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By Root 814 0

lot part of a crime scene? Would her car show up in some photograph with the license plate showing clear as day? Of course it would. Sooner or later they would track down her car through DMV. It wouldn’t matter what state she was in. If she could make it to South Carolina, as planned, trade in the car or junk it, hide the money, she would be okay. She was in the drugstore with Elmo when the robbery occurred. She was safe in that regard. She’d walked home. Kevin or one of his colleagues would be able to testify that her car was in the lot. Kevin checked the lot hourly to be sure every car parked had a university sticker on it. He constantly teased her about her bucket of bolts and all the rust on the chrome. Kevin would remember. Kevin knew she and Jane were leaving right after graduation. They’d even talked about it earlier in the week. Yes, lunch with Elmo was necessary. A quick lunch. She really wasn’t deviating from her plan.

I guess that means you’re planning on keeping the money, her conscience needled.

“I haven’t decided,” Annie muttered.

Sure you have. You already have it planned out. You need to think about what you’ll do if you get caught. Jail time isn’t pretty. You’d hate it. You can still call the police. You can turn the money in. Or, you could package it up and send it to them tomorrow morning. The post office is open half a day on Saturdays.

It’s my answer to a long list of prayers. Do you have any idea how much easier my life will be? I can pay it back at some point in time. It’s for now. Just temporary to get me over this awful hurdle in my life. I swear to God I’ll pay it back. With interest. I’m a business major. I know how that works. I can compute interest right down to the last penny. I’ve never lied, cheated, or stolen a thing in my life. I’ve worked harder than some men. I’ve always done what’s right. I never begrudged Tom his free education while I had to work for mine. I pray every night that Mom will get better. She won’t, but I pray anyway. I can make her life more bright, more cheerful. I can do so much with the money. I’m keeping it!

Someday you’re going to regret it.

Someday isn’t here. This is today and today I won’t regret it. I won’t regret it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so be quiet and leave me alone. I need to think.

What’s Jane going to say when she finds out?

Jane isn’t going to find out. Tom isn’t going to find out and neither is my mother. Elmo will never know. Those four people are the only people in this whole world that are important to me. The only way they could ever find out is if I tell them. I didn’t even. open the damn bag. For all I know it could be stuffed with paper. The police and the media could be mistaken about the amount of money.

What about the boy’s parents? They have money. They’ll hire detectives and detectives sniff around and detectives are like dogs with bones. Their bonuses depend on results. They’ll love someone like you. Give it back!

No!

Yes!

Annie bounded off the bed to drag the small slipper chair to the window. She withdrew her diary, one of many she had accumulated over the years. She never went to sleep without writing at least one line about what happened during the day. Someday, when she was old and gray and sitting in a rocker, she would show them to her children and grandchildren. For the zillionth time she wished her own mother had done the same thing.

Annie wrote carefully, composing the words in her mind first so she could fit them into the three lines afforded this date. I saw my own personal rainbow today. It’s so strange that I was the recipient of this rainbow and no one else. I view it as a personal message that life will be whatever Jane and I choose to make it as we prepare to start our new lives with all our schooling behind us.

“If anyone reads this, they won’t know what I’m talking about,” Annie muttered.

She didn’t bother to get ready for bed. She knew there would be no sleep for her this night and probably for many nights to come. Instead, she sat on the small tufted chair and watched her car all through the