Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The Bounced Check
At 10:00 AM, my sister Sabrina marched into the admissions and bursar’s office at Carter’s elite, ridiculously expensive private university. She was ready to pay his first-year tuition in full, feeling like the queen of the world. I know exactly how it went down because the ensuing meltdown was legendary.
Sabrina handed the bursar a cashier's check drawn from her newly enriched account. The bursar ran it through the system. “I’m sorry, ma'am,” the clerk said. “This check has been declined. In fact, there is a hard freeze code on your routing number.” Sabrina laughed loudly. “That’s impossible. I have over seventy grand in that account. Try it again.” The clerk tried again. Then the branch manager came out. “Mrs. Davis, your bank has locked all your assets under a federal fraud injunction,” the manager explained quietly. “The funds you attempted to use have been flagged as stolen. We cannot accept payment from you. If Carter’s tuition is not paid by 5:00 PM today, his enrollment will be cancelled, and his dorm room will be given to the waitlist.”
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My phone rang at 10:15 AM. It was Sabrina. “CLAIRE!” she shrieked so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “The bank froze my accounts! I can’t buy groceries! I can’t pay Carter’s tuition! They’re going to kick him out of school today! Call the bank and tell them it was a mistake right now!”
“It wasn't a mistake, Sabrina,” I said, sipping my coffee. “You told me Mom and Dad made an executive decision to steal Anna’s money. I made an executive decision to involve the federal authorities.” “You evil bitch! Carter’s life is ruined! He’s crying in the car!” “He can always do art,” I replied. And I hung up.
