Dark Night

Bank account

I was still in a really good mood the next day when I went to the bank to make a deposit in my savings account. I really ought to move my checking account here too, I thought as I pushed the door open and nodded to the security guard here. I could easily make transfers between my checking account and the savings account. But it was kind of fun to go to the bank, it felt adult. I only had a short wait, and the teller completed the transaction efficiently. "Anything else I can help you with?" she said cheerfully, and I returned her smile.

"No th--" I broke off as I looked closer at the receipt. "Actually, yeah. There's a problem here. There seems to be seven thousand dollars missing. It should be almost forty two thousand. It's my college money." I looked at her without comprehension. "Could there be a calculation error or something?"

"A few cents, maybe, as interest is calculated, but not several thousand," she said, frowning. "Let's take a look at the transactions." She typed, then scrolled down. "Ah." After a pause, she turned the screen to me.

A withdrawal had been made earlier in the month. By my mother.

I though I might pass out.

"Could I close this account and open a new one?" I asked, clearing my throat.

"Well, you're not the only owner of the account," she said, looking at the information. "Jane Knight and Charlotte and Joseph O'Reilly are also on this account. Excuse me, Charlotte is deceased."

"Jane is my mom. My grandma died a couple of years ago." I felt tears well up in my eyes. "My mom used my college money for my brother's skating." I could see the teller put two and two together, but thankfully she didn't ask about my brother.

"Well, what we can do is transfer this money to a new savings account," she said, and when I agreed, walked me over to a customer service rep, explained that we needed to transfer the money to an account where I would be the sole account owner, and it was done easily.

I was a little unsteady as I left the bank. Sitting in the car didn't seem to be helping any, so I drove to the condo slowly and carefully. I went in and sat on my bed, trying to make sense of it all, but I couldn't understand why Mom would think it was ok to take that money. Grandma had left me that money specifically for college and college-related expenses like application fees. She left Starry an equal amount, which he could use for skating instead. I reached for my phone.

"Grandpa, did you know that Mom took seven thousand dollars out of my college fund?" I asked as soon as he answered the phone. He was silent.

"No, I was unaware of that," he said after a moment. "How did you find out?" he asked after a moment more, and I told him about checking the slip after my deposit, having to clear my throat first. "I don't quite know what to make of this," he said. "But I'll get to the bottom of this, Delia."

I didn't know what might be confusing. The only thing in our lives that could swallow that much money was my brother's skating career. After a bit, I got up and went to my closet, clearing the top shelf of all the cheap little stuffed animals, including the bunny I'd tried to teach trig to. Up until that national title, he'd always brought me back a cute stuffed animal from each competition from the ones fans tossed on the ice. I put them in a garbage bag, throwing it into the dumpster. Then I went back to my room to wait.

I just sat there until I heard the front door open a little past six, then I walked out into the living room. "Hi, Delia, how was school?" Mom asked, putting her briefcase down.

"Why did you steal seven thousand dollars from my college fund?"

Her head jerked up, dismayed. "I didn't steal anything. We will repay that money. But Stan's platelet therapy isn't covered by insurance, and the bill was due." Her face and voice were tight.