Page 33 of Leo

“Lenora, how will you ever get that kind of money in time? You only have three days to get the payment in, or you’ll be expelled. We’ve been trying to get payment from your parents for more than a month now. There’s no money there, according to them.”

“Don’t give away my spot. Please. I’ll be back. I want to finish my education at MIT.”

“Alright, dear. You have seventy-two hours.”

Lenora caught the first train to Connecticut, although it took three credit cards to work. The first thing she did was call the credit card companies to see what her available balances were. Unfortunately, not nearly enough to pay for her semester, but it was enough to get her home and a little more.

As she approached the mansion on Cos Cobb Harbor outside of Greenwich, Connecticut, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Massive moving trucks were emptying her parents’ home.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking those things?” she yelled.

“Out of the way, honey,” said a big, gruff man in a moving company shirt. “It appears Daddy needs to sell everything.”

Lenora pushed past the man and stormed inside to see a hive of activity. Moving men, auctioneers, and appraisers were tagging items. Her items. Her things that she would inherit.

“Mom! Dad!” she yelled. Her parents stepped around the corner, staring at their daughter. “What the hell is happening?”

“Lenora,” whispered her mother. “We didn’t expect you so soon. Why are you home from school?”

“Why? Mom, my tuition check bounced. Three times. I’ve been told to leave unless I come up with the money within seventy-two hours. You asked me to come home!”

“Nori,” said her father, shaking his head, “I’m so sorry, pumpkin. Things are bad, kiddo. Really bad. I’ve lost everything.”

“Lost everything? What does that even mean, Dad? Isn’t this our home? Wasn’t this great-grandpa’s home? Don’t you own it?”

“It’s not that simple, Lenora,” said her mother. “Your father and his company made some very foolish investments and attempted to move the money around so no one would know until it could be fixed. Except that it can’t be fixed. In order for us to pay our creditors, we’ve got to sell everything. Even the house.”

“Everything. That china was my great-great grandmother’s,” she said, pointing to the wall of glassed shelves. “Those books, thousands of books, were part of my great-grandfather’s collection he brought from Europe. The paintings, the rugs, the tables, they belong tomyfamily. They belong to me!”

“Enough!” yelled her father. She stared at him in shock. Her father never displayed anger. Never. “It belongs to the creditors now. They will auction it off, and, with any luck, I won’t do any time in jail.”

“Time in jail?” she frowned.

“You won’t ever understand, Lenora,” said her mother, stepping closer. She looked around them, seeing people scrambling, touching her things. Then she whispered to her daughter. “Go to your room and take anything that’s truly special to you. Hide it in your bag and leave, Lenora. Go back to school.”

“I can’t, mother,” she ground out. “I don’t have the money for tuition.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping away from her daughter. “That’s all I can offer you.”

Lenora turned and ran upstairs, pushing men and women aside as she raced toward her room. They seemed occupied with the downstairs at the moment. Inside, she grabbed all of her jewelry and things that were most precious to her.

She hated the idea of giving up her huge, canopied bed and the furniture pieces that were hundreds of years old. She knew the value of them. Sitting on the floor, she could feel the panic rising in her chest.

“There’s not enough here,” she whispered to herself. Wiping her eyes, she slowly stood and peered into the hallway. Still, no one was on the second floor. She made her way along the wall and into her parents’ room.

Inside their dressing room, she opened her mother’s jewelry chest and smiled. This would be more than enough. Not even caring how she handled the items, she dumped the drawers of jewels into her backpack. When that was done, she went for her father’s multi-million dollar watch collection.

Staring at the custom suits, furs, and glittering gowns, she knew that they were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but she wouldn’t be able to get them out.

“This will be enough,” she said to herself.

She could sell it all, and it would be enough for tuition and to live on for several years if she were careful. With great effort, she placed the backpack over her shoulders and headed back downstairs.

“Lenora? Where are you going?” asked her mother.

“I’m going to sell my things,” she said, glaring at her mother.

“Will it be enough?” she asked compassionately.

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