The following is based on some real events and my experience. I am new to writing so if this is exciting or interesting let me know. There is much more to my story.
My name is Renee. I'm 37, live in a great neighborhood, have a family and I suppose up until the moment that I became a publicly humiliated laughing stock, my life had been fairly perfect. I was popular in high school, met my husband my junior year in college, started a family and we were successful, happy and respected.
Then came the crash.
My husband, Michael, had made his money in energy and with everything going well, we had felt like we could do no wrong. I was a member of the local school board- my first foray into politics, which I loved- and Michael had put a lot of money into some real estate deals which were going to set us up for good. He had also convinced a number of people, friends, neighbors and the like, that they could do as well, so when the price of oil dropped- and because of that the land values all but vaporized a lot of people's investment- someone had to pay.
Fast forward a year, past the audit that showed Michael had been concealing a few things, past the over reactive criminal charges and the trial, which saw him scapegoated for the actions many others took, past the removal of me from the board even though I had done nothing wrong, to my actually having to get a job. Fortunately since I had also volunteered with our local fire department as a dispatcher, they were able to offer me a paid position. Between that and the receptionist work I was able to get for a real estate group, I was able to cover some basic costs. Then came an unexpected bill from the Homeowner's association.
Five hundred dollars. I frankly did not have it. I called the head of the association, a man I had actually served with on the school board and asked if I could get an extension. At first he was a little rude, probably because he had lost money with Michael's venture. Then as he was talking to me he suggested I come by the office to discuss some options.
I didn't really like the idea, but I was in a lousy spot. I mean if I could not cover this, the homeowners could, by law, actually end up owning my home. I knew this and as nobody was willing to float any kind of loan, I knew I would need to get some kind of allowance or forgiveness.
If I had only known.
Ben Gossage was 55, your stereotypical white, suburban fatcat and a perpetual adolescent despite his chronological age. I had always found him to be a bit of an idiot, especially when he drank which was often, and an almost juvenile chauvenistic flirt. He had a slight balding spot and a waistline he didn't bother to work on at all. I should have expected something hinky when I walked into his office and he smiled like a fourteen year old that had discovered a hole in the girl's locker room wall.
"Hi, Renee," he said sitting back
He had on a polo style golf shirt and a pair of knee length khaki shorts. There was a small bar-be-que stain on his shirt.
"Hello, Ben," I said. "Thanks for meeting with me."
"Oh sure, Hon," he said.
The "Hon" was new. When Michael was around and we were on top, he would have been much more deferential. I didn't bite, though or try to correct him, even though it bugged me.
"Real shame about the financial problems you are having."
I almost thought I saw a kind of shitty pleasure as he offered his condolence.
"But whatever," I thought. I needed to address the problem and I could ignore his attitude. The fact was that I had gotten sort of used to being villainized, after the trial. People I used to know looked at me differently, just certain I must have been "in on it" whatever "it" was and I got used to suddenly not being invited to neighborhood social functions or even being spoken to when I ran into people I thought were my friends.
"Yes, thanks," I said. "Listen Ben..."
"How's Michael doing?" he interrupted. "I bet jail is really some adjustment. He's not having to get in touch with his feminine side is he?"
I couldn't believe the insulting insensitivity of that comment and just stared at Ben.
"I'm just kidding. A real shame though, and now you are having a problem with the Homeowner's fee?"
"Uh, yeah. As I was saying, I will have some trouble with that, but I know in the past we did have some alternative fee schedules and plans."
"Yeah," he grinned. "That's true. I was thinking, you know we had that one family. They really bought in here above their financial station."
He looked at me and added, "Out of their league, being around the folks that really belonged here."
"Uh yes," I said feeling even more uncomfortable, "About that. I was wondering if there was something we might consider in my case."
Ben sat back. He frowned like it was a real problem.
He rubbed his chin.
"Hmmm, yeah," he said like it was advanced mathematics he was considering.
Then he snapped his fingers.
"You know there is something coming up..."
He grabbed the Neighborhood Association events folder and starting thumbing through it frantically. Then I saw his eyes light up.
"You know the Day at the Lake is coming up."
"Yes," I said.
It was a sort of start of the summer play day on the man-made lake at the center of the housing development. It consisted of boating swimming and the like and then the evening was for the grownups to have a sort of cocktail party and light hors d'ouvres.
"Well, you know, we had to pay waiststaff last year. That Mexican woman charged us for her cousin just to walk around with a tray and get drinks and snacks for people."
"Uh huh," I said.
I could tell where he was going. They wanted me to wait on them so they could smugly put me in my place. I took a deep breath.
"Sure," I said smiling my best fake smile. "That would be fine."
"Great! You know I think a lot of people half expected you to move out of here after the thing with Michael, but this is great. Kills two birds with one stone."
"What?" I said.
"You know. You get to stay and we don't have to pay for the "help."
"Uh sure," I said forcing the smile.
It was obvious they were going to "put me in my place" but I couldn't care less. I'd keep my home.
He grinned and then pulled a large contract out of a desk drawer. It didn't occur to me that if he had just come up with a solution, why he had a contract ready to go. Plus it was pretty involved. I was just starting to look it over when he said.
"Hey look Renee, Hon, I have a tee time so I really need you to sign or not sign so I can tell people whether we need to hire staff." He looked at his watch.
I should have read it.
Instead I picked up a pen and signed twice...one for his copy and one for mine.
He stood up and said, "Great, so really looking
forward to Day at the Lake and having you remain in the neighborhood."
And then I was out of there.
A day later is when the impact of what I had agreed to became apparent. I was at the grocery store and two women...mom's whose children knew mine, gave me a kind of droll look and then whispered to each other...looked at me and giggled. I had sort of had it with being the butt of so much social denigration and walked up.
"Hi Candace, Jessica."
It was like a preemptive retort wrapped up as a pleasant greeting. Unlike how things had been when Michael and I were on top socially, the other women were completely unaffected by my attitude.
