The Best Part #3

 

3

 

None of the three wore masks.  Jackson Strickland had a no-mask enforcement policy. He even had a sign on his door that said, “We reserve the right not to follow the City’s mandated inforcement of required mask-wearing.”  No.  You saw that right.  Jackson had misspelled enforcement.

Aldie did not want to buck the person that signed his check, but he also didn’t want to be a covidiot.  He had one on his desk that he could slip on if he had to interview a client or if anyone in the office got too close.  There could be big trouble if he were narced on, but he didn’t think neither Marie nor Annabelle seemed inclined.

In November, Marie had gone through COVID, a mild case where she stayed out of the office for about three days. Now Marie felt like she was completely immune. If Annabelle had been infected, Aldie did not know of it.  She had expressed no opinion about it in the short time he had known her.

The three men who had come in from Pearce Lumber were dealt with quickly.  One of the three was new, and Marie gave him a brief interview.  He appeared to be Hispanic, which led Marie to question his citizenship silently, but he could produce a social security card and driver’s license.  That was good enough for us to take a substantial amount of his tax refund.

Once the pertinent information was gathered, Aldie entered Freedom’s second rate tax program and prepared their returns.  One of the three qualified for Earned Income Credit, so that took a little while longer to input. As the IRS shrunk, so did their auditing power, but they continued to be the hardest on those taking earned income credit even in their shrunken state. Attacking those least able to afford a lawyer and defend themselves made the poor easy prey. But that was true for Freedom as well, taking so much of their refund.  So much of the American economy nowadays seemed to be based on the exploitation of the poor.  Aldie did his best not to think about it.

Marie arranged their “tax loan” checks.  It was always for about two-thirds of what their return was estimated to be. They had to pay it back in a month, and the interest rate would make a car dealer blush or Jesus to start overturning tables.  They signed the efile papers and directed the return to come directly to Freedom.  In about a month, they would come back in to repay the loan, which included the loan value, all the interest, and a $50 fee for “loan processing.”  Technically they were not charged for the preparation of the tax return. Wallah. Magic.

The next hour was dead quiet.  Aldie sat quietly, looking at other returns in the computer, trying to see what he might be in for and to get used to the quirks of their crummy tax software.

Around 10:00, a big guy pulled up in a colossal pick-em-up truck. Aldie didn’t know what kind, except it was mammoth, four doors, and a truck bed that looked like it could accommodate two horses and a Toyota Yaris.

He smashed open the front door and strode in like he was the King of Siam.  He wore blue jeans, and a t-shirt that said MAKE MINE FREEDOM, and a red baseball cap that made his political affiliation clear to all.

“Hey, Marie!  How y’all doing?” the man boomed.

“Doing fair to middlin’, Ronnie,” Marie said.  She had a big, giddy grin and shivered in delight.  “Good to see you this fine ol’ January morning.  How are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m pretty damn excited this morning!  We’re gonna stop the steal today and put things right – you just wait and see!”

They were both laughing joyously, and then Ronnie stopped cold when he looked over and saw Aldie. “Who are you?  I ain’t seen you in these parts before.”

Aldie got up but stayed by his desk.  “I’m Aldie Martin.  It’s nice to meet you. This is only my third day here.”

Ronnie scrunched his face up, taking a few seconds to think, trying to connect the dots to another memory.  And then it clicked. “I know you!  You’re that little dude from that other office.  I think I saw you there.  I mostly dealt with the big dogs.  Bobby did all my work.”

Aldie wasn’t sure he’d seen Ronnie before, but he thought he might know who he was.  A few years ago, Bobby had given him a return to do from a Ronald Hilton, and the client cover sheet referred to him as Ronnie. His return was complicated and messed up.  He had to point several things out to Bobby that Aldie didn’t think passed muster. Bobby agreed with him on a couple of them, and that put Ronald Hilton into a bracket where he needed to pay more rather than get a refund.

“Yeah, I left them years ago when my buddy Jackson opened up this place.  No offense, Albany, but they weren’t just taking care of me right.  Not helping me take advantage of all the things they shoulda have done. Now, I ain’t hardly paid jack squat since coming to Freedom.  You see?  Just like my t-shirt says,” Ronnie said, gesturing to his t-shirt slogan. “Anyhoo, since you’re here instead of there, they musta done you wrong too.  Am I right?”

Aldie didn’t know how to answer that.  “It…was time for a change.”

“Ok, pal,” said Ronnie.  He extended his hand for Aldie to shake.  This was the last thing in the world that Aldie wanted to do, but he felt cornered.  He shook his hand, Ronnie doing so with a paralyzing grip. Oh, well, thought Aldie. I’ll use plenty of hand sanitizer as soon as he’s not looking.

This was certainly not the typical Freedom client, or so he had been led to believe. Well, at least he seemed to be personally handled by Jackson, so maybe he wouldn’t have to be involved with his return. 

The door to Jackon’s office burst open.  “Well, hell’s bells!  It’s good to see you, Ronniekins!” Glum Annabelle had flipped a switch and had turned into an effusive charmer.

They hugged for a long time.  Ronnie’s left hand rested just above her butt.  “I know it’s early, but I wanted to get an pre-limbered-ary analysis of where I was at,  Can’t start too early looking for them loopy holes, can ya?”

She took him by the hand and led him into the back office, closing the door.

Aldie quickly used the hand sanitizer.  Well, glad I’m not behind that door for whatever the heck it is those two are doing.

Then the door creaked open, and Annabelle’s head popped out.  “Aldie, get in here. We’re going to need you to help lay this out.”

Great.  Three days in and already headed for the lion’s den.