“That's the thing about books, they let you travel without moving your feet.”
—Jhumpa Lahiri
Welcome back! Happy day 6! Set your timer, and here we go!
Today's Prompt:
What would you do tomorrow if money were no object?
Regina's 15 minutes of creative writing:
Enya work up to a foreign ding. Text message. She rarely got texts anymore. All her friends had moved away. Those that hadn't moved away, she had moved away from. Those that she hadn’t moved away from, she had pushed away. She was in her Hermit era, her antisocial, can’t-stand-anyone era and was unsure when the desire to be social would hit again.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she fumbled for her phone, knocked it and the eternal boobytrap of a bed side glass of water to the floor before snatching the now wet device from her carpet.
“Fucking fuck,” she muttered, wiping the water drops from the screen, then fighting again with the pile of crap on her bedside table for her glasses.
Perching the wide black frames on her nose, she checked the text.
Deposit Made: $5,000,000
Enya blinked. She took off her glasses and checked the lenses. She polished the slightly smudged lenses on the duvet cover and shoved herself into a seated position. Taking a deep breath, she looked at her phone again.
Deposit Made: $5,000,000
Stunned, she threw her phone across the room.
“Bastard scammers. Didn't even bother with a “Nubian Prince adores you and needs you to deposit this check then wire him all your life savings to save his enslaved people” bullshit story.”
Enya pushed herself out of bed, every bone and joint popping and creaking in protest. She collected her phone from the floor and shoved her feet into giant bunny slippers – one of the few things that made her smile, then headed downstairs.
As she waited for the French press to turn beans and water into life giving coffee, she looked at her phone again.
Deposit Made: $5,000,000
“This is nuts. I should warn the Credit Union that someone has hacked their text system. She Googled the number then waited while the line was connected.
“Thank you for calling First National Credit Union. Press one for the Credit Union, two for insurance, or stay on the line for our business hours,” said an overly cheerful prerecorded voice. Enya pressed one, then balanced the phone on her shoulder while she pressed the plunger down in the murky brew.
“Thank you for calling First National Credit Union. How can I help you today?” A human voice startled Enya and she dropped the phone.
“Oh, sorry. Hi. I’m calling to tell you I got a scam text this morning,” Enya fumbled to put the phone on speaker while she dug a cup from the cupboard and started pouring a cup.
“Oh. Well, thank you for calling to tell us that,” the person on the line slowed and softened her voice as if talking to a wild animal.
“No, I’m not a crazy person – well, I mean, I'm not NOT a crazy person – but – wait – shit – we aren't supposed to say crazy anymore are we? - I mean... fu – sorry.” The cup overflowed onto the counter. “ For Pete’s sake.” Enya set the French press down gently, then mopped at the spilled coffee with one sleeve before realizing how uncomfortable a wet sleeve on her pajamas would be, and stripping off the garment. She kicked it towards the laundry room and glanced down at her bare breasts before sighing and glancing back towards the glowing screen. Sitting there. Judging her with its green glow. Maybe I am crazy?
“Hello? Ma’am? Do you need me to call someone for you?” The woman on the other end of the line sounded concerned.
Enya couldn't blame her. She rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and tried again. “No. I’m sorry. I received a scam text message from you this morning.” Enya nodded her head. There. Sounded completely normal.
“From me, ma’am?” the woman sounded even more concerned, her words coming out like cold syrup.
Fucksake. Enya tried to rub her forehead and bonked herself in the face with a coffee cup before trying with the other hand. “No, not from you personally. From the Credit Union. I am a member with you. I have money and accounts at your institution. I received a scam text message this morning telling me someone had deposited a bunch of money in my account. I wanted to let you know in case you had a security breach, or hacker or whatever.” Enya held her breath, wondering vaguely if she should hang up and try again tomorrow, maybe after her coffee rather than in the fugue state of pre-caffeine.
“Oh! Thank you! I’m sorry. I misunderstood,” the woman’s tone returned to a normal pace. “Let’s investigate that for you. What is your member number?”
Enya recited it by heart. She had had her account at the credit union since she was five, and was very proud of her regular, if small, contributions to her slowly growing savings account.
“Your name, and the amount of your last deposit?”
“Enya Forsythe. Fifty dollars on Monday – every Monday for the past 40 years.” She laughed and shook her head at the one consistent thing in her life. The one fact she knew to be true. Her parents had taken care of the deposits at first, then augmented her babysitting and other chore money till she got her first job, then drilled the importance of the regular deposits into her when she fought back and explained how she needed a new jacket, purse, phone more than a regular savings habit, until the habit finally stuck and was now even more consistent than brushing her teeth – definitely more regular than washing her hair.
“I’m sorry, that is not correct.” The woman said hesitantly.
“What? It damn well is – sorry! I’m sure that’s right. Are you looking at the right account?” Enya’s jaw tightened. The one constant in her life needed to be constant. What else could she hang her hat on. Her job was a joke, her love life a trainwreck, her health a roller coaster of crash diets, failed exercise routines and food binges. Her savings habit was the one and only thing that proved she could adult.
“Well,” the woman explained, “what you said is mostly right. Except for the most recent deposit. It was – um – significantly more than fifty dollars.”
Enya shook her head, her coffee slopping over the edge of her cup and splashing onto her hand. She hissed at the burn and set the offending cup down. “That’s not possible. I don’t have significantly more than fifty dollars.”
“Well, it says here that a deposit of five million dollars was just made to your account.”
Enya choked on her tongue. Coughing and spluttering, she gasped, “What?”
“Yes, ma’am. A deposit of five million dollars was made to your account this morning. Looks like it was a certified cheque from Wallace, Atlas and Wattles Inc. They are a lawyer company here in town.”
Enya nodded, dazed, then realized the woman couldn’t see her. “Yes. I know them. I was working with them on my mother’s estate. But she didn’t have five million dollars.”
Enya could almost feel the woman shrug on the other end of the line. “Well, either she did, they made a mistake, or they were working on something else for you. I am looking at an image of the cheque now. It is made out in your name, and the account number matches yours.”
Enya’s knees turned to water, and she slid down the kitchen cupboard sitting down hard on the floor. I need to sweep, part of her brain noticed the cookie crumbs near the fridge and a lone blueberry crouched under the lip of the cabinet by the sink.
“Ma’am? Ma’am? Are you still there?”
Enya nodded again, then croaked “Yes.”
***
Time’s up! What did you write? Share in the comments, or send me an email. Let’s try again tomorrow! Here’s to the writing challenge!!
See you tomorrow!
With Love,
Regina Grimm is the author of erotic fairytales written for the uninhibited readers 18+.
Check out my books:
Snow White and the Wicked Curse: Chapter 1
Snow White and the Vicious Curse: Chapter 2
Snow White and the Seven Thieves: Chapter 3
The final chapter, Snow White and the Poisoned Apple.
Prefer to read the whole story at once? Grab your copy of Snow: The Complete Erotic Series now! All five books available now in ebook and paperback.
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With Love,
Check out her books:
Snow White and the Wicked Queen: Chapter 1
Snow White and the Vicious Curse: Chapter 2
Snow White and the Seven Thieves: Chapter 3
Snow White and the Poisoned Apple: The Final Chapter
Prefer to read the whole story at once? Grab your copy of Snow: The Complete Erotic Series now! All five books are available now as ebooks and paperbacks. Coming soon in Large Print format!
2nd edition coming 2025!
