Cat O'Nine Tales: And Other Stories Read Online Free Page B

investment...”
    “Our life
savings, every penny we’ve earned over the past thirty years, not to mention
our pension.”
    Chris paused
and raised his head, while he made some calculations. “Not including any profit
we might have hoped for, once we’d seen our capital returned...”
    “Yes, only what
they’ve stolen from us,” Sue repeated.
    “A little over
two hundred and fifty thousand, if you don’t include interest,” said Chris.
    “And we have no
hope of seeing a penny of that original investment back, even if we were to
work for the rest of our lives?”
    “That’s about
the sum of it, love.”
    “Then it’s my
intention to retire on January the first.”
    “And what are
you expecting to live off for the rest of your life?” asked Chris.
    “Our original investment.”
    “And how do you
intend to go about that?”
    “By taking advantage of our spotless reputation.”

The End
    Chris and Sue rose early the
following morning: after all, they had a lot of work to do during the next
three months if they hoped to accumulate enough capital to retire by 1 January.
Sue warned Chris that meticulous preparation would be needed if her plan was to
succeed. He didn’t disagree. They both knew that they couldn’t risk pressing
the button until the second Friday in November, when they would have a six-week
window of opportunity–Chris’s expression–before “those people back in London”
worked out what they were really up to. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot
of preliminary work to be done in the meantime.
    To start with,
they needed to plan their getaway, even before they set about retrieving any
stolen money. Neither considered what they were about to embark on as theft.
    Sue unfolded a
map of Europe and spread it across the post office counter.
    They discussed
the different alternatives for several days and finally settled on Portugal,
which they both considered would be ideal for early retirement. On their many
visits to the Algarve they had always returned to Albufeira ,
the town where they had spent their shortened honeymoon, and revisited on their
tenth, twentieth, and many more wedding anniversaries. They had even promised
themselves that was where they would retire if they won the lottery.
    The next day
Sue purchased a tape of Portuguese for
Beginners which they played before breakfast every morning, and then spent
an hour in the evening, testing out their new skills. They were pleased to
discover that over the years they had both picked up more of the language than
they realized. Although not fluent, they were certainly not beginners.
    The two of them
quickly moved on to the advanced tapes.
    “We won’t be
able to use our own passports,” Chris pointed out to his wife while shaving one
morning. “We’ll have to consider a change of identity, otherwise the authorities would be on to us in no time.”
    “I’ve already
thought about that,” said Sue, “and we should take advantage of working in our
own post office.”
    Chris stopped
shaving, and turned to listen to his wife.
    “Don’t forget,
we already supply all the necessary forms for customers who want to obtain
passports.”
    Chris didn’t
interrupt as Sue went over how she planned to make sure that they could safely
leave the country under assumed names.
    Chris chuckled.
“Perhaps I’ll grow a beard,” he said, putting his razor down.
    Over the years,
Chris and Sue had made friends with several customers who regularly shopped at
the post office. The two of them wrote down on separate sheets of paper the
names of all their customers who fulfilled the criteria Sue was looking for.
They ended up with a list of two dozen candidates: thirteen women and eleven
men. From that moment on, whenever one of the unsuspecting regulars entered the
shop, Sue or Chris would strike up a conversation that had only one purpose.
    “Going away for
Christmas this year, are we, Mrs. Brewer?”
    “No, Mrs.
Haskins, my son and his wife will be