The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Maybe Reggie would never have noticed the slow drain of his savings account over long periods of time, something in his artistic sensibilities that kept him from the hard work of managing his finances, but Lisa, his bookkeeper, slipped up, running his credit card at the Southendomish Casino.  Reggie noticed it and thought at first it was some mistake since he had never set foot in the Casino, but when he mentioned it to Lisa, she stammered some cockamamie explanation so implausible, he knew instantly he was looking at the tip of a very deep iceberg, one that proved ultimately to descend about 65,000 dollars.

We pals of Reggie’s weren’t surprised he could have made a ton of money selling his art, what we had a hard time believing was he could save any of it.  The man could sell a $10,000 painting and spend it faster than he’d painted the canvas the night before.  And he could paint like an amphetamine monkey.  65 grand was a pretty hefty embezzlement by my neighbor across the road, a dour non-descript woman who kept to herself and trimmed her shrubbery on sunny days, nobody you’d suspect of a gambling problem turned felony.  But then, who do we really know all that well?  My great aunt in northern Maine, a nurse in a doctor’s office, shared the needle and bed with her boss, a small scandal in her town and our family.  You never know….

Reggie did hire a forensic accountant, tracked his losses and confronted Lisa, who even in the face of insurmountable evidence, denied she took a dime.  He threatened to go to the cops, she told her church members Reggie was an unmitigated liar.  Touche’.

In the end Reggie couldn’t imagine years of depositions, trials, cops, lawyers and lawyers’ bills.  Better, he told me, to spend his energy on art than revenge.  That, I guess, is the difference between an artist and a writer.  In the end neither will get rich so who cares how the pie gets sliced, right?  And of course Lisa blew hers at the blackjack table.  She died a year ago, penniless and in debt.  Maybe, just maybe, there is such a thing as Karma.  Course, I expect Reggie will end up the same way, just a little faster thanks to Lisa.

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