“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m fine, thanks to you and all the work you did with the moving.”
Pearl was talking on the phone to her daughter in Michigan.
“And such lovely people here. Especially my neighbors next door. You met them. Bonnie and Lou? They’re a little younger than I am, but they don’t seem to mind.”
Pearl though back to that day, a few weeks ago when she arrived. Those two knocked on her door.
“Welcome!” they said, introducing themselves.
“Call on us if you need anything. Anything at all,” Bonnie had said.
“Yes, that’s right,” her husband joined in. “You’ll find us very friendly, so if you need a ride to the supermarket or whatever, don’t hesitate.”
The contentment Pearl began to feel helped overcome the homesickness of her move to the new retirement community.
And as it turned out Bonnie and Lou were true to their words. They did take her shopping, and also to restaurants, where sometime Lou insisted on picking up the check.
Soon they were visiting back and forth, playing cards, etc. It was wonderful, wonderful…except that Lou was a thief. He had been most of his life, off and on.
Evidently Pearl had given the impression of being well off, as well as a trusting person who was sometimes forgetful. Like the evening she went next door for cards and forgot her reading glasses.
“Sit,” Lou told her. “I’ll get them for you.”
“Just tell him where you think you left them, honey.” Bonnie said.
“I’m sure they’re on the dining room table. But you don’t have to bother.”
“No problem,” Lou assured her. “Give me your key and I’ll be right back.”
He returned with the glasses soon enough, but in his pocket he also had one or two other goodies. When he had examined the jewelry box on the dresser, it was such a mess that he concluded she had no idea of its contents. And what Lou saw make his eyes shine – gold pins, earrings, diamond pendants. He had to restrain himself.
That night in bed he described the treasures to Bonnie.
“But go slow,” she cautioned.
“I will. I will. But believe me, she’ll never miss them. It’s a jumble in there.”
“She does seem a little forgetful,” mused Bonnie.
“Of course. Aren’t we all?” said Lou, smiling as he went off to a blissful sleep.
There were many such ruses, giving him the opportunity to steal Pearl’s jewelry. Throughout it all, she was oblivious and continued to praise them to her family. In fact, she even left her keys with them when she went on overnight excursions.
“Do you realize the fortune this woman brought with her?” Lou said. It was late in the evening and they were sitting at the kitchen table, shades drawn, as they looked over his collection. He lovingly fingered each piece.
“Beautiful…beautiful,” he exclaimed.
“We have to be careful. Not get too greedy. What if she notices things are gone?” Bonnie asked nervously.
“She won’t. It’s so tangled up in there. I don’t know how I managed to get as much as I did. She never wears any jewelry. You notice? Anyway in another two weeks we’ll be going up to our son Jay; right? Then I’ll go see my friend Larry. After that we’ll give it a rest. Aren’t we about ready for a new car; hmm?”
The day they were leaving for their trip, Pearl gave them a box of homemade mundel bread and some chicken sandwiches.
“Come back in good health,” Pearl said, kissing them.
“Thank you, honey,” Bonnie said, hugging her. She really liked the woman, but business was business.
When arriving at their son’s home, Lou took a day off to recover then, unable to contain himself any longer, drove off with the jewelry.
“I want to stop by and see some of my old buddies,” he had told his daughter-in-law.
“Be careful, Pops. The old neighborhood is kind of rough now.”
At Larry’s he had to wait until a customer left. Then alone with him in his office, Lou showed him the jewelry from a velvet pouch.
Larry adjusted his eyepiece and peered closely. Lou held his breath, suppressing a smile.
“Fake!” he said, looking at Lou incredulously.
“You’re lying!” shouted Lou.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
“Here,” Lou said, “I have more. Look at these.”
“Fake, fake, FAKE!” Larry shouted. “You’re losing your touch. Maybe you need new glasses.”
Lou sat down on a chair, his knees trembling.
“I don’t believe you,” he said, gathering up his treasures, but in his heart he knew that Larry was the best.
Still, he tried two others. They didn’t pay as much, but so what? But it was the same story. The second one, Freddie, offered to buy the whole lot for $75 because there were such beautiful fakes.
“You used to be so sharp at this, Louis,” he smirked.
Furiously, Lou shoved all of the pieces back into the bag and stormed out. On the next block he stopped and threw them into refuse barrel.
On the return ride back to his son’s home he drove like a mad man, with shaking hands and a dry mouth.
“All the rugalas we fed that woman!” he cursed, the strong language escalating as he sped along.
Meanwhile, back at the retirement community, while Bonnie and Lou were doing their visiting, Pearl’s family had arrived – her daughter with husband and two children. The svelte and lovely granddaughters, now quite grown up were examining Pearl’s jewelry.
“Remember how you used to let us play with this jewelry, Grandma?” they said, trying them on. “They’re so quaint!”
Take them. Why don’t you take them, darlings? I never wear them anymore. A bunch of junk.”
Shortly after Bonnie and Lou returned, he had a heart attack. After he returned from the hospital Pearl brought over a jar of chicken soup she had made. She wasn’t allowed to stay very long.
Molly, a neighbor on the next floor stopped her as she was leaving.
“How is Lou doing?” Molly asked.
“Not so good,” Pearl told her, sadly. “I would miss him so much.”
Florence Liberfarb writes poetry, short stories and plays. You may freely republish this story for non-commercial use provided you follow the Publisher Guidelines and provide a hyperlink (electronic media) to the Wordly Web Site. You may not alter the copyright notice or edit the content of this story. Please notify the author of your intent to republish. Commercial use of this story requires written permission and payment of a royalty.
Early Retirement by Florence Liberfarb
Copyright © 2005-2007 All Rights reserved
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Poems, Stories, and Plays byFlorence Liberfarb
