My good friend, Grammy Dee, from Grammy’s Grid, hosts a blogger’s link party based on story prompts
This story is a writing exercise and is linked up to Grammy’s Grid – Short Story Prompt Link Party 11 This is how it works…
- write a short story using the short story prompt she provides
- publish your post
- then add it to the link party here
Here is her Short Story Prompt….Just as she thought nothing else could go wrong, the doorbell…
Here is my story….
Aunt Rachel’s Surprise
Just as she thought nothing else could go wrong, the doorbell rang. Couldn’t this day just stop! All she wanted was to get a shower and go to bed early. Camille wasn’t even planning on cooking dinner, she was too exhausted to eat. Exhausted, and done with the day.
Camille’s day had been horrible from the moment she woke up. Late. She had taken a few days off work to take care of her Aunt Rachel’s affairs and it was her first day back at work since the funeral.
The staff is required to be there by 7:30 and Camille’s Principal frowned heavily at anyone showing up even 5 minutes late. Even the librarians. The first hour was usually a planning hour for the librarian and no children were to come in until 9:10, but today, Camille was called into the office for a meeting with her principal.
Mrs. Gillespie began by saying, “I noticed you were not here at 7:30. 7:38 is not acceptable.”
Camille swallowed hard. Mrs. Gillespie continued, “I’ve been going through your records trying to finalizing your retirement package to submit to the district office for your December retirement date. I am sorry to tell you that Randolph district has lost 3 years of your service. The state has no record of you ever working there. Camille sank back into her chair. “What do you mean?”
“I worked there for 3 years! How can they just lose my time?”
Mrs. Gillespie explained that after the school fire, there were several teachers whose records were destroyed and were never logged. Camille knew her records and the others had been lost in the fire, but the administration assured them that everything would be recreated and all the office files would be caught up and logged properly.
When Camille transferred to the Monroe district she assumed her files had been transferred as well.
Fearing the worst, Camille asked, “exactly what does this mean?” Mrs. Gillespie responded, almost whispering, “it means that we can not proceed with your retirement until the state somehow finds those three years and gets them documented. I am sorry. There is nothing we can do.”
With only 3 months left till she could retire, Camille had sold much of her belongings and was eager to move into her tiny house on her daughter’s property. Her son in law had built the house to her specifications and they were so excited to have her move there. Camille was happy to be near the grandkids and had great things planned with them for the holidays.
Her day was long and exhausting.
And now this….the doorbell is ringing. Camille looked out her bedroom window and saw the black SUV parked in front of her house. She ran downstairs and peeked through the door. Two men, dressed in black suits stood patiently waiting for her to open it.
Are you Camille Herrington?”, the tall one asked. “I am” responded, Camille.
The man explained that they were attorneys and were there to talked to her about her great Aunt Rachel’s estate.
“What is this about”, asked Camille. She had just returned home on Sunday evening. Camille had taken care of all of Aunt Rachel’s final expenses. Her aunt had no children and Camille was the sole heir to her estate. Camille was relieved to find that Aunt Rachel had everything set up and paid for, so Camille had little to worry about. Aunt Rachel had even prepaid the property taxes on the small farm for the next two years. Aunt Rachel’s attorney had given Camille the $8000 that was in her bank account and the deed to the farm. She was thrilled to have the money and planned to by a van to haul her 4 grandbabies around.
Camille seemed confused and said “I thought we had settled everything! I paid everything on her list, and even the lawyer said we were done.”
The younger man began to explain. “We work for the Davis Oil Company. The owner of Davis Oil loved your Aunt Rachel and enjoyed her Christmas cards every year. When they started pumping the oil on her far a few months ago, the owners had us hand deliver her checks. We were sorry to hear of her passing, her attorney directed us here to you. We will surely miss those teacakes she baked for us”, he said as he handed Camille the envelope.
He explained that since she was the sole heir she would be receiving the checks from now on. They would come about every 3 months and would be about the same amount each time.
Camille gasped as she opened the envelope. The check was made out to her for $30,000. She could hardly believe it could be true. Aunt Rachel had mentioned the small checks and said she was grateful for them, but she never mentioned how much they were.
Camille thanked the two men in black and told them she also inherited the teacake recipe. They smiled and told her they would call ahead next time.
Camille went upstairs, took a shower, and went to bed.
Tomorrow would be better, and so would the next day, and the next. She was certain they would find her lost 3 years of service, but if they didn’t, December would still come…
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