Read Online Spare Change by Bette Lee Crosby - Free Book Online

bits and pieces in Ethan Allen’s ear every so often and he
kept imagining himself at Yankee Stadium, but other than that, very little was
said. Benjamin remained in a foul mood for a week because of the broken
tractor, then he finally went out and bought a brand new John Deere with four
times the horsepower of his old tractor.
    “This baby can do twice the work in half the time,” he told Susanna.  “Next
year I’ll be able to put in an extra field of soy beans, maybe even a crop of
radishes.”
    “Seems a man who can afford a
new tractor, ought to be able to take his family to New York City,” she
commented sarcastically; then she went back to thinking about whether or not
she should buy a pair of silver shoes to wear with her sequined audition dress.
    S cooter Cobb, claiming that
Susanna was one woman who deserved a nice vacation, slipped a fifty dollar bill
into her brassiere the week before she planned to leave for New York. “Baby,
you have yourself one helluva fling,” he said, “then get your butt back here,
‘cause I’m gonna be missing you something fierce!” In the past year Scooter had
come to feel about Susanna as he did his arms and legs—he couldn’t do without a
single one of them. When she smiled, his heart started doing jumping jacks and
when she pressed her body up against his, he could no longer remember his
wife’s name, or for that matter, the names of his children. If Susanna were
willing, he would have walked off and left everything—his wife of thirty years,
a house that no longer had a mortgage, even the diner. One nod from her and
halfway through frying up an omelet he would have thrown down his apron and
followed along, leaving the egg to turn black on the griddle.
    “Oh, Sweetie,” Susanna sighed, “you know how crazy I am about
you, but I’ve got Ethan Allen to think about. Maybe when we get back from this
vacation…” Not once did she mention she’d be looking for a singing job in New
York, or that she’d be staying there forever if things worked out.
    The Friday before they planned to leave, Susanna drove into town to
withdraw her trip money from the bank. So far, things were moving along without
a hitch; Benjamin had grown so preoccupied with his new tractor, he’d stopped
watching her every move and switched over to thoughts of planting some winter
squash. He never once noticed the valise of travelling clothes pushed up under
the bed, nor did he think to ask why Susanna had all of a sudden decided on having
her hair permed. He paid no attention to the way she’d dance around the house
belting out song after song; and when she drove off Monday morning to register
Ethan Allen for the new school term, he wouldn’t think to question it. Susanna
figured by the time he discovered they were gone, she and Ethan Allen would be
halfway to New York, having their lunch served by a Pullman Porter in the
dining car.  She had only two more nights of working in the diner, then, she told herself, that’s the end of that! Of course, she’d miss Scooter;
he was a man who truly appreciated the things she had to offer, but…  Susanna
parked in back of the Eastern Virginia Savings Bank and all but skipped in. 
    Bernice Wilson was the teller on duty. Bernice had been working at the
bank for eighteen years and took pride in her ability to remember every
customer and the details of their account. But, when Susanna said she wanted to
withdraw eleven hundred dollars from her savings account, Bernice stood there
with the blankest look imaginable plastered across her face. “Excuse me?” she
finally said, and Susanna repeated the request.  Without any change of
expression, Bernice slid open her customer card file and one by one flipped
through the cards. When she got to the end of the drawer, she scrunched her
nose, and reversed direction. Going back to front she rechecked every card in
the drawer. After a good fifteen minutes, she looked up and said, “You don’t
have an account