Saturday Story - December 19, 2020

 Saturday Story - December 19, 2020

Continuing last week’s story.

Angie Harris took cookies to an elderly and rumored to be cranky, neighbor, Mrs. Lucille Appletree for about a month.  

On the second Saturday of October, after delivering the cookies, Mrs. Appletree asked Angie if she could help her with some work around her house the next Saturday, and she would pay for it.  Angie agreed.  Mrs. Appletree had Angie sit while she wrote a note to Angie’s Mom.

“Dear Mrs. Harris.  You have a delightful daughter.  I would like her to help me next Saturday morning if that is acceptable to you. I will pay her.”

She put it in an envelope and gave it to Angie to take to her mother.  

Karolyn Harris was making a chicken and noodle casserole when Angie got home with the letter.  

Karolyn asked her daughter if she would want to help Mrs. Appletree.  

Angie said “It’s okay with me.  I’m getting a little more comfortable with her.  I think she is old and lonely and it's good for me to help.”

*****

So, the next Saturday, Angie helped Mrs. Appletree with some cleaning.  The older lady didn’t see well, so she didn’t always get the dust and the cobwebs cleared.  So, Angie helped with that.  Then they dusted the blinds.  Mrs. Appletree got a step stool from the kitchen and held it steady while Angie climbed it and dusted the blades on the rotating ceiling fan. Angie mopped the kitchen floor, took out the trash, swept the leaves away from the front and back steps.  She finished by cleaning the windows and mirrors with Windex.

And, as promised she paid Angie for her work.  She gave her five dollars - but an unusual five dollars, as she gave Angie five old silver dollars.  Angie hadn’t seen silver dollars like this and wasn’t sure they even were legitimate, but didn’t complain and went home.

She told her parents about the work and then showed them the silver dollars.  Both Mom and Dad were surprised.  Mom got her computer and looked up the silver dollars on the Internet.  The least valuable one was about $45, and the most valuable one was about $375.  All told, the total (at least on the online coin valuation site) was about $850.  Mom looked at Dad, and Dad looked back at Mom and Angie.  

Mom started, “Angie, Mrs. Appletree gave you five dollars - but they are five very collectible and valuable dollars.  If we take these to a dealer who collects and sells coins, they might be worth as much as $500.”

Mom added “Yes, we added them up to about $850, but the coin dealer probably won’t pay that much for them.  He or she might sell them for $850 after he has them, but he probably won’t pay that much for them.”

It was still Saturday afternoon, and Mom looked up coin dealers in Sugar Land Texas.  There was one not too far away, so Mom drove Angie to the coin dealer’s shop at the First Colony Mall.  Angie and Mrs. Harris went into the coin dealer.  There was another customer so they browsed a little.  There were lots of coins in glass cases.  By pressing a forward (or backward) button, the coins that were in long trays would circulate so they could see them.  There were some similar coins to what she had - Morgan Silver Dollars.  And, of the ones in the dealer’s display unit were priced from $150 up to $1,450!!  

It was a few minutes before the dealer was able to come to talk to them.  Karolyn Harris had told Angie she had to do the talking.  

Angie started “I’ve been helping an old lady with some housework and she paid me with these.”  

She had put the silver dollars in five clear plastic Ziploc bags so they wouldn’t bang up against each other.  

The dealer looked at each one in their bags and jotted something on a notepad.  There was an assistant in the back room of the store and the dealer called him out and handed the note to the assistant.  The assistant didn’t say anything, but looked at Angie somewhat sternly and went into the back room.  

The dealer put on rubber gloves and picked up a magnifying glass and took the first one out - an 1889 “CC” Silver Dollar.  It was stunning.  It shone and had little wear.

The dealer looked up at Angie, and somewhat harshly said to Angie “Where did you get this?”

It wasn’t asked in a friendly manner, but accusatory.

Angie was taken-aback and answered “I've been helping an old lady with cleaning and she paid me five dollars today.  

The dealer more accusatory “Did you steal these from the old lady?”

Karolyn was browsing looking at nickels and came over to Angie and asked “Are you implying my daughter stole these coins?”

The dealer looked up at Karolyn and Angie.  “This is a valuable coin.  I would call it Uncirculated and thus, it has a value of about $3,000.  No old lady in her right mind would give five of these coins to a black girl.  So, you must have stolen it.”

And, about this time, a squad car pulled up in front of the coin dealer store (and parked illegally in a handicapped parking spot), and two cops came in - one white and one black.  

“What seems to be the matter here?” Asked the white cop.  

The coin dealer spoke up “I’m pretty sure this black girl is trying to sell me stolen silver dollars.”

The white cop turned to Angie and asked “Did you steal the coin?”

Angie was fighting back tears.  She could see herself in jail, or maybe shot - isn’t that what white cops did to black kids.  She stammered out “No, Mrs. Appletree gave me five coins for helping her clean today.” 

Now it was the black cop's turn to speak - he put his hand up with the palm facing the white cop as implying ‘don’t interrupt me’.

The black cop continued “Are you talking about old Mrs. Appletree near Cleveland Junior High School?”

Angie looked up - with a slight relief to be talking to the black cop, rather than the dealer or white cop.  “Yes”, and then she added, “But, it’s Cleveland Middle School now”.

The black cop, whose badge said ‘William Timmons”, turned to the white cop and dealer.  “When I was a kid in Cleveland Junior High there was an old couple on River Birch drive.  I think their name was Appletree.  Her story could be true.”

Turning to Angie, Officer Timmons asked “Is this on River Birch drive?”

Angie nodded in the affirmative, and stammered “yes”.

“Can you describe her?” asked Officer Timmons.

“Well,” started Angie.  “She’s old, white, and my friend dared me to take her cookies about six weeks ago.”  Angie paused.

“My friend, Junna, dared me to take the old lady cookies after our Sunday School lesson on loving one another.  So Mom helped me bake cookies and I took them over to her.  The first week, she didn’t let me in; but the second week she had dressed up a little and we had tea.  Since then, I’ve been going over every Saturday morning and last week she asked if I could help her with some chores this week.”

Officer Timmons turned to Karolyn “Is this true?”

Karolyn said “Yes.  Angie has been taking cookies to Mrs. Appletree for a while now.  But, I didn’t know it was a dare from her friend until now.” She smiled at her daughter for applying her Sunday School lesson to real life and wrapped her arm around Angie’s shoulders.  

The dealer spoke up now.  “But, even an old lady wouldn’t have given a black kid five valuable silver dollars.”

Officer Timmons spoke again, “she could or she couldn’t.  Yes, I suppose Angie could have seen the coins and swiped them, but I’m tending to believe Angie’s story.”

He turned to his partner, “Jake, let’s go over to Mrs. Appletree’s house and ask her about this.”  

He then said to the coin dealer, “Let’s let this stand as it is.  Angie will take back the coins for the time being.  We’ll get her name, address, and phone number - so in case she stole the coins, we can find justice.  So, put the coins back into the plastic bags, and give them back to the girl.”

The white cop seemed to be in the middle of the road.  He thought the coins might have been stolen - it didn’t make any difference - white or black - a kid in an old lady's house might have pretty easily taken them. But, Angie seemed sincere.

The two cops, Angie and her mother left the coin store.  

Officer Timmons said “We are going to take you to Mrs. Appletree’s house and see if Angie’s story is true.  Angie, can you give me directions?” (He had a pretty good idea where it was, but wanted Angie to take part in the process).

The officer’s opened the door to the back seat of the squad car.  It was a bare metal seat, with no door handles, no buttons or knobs to lower the windows.  It wasn’t very comfortable.  But, Angie did a good job giving the directions to the white officer, who was driving.

They pulled up in front of the house that Angie had pointed out.  The officers let Angie go to the door first.  

Like that first day six weeks ago, Angie rang the doorbell “Ding Dong” was the cheery sound.  It seemed longer before a sleepy Mrs. Appletree came to the door.  

“Angie!!” she exclaimed.  “What are you doing here and what are these officers?  And is that your Mom?” 

Angie answered in reverse order, “Yes, that is my Mom.  And, these officers want to talk to you.”

“Land sakes”, Mrs. Appletree replied.  “Okay, what can I help you with?”

Officer Timmons did the talking “Ma’am.  We were just at a coin shop where Angie was trying to sell five silver dollars to the coin dealer.  He thought that Angie had stolen them from you.  Did you give her the silver dollars for helping her?”

Mrs. Appletree got a big smile on her face.  “Officer, I’m 89 years old.  There are very few fun things in my life.  When Angie showed up a few weeks back with cookies, that was a fun day.  We’ve had tea and cookies since then.  I love this little girl.” Angie blushed, “And, yes, I gave her those silver dollars, yes, I know they are worth some money.  I thought she would get a chuckle out of them and eventually sell them for some real money.”  She paused “What am I going to do with them silver dollars?  So, yes, I gave them to my sweet friend!!!”

She stopped - and put up her finger as saying ‘wait a minute’ and went and got her purse.  “Here Angie is ten dollars for your help today, and you can keep those old silver dollars.”

The cops were satisfied with the story, Mrs. Appletree hugged Angie and also Karolyn.  

Karolyn said, “We’ll be back in touch”. 

And Mrs. Appletree said, “We sure will”.

The cops drove them back to the coin dealer’s store.  Officer Timmons said “Brad, I know you were suspicious, but you also judged this young girl by her skin and you thought because she was black that she must have stolen the silver dollars.  That is racist and is one of the problems my partner and I are trying to solve in this community.  If anything I should run you in for hateful speech.  Now, I don’t know if Angie wants to sell the coins to you again, but we are done with this case.”  Then he added, “And, don’t be such a jerk in the future!”

Turning to Angie, he asked, “Do you want to sell the coins?”

Angie beamed and said, “No, I want to keep the coins.”

They shook hands on the sidewalk and Karolyn and Angie got in their car and went home.  The two officers went on to other matters.

******

That Thanksgiving, the Harris family sat at the table at Mrs. Lucille Appletree’s house for the big dinner; and at Christmas, Mrs. Lucille Appletree enjoyed the day at the Harris home.  

And, Angie invited Mrs. Appletree to visit Holiness Baptist Church and Sunday School with Angie (and Junna - who had become her friend as well).  And, the next Sunday, Angie, Karolyn, Mr. Harris, and Junna sat next to Mrs. Appletree in the big First Baptist Church of Sugar Land Texas. 

*****

End of the story.

Yes, Karen (aka ‘Pollyanna”) put a happy twist on the story.  I’m still looking for a senior Black friend - but that will happen in 2021!!!

LOVE WINS!!

Hugs!!! 

Karen