A story I recently wrote working with another writer who came up with the story idea. “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID” Joel Adams had no idea that his life was about to change in a few moments because he was in a deep sleep and he wasn’t aware that he even had a life. But he was startled into consciousness by the ring ring of his phone and without even knowing what he was doing he reached for the receiver. “Hello,” he said, only partially woken up. He heard nothing. “Hello!” A throat being cleared and then a whispering male voice said, “I know what you did.” Then a click. “Hello…hello…hello…Who is this? Hello!” Joel was now wide awake and he felt a gnawing fear in the pit of his stomach. He immediately got off the bed and turned on the light switch, seeking in illumination some comfort. Then he timidly sat in the bed and began to rack his mind about anything he may have done to invite this call. Nothing came to him. As president of the Norstrand Bank on Main Street in Des Moines, Iowa, he was, by nature, a conservative man. He didn’t even jaywalk. That he hadn’t found a wife yet at the age of 38, he figured, was that women thought of him as some kind of a nerd. He went back to that voice. “I know what you did.” Did he recognize it? No. One distinguishing factor was that the caller was trying to disguise the fact that he was young. Two more hours of fruitless searching of what he may have done ended when he saw the sun’s rays breaking through his blinds and he knew what he had to do. Get ready for work. There was a comfort taking his morning shower. There was a comfort in putting on his Tuesday suit, staid and appropriate for his position. There was a comfort in driving downtown to work and parking in his VIP spot. And there was definitely a comfort in seeing all the employees who looked up to him and greeted him with warm smiles as he entered the bank. Walking into his office and sitting in his high back cushion chair made him forget all of the worries of just a few hours ago. When his secretary Meg came in with the coffee, light, with two sugars, and a crueller, Joel was feeling quite good. The work routine was an elixir for him. Calls to return, money to transfer, letters to dictate, and clients who needed to see him put him squarely in the driver’s seat of his own life. How he loved his job. He started at Norstrand at 20, a part-time job doing odds and ends while he was still in college. After graduation, he shunned a move to New York and a higher paying position because he was moving up the ranks at his local bank, and he wasn’t a big fan of change anyway. Unless it was to change the bank’s financial viability. One suggestion after another by Joel had been warmly received by the then president, Robert Frissen, and many of Joel’s ideas had been put into action with astoundingly positive results. When Mr. Frissen announced his retirement a year prior, It didn’t surprise anyone that he tapped the affable Joel to be the next president of the bank. Already popular with everyone there due to his gentlemanliness and his unfailing concern for all, his ascension to the highest post put everyone at ease. And Joel’s first year had gone smoothly and not only had the bank’s financial report card improved, but the morale of the workers had skyrocketed, what with company picnics and bonuses, a far cry from the professional, yet somewhat stuffy Robert Frissen. But there was one disappointment in Joel’s work life. He loved the job that the head loan officer did, but he wished he could get to know her more on a personal level. However, Lilly Mann, showed no interest in return except in working together in keeping the bank’s operations working smoothly. At 10:30 a.m. that morning, just as she did every morning, Lilly Mann knocked on Joel’s door. He gave her a friendly – sometimes he wondered a too friendly – “Come in,” and she entered with a few pleasantries and then got right down to business with the mid-morning report. He always enjoyed the time with her and listened intently to every word she said. “Loan repayment is at a higher than usual level,” Lilly said. “Even our most fragile loan is being paid back promptly.” “And who might that be?” asked Joel, smiling, always looking for a reason to prolong the conversation. “Randy Lattner,” she said. “He’s the one who borrowed to help his sister whose husband had run off and she has a baby on her hands.” Suddenly, the smile disappeared from Joel’s face. He felt pained and he didn’t want Lilly to see that he felt uncomfortable. “That will be all,” said Joel. Lilly was not used to this kind of abrubt dismissal from Joel. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Fine,” he said. “I just have a report I have to get to.” “Okay,” she said, and left. Left Joel there stewing in his own juices. ‘That’s it! That’s it!,’ he thought to himself. ‘That’s what that caller knows. He knows what I did!’ Joel, when first named president of the bank was proud of the honor, but there was that nagging doubt that someone knew what he did 11 years ago and they would come forward now and knock him off his pedestal. But as the months went by he had forgotten all about it, growing into and accepting his hard earned promotion. Now it felt like the walls were crashing in all around him. It was Lilly’s comment about Randy Lattner that had let the cat out of the bag. Randy was helping his sister. Twelve years ago his own sister had gotten pregnant, the boy had left, and his parents had kicked her out of the house. He loved her so much and thought it was so unfair what was happening to her. She was living in a shelter, due in two weeks, when Joel realized one day he had to get her money so she could move into an apartment and get better medical care. But how? His answer came the next day when he was running errands for the bank and when he came back after hours to drop a letter off on Mr. Frissen’s desk he saw that the safe had been left open. He looked around and there was no one there. When he got to the safe and saw a wad of hundred dollar bills he knew what he had to do so he did it. He took the money and then locked the safe, turned out the lights, locked the bank and then ran to his sister’s shelter. When he gave her the $8,000 she was overjoyed. He was glad she never asked him how he got it. How he got it. For all these years he thought he was the only one who knew the answer to that. Now someone else knew. And the knot in his stomach tightened. He couldn’t face anyone. He had to go home. He grabbed his coat and when he saw Meg he knew he had to tell her something, but no excuse came to mind. So he just told the truth. “I don’t feel good.” As he walked past her, his ever-loyal secretary called out, “Is there anything I could do?” But Joel was out the door in a second. And he was home in five minutes. And he was sitting in the easy chair in his living room which didn’t feel so comfortable at this time, and he was mulling over all his possible actions. A jangle of thoughts. He could go on living his comfortable life as if that phone call had never happened. But then he’d always be living in fear, looking over his shoulder, waiting for the next shoe to drop or the next phone call. What made things worse for Joel is that he always liked things so orderly and now his life was chaos. He sat on the chair for hour after hour, had a fitful sleep on that chair, woke up on that chair and struggled to go back to sleep. When the first light of dawn came through the blinds of his living room window he knew what he had to do. It would be hard, but ultimately it would be the easiest choice. He showered, grabbed a quick bite and got to his office at 7. Even made his own coffee. And he just sat and waited. At precisely 9 p.m., he picked up his phone and called Mr. Frissen, who was now the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank. After a few brief pleasantries, Joel got right to the point. He told Mr. Frissen what he had done 12 years ago when he had thought he had been alone in the bank. He told him that he never felt so alone in his life than he did at this moment. He told him he would repay the $8,000 in full. And he told him he was resigning immediately and he would leave after he had a chance to tell the staff. Mr. Frissen was stunned and said he would call him a few days. After that difficult phone call, Joel waited for the staff’s 10:00 a.m. break. He called them into the Conference Room. He couldn’t make eye contact with Lilly when he told them everything. When he told them he was resigning immediately he thought he heard a gasp and thought it was Lilly’s. And then he left. When he got home the first thing he did was write out a check for $8,000 to the Norstrand Bank. He addressed it to Mr. Frissen and walked to the mail box and dropped it in. Then he spend three days just sitting around the house moping. When the phone rang he jumped, but then he realized he had nothing to jump about anymore. It was Mr. Frissen. He wanted Joel to stop by the bank the next day at 10:00 a.m. Some official business to clear up. At 9:00 the next morning Joel decided he would have his first shave since his resignation. Instinctively he put on the same clothes he would wear if he were going to work and smiled at his forgetfulness as he walked out the door. He parked at a meter, no longer taking advantage of his employee parking space. When he got closer to the bank he saw people waiting in line to go in. “What’s going on?” he said to one of them. She answered, “The bank’s been closed for 15 minutes. Something has come up.” When he went to open the door, sure enough it was locked and then all of the lights went out in the bank and a guard came to open the door for him. When he walked in the door, the lights went back on and Joel saw the balloons, he saw the banners that read, “We love you Joel,” and he saw Mr. Frissen and every staff member with big smiles and as they sang “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” he saw his sister with his beautiful nephew who had just won a Science Fair contest in junior high school. When they finished singing, his sister came over and kissed his cheek and said, “I told them everything. I told them why you did it.” “Attention please,” said Mr. Frissen. When there was quiet he said, “We all make mistakes in life. But not everyone has the courage to try and correct that mistake. In fact, very few people would have done what Joel did. To risk everything to do the right thing.” And then Lilly spoke and Joel thought he was going to melt on the spot. “We don’t think less of you, we think more of you.” After the loud applause, everyone went to shake his hand and hug him and in the midst of all, Mr. Frissen announced that Joel’s resignation request was denied, and they all drank a toast to him, and after 15 minutes of this they all went back to their posts, including Joel joined by his sister and nephew, for after all they still had a bank to run. One year from that date, Joel and Lilly were married. The next night, Stewart Sein, 17, and his family made their yearly trip from Juneau, Alaska to a suburb of Anchorage to visit with his dad’s brother, wife and family. Stewart loved it because he got to spend time with his cousin Robert Armand. When it got late, very late, wee hours of the morning late, and everyone was in bed, Stewart met Robert in the kitchen. “Do you want to try the phone calls again?” asked Stewart. “Yeah!” answered Robert. “We did the Midwest last year. How about if we try Arizona? I know the area code.” “Sounds good,” said Robert. Stewart dialed the area code and then seven random numbers. When a sleepy voice answered, “Hello,” Stewart whispered, “I know what you did.” ##########
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:46:32 +0000
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