Marvin read out the callback number the bank had kept, the number of the person who phoned pretending to be me to cancel my revocation, and somewhere in that backyard a phone started ringing. It was in my sister Doreens purse.
The sister who kept telling me not to lose my son over a house was helping him take it, and she was the one who called my bank, in my name, trying to undo the one thing that stopped him.
Marvin had already frozen the sale. This sale isnt done, its frozen, he said. Kevin laughed, I had power of attorney. You had it, Marvin answered, until April 3rd, and held up my stamped copy, a revocation notarized in rehab, recorded with Erie County, a certified copy mailed to my bank. You signed the deed April 15th, twelve days after your power was dead, the bank flagged the wire, not one penny left that account.
Then Marvin said somebody had called the bank the day before, pretending to be me, asking to cancel the revocation, and the bank kept the callback number, and he read it out loud, and Doreens purse began to ring.
I am Gloria, seventy-four, a nurse in Erie for thirty-four years. I bought my brick house on West 26th Street in 1988. Last February I broke my hip on the ice, and the night before surgery Kevin brought a power of attorney to my bed, its just so I can pay your bills, Mom, and scared and full of pain medicine, I signed it. They sent me to rehab on Peach Street for nine weeks, and Kevin came three times, every time asking where I kept the house papers. In week four I had the social worker find me a notary, and I signed a revocation and had it recorded, and I put the stamped copy in my Bible and told no one.
When Mabel called to say there was a SOLD sign on my lawn, Kevin told me you cant do stairs anymore, I handled it, it was your home, now its money for your care, youre seventy-four with a walker, whos going to listen to you. Doreen said dont lose him over a house. I said okay, Kevin, and hung up.
A power of attorney ends the moment it is revoked, and a deed signed after that is signed by a man with no authority, which is to say it is void. The wire was flagged, the money never moved, and the sale could not close.
And calling a bank to impersonate the account holder is fraud, plain, whoever does it. Doreen did it. She had been in with Kevin the whole time, which is why she kept pushing me to let it go, why she looked at the grass instead of at me. The callback number in her own purse said so in front of everybody.
Kevin faced the law for the deed he signed after his power was dead and for taking money that was never his. Doreen faced it for the impersonation call. Not my anger. A frozen wire, a recorded revocation, and a phone that rang at the wrong moment.
I kept my brick house on West 26th Street, the one I bought in 1988. The sale was undone, the money stayed in my account, and I decided for myself where I would live, which turned out to be right there, with help I chose.
Whos going to listen to you, Kevin asked, youre seventy-four with a walker. A notary listened. A bank listened. A title man named Marvin listened. And a phone in my sisters purse answered the one question that ended it. I was a nurse for thirty-four years. I know how to keep a careful record, and I know the difference between a son who pays your bills and a son who empties your account.