Leverage

Happy President’s day! For this holiday I’ve got a flash fiction for your that takes a look at some less then lofty leadership, but not because she is incompetent.

The farmhouse creaked behind her as she stepped off the deck. Her hands clutched her white skirts, simultaneously preventing her from tripping and giving her something to grip. Her frown depended, pulling at her eyes.

A pair waited for her on the lawn, suits were crisp and well cut. Pity they hadn’t paid as close attention to their faces. The bones jutted too proximately and long. I sniffed. They’d forgotten to hide their stench as well. “You’re trespassing.”

“Naw,” the one on the left drawled. There wasn’t much to tell the two apart. Vaguely more foul smelling and slightly shorter. “Can’t be trespassing if you own the land.” His friend smirked as he spoke and reached into his briefcase.

“I own the land.” She folded her arms.

The second pulled a paper out and waived it in the air. “Not according to this.” He sneered smugly “The bank lent you the money to buy the place, and you failed to make payments for a year now.” She rolled her eyes and snorted. The paper turned to ash in the man’s hands.

“Frank!” the first said. She snorted. That obviously wasn’t his name, but the mortification was real. The way Frank was staring dumbly at his pinched together fingers he felt the same.

“Don’t know what happened, Tim.” She shrugged at the first.

Tim waived his hand in dismissal. “Doesn’t matter we’ve got copies back at the office.” He turned back toward her, hooking his thumbs in his belt. “Basically, it says your loan is overdue and the property belongs to the bank as of today.”

“Yeah,” Frank said finally unclamping his fingers long enough to stab a pudgy digit toward the sky. “You’ve got to be out by week’s end.” He raised a hand and shaded his eyes. “We’ve got big plans for the place.” He sniggled and she rolled her eyes.

“Big plans,” Tim echoed.

She didn’t doubt that, though how this pair had been smart enough to sense the nexus she’d caught wind of before prohibition was another question. There was no question about her relinquishing the farm though. “No,” she said as a smile slipped over her face. She knew the expression was less friendly than her glare had been.

“No?” Frank and Tim spoke at the same moment their voices a disjointed cacophony of noise.

“No,” she repeated more quietly. “What’s going to happen, is you’re going to trundle back to your little bank and work out a loan extension for me.”

“Why would we–” Frank began.

The pair fell silent as she rolled her shoulder, black wings stretching out behind her. As they reached their full width, flames ran along the feathers and the bottom of her dress. “You’re going to do this or attract my displeasure.”

Frank and Tim swallow in unison, their heads bobbing like she’d run a string through their skulls and was playing them like marionettes. They turned to look at each other before looking back at her. “Yes’m.” She jerked her head to look at him squarely. “Yes, Alessandra.” Well, he wasn’t completely dense at any rate. Tim shoved a hand in his pocket and turned away quickly. He grabbed Frank’s arm hauling him backward as he retreated hastily to the pair’s car.

Alessandra watched the pair scurry into the car. Gravel clunked against the car and drive as they sped back the way they’d come. Her eyes narrowed. She supposed the implings were smart enough to realize that there was a nexus here, but not that the region’s devil had taken residence here already. She turned away pondering how she would repay their ignorance. Banking was such a fickle industry after all.

Maybe she’d buy it. The screen door creaked and slammed closed behind her. She looked at the gold piled in the corner, will more than an hundred times what she would need to pay off the place’s debt completely. Not that she’d do that. Perhaps she’d buy the bank and fire the pair instead.