Late for work she flew out her front door

Tripping over her Rhodesian Ridgeback sunning himself as usual in front of the security gate. She stumbled to a stop. “Damn it Sheba, one day you are going to be the cause of my broken neck.” she berated him.

A movement on the pavement caught her eye.

“What was the sheriff doing at the front gate?” she thought to herself. A sense of unease passed over her, settling in her gut. She walked to her garage door twirling the garage remote in her hand. She looked back to the gate. “Let me just see what it is Danie wants,” she thought. She left her briefcase at the unopened garage door and walked down the driveway to the solid wrought iron entry gate.

Focused on the Sheriff she hardly noticed the two men with him. Shuffling his feet, looking everywhere but at her, he passed a paper to her through the gate’s bars. He scrambled back as Sheba erupted from behind her growling low in his throat, his ridge standing on attention. “Sit Sheba. Sit,” she commanded. Sheba let out a throaty yowl of discontent and sunk onto his haunches.

She pushed her hand through the gate and stretched towards the Sheriff. “He can’t get to you through the gate just pass me that please”.

She ripped open the envelope without checking the addressee. A demand. As if gut punched, her breath whooshed out of her mouth. The bank called up Edwin’s loan for the car. Again Edwin did not pay the instalment due. A fury of red-hot anger flashed through her, settled in twin red spots high on her cheeks.

She looked up at the Sheriff and for the first time she noticed the two muscled thugs dressed in too tight shiny suits. The oats she had for breakfast boiled up from her stomach, settling a sour mass in her throat.

One of the heavies moved forward. His bulk too much for his suit she noticed as he leaned into the gate, towering over her. His aviator sunglasses reflected her own face back at her. WTF? He held out his hand. “We’re here to collect the car,” he boomed louder than necessary. The other one stood silently coiled, three steps behind him, his aviator sunglasses two reptilian dead black eyes.

A drop of sweat slowly meandered down her back. She re-read the notice. A demand – the money to be paid within 20 days. She flipped it over. No court order for immediate repossession attached.  “The keys madam,” the heavier one boomed again, holding out his hand.

On automatic pilot – her legal training kicked in. “Give me the court order”.

“We don’t need one,” he menacingly growled back at her.

The Sheriff, his job done, stepped hastily into his car, and took off, leaving her alone with the two heavies at her gate. “Well the last time I looked at the law, you needed one,” she thundered back in her court room voice.

“You can give me the keys or I can come back with a court order.”

She squared her shoulders. “I suggest you do just that. So either you leave RIGHT now, or I call the police to remove you and have you charged with harassment.”

A minute passed before heavy number one turned and with heavy number two walked to a car parked at her neighbour two houses across. She watched until they drove off, disappearing around the bend. The kitchen curtain of her neighbour across the road fluttered in the open window.  “Well, another snippet for the news brigade,” she wryly thought.

Turning she marched back to her front door. Her briefcase forgotten at the garage door, she stepped into the safety of her home. She closed the door, leaning her back against it. She took a deep breath and steadied herself.

She pushed forward and walked to the dining room. Edwin looked up from the morning paper.  “And now, have you forgotten something.”

Her eyes raked over him, noticing his pencil hovering above the race page.

“Pack your overnight bag and get dressed.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Pack an overnight bag. I am taking you to your darling mother. You are going home to where you belong.”