Going, Going, Gone

Macy stood beside the door to blow her nose on the remnants of her tissue. There was no stopping the tears but she could at least save herself a bit of humiliation by not sniffing at her guest. The timing couldn’t be worse, so she hoped it was an understanding friend.

She wiped her eyes on the cuff of her blouse, stuck the tissue in her pocket, and opened the door to a man she had never seen before. Good. He probably had the wrong address. This would end quickly and she could return to her pity party. Sometimes crying it out was the best way to move forward. Forcing a smile, she nodded her greeting.

“Richard Zwicker,” the man announced, extending a business card between his index and middle fingers. “I want to buy your house.”

A wave of relief washed over as Macy opened the door to take the card. How close she had come to ignoring the bell and missing this opportunity. Maybe luck was on her side now.

“Who told you? I haven’t even called anyone yet,” she said, reviewing the information this man wished to share with the world. He paid cash for houses.

“Your house is scheduled for auction at the court house. Public information. I can help you keep it out of auction.”

Wrestling emotions, Macy curbed disappointment over not knowing her private life was on display at the courthouse and let a real smile emerge for this man who had come to help. “That would be nice. Do you want to see inside?”

He shook his head. “I’m prepared to make an offer. I’ll pay the taxes due and give you fifteen hundred dollars. Keep it out of auction, which you don’t want on your record, and give you some cash to relocate.”

“You must have the wrong information. The house is paid for and I only owe eight thousand in taxes and interest.”

He scanned the top paper in his stack. “I see that. I’ll pay the taxes. You’ll be relieved of that debt and can walk away free.”

“Fifteen hundred dollars? What about the other hundred thousand?” The tears returned.

“You’d get less than this in auction,” he warned. “It’s a nasty business.”

“I’ll have to think about it.” She held his card up. “I have your number.” She closed the door before he witnessed the flood.

The house needed work, but was worth at least a hundred thousand even after deducting the cost of a new roof. Richard Zwicker was a thief. She went to the bathroom to wash her face and opened the medicine cabinet to get something for the headache she felt coming on. More tears rushed forward as she moved the morphine the hospice nurse had missed when flushing what was left of George’s medications.

She tossed the morphine in the trash and pulled a bottle of generic aspirin off the shelf as the doorbell rang again. If the thief had returned, she would tell him what she thought of him this time. Wiping her nose on her cuff, she yanked the door open.

“Macy, you okay?” Olivia Franks stood on the porch with a tall blonde. “I brought Jasmine. She’s in real estate and might be able to help, or at least answer some questions.”

Macy let them in and apologized for the state she was in. “I felt bad enough before that man came and insulted me,” she explained. “I’m afraid he sent me over the edge.”

Olivia went to the kitchen to pour tea while Jasmine and Macy got acquainted. “I had to quit work and take care of George in the end. They gave me six weeks, on account of that Disability Act or something, but the company wasn’t happy about it. Harassed me constantly about needing me to come back. George hung on for two years, ate up all our savings.”

Jasmine shook her head. “That must have been very hard for you.”

“Taking care of George wasn’t so hard, it was worrying about money that made me nervous. Ever notice how one bad thing leads to another? Anything that could go wrong during that time did. They canceled my homeowners policy because I was out of work and behind on bills. Said I was high risk, even though I’d never filed a claim in twenty-two years. And then a storm whipped up and blew the neighbor’s tree on my roof and knocked the fence out. I had to fix the fence on account of George’s dog. He loved that dog and I couldn’t let him get out and get hit by a car or something with George in that shape.”

Olivia chuckled as she came back in the room. “She fussed over that dog almost as much as she did her husband, and she hated the mangy mutt before George got sick.”

“I still wasn’t fond of him, but he was George’s baby. I had to care for him, for George’s sake.” She took a sip of tea. “I’m afraid we’re wasting your time,” she said to Jasmine. “There’s not time to sell the house before the auction. We only have two weeks.”

Olivia smiled at Jasmine and nodded.

“I still might be able to help,” Jasmine said. “I have cash. If you’re willing, I can buy your house as quickly as we can schedule a closing.”

Macy wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I hope you’re going to offer more than fifteen hundred.”

“Fifty thousand,” Jasmine offered. “I’ll have to pay the taxes you owe, make repairs and update before I can sell it again. And I have to make some profit for my time and investment.”

“Sounds better than the last offer,” Macy said. “I need to think about it. I can’t buy another place for fifty thousand.”

Olivia moved over to the couch and put an arm around Macy. “Honey, you’re gonna lose everything if you don’t do something quick. Fifty thousand’ll pay a lot of rent. All you need’s a small apartment now that it’s just you.”

Macy closed her eyes. She didn’t want to look at her visitors, or at the house George had worked so hard to provide for his family. Losing him had been enough. It was too soon to face another loss.

“Fifty thousand is one year’s salary. Even if I’m careful, that isn’t going to last the rest of my life,” Macy argued, more with herself than the others. “Who’s going to hire a broken, sixty-year-old woman and pay her enough to live?”

Jasmine wrote some figures on a paper and handed it and her business card to Macy. “Think about it. It’s a big decision, and one you shouldn’t make too quickly. You can call me when you’ve decided what you want to do.”

“What about a home equity loan?” Olivia asked after Macy had shown Jasmine out. “You could pay the taxes and fix the roof.”

“Tried that. I need a job and to clean up my credit first,” Macy said.

Frustrated, Olivia reached for her purse. “Why’d you let things get this far out of hand, Macy? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I had to take care of my dying husband,” Macy said. “My mind couldn’t go beyond that.”

Olivia headed for the door and stopped to offer her final thoughts. “You don’t have much time. Better give Jasmine’s offer serious consideration."