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By Root 824 0

she crept downstairs with the pillowcase full of money, which she’d been forced to bring home when her mother’s furniture was readied for shipment to Westbury Center. Her whole body trembled as she stuffed it into the washing machine in the laundry room. How much soap was required to launder money? Should she use bleach? If she did, would it take the color out of the money? Dear God, what if she ruined it. Maybe she should use vinegar and baking soda. Her mother always said the combination would kill anything in its path: If it could kill an ant pile it should clean the money and destroy any and all of her fingerprints. Which cycle? she dithered. Gentle, normal, heavy-duty, or fine washables? Hot or cold? She started to shake all over again as she turned dials. Hot water and heavy-duty? She set the timer for a fifteen-minute wash cycle. With the soft water here in Charleston, what would she do if the money came out fluffy and hard to manage? “This is insane,” she muttered just as the doorbell rang. Who in the world would be ringing her doorbell at ten o’clock on Christmas night?

Annie ran to the door, tripping over her own feet as she went along. She squinted through the peephole and gasped. Daniel.

“Merry Christmas,” the professor said, holding out a luscious-looking poinsettia plant and a small gaily wrapped package.

“Daniel! How nice to see you.”

Daniel laughed. “Guess I’m a little late. I went to Georgia to see my dad and just got back. I’ve been gone for the last two weeks.”

“Oh.”

“A drink would be nice. It is rather cold standing here. If this isn’t a good time, I can come back.”

“No, no. I’m sorry. My mind has been somewhere else all day. Come in. What would you like to drink?”

“What are you having?”

“Wine.”

“Then wine it is. Nice tree. I always chop one down for my dad. We try to pretend it’s like past Christmases when Mom was still here and my brothers were around. It never works, but we keep trying. How’s your mother?”

“She was here last night. We do that Christmas Eve thing instead of Christmas Day. Mom started it when we gave up on Santa. My brother’s here, and she had a few good moments where she knew us.”

“Good God, what’s that racket?” Daniel asked, whirling around.

“Well ... it’s probably ... the washing machine probably went off center. I’ll just turn it off.”

“Let me help you. I’m an old hand where washing machines are concerned. I have this relic in my apartment that goes off center every time I wash a load of clothes. It’s really a simple matter of redistributing the load and using your backside to slide the machine back to its original position.”

“Really, it isn’t a problem. Tom can ... Tom can adjust it in the morning.” She should have given more thought to the contents and going off center. Damn, why didn’t I think of that?

“It’s no problem. For you to be washing on Christmas, the clothing must be important.”

“I was bored,” Annie said lamely. “See, it stopped all by itself.” With all the bouncing around the machine was doing, the money might be shredded by now. You are one stupid woman, Annie Clark.

“Tell me, how can you be bored? What are you doing alone on Christmas? Where are all your friends?”

“They’re all busy. Elmo is with his two lady friends. Jane is with Bob. They got engaged and are going to move to San Francisco. Tom’s here, but he’s beat, so he went to bed early. He’s going to move here and help with the business. He’s going through a divorce.”

“Don’t tell me any more. Been there, done that. It wasn’t a good time in my life. It still isn’t. I wanted to tell you, Annie. It’s just that I hate talking about it. Right now I can’t handle anything more than friendship.”

“Friendship is fine. I’m not in a hurry to ... what I mean is, I’m not ready ... this isn’t coming out right. Friendship is fine. More wine?”

“Sure. That’s a pretty tree. Did you have it cut down?”

Annie laughed. “Nineteen ninety-five from the Shell station.”

“At least you have a tree. I didn’t get one for the apartment. I put up a wreath on the door before I left, and when I got back it was gone. Some