that, I headed into the living room to watch TV and think some more.

The big picture I had in mind here, involved setting up myself as a young, financially independent individual. I wanted to experience what it was like not to worry about money for a while, and just live well.

While I don’t necessarily want or need a college education, I have always regretted not getting the college experience outside of movies and stories. Being educated enough not to get screwed out of my money had some value to me as well.

The lottery winnings will do just fine in paying for all of that. At least for a start. Now, getting myself to that point anonymously will take a little time, and I’ll need to do something for at least the next few months as I get things set up the way I want. I will probably be shopping for a tax attorney starting early next week.