A Place With No Crime [12th and final]

..................continued from 7/22/06'

Sally has blossomed. She is a new woman. No longer in the dark, she is rekindling old friendships, and talking to her family back in the Midwest. Still crusty and.......................and still Sally, she is no longer at the mercy of these two crooks, Cecil and Maggie.
The Burlyboys take her to the theater, something she has not done, EVER! I'm not talking about the movies, but the Theater. This has become a regular thing. She is getting used to it and "quite a critic". Her birthday is New Years Eve. and has NEVER had her own party, so the Boys took her to Phoenix for a weekend birthday, in the big city ( I won't say which birthday, she'll have my head!), to celebrate the coming of a new year for her and everyone.
Cecil is fighting for his life and has hired his own lawyer. Maggie, is still a bitch. I'm sure. A dog is a dog, and at that age, not able to change tricks. OH WELL. BUT WATCH OUT! YOU'LL SMELL HER.

It is time for court. Cecil wants to meet and settle, why? Guilty?. No, he would never say that. To save a buck, his skin, and maybe jail?. He'll offer a sum and hope Sally goes for it. Sadly she does. "I didn't have to take him to court". "Yeh never know how it's gonna go in court", was Sally's remarks. O.K? Are you OK with it? "That Bastard took me!". "I thought he was my..........................It was him that said, we're neighbors and neighbors take care of each other." You sure took care of him! For years you took care of him, and her. "THAT BASTARD", "he knew what he was doing the whole time." " it was her!" "if she wasn't so...................."Sally was angry, and going on! but not so much with Cecil, mad at Maggie, I don't think that they have ever been friends. Maggie did make it difficult to like her.

It is over. Sally was getting returned to her some money. A drop in the bucket of what was stolen from her, but hell it was stock, I don't think Sally thought of it as money. In Sally's eyes it was trust that was stolen from her, that was the thing that upset her the most. She trusted Cecil completely. She had no choice. It was hard not to blame her. She was a victim of the Blatz's greed, which seems to be running rampant in America these days.

So now the neighborhood is free of crime, I hope. If crime still exists in the neighborhood Sally and the Boys don't see it. They are off doing other things, such as, chasing snakes, listening to coyotes howl, bird watching, nightly javalina visits, and still working on their desert home, in the peaceful Southern Arizona Desert, where the old folks come to paint and die (retire).
THE END

I'd Love To Be A Fly On That Wall [11th instalment]

......................continued from (7-16-o6)
People came forward and confessed, I don't really know Sally.
For Sally, no one in the "Blatz's neighborhood" knew her, she was a well kept secret by the opportunistic Blatzs'. They, Cecil and Maggie, were the "lucky" ones to come across her!
"But we can't let them get away with this," "I can't believe Cecil and Maggie would do such a thing", are comments often heard.
One neighbor stepped up, "I can put up $75,000 dollars if you can get everybody else to put up the rest." REALLY! That would be great! One by one people did help with what they could. The feelings for Cecil and Maggie were coming to the surface. Everyone was assured that their money would be returned.
Sure there were some neighbors that did not believe this could be true. That this middle aged couple would do such a thing. "Cecil is ex-military, he's a retired Colonel. He surly wouldn't rip some old lady off." "And you are going to believe these two gay guys." Yes it was hard to believe, but we have all the evidence. Sally's stock was sold over the computer, Sally does not have a computer and does not even know how to use one, let alone she didn't know it was sold. Cecil has all her stuff and gets her mail.
But, the two gay guys were not the ones making this accusation. "I've seen it for my self". Corrine tells them. The Boys were not the ones coming forward with this, Corrine is. The Boys are away on vacation. "Weren't they the ones Maggie had it out for?" someone asks."Why do you think Cecil and Maggie turned on them? They were getting too close." Corrine says. "Well Maggie told me it was something about their property line," one neighbor responded. "No! It's about Sally!" "Cecil and Maggie don't want any of us (neighbors) to see what is going on. They want us to be scared of her," "And we are!" Nobody really knows her, just what Cecil and Maggie tell us ("fat Sally remember"). "What do we know about her?" "We know that she has been out here many, many years." "Her husband died some time ago and Cecil takes care of her, I'm surprised Maggie puts up with that." "She's kind of a bitch." were typical remarks.

Quickly the neighbors compiled most of the needed funds to put the lean on the sale of the Blatz's house. The rest of the money that was needed, the Burlyboys said that they would cover when they returned from Europe. This would have to be done quickly also. There were only days left before the closing of the sale. It was all so weird! To have so many people come to the rescue of someone they did not know very well, and with money! Rare these days, but it happened. Corrine is amazing!

Now imagine when the Blatz's are in their agents office closing escrow and the escrow officer says that the check cannot be issued to the Blatz's do to a lean on their property. The looks on their faces must have been priceless. WHAT?....BUT!.....WHO? If only I was that fly on the wall, watching this. I hope that fly appreciated what he was witness to.

Corine and Dan get busy [10th instalment]

.............continued from 5/25/06
The Burlyboys were enjoying their nieces wedding and the Swedish country side. Dan, while filling in for the boys on vacation, decided to comb through the Blatz's trash to find any evidence that the scoundrels were trying to get rid of. He emptied their garbage can in the back of his truck late one night after the Blatz had put it out for pick up. He drove to the local city park and went through it to find nothing, but that shows you the dedication people felt to catch them in their crimes. Sally tells the story with much pride and humor. Dan has done this kind of thing before with another woman, a neighbors of his, that had also been ripped off ( I guess it is not so uncommon). He knew of a lawyer that handles this kind of stuff. So he gave her a call and they made an appointment. Sally hired the lawyer and Diane, the lawyer, went to work quickly.
Dan and Corrine informed her on all that they knew and also kept the Burlyboys informed on what was going on back home in the states. The big news was that since the Blatz were in contract in selling their house, they were just about free and clear, something had to be done to stop them. Well there was, Diane said that Sally needs to put up $150,000 dollars to put a lean on the proceeds of the sale of their house before they closed escrow or else they may just walk away since Sally had indeed put Cecil on all her accounts. Now where does a retired telephone operator come up with $150,000 in just days?

Corrine got busy informing all the Blatz's former neighbors just what was going on. How they had been skimming off Sally's money by selling her stock from under her nose. How they wrote themselves into her will. How they chased away all her friends, kept her isolated, and once suspected of something, skipped away secretly in the dark of night. Everyone was shocked! Comments were, "That's right, I thought their sudden move was odd." "They had been doing all that work to their home, showing it off to everyone so proudly." "Weren't they in the middle of redoing their kitchen?" "All those huge parties must have cost quite a bit!, I didn't know they had money like that." "The way they had turned on the Burlyboys, like they wanted everyone to know, do not piss them off, or you too will be out." "Just disappear like they did. It made no sense." Stories started arising how the Blatz had done this or that, things that just didn't seem right, nothing too big, just weird, how they seemed to manipulate everything. It turns out people really didn't care for them, something about them, and it wasn't just Maggie, Cecil was also phony, too sugary, insincere compliments, the complete opposite of Maggie who was just plain nasty, and not afraid to show it.

So what is Sally going to do? Glad you asked. Corrine tells all the neighbors Sally needs to put up $150.000 dollars bond to hold the paying of the profit of the sale of their home till she can prove the Blatzs wrong doing. If they are innocent they will get the money from the sale of their home, and the $150,000 bond will be returned to Sally. If they are guilty they will have to repay Sally what they took, and the bond again will be returned to Sally. If anyone can figure out the sum of what the stock was worth at the time of sale. Cecil will never tell or even admit his crime. Sally needs to put up the bond only to make the accusation. "What can I do?" "How can I help?" Again glad you asked! And everyone did, so beautifully and willingly.
to be continued..........................

I will survive

I had my second shoulder surgery on Monday July 10th, and it went great. I don't have to have my arm in a sling for six weeks as we had thought and I can start physical therapy sooner. The bad side is that I may need to have one more surgery but this time orthoscopic surgery which is less invasive. That surgery will be in four months if needed at all. There is some blockage in the front side of my shoulder that the Doctor tried to get from the back, which is where the incision was made, but he was not able to reach it without doing more damage. So he thought a follow-up surgery would be better, because I may be able to release the frozen tendons in physical therapy that are the problem in the front.
So now let the healling begin. If only the size of the shoulder would remain the same and the right side would be as big. It is massive! and I look fantastic!