Carl Van Marcus - The tempted bride

Quickly she ripped open the envelope. Yes, it was all there, $584.

Now she truly felt free. It was as though a great cloud had lifted from the face of the sun. There was enough here to pay off everyone of the bad checks she had written. She would do that today, right now… after she took her shower. She would explain to the store managers that there had been just a mistake in addition, which had been discovered – fortunately in time. She knew they would believe her story. The lie had worked with other store managers, it would work with these. Besides, all they would care about was getting their money!

She was singing as she stepped under the shower… feeling a greater happiness than she had felt in months. She felt good physically, mentally, emotionally. It was a beautiful day outside… a splendid day. Really, too good a day to waste in the house. She needed to get outside, to get next to people.

It would take only thirty minutes or so to pay off all the bad checks. When she finished doing that, she would still have almost forty dollars left and a glorious afternoon to spend.

Maybe, she thought with a sudden quickening of breath and pulse, she might even stop by the track… just for a quick race or two…