Coy - Part Eight - "On Vibrate"

Coy

Part Eight

"On Vibrate"

            AFTER.

            The four telephone calls.

            I.

            “Better think about this.”:

            The telephone calls came in.... Historical Society, Lawyer, Bank and Helen... order.  I ranked them in Lawyer, Bank, Historical Society, Helen order.

            First off ...all this telephoning was just under three weeks AFTER my first visit (meeting?) with Helen and shows that I was... definitely... ‘going (summoned?) back’.

            The lawyer’s call was the most... ah... ‘Trophy Buck’ about this; a sort of congratulations for shooting a big one (‘breaking through’ – Part Three) on to a professionally giddy subliminal expression of my accessing a ...treasure trove.  He also filled out the bureaucratic pecking order of I... for I... and “they” (the bank) and... him and... I don’t really remember Helen being included in the paper trail directives.  WHERE to ‘send the bill’ with a TO WHO at the bank attached to that.  WHERE to send the... list... of the ...treasure... in the trove... I “FIND” “to the bank I’d like a copy of that too”.  WHEN I am to do ANYTHING to “let me know right away” and... a closing ‘remember I’m over here in my deer stand (Part Seven) too so don’t think I can’t see you”.

            “Fine” I said to all that and gave him a simple ‘ransack’, ‘loot’ and ‘carry off’ ranking of this lawyer’s ‘interest in all of this’.

            The bank was more subliminal and slow at getting to that... subliminal.  One to one of I and... an attentive bank officer-of-account-at... a desk managing attentive BANK accounts (note plural) for “their client” “I am calling you about”.

            ABOUT WHAT.

            Well... they didn’t know.

            EXCEPT...

            That their desk top in-their-face COLOR PIE SHAPED GRAPHS (note plural) of “their client” “SHOWS” that when it came to Helen... living in the Savage Mansion... “everything” (cash dollars) is going OUT and NOTHING (cash dollars) is GOING IN so that ...reviewing the pie shaped graphs from the desk top in some office cubical in BOSTON... “suggests” “WE” “need to review all of this” and

            DO SOMETHING?

            Money, in the pure form, was going down the drain ‘up there (their)’ ‘in Maine’.  I “am to examine the estate contents and report to “US” (this attentive bank officer-of-account-at a desk managing attentive BANK accounts for “their client” “I am calling you about”).  I received her direct contact information.  Then I received her “NO, NO, NO” direct contact information of where to send my bills for all this.  THAT address with telephone number (“You might need it”) was ALSO seven lines long “Boston, MA”.  Too.

            I reacted by redirecting the status of my first bill to the ...SAVAGE ESTATE ...just going out... to a ‘code red flag pay attention to doing this right and... doing it right NOW’.  Then I gave the bank, the telephone call and the bank officer a ‘rummage’ onward... after reviewing the pie shaped color graph of this rummage... to include the ransack, loot and carry-off... of the whole estate... including carrying Helen “off” and... selling the whole property (including the contents) after... ‘taking the top rough cut granite step with the boot scrappers at each side (Part One) OFF the steps to the Savage Mansion’s front door and pitching that step to the side... upside down’... so as to then be able to view on ‘their desk top in-their-face COLOR PIE SHAPED GRAPHS of “their client” a “SHOWS” that it is a “looks like it should up there” (direct quote from this bank officer).  Net result of purposed actions taken; no estate sucking money down the drain... in Maine.  All money in the ‘this bank’ client’s bank accounts in “Boston, MA”.  The Savage mansion cannot be ‘turned up side down’ if it ‘isn’t there’.  Right?

            Or... even after this... is it... ‘it’s still there’... too?

            Is it then... right side up or up side down?  “This (estate dispersal stuff) can get VERY confusing!” the bank officer told me.

            But I was becoming... not confused but... ‘more concerned’ about “better think about this”.

            The telephone calls... interest ante to I... changes with the Historical Society call.  Simplified as a view from my position... BOTH the lawyer and the bank telephone calls revealing subliminal ‘positions’ are NOT new to me or unexpected.  As an antiquarian, these parties are NEVER on the front line of ‘antiques’ having a mostly ‘rolls of toilet paper – sell them – sold them – put the money in the (MY) ... GOOD’ approach and interest ... ‘in the antiques’.  I won’t bother to amplify these parties interest in ... old New England, old Maine, history, garrets, humans, humanity, heirs, babies, births, wilderness huts, memorials, gravestones, congested parking lots at strip malls and... death.  Please:  Simply review their ‘on screen’ color pie shaped graph of that client’s account.

            So where does the telephone call from the historical society come from?  Well... they called me because HELEN... ‘went there’.

            She was ‘already a member’ but... dormant as one.  She suddenly... right after my ‘visit’, showed up there... WITH a “box full of old family letters” and “wanted to know if they and the ‘I have more of them’ ‘are something we’d want”.

            “Oh.” I said.

            “SHE ALSO said that you came to the house and TALKED with her about these LETTERS and OTHER FAMILY PAPER.  She GAVE ME you NAME and NUMBER.

            “Oh.” I said again.

            “OH.” he said to me.

            “Did she give you the letters?” I said.

            “No.  NOT YET.  But I told her we WANT THEM.”

            “Oh.” I said.

            “Oh.” HE said.

            Then he says “Are you trying to buy them?”

            “No.  Not yet anyway.  I haven’t looked at them.” I said.

            “Oh... well... we are VERY INTERESTED in them.”

            “Oh.” I said.  “Did you look at them?”

            “I just looked over that box.”

            “Well there we go.  That’s more than I’ve done.”

            “Are you trying to buy them?”

            “Well... not today.  I... ah... REALLY don’t know what’s going on up there yet”.

            “Well...; she said she plans to go over them WITH YOU.”

            “Oh... Well... maybe she means with YOU?”

            “Us?  No.  She says there are a lot more letters.  Did you see those?”

            “I saw old boxes of letters but didn’t actually LOOK at them; look at the letters.”

            “Well.  Let me just say to you that we are very interested in any letters from the Savage family so please keep that in mind.”

            “Your interest in mind?  I certainly will.”

            I remind that this call was received BEFORE the lawyer/bank calls.  And before the final-in-sequence ‘from Helen’ call.  No other call mentioned ‘letters’ or ...Helen visiting the Historical Society.  “Was that call real or was I just dreaming?”  I decided that the... historical society had somehow got wind of a possible ...rummaging, ransacking, looting, carrying off and TURNING UP SIDE DOWN of the locally prominent Savage estate and was... interested in ‘joining in’.  I observe that just because a historical society doesn’t mention a lawyer or a bank to me doesn’t mean THEY ‘don’t know of that’.  Or have ‘forgotten that’.  In fact, I have to denote, a historical society most often DOES KNOW... that if a wrought iron boot scrapper ...on a cut granite step... has been ‘pitched’ off to the side and is buried in the ground  ‘up side down’... ‘it is still there’.

            At the end of sequence came Helen’s telephone call.  Curt, formal and at ...exactly... nine AM.  Curt, exactly and formally WE “How about ten?” I said.

            “Would you come earlier; at, say, NINE.”

            “Sure.”

            “That way we’ll have enough time before lunch.  I’m going OUT for lunch”.  This was it forever... including a ‘I can arrive a few minutes early too’.  Turned out that HELEN didn’t start late (Part One).  SHE DID BUSINESS EARLY.  And then ate lunch ‘out’ with her friends ...for the rest of the day.  I ...was wrong told.  I corrected and NEVER was anything ever again but “nine” “sharp”.  The rest of the call was:

            “I’ve been called by both your lawyer and bank.”

            “Good.”

            I didn’t mention the historical society telephone call.  Or mention ANYTHING.

            “I’VE SPOKEN to BOTH the lawyer and the BANKING PEOPLE.  They know ALL about you now so your OK.  BUT IF you have any trouble from THEM, just let me know.”

            “Thank you.”

            “Your very welcome.  I look forward to SEEING YOU again.”

            Click.

            Or is it better to say ‘call ended’.

            And that was enough in its short-curt-trite clarity to... send out my red flag again with that red flag being a ...proceeding... the final positioning at my emerging ‘better think about this’.  I, as a professional antiquarian, had a ‘you know what’ moment.

            I don’t like those... moments.  They, when I have them, always seen to be a taking of my little top-of-the-cracker barrel checkers game... in my old country store of self... and abducting it off to a glitzy black market Las Vegas in the desert style of triple jump high stakes ...New England turned up side down.  Instead of going to the well in the front yard of... an old New England... and ...hand pumping myself a tin cup full of ice cold well water... I, INSTEAD, find my self – inner self - professional self... self saying things like “I wonder when they last had this well’s water tested to see... if it’s safe to drink”.

            Just because an old New England well has crystal clear ice cold water under the shade of its branch spreading SUGAR MAPLE TREES towering above that well and bordering the road in front of the ...old New England farm... I have come to ...repeatedly have to confront... due to the smothering quilt of... the congested New England... that... allowing for appearances... based on the ‘a coy façade of fabricated myth’... that the well, tin cup, shaded front yard and the well’s water... may be...  buried upside down.

            What that means right here right now for the Savage Estate, INCLUDING Helen... is... ‘don’t touch that tin cup of water to one’s lip too fast it might be... poison.

            Who’s on who’s side for what estate anyway?  WHAT?  Could... Helen be a PARTNER in... a... rummaging, ransacking, looting, carrying off and DESTRUCTION of the whole historic family’s estate SHE is the current heir to....? 

What was my mental ‘orange cones and red flags out’?  It was that ‘a little too TRITE’ telephone call.  It could be ‘just her’.  It could be:

            “Yeah...:

            “She knows those people (bank, lawyer and even the historical society)

            “They know her

            “Everyone knows everyone longer then... got to factor that in

            “I’m the new boy.

            “I’m just the hired man.

            “They... yeah... at this a long time.

            “Yeah... the whole place; lock, stock and barrel.

            “Bare foot.

            “Box of letters.

            “Send me a copy too.

            “NOW, NOW, now... just...:

            “They COULD ALL BE... in agreement:

            “Helen in on this too.

            “SHE...

            “AGREES...

            “No... no way.

            “But she knows WAY MORE than ‘you’d think’:  I’D THINK.

            “And I’m not even IN THERE yet.

            “I haven’t seen ANYTHING... yet.

            “She’s GOT to be on top of all of that; the bank.  That lawyer.

            “Got to be.

            “She’s too smart.  That’s it.

            “She’s smarter than me.  Setting me up in there.

            “I’M smarter than THAT.   OK, ok, ok.

            “I know more about this than she does.

            “This is her only estate.

            “Ok... I know estates.  I know this; lawyer bank lawyer bank.

            “Ok... we gotta... whose WE.  ME... I gotta...

            “Figure it (figure this thing out) then...

            “YOU DO IT.

            ‘If they’re gonna use you... turn it right back on ‘em.

            “DON’T SAY a... God Damn word.”

            “YOU are IT!”

            (--The coy façade of fabricated myth that is... New England.--)

            “I need some help.”

            “I need a crazy man.”