Point Pleasant Bound

Joanne was excited. She had just closed on her first home, a third-floor condo unit in Pt. Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. It was sooner than expected, but an argument with her boss changed her plans.

 She had worked for Reliance, a bank in Newark, for her entire working life. The bank was known as First Bank of Newark when she started, one week after her high school graduation. Over the last forty years the bank had undergone three name changes courtesy of acquisitions made by larger banks.

 Jim Collier, her current boss, a young and hard charging type, seemed to be looking for an opportunity to get rid of long-time employees. He felt they were too set in their ways to help him achieve his plans for advancement. He called Joanne into his office one afternoon.

 “Joanne, I see you turned down a loan of $3,500 to a Clyde Blackmer.” He glanced at the paperwork. “What I don’t see is a good reason for the rejection. What’s up with that?”

 “What’s up with that, Jimmy, is that five years ago we had to send him to collection to get payment on a loan he’d made for $5,000.” Her tone made it clear what she thought of Jimmy Collier and his slicked back hair and highly polished shoes.

 “Yes, I’m aware of that, but eventually he did pay us, correct?”

 “Did you happen to glance at his credit rating, Jimmy?”

 Collier had not missed Joanne’s mocking tone, which also held a good dose of derision. He pulled off his wire rim glasses and inspected them. “I don’t appreciate your disrespectful tone,” he said.

 Joanne was a petite woman, who often wore a ponytail and still looked like the girl who started work when she was just eighteen. Her smile had the charm of a thick, pointy icicle. “Well, Mr. Collier, I don’t appreciate the way you are questioning my judgment. Perhaps that makes us even.”

 Collier stared out his window. “Maybe so, Ms. Sampson, maybe so.”

 An hour later, Joanne got a call from Colleen Tinsley, the human resources manager asking her to come to her office. Joanne shrugged, expecting a reprimand. Instead, she was informed she was being terminated for disrespect and exercising poor judgement on several loan applications.

 “I could fight this and win, you know,” she said to the human resources manager.

 Colleen nodded. “Maybe, but before you decide to take that route, listen to the package we’re offering. You’ve been a good employee for a long time.”

 The package included a generous severance, along with full benefits during that period. And, although full retirement for pension purposes was still five years off, the bank agreed to grant her full retirement immediately. “You can start collecting your pension as soon as the severance period ends,” Colleen said, adding, “It was the best I could do. Take it Joanne. It’s a good deal.”

 Joanne didn’t hesitate. Of course, she had to agree to forego legal action, but she didn’t mind. Divorced when she was young woman, she had always been careful with money. She could afford to retire. She could move out of her tired high-rise apartment in Newark and move to her beloved Point Pleasant Beach.

 Two weeks after she moved into her two-bedroom condo, having decorated it tastefully, she finally ventured out to the beach. The temperature was 85⁰ and the blue sky was crystal clear. She placed her blanket on the sand and liberally applied sunblock. A tall, rather muscular man approached her blanket. “Nice day,” he said. He was wearing a bathing suit and a T-shirt that said, “Beach Patrol.”

 “Hi, I know you,” Joanne said. “We live in the same complex.”

 “Is that right?” He smiled. He was well aware of where Joanne lived. “My name is Gary Decker.” He hesitated a moment. “Mind if I sit?”

 Joanne suddenly felt nervous. “No.”

 Gary took that as a yes, that she didn’t mind. He sat facing the ocean. They chatted for a while. When she mentioned that she’d recently retired from The First Bank of Newark, the name she decided to use because Reliance put a bad taste in her mouth, it didn’t register with Gary. He came from Southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia.

 He told her he was a retired cop. That afternoon, they managed to tell a good bit of their life stories. He asked her if she’d had lunch and she said no. “How about if I go up to the boardwalk and get us some pizza?” He asked.

 Feeling relaxed and playful, she said, “Would that make this a date?”

 Not skipping a beat, he answered. “Well, if I bill you for your slice, technically, it wouldn’t be a date.”   

 They didn’t leave the beach until almost six o’clock, both having thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. The following afternoon, he came back, this time with sandwiches he had made. It was warmer that day, but the sky was overcast and the ocean looked rough.

 “Hey, I looked up your bank’s name,” Gary said. “It doesn’t exist.” He shrugged. “Sorry, once a cop, always a cop.”

 “That’s okay. That was the original name. Actually, I retired from Reliance.”

 “Is that a fact? Huh! My nephew works there.”

 “Really, what’s his name?”

 “Jim Collier. He’s my sister’s kid.”

 The ocean breeze disappeared for Joanne. In fact, there was no air. “I knew it. Too good to be true.”

   “What’s wrong?”

 “Your nephew put me on this beach. He fired me.”

 Gary stared at her and then the ocean. “I don’t know what to say.”

 Joanne started packing up her things, fighting back tears of frustration. “I have to go.”

 “Please don’t leave, Joanne. I really like you.”

 “I’m sorry. This is very uncomfortable.” She stood up and brushed sand from her legs.

 “Doesn’t have to be.”

 She looked at him. “What do you propose?”

 “We won’t invite him to the wedding.”

 She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “That’s a start, I guess.”