Lament for Amy

I've punted this story into the non-erotic category because it has no direct sex – some is inferred though. Overall the story is dark and sad. I hope this does not put you off reading it though. I believe it contains all the elements of a good short story including a sharp twist at the end. It is entirely a product of my imagination. Any resemblance the characters have to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

Amy

"Lianne? Shelley Johnston here."

"Hi, Shelley. How are you?"

"Fine thanks. I wasn't sure you were back from your travels yet – so I called on the off chance..."

"We got back three days ago. Had a great trip. Love to tell you about it."

"The reason I called is I have a favor to ask. Are you free next Wednesday? It's quite important."

"Sure. I have tennis, but that's easy to cancel. I strained my back whilst I was away, so resting it will be a good thing."

The two women made the arrangements settling on time and place.

"This is so good of you. Thank you. By the way is your e-mail the same as last year?"

"Yes."

"OK. I'll be sending you something later today. Read the attachment. Let me know if you have a problem opening it. It's quite long. It'll be great if you can read it before we meet. See you next Wednesday."

Attachment: amy.docx

Annus Horribilis thought Amy as she lay propped up against three pillows in her bed. The reason Amanda was called Amy or Mandy was lost in the mists of time.

She took another spoonful of semi-melted Pralines and Cream ice cream direct from the canister. "What a fucking year" she spoke out loud to herself. Amy rarely if ever swore. She considered swearing vulgar and cheap.

Her eyes were dry and her jaw set. There had been enough tears for a lifetime and she had to get control of herself.

Setting the ice cream aside, Amy slid down the bed under the covers. The air was cool in the bedroom. She always kept the house cool and with the New Years Day at minus twelve Celsius outside, the upstairs of the house was no more than fifteen. Amy surveyed the last twelve months.

On New Years day a year ago Amy had two of her friends staying. Amy reflected that just about at this time in the morning her father and brother had arrived bearing gifts and food for her fiftieth birthday. The friends were busy in the kitchen and the house was being transformed to party central.

The party was planned as a moving feast with people arriving all day with food and drinks. There was music in the family room, with the limited space cleared for dancing. The house was abuzz with conversation and laughter.

Amy particularly remembered the small children of a neighbor having a lot of fun. The party seemed to run on from just after noon to almost midnight, with departures being replaced with newcomers. Her colleagues turned up with their families in droves. All of the neighbors dropped in.

It seemed as though most of her church congregation and the priest found their way to her house after the playful pulpit announcement of the party. Amy suspected the priest really fancied her.

Amy smiled to herself. It was a good memory. She wondered if the excess of that event triggered a rebalancing of her universe with what was to follow.

It was exactly eleven months since her brother, Tom, had died in a bizarre accident in Orlando, Florida. He fell seventy feet from a roller coaster ride. The reports said he stood up just as the track took a sharp turn and was ejected over the side.

Her little brother was just two years younger than Amy, but from the age of twelve she had been like a mother to him following their mother's death from breast cancer. Thomas was a high functioning autistic boy and man.

He was brilliant at math and physics but had extreme difficulty in relating to people, including his father. He sailed through his major subjects at school and University, but struggled and barely squeaked through other compulsory courses. He achieved his doctorate in an obscure aspect of logistics.

Throughout his university life he had the good fortune to have tutors, friends and supervisors who understood his difficulties and look out for him. Tom found employment in the aerospace industry, tucked away in a corner solving specific difficult problems that arose in avionics.

During his working life he managed on his own with some oversight – Amy visited him at least once a week and brought home cooked meals at the weekends. She accepted the burden of his upkeep without a second thought.

Tom's regular and quite substantial income allowed him to rent a large apartment where he kept a large collection of model cars and railway engines. With the help of his sister's cooking and shopping for him, a standing arrangement with a nearby Pizza place, and a weekly cleaning lady who also did his washing he coped with life.

Amy was his only visitor, apart from the Pizza deliveryman and the cleaner, whom he never saw because she came when he was at work.

In spite of the narrow life he led, Tom was happy. He had taken several holidays quite successfully in tightly controlled tours. He was on a tour in Orlando. Amy always wondered what his fellow companions on the tour made of him, as he was not one for conversation.

The task of arranging the return of Tom's body, organizing the small funeral and clearing up Tom's apartment and disposing of his things including his collection of models fell to Amy. This was no small task.

Amy managed to retain a degree of detachment as she made the arrangements for Tom's flight back, and the funeral. It turned out the Tour operator insisted on travel insurance so they were able to point Amy at their insurer. This took work. Importing the body took an inordinate amount of paperwork.

From Tom's work she received a prompt large sum for the funeral arrangements. Five colleagues turned up out of courtesy at the funeral. One work friend called Joe, whom Amy had no idea existed, came up to Amy after the funeral and offered to help with model collection. He was a fellow collector and knew about these matters. Amy asked him to put the best piece aside for her, and make arrangement to sell the rest at the best price possible.

Going through Tom's drawers at the apartment, Amy was surprised to find a will, and the fact she was the executor. She contacted the lawyer who had drawn up the will and made arrangements to meet with her.

There was also a bank contact and some financial material she did not understand. Amy discovered that Tom had set up joint accounts with herself. She had some vague recollection of signing some papers from time to time that she thought were to do with his work, not his financial arrangements.

She gave the lawyer power of attorney to get on sorting out financial and legal matters, as she had been neglecting her work. It was confusing and Amy did not quite understand what was going on, not quite believing what the bits of paper were telling her.

Joe took all the models and mailed a detailed inventory to Amy. She readily agreed to an arrangement whereby Joe kept forty percent of any money Joe raised from sale of the models. With all that was going on she would have given them to him if he had asked. The apartment was cleared and the key returned to the landlord within three weeks of Tom's death. Amy was one to get on with things.

Amy also passed all the material that came from Tom's employer to the lawyer. It appeared he had paid into a life insurance plan that gave a six times salary payout if Tom died in an accident. There was an inquest arranged in Florida, and a ruling as to whether Tom's death was a result of an accident or was suicide. As a Catholic it was considered unlikely it was suicide, and ruled accidental.

As all Tom's arrangements were being made Amy tried to cope with her teaching schedule and her classes. It was tough but she battled through. Even in these difficult times she tried to put her students first. She sacrificed sleep for work, but slowly became more and more exhausted. Then, exactly a month after Tom's death the second shoe fell. Her father died of a heart attack.

It was all too much. She requested time off from work. Having acquired a doctor's note she was granted indefinite time off until her sick leave benefits ran out.

Amy found herself back at the Funeral home and going through a similar process to that of Tom, without the complication of returning the body from a distant place. She once more contacted her lawyer. Amy knew her dad had a will in a safety deposit box. With death certificate in hand she emptied the safety deposit box and found the will. It was straightforward. Amy was the sole beneficiary following Tom's death.

By the end of April Amy found herself the solitary survivor of her family. She put the family house up for sale – she never liked it after the death of her mother decades earlier. It sold quickly and Amy saw the estate was awash in money that would eventually accrue to her.

With most matters settled, the sustained adrenaline diminished and the grief set in. Amy did not recognize the symptoms. Fatigue, listlessness, anger and depression hit her. She did not sleep well, nor did she eat properly.

Amy neglected her grooming and rarely showered of bathed. She smelled bad. Her friends stopped visiting. She casually considered suicide, but her Catholic values held this thought at bay.

Any decisions that had to be made were difficult. She prevaricated and delayed. She realized that as result of the two deaths she was quite rich, although in her state of mind this meant very little to her at that time. She slept a lot.

Her health gradually deteriorated until she eventually took herself to her doctor. The doctor could not believe the state that Amy had reduced herself to over the summer. It was early September. The good news was that Amy was sturdy as an ox, and no damage to her body had occurred in spite of the neglect. She was placed on some anti-depressants and a regime of vitamins, and given diet sheets. She was also referred to a grief councilor. She was not well enough to return to her teaching duties.

She felt better in herself, stopped taking the anti-depressants, with the vitamins and better food, and slowly as she went through weeks of counseling her normal sleep patterns began to return. The turning point came one day when she actually watched the news on TV, and decided to walk to the corner store to buy a newspaper.

She started to walk more and more. Always without purpose, and often getting lost. On many occasions she had to summon up all her courage to ask someone how to get back home.

When she felt bad she took the antidepressants again for a while, and then stopped when she felt better. But over time she weaned herself off the medications.

Amy had dozed off on the bed. The ice cream had melted in the carton. When she woke feeling pleasantly relaxed and rested, Amy took stock of what she knew and what she wanted, for suddenly she had a conviction that she had to move forward to something, whatever it was.

She finally found she could think objectively about her brother and father. They were gone. She was stripped of their responsibility. For the first time since their deaths she recognized some freedom to do what she wanted rather than be defined by her own sense of obligation towards them.

She thought about religion and the lack of support the Church had provided over the last eleven months. The lack of comfort it had given in her time of need. In that moment she resolved to pay only lip service to religion – just enough to ensure continued employment in the Catholic School Board system. She had lost all faith, and gained a cloak of hypocrisy.

Amy knew she had inherited a lot of money, but she had no clue how much and what she was going to do with it. When the Bank opened in the morning she would arrange a meeting.

Amy suspected that part of her recovery was due to the walks she had been taking. She could now walk at a good pace for several hours without feeling too fatigued. She pushed herself to be fatigued enough to sleep well, or so she thought. But wondered if she could do more.

Amy started a mental list of things to do; bank, contact school about return, join health club, get personal trainer – although she had no idea how to go about this, go to a spa and get a makeover, start thinking about a proper summer holiday, finish the basement – or, as an afterthought possible move house if there is sufficient money.

Suddenly, as these thought swirled about in her head, Amy was exhausted again. The act of planning tired her. She slept again.

It was early afternoon before Amy went downstairs. There were just three birthday cards on the sideboard. One from Joe, including a request to come over to see her, one from her dentist and one from her chiropractor. "Screw them," Amy called out loud.

The following day Amy's first act was to call the school Superintendent – she had his home number from a previous crisis at the school.

"Jim?" He was always insistent on first name use, trying to sound like one of the boys. "Oh Jim, this is Amy Smith. So sorry to bother you at home in the holidays."

"No problem." He had to think for a moment who Amy Smith was. "Oh, Amy, so good to hear from you. How are you doing?"

"That's why I am calling. I am much better, thank you, and ready to return to school. Do I just turn up? What's the procedure? "

"Ah. It's a bit more complicated than that. You will have to get a Doctor's certificate that you're fit to return, and then e-mail your Principal, Heather." He thought Heather will be upset, he knew she had already made arrangements for a good friend of hers to fill in for Amy.

"That sounds easy enough."

"One more thing though." Jim was thinking that Heather did not need one more lame duck on her staff, and maybe she can keep her friend on. "We will also need a check-up by the Board doctor." Jim made up a policy on the fly. "You've been away more than six months...." The Board medicals were always tough, and even if Amy did not return, it was not out his budget since she was on long-term disability.

"Of course. Just let me know when and where for the check up. I'd really like to start for the second semester."

"I should be up front about this, Amy. Whilst you were away we appointed Sandra as head of the Art department, and I am uncertain that we will be able to reinstate you into the position. Anyway it takes some of the stress out of the job."

Amy felt her blood boil. Sandra was lazy and careless. But she thought what choice do I have.

Amy heard herself saying, "Sure. Ok." She had no idea why she said that. "I'll get my Doc's clearance and let Heather know. Will you or Heather set up the Board medical? Otherwise we are good to go." She did not feel this sentiment working for Sandra.

"I'll set up the Medical and e-mail you the details. Thanks for calling. Good to hear you are better." Jim hung up.

Amy kept her cool. She thought of the students, and that was what it was all about.

Amy's next call was to her lawyer, who she found was away and not back until the following week. While she had some momentum going she decided to call the bank even though she would have preferred to have some more information from about the accounts before speaking to them.

The bank call started off quite normally with two transfers from person to person, eventually arriving at the Manager's desk where she left a message to call her back.

Amy was not put off by her lack of progress. Her next move was to fire up her computer. She searched locally for health clubs and spas. She made note of the three closest to her home or the school, and once she had the details she called them all. Two health clubs seemed acceptable, but the receptionist of the third was rude. Amy stuck if off the list. Amy made an appointment for the following day at the spa in the plaza a few blocks away.

Amy received a call back after lunch, "Amy Smith? This is Charles Weingarten, but call me Charles. I'm with the bank. You called."

"Mr. Weingarten – sorry, Charles. I have been unable to reach my lawyer, who is away, but I wanted to get a handle on my accounts and funds before returning to school. As you may be aware both my Brother and my father died early last year and the probate was completed in late December for both. I should tell you I was in a bad way and handed my power of attorney over to my lawyer to sort all that paperwork out. I have some vague impression I received a bunch of cash, but I have no idea what it was and what I should do with it."

"Amy: may I call you that? Well Amy, there is too much going on in your accounts to explain over the phone."

Amy interrupted, "I can come in any time over the next week. If that works for you?"

"Actually Amy I thinking I could make a home visit. Would that be acceptable to you? Maybe I should explain I do not work at the Branch, but I am in Wealth Management and our job is to look after and increase your wealth. We do home visits." Amy was immediately suspicious.

"How do I know you work for the Bank?"

"Good question. I appreciate your caution. Call the Bank branch that you know and ask for the manager, Mrs. Cook. Ask her about me. Would that put your mind at ease?"

"Sounds reasonable. I don't mean to be rude, but you know with all these scams going on...."

"Amy. As I said before, you are wise to question this apparently – to you at least – unsolicited call. One final thing before we make arrangements, you do know you are now quite a wealthy woman, do you?"

"Really? I guess so - there was my father's house, a bunch of insurance from the amusement place in Florida and my bro's work insurance. Anyway, I'd like to get a handle on it."

"I can help you. And there is more than you mentioned. Much more. So do call the Branch to check my credentials, but lets make an appointment now. You can always cancel if you are not satisfied. One final thing I would like to have your permission to go over your late brothers accounts. I have to record your response. OK?"

"Sure."

"May I examine your late brother's accounts?" "Certainly. Yes."

"Thank you."

They made arrangements for a visit for the following Monday. Amy called the Branch and found everything was in order.

Amy then made an appointment for a doctor's appointment and was able to get a time slot for early the next day, due to a cancellation.

The day had passed quickly for Amy. She felt in control of her life again. She then picked up a book for the first time in over a year and read. She had a soaking bath and went to bed early. She slept through to the next morning and had to rush to get to the Doctor's appointment on time.

Amy's doctor was pleased with the progress Amy had made since the last time she had seen her. She could find nothing physically wrong, but was still concerned about her state of mind. She was not clear if she permanently recovered from the grief she had felt. To be sure the doctor referred Amy to the grief counselor for a final screening and formal opinion. A rush appointment was arranged. The doctor was also able to make a reference to an experienced personal trainer to increase Amy's level of fitness.

Amy contacted the personal trainer, Rosalita: Rose for short. They met for coffee and quickly became comfortable with each other. Rose was a single parent aged forty-two with two children at university. Rose is a slim, small woman whose energy seeped out of every pore. They discussed her family and her present obligations and how she would fit Amy into her schedule. They agreed on a fee arrangement and between them they settled on one of the fitness clubs Amy had selected the previous day as a place to meet and train.