The day after Ruth had been felt up by Billy was Friday. When Colonel Wright showed up as promised, Ruth almost fainted with relief. At last this nightmare would end. It didn't take long. Ruth handed the colonel the statements he needed, and he thanked her for her help. Then he asked Ruth if he could please use her phone and call his boss. It would be really nice to tell General Lewis that he was finally through with this entire situation. Ruth handed him the phone. She couldn't have agreed more.
The other four women came into the office as Colonel Wright was talking to the "General".
"General, Jim Wright here... Yes sir, I have all the papers I need... Yes sir, everything appears to be in order... Ah ha... Ah ha. Yes sir.... No sir... Yes sir, I have placed a computer audit on the accounts... Yes sir, $1000, sir... It's in place as we speak, general... Yes sir, I'm glad this is over, too... Yes sir, I'm sure that I have absolutely everything I need... A big relief, sir... Good bye, General..."
"Well ladies, it's been a pleasure knowing you, but I'm done here. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading out. Sorry to have been this much trouble, General."
Ruth's four friends were waiting for Jim to leave, so that they could scream and celebrate. But Ruth had a bad feeling.
"Colonel, what did you mean when you said that you had a computer audit on the accounts."
"Oh it's nothing, general, purely routine. When there's been an accusation of misuse of funds at a base, we have a computer flag placed on the accounts for six months. Any withdrawal over a certain amount, in this case $1000, is automatically reported and reviewed. That way I don't have to keep coming back and checking your accounts. I'm simply notified if any large withdrawals are made, and I can quickly just check on those specific transactions."
"Oh, I see. Well have a good trip Colonel. Goodbye."
"Goodbye General." And with that Jim Wright walked out of Ruth Simpson's office for the last time. It was a struggle not to laugh until he had made it safely to his car. He wondered how long it would take for his last comments to sink in. He had a feeling the view from Tony's office would be priceless when it did.
As soon as Jim was out of Ruth's office, the two sergeants and the two colonels began to shriek and holler. It was over. Ruth, however, wasn't celebrating. In fact she couldn't believe how stupid her cohorts were, but she was too stunned at the moment to tell them. After a while, though, the general did manage to collect herself.
"Shut up! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!!! GODDAMNIT!!! DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH SHIT WE'RE IN??!!!"
The other four women just looked at her in amazement. What was Ruth's problem? Colonel Wright was gone. It was over. Next week they would pay Mr. Vineti as promised, and a week after that, they would all be rich.
Ruth couldn't believe it. None of them got it.
"DIDN'T YOU IDIOTS HEAR WHAT HE SAID. CHRIST!!! The colonel said that every transaction over $1000 will be automatically reported. HOW THE HELL CAN I WITHDRAW $800,000 WHEN C.I.D. WILL SEE IT AS SOON AS I DO? Shit ladies, if I pull that money out, we'll be in handcuffs before we could even reach the casino."
It was like cold water had been thrown over all of them. The office went deathly quiet. No one knew what to say. Finally, it was Lee Kwan who managed to ask what they were going to do. Lee was so scared she could hardly stand it. Showing her breasts had been awful, and having her bottom pulled open like that was something she didn't even like to think about. But the Asian colonel wasn't sure she could survive the shame of what they would have to do if they couldn't pay Mr. Vineti.
Ruth wanted to scream at Lee, but she just didn't have the energy. She didn't have a clue what they would do. And that's what she finally told them.
"Look ladies, right this minute I don't have any idea what we'll do. It's Friday. Let's all go home and rest over the weekend. I'll try to think of something. So we'll meet here Monday morning and go from there. Okay ladies?"
The other girls just nodded, and in sort of a semi-daze filed out of the office. Everyone went home. It was an awful weekend. None of them slept. Mostly the four women just prayed that somehow Ruth would come up with some way out of this horrible mess.
The problem was that nothing came to Ruth at all. She couldn't think of any way to raise the money they needed. But then, just as she was about to give up, an idea came to her. It was desperate, but it might work. But it also meant giving up any chance they had of really getting their money back.
When the five women were together in her office, Ruth explained her idea.
"Ladies, I've only come up with one possibility. It will get Mr. Vineti paid, but it has a lot of drawbacks. We bought that casino stock for 1 million dollars. We know that Connie and Janice wanted to buy it, and we beat them out. I'm sure they would buy our certificate for the $750,000 we need. Then we could pay Tony Vineti and we won't be abused by him again."
"However, you have to understand what that means. We would all still be basically broke. We've all sold everything we own, and mortgaged what was left. We won't get the money from the election, and I can't take any more money from the base accounts. So we will have to live off of our salaries, basically for the rest of our lives."
For a little while, no one said anything. They all hated losing all that money, and they all knew there was no choice. It was Lee who finally said what they were all thinking.
"We have to do it, Ruth. I hate to lose all that money, but we have to pay Mr. Vineti. We can't possibly go back there on Wednesday and not have his money."
Ruth looked around the room, and the other three women slowly nodded. It was over. Their whole wonderful plan was falling apart. Instead of being rich, they would all be completely broke. But, at least Tony wouldn't get his hands on their holes. Sadly, Ruth agreed that it was the only decision possible. Then she reached for the phone and placed a call to Janice McGilney. Janice wasn't home, so Ruth left her a message to call her when she got in.
The people in Tony's office were absolutely shocked. None of them had seen this coming. It was just too funny. Janice was laughing so hard, she could barely stand up. She wanted to call Ruth back immediately, but Tony told her not to. They needed the ladies believing they had a way out up until the very last moment. No, Janice needed to time her call back very carefully.
Ruth waited for the phone to ring. By the end of the day she was getting desperate. She needed that money quickly, what if Janice didn't get back to her in time. At 8:00, Ruth gave up and went home. She tried to find Janice the next day.
As soon as she saw Ruth leave, Janice called her office from Tony's. When the answering machine picked up, Janice apologized that she hadn't been able to get back to the general, but that she would call her around noon the next day.
By 9:30 the next morning, all five ladies were back in Ruth's office. Ruth told them the situation, and none of them knew what to do. They were all so scared they could barely function. Finally, they all just decided to hang around in Ruth's office until Janice finally called.
Janice waited until almost 1:00 to make her call. By the time she did, the tension was so heavy in Ruth's office, that Tony and the others thought they might come to blows. Everyone in the office was so nervous and upset, that they were snapping at each other over any little thing. But when that phone finally rang, every woman in Ruth's office shut up as they waited to see what would happen between the general and Janice.
"Hello, General Simpson? Janice McGilney here. Did you need something, General?"
"Please Janice, call me Ruth. And yes Janice I did need something. Do you remember those casino certificates that were being sold a few weeks ago?"
"Sure I do, general, I mean Ruth. In fact Connie Davis and I were going to buy one, but by the time we got our money together they were all gone. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it so happens that I have one, and I need to sell it. Something's come up and I need the money back as soon as I can get it. I had been told that you and Connie had wanted one, so I was wondering if you would like to buy this one."
"Damn General, I'd love to, but I can't. When we weren't able to buy the thing, Connie took her money and invested in something else. I don't even know what it was."