Amy looked over at the secretaries busily preparing banking documents, the clicking-clacking of computer printers and typewriters filling the cavernous bank with the sounds of mortgages being prepared, deeds being registered, statements being generated for scores of homeowners.  Each and every day thousands of mortgages are processed, each representing struggle, persistence and a whole change of life. Owning property--it was The American Dream, a dream which had just come true for she and her husband.

Amy fidgeted with her purse as she sat waiting for Bob Baines in the lobby of the First Metropolitan Bank.  She was pleased he had been able to see her on such short notice, but dealing with institutions made her nervous.  She had last been in the granite floored and mahogany paneled lobby three months ago-- definitely a happier occasion.  Amy Walenski smiled warmly at the memory-- Wendell, her husband to be, and she had received the mortgage they had worried so incessantly about.  Bob Baines had been their best friend in the world then, congratulating the couple on the maturity and hard work it had taken to put their down payment together.  "Not every newly wed couple is able to buy a home so soon after graduation from high school," he had commented approvingly. "You too should be very proud of  yourselves."

How Wendell had beamed at that!  At twenty, he had already put together a small nest egg of two thousand dollars.  That combined with Amy's thousand dollar savings account, built with hard-earned tips from her after-school waitressing job at the car hop, had put them over the top. They had enough to buy the small starter home they had set their hearts on-- the small two bedroom slab ranch that would be their first home.  There was more to it than just the down payment of course. Wendell was making good money for a boy his age in construction, but the bank still required his parents to co-sign the loan. Though they had little themselves, they had generously put their retirement on the line and co-signed.  Amy was so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws, especially since her own parents had passed away when she was all of three. She was pleased to escape from the prison of  her spinster aunt's home and the feeling was mutual.  In retrospect, it had been her aunt's utter meanness and the prospect of escape that had made the dream come true as much as scraping the money together.  Wendell was her loving escape route, their marriage and home a sanctuary for Amy.

"Well, Amy! How are you? Hope you haven't been waiting long-- I'm without a secretary at the moment and I never get my messages on time. Let's go sit and talk."  Bob invited her to follow him back into his office.  The older man escorted her to the executive office suite inside the bank building. His warm greeting reassured her.  He had to know why she was there or at least suspected.  And yet here he was, as pleasant as he could possibly be.  Amy smiled. His brisk, confident manner inspired her.  If this older man, so impressive in his tailored blue pinstripe three piece suit and spit polished black shoes couldn't solve this problem, she didn't know who could.  On his wide desk, there was the Walenski mortgage file.  Amy just prayed there was a way out hidden in it somehow.  Bob would find it if he could.

And he would try to help them. She just knew it.  She had known Bob Baines from the time she was thirteen, had been friends with Kathryn his daughter.  Amy had spent lots of time at the Baines home till she and Kathryn drifted apart about the time they had entered high school. Then they began to part company-- Kathryn  taking college preparatory classes, Amy taking more general classes.  They moved in different circles after awhile, having less and less in common.  Kathryn's flawless, delicate blonde rich girl looks and manners might have pointed her for a sheltered life of leisure if it hadn't been for her exceptional intelligence.  Her grades, except for a brief period during which the Baines were divorced, remained As in virtually every subject.

"So how are you kids making out?  Got any buns in the oven yet, my dear?"  Bob winked. "I bet that big husband of yours can't wait to make a baby with such a pretty little wife like you!"

Amy blushed.  "We'd like to try, Bob.  Actually Wendell wants me to be a stay-home mom.  He wants an old-fashioned wife and have just a bunch of kids!"

Bob grinned.  "Good for you two!  And heck the practice is fun anyway, am I right Amy?" he playfully added.

Amy's face went from pale to pink, a flush rising on both cheeks and the banker laughed it off.

"How's Kathryn?" she asked brightly.  It was always good to ask about her.  Bob loved talking about his very successful, very beautiful daughter.

Bob glowed at the question, his normal, banker's manner melting. Closing the door to his office behind them, he answered the question with gushing pride.  "Well, she's just wonderful, thank you for asking! She graduated from Princeton cum laude last month and has taken a job as investment analyst with Merrill Lynch at their headquarters on Wall Street.  I met her fianci just last week when I was in the City on business.  A nice fellow--he's a producer for the evening news.  All in all, things are working out just wonderfully for them-- I think they'll. have a wonderful life. A relief I admit after the messiness of the divorce while she was in school.  Anyway, she asked about you and Wendell and wanted to be remembered to you."

Amy smiled sympathetically.  The divorce had been nasty, a mini-scandal in Bentson County.  The former Missus Baines had accused her ex of physical, mental and emotional abuse, claiming he was a veritable sadist and an alcoholic to boot.  It was whispered that her claims of abuse went farther, that her husband had done things to her and inflicted pain on her in ways too humiliating to fully reveal, but it was agreed this was pure grandstanding for the family court judge, a well-known liberal.  For his part, Bob Baines had brushed off the accusations as the typical ravings of a greedy divorce plaintive.  He refused to answer the charges, saying to do so would hurt their daughter.  Then something had happened, because the messy divorce was declared no-fault and Mrs. Baines left the area almost immediately. The reason for Mrs. Baine's sudden absence was never explained, but the police let it be known that there was no hint of impropriety on the part of Mr. Baines.  There was a very good reason why Mrs. Baines hadn't stayed to fight it out in the divorce court, the police chief implied, and the matter should be laid to rest.

For all that , Amy was not a little jealous of her old childhood friend.  She wasn't gorgeous like her friend, though she was pretty. Her looks were dark-- long straight brown hair, soft big chestnut hued eyes, thick eyebrows and long thick black lashes.  Her face wasn't classic, but it was cute-- her small chin, her little puckering mouth, and a bit- too-long, thin nose had been attractive enough to get her Wendell to notice her. And her skin was clear and flawless, just like an "Ivory Girl" Wendell said proudly.  And where Kathyrn had a drop-dead knock-out figure, Amy was a slim-hipped, small busted girl that wouldn't exactly make it into a centerfold for Playboy magazine. But it was a body that Wendell loved to hold and enjoy and that was enough for Amy.  And of all the advantages that Kathryn enjoyed, none could compare to the one thing that Amy had that Kathryn did not-- Wendell.

Amy still didn't know why Wendell had chosen her when he had Kathryn Baines chasing after him.  It was the perfect match, every one agreed. Wendell was the school hero-- the big strong captain of the Bentson High varsity football squad, so good that big school coaches had already begun recruiting him early in Junior year with promises of scholarships.  Kathyrn was the cheerleader captain, class president, president of the student council and any other honor she wished.  How could mousy, flat little Amy compete with Kathyrn Baines, Bentson High's version of Wonder Woman?  But Wendell had found her and she him, asking her on dates after big games, then the Winter Ball. Ignoring Kathryn, Wendell devoted himself entirely to the quiet, simple girl he was fast falling in love with because as he told Amy later, "she just wanted me because I would take the best prom picture with her. I want a woman who will be with me for a long time, Amy.  Kathryn would dump me as soon as she found someone better, smarter, richer."

At first, Kathryn was furious, then pretended to ignore the slight, laughing it off.  As weeks went on, the sight of Wendell and Amy together in the hallway sent her scurrying in the opposite direction. She didn't speak to either of them, even refusing to talk about them with others.  Kids in the class talked incessantly about Kathryn's stubbornness, then her increasing depression.  It was understandable-- her failure with Wendell was the first anyone could ever remember. Kathryn Baines had ALWAYS gotten everything she wanted.  The shock at this failure was profound.  When it was quietly announced that she was transferring to a Swiss girl's school to finish out her high school, Amy had tried to contact her old friend, to apologize, to tell Kathryn it wasn't her fault.  But she had left by then and Amy never got a response.

Anyway, Kathryn sounded like she was living a glamorous life, what with her Ivy League education and big city job and fiance.  Amy had to be content with her life as a young woman with a high school diploma here in dull, dull Benston. She didn't have Kathryn's beauty or brains and never would.  She knew that.  But she did have Wendell and their little house, at least she could take comfort in that.  And maybe soon they would have children and her life would be as perfect as she could make it.  She would be the perfect homemaker for Wendell, making him proud of her.  If only she could find a solution, get over this bump in the road...