Ambrosia could feel the sharp blade of Damocle's sword just inches above her head. If she could only suffer an earthquake that demolished her house, then she could plead the money was lost under a pile of rubble too big to move.
If only that dough was counterfeit.
Any excuse to take the heat off, she thought.
Or if Hebrides would lend her the amount. Perhaps she could get him drunk and persuade him that she'd sold herself into slavery.
No, that wouldn't work.
Hadn't he made it clear to her on their wedding day that the ring on her finger was as good as any ball and chain. She was his property already. How could a slave become a slave? That just didn't make sense.
Ambrosia decided to grovel, to whip herself up into the most pitiful, pitiable, suffering bag of bone, gristle, and guts that she could imagine, and ask her husband for the loot anyway, when she spotted the corner of a brown envelope sticking out of Hebride's antique roll top desk.
She pulled it from its hiding place, her fingers trembling as she opened the envelope.
Two one hundred dollar bills.
Impossible.
This kind of luck did not come her way.
Never.
She began laughing, a tentative giggle that erupted into a riotous belly guffaw.
Two one hundred dollar bills.
Just the exact amount that Vitus Restophry said was stolen from the church offering plate two months ago. Hebrides! You sneaky . . .
Wait a minute, Ambrosia thought.
What on earth had possessed her husband to pinch these two bills from the plate as it passed by him?
And what was he going to use these ill-gotten gains for?
Ambrosia did not waste her time trying to answer such riddles from the Sphinx. She had to get to the bank and get those bills changed. Maybe she'd leave Hebrides the change in another identical brown envelope.
Though probably not.
Hebrides wouldn't confront her.
He'd never want her to know about his sticky fingers. Besides, even slaves deserved a thirty-two dollar and fifty-seven cents coffee break once in awhile.
YOU ARE READING
Love Songs: The Wrong Note - A Collection of Short Stories
General FictionA second volume of short stories in the Love Songs collection. Many of the stories in this collection focus on the theme of love and how it sometimes goes wrong. A large collection of stories that run the gamut from humorous to tragic. 1. Love Songs...
