Don Taylor


"Seizing the Fleece"

We seized the fleece last Saturday night; it was 
easy. We got away Scot free. 

No one knows how much fleece we seized -- rich 
fleece is not easily found, seized, and counted. Oliv-
ia wanted to count it the minute we got back to the 
hotel in town, and when we didn't, she stormed into 
the bathroom and started to run bath water. 

I kinda wanted to count the fleece, but didn't say any-
thing. Tess reminded us that we had to wait until Del-
la called. After all, it was Della's plan. Let her decide 
when it was safe to count how much fleece we seized.

On Thursday, Della still hadn't called. She had told 
us to sit tight until she gave us the go-ahead to make 
the count, split it up, and get out of town. The uncount-
ed fleece lay in a bag in the dresser drawer. 

Olivia bathed every day and washed out her underpants. 
No one else bothered; we were too nervous. We just sat 
around and waited for Della to call.

On Friday about noon I said, "Jesus, I've got to get out 
of here and buy some sanitaries. When is that woman 
going to call?"

I walked over to the table and picked up a piece of cold 
pizza when I heard Olivia yell from the bathroom, 

"Use the fleece." 

© Don Taylor