MEETING THE BANK MANAGER
As Helen Daniels ate breakfast and thought about the meeting she had been summoned to with the bank and felt nervous. She knew that she was in financial difficulties but had no idea how her meeting later that morning with the bank manager would change her life.
Adam Fairbanks was in his forties and enjoying a very successful career at the Pimlico Bank.
He had risen quickly through the grades and had recently been promoted to regional manager. Before taking up his position at their head office he had been tasked with acting as temporary manager of a provincial branch for six months until they could find a permanent replacement.
He had always been very self-confident, some might say arrogant and, as he sat in the manager's office awaiting the first appointment of the day, he felt excited by the plan he and his head office colleagues had hatched.
It had all started during an evening of heavy drinking not long after his latest promotion had been announced. He came from a very wealthy family and had recently inherited his late father's extensive estate. His drinking pals were all equally wealthy and, none of them needed to work but did it for fun. The fun usually involved seducing young female colleagues and bragging of their conquests, usually accompanied with lurid photographs, during their regular male only drinking sessions.
It was during one of these sessions that they each realised they shared a common fantasy of seducing a female customer. Their goal, if they could find a suitable looking candidate, was to see how far she could be persuaded to go for money.
Adam knew that fulfilling this fantasy could seriously jeopardise his career, but his self confidence and arrogance convinced him that he would get away with it.
His first appointment of the day was with a young widow named Helen. This would be their third meeting over as many months to discus her financial affairs because she was seriously overdrawn at the bank and despite her promises to do something about it nothing had happened, and it was Adam's task this morning to issue an ultimatum from the bank that she had one month to sort out her finances or they would take legal action against her.
From the first time he saw her, Adam was sure that she would appeal to his drinking pals.
Helen was about five feet six inches tall with shoulder length auburn hair. Adam was immediately attracted to her and could see that when she was younger she would have been very stunning. Time had been kind to her but like many women, she had gained a little weight since her teen years. She still retained an hour glass figure but was almost certainly a little larger than when she was younger.
Adam had checked her background notes held by the bank and discovered that she had been widowed a year earlier. Her husband had been involved in a fatal road accident but had no life insurance and very little savings, leaving Helen, who had no job, with the outstanding mortgage on their jointly owned house.
During their previous meeting Helen had been wearing a knee length summer dress. The dress was very modest but clung to her figure. Adam knew that she was what they were looking for but to make certain he took a couple of pictures on his mobile as he pretended to be checking for messages. He then sent the pictures to his drinking pals who all replied quickly, agreeing that she should be their target.
His desk phone rang, and Adam answered saying, "OK, please send her in."
Helen felt nervous as she entered Adam's office guessing that she was fast running out of excuses and options to satisfy the bank.
She'd liked Adam the from the first time they had met but, just like the last couple of times, she felt uncomfortable at the way he appraised her with his roaming gaze as she entered the office.
"Mrs Daniels, good morning, please take a seat."
She sat down in the chair opposite him on the other side of his desk, as he added, "Mrs Daniels, there is no point in me pretending to you that this meeting is anything other than serious."
"I know," she said, gazing down at her lap.
She looked up and looked at him with renewed hope as he continued, "Mrs Daniels, I've asked you here today to try and resolve your debt problem. Things might not be as bad as you might think but to resolve the issue we need to look thoroughly at any assets you might have that can be offset against your overdraft.
"But I don't have any assets."
"I'm sure we can find something that will help," Adam said with a caring tone in his voice before continuing,
"Firstly, we have had your house valued and, if you were to sell, it would realise a small amount of equity."
"But I have to live somewhere," she said.
"Maybe you could move in with relatives."
"No," she replied, "their houses are not big enough and none of them would want me living with them anyway."
"I see," said Adam, that is a pity, I have only come up with two further options that might help.
I believe that your husband had a classic sports car that would be worth quite a lot."
"Did have," she replied, "it was passed on to my brother-in law in my husband's will."
"Wouldn't you brother-in-law perhaps sell it to help you out?"
"Unfortunately, not. It was a condition in my late husbands will that the car was not to be sold for at least ten years. "
"So, you see Mr Fairbanks, unless your last option is some kind of miracle, I don't have any assets."
"Mrs Daniels, or may I call you Helen?"
"Yes, Helen is fine."
This time he gazed directly and with no subtlety at her breasts as he said, "Helen, your most valuable asset is right there under your clothes."
She immediately stood up and in a raised voice said, "how dare you talk to me like that. What do you think I am, a whore? How dare you!"
"Just sit back down Helen and hear me out. If you want to clear your debt and keep your home, you have little choice"
She sat back down but in a determined voice said, "you'd be wasting your breath."
Adam looked at the way in which her significant bosom heaved with each inward breath, imagining how they would look totally unfettered before saying, "Helen, I appreciate that my suggestion is very shocking and as far as the bank is concerned, totally unofficial but a very attractive and open-minded woman could, by cooperating with me and a few friends, pay off her debts in less than one year."
She stood up again, her cheeks crimson with rage and her bosom heaving even more as she said, "if you think I'm going to prostitute myself to pay off my debts then you are quite delusional."
Adam paused a moment before answering, "Helen; Mrs Daniels, if we cannot find a solution very soon to pay off your debts I have been instructed to start bankruptcy proceedings against you."
It was at that moment that the seriousness of her situation finally hit home. However, still with a defiant and indignant tone she said, "then so be it," before turning toward the office door.
Adam let her take two steps before saying, "I'll give you two days to reconsider. Please take my business card and if you change your mind, contact me, my details are on it."
Much to Adam's delight she turned back and grabbed the card then stuffed it into her bag before turning back and leaving the office.
By the time Helen arrived back home she had calmed down a little. She made herself some tea and then sat down, replaying the events of the meeting with Adam in her head.
Although a regular churchgoer, member of the church choir and belonging to the Women's Institute she did not consider herself to be a prude. Her friends and neighbours would instantly describe her as being a respected lady in their community. Somebody many of them looked up to.
Helen still felt offended by what she considered as Adam's clumsy attempt to demean her; gazing so shamelessly at her breasts and then suggesting she could sell her body.
The rage still burned inside her but, try as she might, she could not suppress the feeling of flattery that a successful, handsome man like Adam could find her attractive.
She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, sipped her tea and then absentmindedly fumbled in her bag and retrieved the business card he had given her.
Having just thrust the card into her bag as she left his office she had not noticed the detail on the card.
Adam and his drinking pals had spent an evening designing a handful of cards to give out to prospective ladies that interested them and might be vulnerable.
The card was printed on both sides. The side she was looking at had a sketch of a voluptuous woman dressed in revealing lingerie and beneath the sketch was printed, Real Lady Appreciation Club.
She turned the card over, expecting a phone number but there was just an email address adamandfriends @ RLAC.net
