Page 11 of Sensing Selma
“Do not try to butter me up, Mr.Baker. You are a crude, rude, heartless man and you know it.” She pointed at Mother. “Do you know what all of this is doing to our poor mother? We lost our father only a few weeks ago and now you want to so ruthlessly throw us out of our home.”
He leaned in closer to her, close enough for her to lean back. He grinned, an ugly and nasty grin. “Perhaps you would like to sit down with me and discuss an alternative arrangement.” His gaze dipped into the decolletage of her dress. “I’m a reasonable man and could be convinced to leave you another week.”
More disgusted than I’d ever felt in my life, I grabbed Holly by the arm and pulled her away from Mr.Baker.
“We’ll be out of here in two weeks,” I said, not trying to hide my disgust.
“Pity,” he said with a sneer.
THREE
Susan
Meeting the detestableMr.Jeremy Baker, who would soon take possession of Selma Sanctuary was motivation enough for us to speed up our packing.The thought of seeing him again while he tried to measure each wall and door of our home drove Holly, Mother, and I to pack as much as we could before the two weeks would be over.“This is too much,” Mother said as she sat back in her wheelchair. “It’s all so overwhelming.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks, Mother,” I said. “I’ve already taken inventory of everything. All the valuable paintings have been packed, all your personal items have been taken care of. We only have a few more things to deal with.”
We were all in the den, going through the many filing cabinets my father had. Most of the documents were of little importance, but we wanted to be sure we didn’t do away with anything that could serve us at a later date.
“Hey,” Holly called out as she opened a file. “There’s a life insurance policy here.” She held it up. “Did you know about this, Mother?”
She nodded. “Look at the date. Your father took that out when you were a little girl. He stopped paying two or three years ago. It’s worth nothing now. I don’t know why your father didn’t throw it away.”
“There are many things here that should have been thrown out long ago,” I said.
I suddenly heard distant voices. “Did you guys hear that?”
They both looked at me with blank expressions.
“And this is the front foyer.”
I looked at my mother. “That is Mr.Baker’s voice,” I said as I tossed the file in my hand aside and stood up. “Shoot. That man cannot just simply show up any time he likes. This is untenable.”
I then heard a softer, gentler voice; younger and more measured.
“And he’s here with someone else again,” I whispered. “No. No. No. I can’t let this go on.”
