Commencement

Allen took his first personal day off to tend to the collection of donations to help his friend Davis. He had just arrived at the bank to open an account and deposit all of the money. Tim had made good on his promise to give double the required amount, and he had also gotten contributions from Richard, Tamiko, his parents, the Bynums, Daniel, and even Mr. Hardy from the hotel. So far he had a grand total of $18,000.00, which wasn’t a bad haul. If they were still making payments on the mortgage of $6,000.00 per month as Davis had intimated earlier, then this would hold the bank off for at least another three months. Pastor Bynum was in the process of approaching the church board about setting up a fund that would not only contribute some more money to Davis’ fund, but would also help other members of the church who were facing foreclosure on their homes as well. It seemed Allen’s idea was being expanded upon, after all. This was definitely the hand of God.

  Thanks to automated and online banking, the bank wasn’t crowded at all and Allen was able to complete his transaction without any hassle. His task being finished, he decided to call Tim to see what he was doing since he was the only one on vacation. Being a teacher, Tamiko wouldn’t get out until nearly the last minute, and Richard was trying to get in a few more hustles before the season was over. After exiting the bank and finding a nearby bench to sit on, Allen made his call. Tim answered after several rings.

  “Tim Russell, speaking.”

  “Hey, Tim. It’s Al.”

  “Hey, Al. How’s it doin’?”

  “Good. How’s the vacation so far?”

  “Restful. I’ve been sleeping a lot if nothing else.”

  “I didn’t wake you? Did I?”

  “No, I’ve been up for a little bit. I don’t want to get used to sleeping in too late.”

  “You feel like hanging out?”

  “Hanging out? Aren’t you at work?”

  “Not today. I took a personal day to deposit the money for ‘the Davis Fund’. Now that I’m done, I’ve got all this free time on my hands and I thought maybe we could hang out.”

  “Okay. What do you have in mind?”

  “I never really gave it much thought. Anyway it’s your vacation, what do you want to do?”

  “Let me think…It’s kind of early…oh, I know! Tamiko promised to go Christmas shopping with me later if I picked up some stuff for her party. You want to go hunting for party supplies?”

  “You mean ‘celebration’ supplies don’t you? Sure, why not?”

  “Give me some time to get dressed and find the list she gave me and we’ll meet up. Where are you right now?”

  “At the Carver Bank over on 3rd.”

  “Come on over to my place. I should be ready by the time you get here.”

  “Okay. See ya.”

  Allen hung up the phone and headed over to the New Towers.