Michelle's Ghost Story


Halloween was last week and it brought to mind an odd incident my Sister experienced.

Mom, is second from left, with her Aunts on either side
and her Mother to the far Right. 

Our Mother died years ago. She was around just after the birth of my Sister's son but was gone before his first birthday. Mom had immense charm, a great sense of style and no financial management skill. She was petite,  blond, adorable with great legs and a penchant for antique wire framed spectacles. Mom lived to shop. Case in point:  Dad was an economist but had to declare bankruptcy after a decade of salary without taxes overseas. As a result, my Sister inherited Mom's charm, style and great legs but very little of fiduciary value. The exception were Mom's wedding and engagement rings which my Sister always wore along with her own. 

Michelle

My Sister is a costume designer. At this point in her career she was shopping for a living. All day long she would dash through Manhattan buying character appropraite designer clothes, watched as they were tried on and fitted,then dashed off to return the excess. She had effectively turned Mom's shopping defect into a creative career. Taxis were her primary transport mode. Rushing from family to fittings to Bergdorf's to Barney's and ultimately to reclaim the infant son from the babysitter. 


One day shortly after our Mother had passed on, the baby was with relatives on the East Side and Michelle with bundles of garments was on her way, by taxi, to pick him up. Since she was all over the City, she would place her "valuables", the two sets of rings, in her wallet for safekeeping. When she arrived at her in-laws, she paid the taxi, threw her half-eaten bagel lunch in a trash receptacle and went into their apartment building. Rearranging her purchases and personal property upon arrival, she reached for her wallet and realized it was gone.


First she thought of the multitude of receipts which she had to turn in for reimbursement and credits, then she thought of the cards she used to make the purchases, then she remembered the rings. The rings! Bursting into tears, she tore out of the apartment heading back to the Avenue. The only tangible thing remaining from her mother, and her own mementos. She had to find the missing wallet!. 


She first checked the trash receptacle where she had disposed of her uneaten lunch. Her in-laws would not have approved of their Daughter-in-law butt-up in the air head-down digging through trash cans on Fifth Avenue. Her discomposure was to no avail,  the bagel was located but no wallet. Thoughts raced through her mind. Perhaps she had left the wallet in the taxi? The taxi was long gone. How to contact a taxi? Wasn't there a taxi commission? Maybe she could ask a police officer; would they know? How do you find a cop when you actually want one? As she gazed wide-eyed up and down Fifth, she saw two big burley blue backs talking to a doorman on the other side of the Avenue. 


She ran across. She was about to ask how to contact a taxi... but the words which burst out of her mouth were "How did you get my wallet?" One of the policemen was holding her wallet, waving it around gesturing to his crony. The cop looked at her and said "Lady, do you have some ID?" A discussion ensued in which she clarified that she had no ID because she had no wallet because the cop was holding the item. Once she had collected her thoughts and her property, the question returned "How did you get my wallet?" The cop shrugged and hooked a thumb towards the doorman. 


As the police departed the doorman explained that a few minutes before my Sister had made her breathless entry into his building, a cute little old lady wearing a short-skirt and incongruous wire-rimmed glasses had walked in. The old lady had  handed the wallet to him and immediately departed. Michelle was dumbstruck at the coincidence of the description. She turned away and shaking her head, began to walk back to retrieve her son. The doorman shouted to her "Oh, the old lady said something - - that you should take better care of your Mother's things."