Mrs. Shepherds Dolls - A Christmas Story (5 page)

“I’m not sure, but if Taylor is going to put
the money back into Ruth’s account, what’s going to keep Eunice
from taking it back out? She must have some kind of way of getting
into her account. Maybe Ruth gave her access to her account. Maybe
she can withdrawal money anytime she wants. We need to talk to her,
or maybe Taylor should go up and gently ask her some questions.”
Bob advised.

Taylor went up to Ruth’s room and sat on the
edge of the bed.

“Ruthie? Ruthie are you awake?” Taylor padded
her hand.

“Oh Taylor, I thought I heard angels
singing.” Ruth said looking up at Taylor and smiling.

“No sweetheart, that’s just some carolers
going up and down the street singing Christmas songs.”

“Oh dear, I always invite them in and give
them some cookies.” Ruth said disappointed.

“We’ll rustle something up for them, don’t
you worry. Now, I need to ask you something, have you given Eunice
control over your bank account?” Taylor asked.

“Goodness no, she isn’t good with money and I
told her she could have the money in the roll top desk for any
expenses she might have. There was cash in there and oh dear, my
check book too.” Ruth said trying to sit up in bed.

“How about that old sponge wear sugar bowl?”
He asked.

“No, there’s nothing but sugar in there. No,
I would never trust Eunice with any money. You can’t trust her.
Just ask her parents. She almost bankrupt them. Why do you ask? And
where is she?” Ruth asked.

“Now don’t get upset, but she’s gone.” Taylor
said gently.

“Hallelujah!” Ruth laughed. “I’m so glad that
sourpuss is gone. Kicked her out did you?”

“Yep, that’s about the size of it.” Taylor
laughed.

“Well, she almost starved me to death. I’m so
glad I have friends like you and Brenda and the girls. I don’t care
if no one else could make it to the hospital the day I fell. I was
hurt at first but….”

“Couldn’t make it? Are you kidding? The
waiting room was full of people from all over town waiting to hear
how you were. We were all there for hours. Brenda refused to leave.
Why on earth would you think that?” Taylor asked amazed.

“Eunice told me that she was the only one
there. I might have known she was lying.” Ruth said deflated.

“We all care about you Ruthie, no one would
ever do that to you.” Taylor promised. “Me especially.”

******

Taylor joined the others downstairs and was
happy to see the house transformed into Christmas.

“Well? How does it all look?” Brenda
asked.

“Unbelievable, she’ll love it!” Taylor
beamed.

“And Bob, I have a feeling Eunice has been
having a field day with Ruth’s account. Now, Eunice knows me, but
she doesn’t know you. I had Ruth write up a letter to give to the
bank manager, if you wouldn’t mind stopping by the bank tomorrow.
That’s why she left so easily when I said I was going to deposit
that money into Ruth’s account. She’ll be there first thing
tomorrow to withdrawal it. I have no doubts.”

“I thought so.” Bob said. “I’ll be glad to
talk to the bank manager tomorrow.

“Well, are we all ready to start for home?
Or, is there more work to do? If I can help, just let me know.” Bob
asked.

With the flick of a switch, all of the lights
came on outside, to the delight of the neighbors and workers who
made it all possible.

The porch railing, the eves under the roof
and the windows, everything took on a bright colorful display of
lights. Inside Ruth’s house, the tree was decorated, the fireplace
was lit and garland was draped over the mantle and mirror. A
beautiful poinsettia display sat on the coffee table.

Candles were lit on the fireplace mantle and
the smell was a dreamy intoxicating aroma of vanilla and
cinnamon.

“Okay folks, it’s really late, thank you for
all your help. I think we should call it a day now.” Taylor said
shaking hands and patting his friends on the back.

“
I’m spending the night here on the
sofa, in case she needs anything.” Taylor said.

“We’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Brenda said
to Taylor.

“I’ll be at the bank as soon as it opens
tomorrow, I’ll close her account and have them open up a new one.”
Bob said. “I’ll also have a couple of guards there to catch her in
the act if she shows up.”

******

“I’m sorry Mr. Sheaffer, that’s not possible.
I cannot close someone’s account on just your say.” The bank teller
told Bob.

“Oh I understand, however, I have a letter
from Mrs. Shepherd addressed to the bank manager, if I might see
him?” Bob asked.

“Of course, we haven’t seen Mrs. Shepherd for
a few weeks now. I heard she hurt herself, I hope she’s better. Her
niece has been coming in and cashing checks for her.” The teller
said.

Bob was escorted into the manager’s office.
He showed him the letter and the manager just sat back in his chair
and shook his head.

“I haven’t seen Ruth, but that niece of hers
has been in here almost everyday. Well sir, we’ll put a stop to
that. Yes, I will be delighted to close Mrs. Shepherd’s account and
open a new one for her.” He said.

Bob left the bank and nodded to Taylor who
was waiting to go into the bank. Eunice was also waiting. She was
relieved to finally see Taylor. She waited for him to make the
deposit and leave. Then, she strolled across the street into the
bank and up to the teller.

“Yes, hello. I need to make a withdrawal as
usual. Here’s the check, please cash it as soon as possible.” She
demanded.

“I’m sorry miss, this account has been
closed.” The teller replied.

“You must be mistaken. A deposit was just
recently made. I have every right to make my usual withdrawal, now,
no more of your nonsense, cash this check immediately.” Eunice
fumed.

“Excuse me miss.” The bank manager said
walking over to Eunice.

“What?” She turned and grimaced at the
man.

“That account for Mrs. Shepherd has been
closed. I have a letter from her asking that the account be closed
and no further withdrawals be made on that account.” He said
curtly.

“Who closed it? Was it that Taylor Duncan I
just saw leave? Because he has no right to that money, it’s mine.”
Eunice said.

“No, as a matter of fact it was not Mr.
Duncan who closed the account, and I am not at liberty to tell you
who acted on her behalf.” The manager stated.

“I…um..I don’t understand. Mrs. Shepherd is
my aunt and I’ve been taking care of her. I have carte blanche to
any money that is in that account.” Eunice stuttered.

“Would you like to come into my office where
we can discuss this in private?” He asked looking over at the
security guard.

“Certainly not. I will talk this over with my
aunt and get it straightened out. I’ll be back.” Eunice said
storming out of the bank.

“Stupid old woman.” Eunice said as she left
the bank.

******

Taylor hurried up the walkway to Ruth’s
house, to warn Brenda about the closed account.

“Now Brenda, I have no doubts that Eunice
will be back to stir up trouble. She’s broke now since her private
well has run dry. I just want you to be prepared.” Taylor warned
her.

“Don’t worry, I’m ready for her. I’m just
going to take this tray up to Ruth. No one starves while I’m
around.” Brenda laughed.

“I’ll be back this afternoon to bring Ruth
downstairs for her to see her tree and decorations. I don’t know
what we’re going to do about her dolls. She’ll be heartbroken.”
Taylor said shaking his head.

“I know this isn’t going to help, but both
children and adults have been filling Ruth’s shelves with their own
dolls. They’ve been in and out all morning.” Brenda said.

“This town is full of kindhearted people,
that’s why I can’t figure out who Eunice sold the dolls to. No one
that I know of would have bought Ruth’s dolls. They all know how
much those dolls mean to her.” Taylor pondered.

Brenda just shook her head and continued up
the stairs to Ruth’s room.

******

By the 24
^th
of December, Eunice
had still not shown up. They were starting to believe that she had
possibly left town.

All day people came by with food. Casseroles,
baked goods, cookies even a turkey. This was what Christmas was all
about.

By now Brenda and the girls were practically
living at Ruth’s house. Keeping it warm and making sure Ruth had
plenty of food and water.

Brenda prepared the turkey to be put in the
oven first thing Christmas morning. She also made her famous
Christmas morning casserole for breakfast. The house smelled
wonderful and it wafted its way into Ruth’s room upstairs.

Christmas morning came and the Sheaffer’s
were enjoying the breakfast casserole when there was a knock on the
door.

“Glad I made two casseroles.” Brenda called
out and she went to the door.

Taylor came by to keep his promise and bring
Ruth downstairs, however, he stopped to his a bite of Brenda’s
food. When all were perfectly sated, it was time to bring Ruth
down.

She had just finished her breakfast and she
was wide-awake and happy to finally get out of that bedroom. Taylor
carefully carried her downstairs and to her delight some friends
and neighbors had dropped by to see her.

“Oh it’s just lovely. It looks like Santa’s
workshop exploded, I just love it!” She said as she smiled at all
the decorations.

“Jen did the kitchen, and she’s very proud of
it.” Brenda said, as Jen beamed.

Taylor took her into the kitchen and she just
gushed at all of Jen’s handiwork.

“All right now, I need to see my girls.
Please Taylor, take me to see my girls, I’ve missed them so much.”
Ruth said.

“Well Ruthie, don’t you think you should rest
a bit on the sofa. We’ll bring you some cookies and tea if you
like.” He said, his heart beating out of his chest.

“Oh no, I must see my girls.” She
insisted.

Reluctantly Taylor carried Ruth down the
hallway to the doll room.

When he opened the door and took her into the
room, Brenda and the others were close behind.

Ruth’s intake of breath caused the group to
rush to her side.

“Where…where are my girls?” She could barely
get the words out.

“Well Ruth, you might as well know the truth,
Eunice sold them.” Taylor said softly.

“But why? Why would she do such a thing? She
had lots of money, more than enough to take care of herself and me.
Why?” Ruth sobbed.

“Ruth, we’ll try to find them, we’ll look
everywhere, and if she comes back we’ll shake it out of her, I
promise.” Brenda said stroking her hair.

“No. No, please take me back to my room.”
Ruth asked.

Taylor sadly carried Ruth back down the
hallway and towards the stairs.

“No, my room.” She whispered through
tears.

“Yes, of course.” Taylor said.

Brenda and the girls hurried to take the
comforter off of Ruth’s bed and replace it with one they found in
the chest at the bottom of the bed. They didn’t want any remnants
of Eunice to linger in Ruth’s bedroom.

******

Meanwhile, Eunice Frankel was scurrying
around outside Ruth’s house to see what was going on. She went from
window to window to find that the place was full of people.

“Wait! No ones in the kitchen!” She said out
loud making her way around to the kitchen door.

She quietly went into the kitchen and felt
the warmth of the house. “Oh I nearly froze out there, well, it
would serve them right if I did! Kicking me out like that, I’d
haunt them, yes, I would!” Eunice said narrowing her eyes at the
chattering going on in the living room.

She waited for them to leave. But they
didn’t. “How am I suppose to get to aunty with all those stupid
people hanging about?”

Then she remembered the dumbwaiter. “Ah,
perfect, if I can just hoist myself up.”

A very tall gangly woman like Eunice could
hardly make herself fit into the dumbwaiter. By the time she backed
into the small box in the wall, she could hardly breath. She
wrapped her arms around her bent knees and scrunched her big feet
in just enough to close the hatch. Then she grabbed the pulleys and
started to pull herself up.

When she finally landed upstairs in Ruth’s
room, or what had been Ruth’s room, she rolled out of the
dumbwaiter and whispered for Ruth. No one was there.

“Oh what now?” Eunice grimaced. “They must
have taken her downstairs, oh what do I do now?”

Just then she heard voices on the stairs.

“We just need to get her pillow so she’ll be
more comfortable.” Jen said.

Amy and Jen were just opening the door to the
upstairs bedroom when Eunice squeezed herself back into the
dumbwaiter and closed the hatch.

The girls thought they heard something, but
grabbed Ruth’s pillow and headed back downstairs.

As soon as Brenda fluffed her pillow and
started to put it under Ruth’s head, everyone heard a scream and a
huge crash in the kitchen.

“What on earth?” Brenda and Taylor rushed out
of Ruth’s room and into the kitchen.

There they found a dizzy Eunice sitting on
the floor rubbing her hip and other parts of her body, with the
hatch to the dumbwaiter lying beside her.

Everyone gathered around her narrowing their
eyes at her and wanting to throw her out into the cold.

“What are you doing here?” Taylor
seethed.

“I need my aunt, I need to talk to her.”
Eunice sobbed.

“She wants nothing to do with you, ever
again.” Brenda said.

Just then the doorbell rang.

Brenda went to answer it and found a very
angry man standing there.

“Where is she?” He yelled.

“Where’s who?” Brenda asked.

“That hideous woman with the donuts on her
ears.” He yelled again.