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Her Husband Took Everything — But Never Knew What Her Grandmother Buried Under the $1 Roller Rink — Transcript

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0:00You never earned a dollar in your life,
0:02Naen. Did you really think any of it was
0:04yours? Her husband said it, smiling
0:07across a lawyer's table. After 28 years
0:10of marriage, he kept the house, the
0:12savings, all three of his car
0:14dealerships. Naen left with one
0:17cardboard box. 2 days later, her uncle
0:20sold her their late grandmother's roller
0:22rink for $1. Closed 15 years. Roof
0:27leaking. Her husband laughed so hard he
0:30had to sit down. $1. Finally, something
0:33you can afford. But in Pomeroy, Ohio,
0:37the old men at the diner still told a
0:39story about that rink. They swore that
0:42one summer night in 1959,
0:44Naen's grandmother had borrowed a
0:46bulldozer and buried something under the
0:49floor, something big, something with
0:52chrome, something that had belonged to
0:54the man who left her with nothing. Naen
0:58had always thought it was a tall tale.
1:00It wasn't. And when it finally came up
1:03out of the ground in front of the whole
1:05town and a television camera, the man
1:08who laughed would have given anything to
1:10take back that dollar. Uncle MV's
1:13farmhouse sat at the end of a gravel
1:15lane near Rine with a porch that sagged
1:18in the middle like a hammock. MV met
1:20them on the steps. 69 years old.
1:24Overalls, a face like a walnut, spare
1:27rooms made up, he said. Sheets are clean
1:31mostly. That was how Naen Callaway, 52,
1:36started her new life. In her uncle's
1:38spare room under a quilt that smelled
1:42like cedar and pipe smoke with her
1:4415-year-old daughter on a cot by the
1:46window, Tess unpacked nothing. She set
1:50her suitcase beside the cot, zipped shut
1:53with her sneakers balanced on top. You
1:56can use the dresser, honey. I'm good.
1:58Tess. Tess didn't look up from her
2:01phone. What if we have to leave again?
2:04Naen had no answer for that. She lay
2:07awake half the night looking at that
2:09zipped suitcase in the moonlight. 6
2:11months ago, she had been Mrs. Curtis
2:14Callaway, wife of the man whose face was
2:17on billboards in three counties.
2:19Callaway Motors. Your family here. She
2:23had kept the books for all three
2:24dealerships for 20 years. Payroll at
2:27midnight. Taxes every April. The year
2:31the economy fell apart, she found the
2:33money to keep the doors open by moving
2:35numbers around until 4 in the morning.
2:38Curtis never once put her on the
2:40payroll. Why would I pay my own wife?
2:43he'd said and kissed the top of her head
2:45like it was a sweet thing to say. Then
2:48last spring, he fell in love with a
2:50woman named Belle, who sold financing
2:53packages at the Gallipololis store. And
2:55Naen learned what the 12-page paper she
2:58had signed the night before her wedding
3:00really meant. Everything was his.
3:03Everything had always been his. On
3:05paper, she had never earned a single
3:07scent. 2 days after the divorce, MV
3:11called, "Mama left me the rink in her
3:13will." He said, "You know that, but
3:16there was a line in there I never
3:18understood." He read it to her. "When
3:20Deanie needs it most, sell her the rink
3:23for $1." "She'll know why." "I don't
3:26know why," Naen said. "Me neither," said
3:30MV. "But I've got a dollars worth of
3:33paperwork if you want it." She wanted
3:35it. The Moonglow roller rink sat on a
3:38bluff above the Ohio River, two miles
3:41out of Pomeoy. It was shaped like half a
3:44tin can lying on its side. A painted
3:47moon in roller skates grinned down from
3:49the sign, though the weather had worn
3:51away most of its grin. MV unlocked the
3:54doors and threw the main breaker.
3:57Overhead, a mirror ball shuddered,
3:59groaned, and began to turn. Colored
4:02bulbs flickered on along the curved
4:04ceiling. Red, blue, green, gold. Maybe
4:09half of them still worked. Tess forgot
4:11to be 15 for a second. Her mouth fell
4:14open. Below them stretched the floor. A
4:18long oval of pale maple gone gray with
4:21dust, and in the center, painted in
4:24flaking silver, a crescent moon 10 ft
4:27across, with one small star beside it.
4:30Naen went to the rail and gripped it.
4:33Every summer of her childhood had
4:35happened on that floor. Her mother
4:37worked two jobs in Columbus. So from
4:40June to August, Deanie lived with
4:42Grandma Fern in the little apartment
4:44above the snack bar. She learned to
4:46skate before she learned to ride a bike.
4:49She learned to make change at the skate
4:51counter before she learned Long
4:53Division. And one Saturday when she was
4:55nine, sitting cross-legged in the middle
4:58of that silver moon, she had asked her
5:00grandmother the question every kid in
5:02Pomeroy asked. Grandma, is there really
5:05a car under the floor? Fern Frell had
5:08laughed. She was 60 then, with arms like
5:11a steador and a laugh you could hear
5:13over the organ. Then she leaned down and
5:16whispered, "My best thing is buried
5:18right under this moon, Deanie. Someday
5:21it's going to be yours." and she skated
5:24away backward, grinning, and never said
5:28another word about it. Mom. Tessa's
5:32voice came from behind the snack bar.
5:34Come look at this. Naen found her by the
5:37back door, pointing up over the door
5:39frame, someone had driven a single nail,
5:42and hanging from that nail on a loop of
5:44faded red string was a key. a big,
5:48heavy, old-fashioned key with a black
5:51plastic head stamped with a crest. Under
5:55the key, thumbtacked to the wood, was a
5:58yellowed index card. Three letters and a
6:01year in blunt pencil, VF 1957.
6:06And under that, one more word underlined
6:09twice. Don't. Tess already had her phone
6:13out. She took a picture of the crest and
6:15searched it. She turned the screen
6:17around. A 1957 Cadillac. Mom, Tess said
6:22slowly. Who's VF? Naen stared at the
6:26key. Your great greatgrandfather,
6:29she said. Virgil Ferrell, the man nobody
6:33in the family ever talked about. If you
6:36want the truth about anything in
6:38Pomemeroy, MV said, you don't go to the
6:41library. You go to Hartley's Diner at
6:446:00 in the morning and sit near the
6:46liars's table. The liars table was four
6:50old men in seed caps who had been
6:52drinking the same coffee in the same
6:54corner booth since the Carter
6:56administration. Bud, Orville, Shorty,
7:00and Clement, who was 90 and claimed to
7:03be 85. Naen set the Cadillac key in the
7:07middle of their table. Nobody spoke for
7:10five full seconds for the liars table.
7:13That was a record. Well, I'll be said
7:16Orville. Told you, said Shorty. Told you
7:20for 60 years. You told everybody it was
7:22a Buick, said Bud. I said it might have
7:25been a Buick. You said Buick in 1971
7:30in this booth. Clement lifted one bony
7:33hand and the others went quiet. He
7:36picked up the key and turned it over in
7:38his fingers. Pink, he said. Elderorado
7:42Broom, stainless steel roof. Virgil
7:45Frell bought it in the spring of 57.
7:48Drove it down Main Street every evening
7:51with the windows down so the whole town
7:53could see. Your grandma was home with a
7:56baby, another on the way, and a busted
7:59washing machine. Then one morning that
8:02fall, Virgil was gone. took the bank
8:06account with him, every cent. Took the
8:08Greyhound to Dayton with some girl from
8:11the five and dime. Clement set the key
8:13down, but he left the car. Why would he
8:17leave the car? Cuz it wasn't paid for,
8:20said Bud. And everybody in three
8:22counties knew it on site. Hard to
8:25disappear in a pink Cadillac. Fern lost
8:28the house that winter, Orville said.
8:30Bank or somebody took it. She moved into
8:33two rooms over the feed store, taught
8:36skating lessons in the old Graange Hall
8:38for a quarter ahead. Two years later,
8:41she'd saved enough to start building the
8:43Moonglow. And the car, Naen asked. The
8:47four old men looked at each other, sat
8:49in the Graange Hall shed for 2 years,
8:52said Shorty, under a tarp. Then, Summer
8:56of 59, right before they poured the
8:59floor at the rink, he leaned in. My
9:02daddy drove past the site at 2:00 in the
9:04morning. Saw headlights in the hole.
9:06Heard a bulldozer running. Next morning,
9:09the hole was filled and the car was
9:11gone. Never seen again. Whose bulldozer?
9:16Orville coughed. My father's. They all
9:19turned to look at him. He lent it to
9:22her. Orville said. Never said what for.
9:25Took it to his grave. 60 years I've been
9:28sitting at this table and I never told
9:30you boys that. You lying old goat, said
9:34Shorty delighted. Naen was smiling for
9:37the first time in months. Then she
9:39remembered something Clement had said.
9:42Mr. Clement, you said Virgil bought it.
9:45Where? There was no Cadillac dealer in
9:48Pomeroy. Clement looked at her over his
9:50coffee cup and for the first time all
9:53morning he didn't look like he was
9:55enjoying himself.
9:57Galla police he said Callaway Motors the
10:01diner noise seemed to fall away your
10:04husband's granddaddy sold Virgil that
10:06car honey boy Callaway on credit that
10:10evening Naen sat at MV's kitchen table
10:13with a cup of coffee she didn't drink
10:16you know she asked that a callaway sold
10:19him the car MV was quiet he got up
10:24rinsed his own cup dried it and put it
10:26in the cupboard. Then he sat back down.
10:30I knew, he said, and Grandma knew when I
10:34brought Curtis home. Deanie, she knew
10:37the minute you said his last name on the
10:39phone. Naen put her face in her hands.
10:44Why didn't anyone tell me? I wanted to,
10:47MV said. Lord, I wanted to. I drove over
10:51to the rink the day you got engaged,
10:53ready to call you and tell you
10:55everything. Mama stopped me at the door.
10:58He smiled a little at the memory. She
11:01said, "Mv, it is not Deanie's job to
11:04carry my grudges. If she loves that boy,
11:07then I'll dance at her wedding." Naen
11:09looked up and she did. MV said, "You
11:13remember?" She remembered. She had a
11:16picture of it in the shoe box in her
11:19car. She went out in the dark and got
11:21it. Her wedding reception, 1998.
11:25The Callaway family's country club.
11:28Everyone in pastel. And in the middle of
11:31the dance floor, Fern Ferrell, 75 years
11:34old, in a navy dress from Sears,
11:37swinging her granddaughter around in a
11:39jitterbug while the Callaways watched
11:42from their table like they'd smelled
11:44something. Naen had always loved that
11:46picture.
11:48Grandma looked so happy in it. Now she
11:51understood what it had cost. Fern had
11:54walked into a room full of the family
11:56that helped ruin her life. And she had
11:58danced laughing for 2 hours. So her
12:02granddaughter would never have to know.
12:05She never said one word against them, MV
12:07said. Not in 20 years. Not even at the
12:11end. Naen held the picture against her
12:14chest. If someone you love ever
12:16swallowed their own pain so you could be
12:18happy, you know exactly what Naen felt
12:21at that kitchen table. If that's ever
12:24been you, tap subscribe because the
12:26night they find out what's under that
12:28moon is coming. That Sunday, Naen went
12:32back to the rink alone, or
12:33[clears throat] she meant to. Tess
12:36climbed into the car without being
12:37asked. They swept the floor together for
12:403 hours. Dust came up in clouds and
12:44drifted through the colored lights.
12:46Underneath, the old maple was still
12:49smooth as glass. When they were done,
12:52Naen went behind the skate counter and
12:54found two pairs of rental skates that
12:56still had all their wheels. A size nine
12:59for herself, a size eight for Tess. Tess
13:02looked at them like they were live
13:04snakes. I don't know how. Naen stopped
13:07lacing. You've never skated? Not once,
13:11Dad said. Roller rinks were tacky. Tess
13:14shrugged. We went skiing in Colorado.
13:17Naen laced up her daughter's skates
13:19herself the way Fern had laced hers.
13:22Double knot tuck the ends. Then she
13:25pulled Tess up onto the floor. Tess went
13:28down in the first 3 seconds. Then again,
13:31then a third time, flat on her back in
13:34the middle of the silver moon, staring
13:36up at the mirror ball. And she started
13:39laughing. really laughing. "Naen hadn't
13:42heard that sound in 6 months." "This is
13:45so stupid," Tess gasped. "It's supposed
13:48to be stupid," Naen said and held out
13:52her hand. "Up!" By the end of the
13:54afternoon, Tess could make it all the
13:57way around the rink holding the rail. By
13:59sunset, she was letting go for half a
14:02lap at a time. On her last lap, she
14:05glided past her mother, arms out,
14:08wobbling, grinning. Grandma Fern would
14:11have loved this," she called. Naen stood
14:14at the rail and watched her daughter go
14:16around and around on the floor where she
14:18had grown up. And for the first time
14:21since the lawyer's office, she let
14:23herself think that maybe this was not
14:25the end of something. "Tess was the one
14:27who came up with the radar." "Mr. Petty
14:30Bone has one, she announced at breakfast
14:33through a mouthful of MV's pancakes.
14:36Who's Mr. Petty Bone? Physics at my new
14:40school. He's got a ground penetrating
14:42radar cart the science club got from
14:44some grant. It's like a lawn mower that
14:47sees underground. He's dying for
14:50somebody to use it on something cool.
14:53Mr. petty bone turned out to be 26, wore
14:56bow ties, and nearly fainted when Tess
14:58showed him the Cadillac key. He brought
15:01the radar cart out to the Moonglow that
15:03Saturday. It looked exactly like a lawn
15:06mower with a laptop strapped to the
15:08handle. He pushed it slowly across the
15:11maple floor, back and forth in careful
15:14straight lines. The laptop showed wavy
15:18gray bands, floor joists, dirt, gravel,
15:22more dirt. Then he reached the silver
15:25moon. He stopped. He pushed the cart
15:28back 2 feet and went over it again,
15:31slower. "Oh my gosh," said Mr. petty
15:34bone very quietly on the screen under
15:38the gray bands 6 ft down something long
15:42and smooth and hard curved across the
15:44display like a sleeping whale.
15:4718 ft long, rounded at both ends and on
15:51top a flat bright band where the radar
15:55bounced back harder than anywhere else.
15:58That said Mr. for petty bone is a lot of
16:01metal and that bright line is something
16:04very smooth like a stainless steel roof.
16:08Naen whispered. Tess was already
16:10filming. She posted the video that
16:13night. 14 seconds. The radar screen. The
16:17silver moon. her own voice saying, "So,
16:20my mom bought my great great grandma's
16:22roller rink for $1, and we think there's
16:25a 1957 Cadillac buried under the floor."
16:30Naen went to bed thinking maybe a few of
16:32Tessa's friends would see it. By
16:34morning, it had 1.8 million views. By
16:38noon, there was a news van from Columbus
16:41in the parking lot. By evening, a second
16:44one from Charleston. Someone in Texas
16:47had started a website called Free the
16:50Cadillac. The Liars Table had a bedding
16:52pool going with a jar on the counter at
16:55Hartley's and at 4:00 a black Escalade
16:58pulled into the lot. Curtis climbed out
17:01in a quarterzip sweater and sunglasses.
17:04He walked straight past Naen to the
17:06Columbus News crew who were filming the
17:09sign. He knew a camera when he saw one.
17:12Curtis Callaway, Callaway Motors," he
17:15said with his billboard smile. "Yes,
17:18that's my ex-wife. And look, I wish her
17:22the best. I really do," he chuckled.
17:25"But I've been selling Cadillacs for 30
17:27years, and I promise you there's no
17:30Elorado Broome under that floor. That's
17:32a fairy tale old men tell in diners."
17:35She's digging for a ghost story because
17:37she's got nothing else. The reporter, a
17:41sharp young woman named Ranata Reyes,
17:43tilted her head. You sound very sure,
17:46Mr. Callaway. I'd bet my life on it.
17:50Would you bet her roof on it? Curtis
17:53paused. The camera light was on him.
17:56Behind Ranata Reyes, a little crowd of
17:58towns people had gathered. Some of them
18:01were filming on their phones. He spread
18:03his hands, laughing. Sure, why not? If
18:07there is a 1957 Cadillac under that
18:10rink, I'll pay to put a brand new roof
18:12on it myself. Every penny on camera, he
18:17winked into the lens. Free advertising.
18:20Then he turned finally to Naen. He
18:23lowered his voice so only she could
18:25hear. Enjoy your 15 minutes, Deanie. He
18:29hadn't called her that in 20 years. The
18:32roof estimate came the next week.
18:35$38,000.
18:37Naen taped it to MV's refrigerator next
18:40to the news clipping of Curtis's bet.
18:42Digging was another problem. To get to
18:45whatever lay under the moon, they would
18:47need to pull up the floor, cut through
18:49the joists, and dig 6 ft down through
18:52packed clay. That meant an excavator, a
18:55crew, and permits. The cheapest quote
18:58she could find was $6,000.
19:01She had $1,900. She sat at MV's table
19:05doing the math the way she had done
19:07Curtis's math for 20 years. It came out
19:10the same every way she turned it. At 6
19:13the next morning, there was a knock on
19:15the farmhouse door. It was Orville from
19:18the liars table. Behind him in the lane
19:22sat a pickup towing a yellow mini
19:24excavator on a trailer. My grandsons,
19:27Orville said. He runs a little
19:30excavation outfit in Rine. He'll do it
19:32Saturday, no charge. Orville, I can't.
19:36My daddy put that car in the ground,
19:39Orville said gruffly. Least my family
19:42can do is help get it out. He turned
19:44toward the truck, then turned back.
19:47Also, I've got $40 in the pool that says
19:50it's pink, so don't you mess this up.
19:53The county courthouse in Pomeoy smelled
19:55of floor polish and old paper. Tess
19:58wanted to see the 1957 records for
20:00school. She was writing a paper on the
20:03dig for history class and Mr. Petty Bone
20:06had said that if she got an A, he'd buy
20:08pizza for the whole science club. The
20:11clerk brought out a heavy ledger of
20:13property transfers. Tess ran her finger
20:16down the columns. Then she stopped. Mom,
20:20look. November 1957,
20:23a foreclosure. The little house on
20:26Locust Street where Fern had lived with
20:28two babies. The lender was not a bank.
20:32Callaway Motors, Inc. Naen read it
20:35twice. Then she asked the clerk for the
20:37file. It took an hour to find. When it
20:41came, it was a thin brown folder. Inside
20:44was a single loan agreement. In the
20:47spring of 1957,
20:49Virgil Ferrell had bought a new Cadillac
20:51from Boyd Callaway on credit, and for
20:54collateral, he had put up the family
20:56house. At the bottom of the page were
20:59two signatures, Virgil's, and under it
21:03in different ink, a second name, Fern
21:06Ferrell. Except it wasn't Fern's
21:08handwriting. Naen had seen her
21:11grandmother's handwriting every day of
21:13every summer for 15 years. On skate
21:16tags, on grocery lists, on birthday
21:19cards, Fern wrote big and fast and
21:22slanted forward like she was in a hurry.
21:24This signature was small and careful and
21:27straight up and down. Virgil had forged
21:30her name. When the house was sold, it
21:33still didn't cover everything he owed.
21:36The rest of the debt stayed on the car,
21:39and Boyd Callaway had accepted it. Then,
21:42when Virgil disappeared and the payment
21:44stopped, Callaway Motors took the house.
21:48The foreclosure was dated November 9th,
21:501957.
21:52Mom, Tess said quietly. When was Uncle
21:55MV born?
21:57Naen already knew. November 9th, 1957.
22:02Fern had been in the hospital having a
22:03baby the day Callaway Motors took her
22:06house. Naen drove back to the farm
22:08without speaking. She found MV in the
22:11barn and showed him the paper. He read
22:13it standing in the doorway in the late
22:16sun. Then he folded it carefully and
22:18handed it back. She never told me that
22:21part, he said. Not once in 69 years.
22:26He looked out at the field for a while.
22:29She came home from the hospital with me
22:31in a blanket, he said, and there was a
22:33padlock on her own front door. Saturday
22:37came in gray and cold with rain hanging
22:40over the river. By 8:00 in the morning,
22:43there were 300 people in the Moonglow
22:45parking lot. By 10:00, there were 600.
22:49They brought lawn chairs and thermoses
22:51and umbrellas. Somebody's church sold
22:54hot dogs. The liars table had reserved
22:57seats in the front row in a booth they
23:00had hauled out of Hartley's in the back
23:01of a pickup. Four news crews, a drone, a
23:06man from an auto museum in Dayton with a
23:08clipboard. And at 9:30, a long flatbed
23:12tow truck rolled into the lot with
23:14Callaway Motors painted down its side in
23:17red letters. Curtis climbed out of the
23:19passenger seat in a Callaway Motors
23:22jacket. "Just being neighborly," he told
23:25the cameras. "When they find nothing but
23:27rocks, I'll haul the junk away for free.
23:30We're family here." He didn't look at
23:33Naen once. They had taken up the floor
23:36inside the moon 2 days before. MV and
23:39Tess and Mr. Petty Bone and half the
23:41science club had pried up the maple
23:43boards one by one and stacked them along
23:46the wall. Now a hole yawned in the
23:49middle of the rink, framed by cut
23:51joists, open to bare clay. Orville's
23:55grandson backed the little excavator up
23:57to the edge. The bucket bit into the
24:00clay. It was slow. The clay was heavy
24:03and wet. Every bucket came up and swung
24:06away and dumped and came back. 2 feet, 3
24:10feet, four. At 4 and 1/2 ft, water
24:14started seeping into the hole. At 5, the
24:17bucket scraped something. The sound went
24:20through the whole rink. A long grinding
24:23metal shriek. 600 people stopped talking
24:27at the same instant. The operator shut
24:29down the engine. He climbed down and
24:32looked into the hole. It's here, he
24:35said. Something's here, but it's sitting
24:38in water. I can't get the bucket under
24:40it without tearing it apart. Somebody's
24:43got to go down there and get straps
24:44around it by hand. Before anyone else
24:47could move, Naen was climbing down the
24:50ladder. Mom, I've got it, Tess. The clay
24:54was cold and slick. The muddy water came
24:57up to her shins, then her knees. She
25:00knelt in it. She dug with her bare
25:02hands, scooping the mud away from the
25:04curved metal shape until her fingers
25:07found an edge, a long rounded fender.
25:11She wiped the mud off with her palm.
25:13Underneath, faint and faded and streaked
25:16with rust, was a color, pink. Up in the
25:20front row, Orville let out a whoop that
25:23echoed off the ceiling. It took another
25:26hour to get the straps under it. Naen
25:29stayed in the hole the whole time,
25:31soaked to the waist, guiding the canvas
25:33straps under the chassis, while MV and
25:36the operator fed them down. Her hands
25:39were bleeding by the end. She didn't
25:41notice. Then she climbed out and the
25:44excavator took up the slack. The straps
25:47tightened. The engine roared. And
25:50slowly, dripping, groaning, shedding mud
25:54and water in sheets. A 1957 Cadillac
25:58Elorado Broom rose up out of the earth
26:01and into the light of the turning
26:02mirrorball for the first time in 67
26:06years.
26:07600 people gasped at once. Then the gasp
26:11turned into something else. The car was
26:13ruined. Water had found it decades ago.
26:17The pink paint was almost gone under
26:19rust. The stainless steel roof had caved
26:22in on one side. Both front tires had
26:24rotted to nothing. Mud poured out of the
26:27windows. A fender sagged loose and fell
26:30to the floor with a clang. The crowd
26:33went quiet. Curtis Callaway started to
26:36laugh. He laughed loud so the cameras
26:39would catch it. He walked right up to
26:41the edge of the hole and laughed. "There
26:44it is," he said. "Fern Frell's great
26:47buried treasure." "A pile of scrap," he
26:50turned to the cameras, grinning. "You
26:52can't even part it out. 60 years of
26:54dreams, folks, and it's worth less than
26:57the toe." Some people in the crowd
26:59chuckled nervously. Someone booed. Naen
27:03stood by the dripping car in her soaked
27:05jeans and said nothing. Then she walked
27:08around to the passenger side and pulled
27:10on the door. It took two tries. It
27:13screamed on its hinges and came open.
27:16The inside was packed with mud, but the
27:19glove compartment was latched tight.
27:21When she pried it open, there was
27:23something inside wrapped in a thick
27:25oilcloth bundle sealed with tar. A big
27:29glass canning jar. Its lid had been
27:32dipped in wax. It was perfectly dry
27:35inside. She cut away the wax with MV's
27:38pocketk knife and opened the lid. Inside
27:42was a small booklet with a green
27:44cardboard cover and a folded paper. The
27:48booklet said Callaway Motors installment
27:51payment book across the front. Naen
27:54opened it. Every page was a coupon,
27:57dozens of them, and every coupon was
28:00stamped in red ink. Paid, paid, paid.
28:04Some had dates from 1958,
28:07some from 1959.
28:09Some had notes penciled in the margin in
28:12Fern's big, fast, slanting hand. Paid in
28:15quarters. Paid in dimes. Skating lessons
28:19June. Paid. Sold my mother's ring. The
28:23last coupon was dated September 4th,
28:261959.
28:27Across it, someone had stamped two words
28:30much larger than the rest. Paid in full.
28:34And under the stamp in neat blue ink, a
28:37signature B. Callaway. Naen unfolded the
28:42paper. It was the title to the car
28:44signed over by Callaway Motors. To Fern
28:48Frell, owner. She looked up at her
28:51ex-husband. The cameras were already
28:53turning toward him. Your grandfather
28:55took my grandmother's house the day her
28:57son was born, Naen said. Her voice
29:00carried across the whole silent rink on
29:03a loan with her forged name on it.
29:05Curtis's smile stopped moving. And then
29:08she spent two years paying him for the
29:10car of the man who left her in dimes, in
29:13quarters, in her mother's wedding ring.
29:16So no Callaway could ever say she owed
29:18them a penny. She held up the payment
29:21book so the cameras could see the last
29:23page. Paid in full, signed by Boyd
29:26Callaway. Then she put it in the ground,
29:29Naen said, and built a roof over it.
29:33Nobody in the rink moved. Then from the
29:36trunk, there was a clunk. Mr. Petty Bone
29:39had pried it open while everyone was
29:41watching the glove box. He was standing
29:43there with a very strange look on his
29:45face, holding up a muddy bowling ball.
29:48In his other hand, he held a rotting
29:51leather golf bag. "There's more," he
29:54said. "There's a hatbox." He lifted the
29:57lid. Then he looked up baffled. "I think
30:01Mr. Pedibone said, "This is a toupe."
30:05Clement in the front row started to
30:08weeze. Then Shorty, then Bud. Then the
30:12whole liar's table was howling, tears
30:14running down their faces. Virgil's
30:17hairpiece. Clement gasped. He wore it to
30:20church. He swore it was real. Taped to
30:24the inside of the hatbox lid was a small
30:26index card. Mr. Petty Bone read it out
30:29loud. Virgil, it's all paid for. Every
30:33last penny. Don't come back for it. F.
30:38The rink exploded. 600 people laughed
30:41and cheered and clapped so hard the
30:43mirror ball shook. The reporters were
30:46laughing. The man from the museum in
30:48Dayton was laughing. Orville was dancing
30:51a little jig with his umbrella. Through
30:53all of it, Ranata Reyes worked her way
30:56through the crowd. She stopped in front
30:58of Curtis Callaway with her microphone.
31:01Mr. Callaway, she said brightly. Two
31:04weeks ago on camera, you said that if
31:06there was a 1957 Cadillac under this
31:09rink, you would pay for a brand new
31:11roof. Every penny. The crowd heard her.
31:15The noise dropped. Curtis looked at the
31:18camera. "At the crowd at 600 phones
31:22pointed straight at him." "That was a
31:24joke," he said. "It's on tape," said
31:27Renata Reyes. "Pay the lady," Orville
31:31bellowed from the front row. Someone
31:33else took it up. Then the whole crowd
31:36was chanting it. "Pay the lady! Pay the
31:39lady! Pay the lady!" Curtis Callaway,
31:43whose face was on billboards in three
31:45counties, stood in the middle of the
31:47moonglow with mud on his good loafers.
31:50He took out his checkbook very slowly
31:54while the cameras rolled. He wrote the
31:56check against the side of his own tow
31:58truck, $38,000.
32:01He handed it to Naen without looking at
32:03her. Then he got back in his flatbed and
32:06drove away empty. That night, after
32:09everyone was gone, MV and Naen sat on
32:13the edge of the hole with their feet
32:15dangling over the dark water. The ruined
32:18Cadillac sat on the rink floor beside
32:20them, dripping quietly onto the maple. I
32:23always thought she did it for spite, MV
32:26said, burying his car. Everybody did.
32:30The crazy lady who buried her husband's
32:32Cadillac, wasn't it? MV shook his head
32:35slowly. I remember one thing from when I
32:38was little. Just one. I must have been
32:41about two. He looked at the car. A man
32:45in our doorway in the middle of the
32:47night yelling, "Mama standing in front
32:50of my crib with a frying pan. Naen
32:52turned to look at him. I asked her about
32:55it once when I was grown. She said it
32:58was Virgil. He came back in the summer
33:00of 59. Not for her, not for us, for the
33:04car." MV's voice was rough. He said he'd
33:08be back next week with a trailer. Said
33:11the car was his and so were his kids and
33:14he'd take whatever he pleased. Next
33:17morning she drove to Galipolis and paid
33:20the last coupon. And that night she
33:23borrowed Orville's daddy's bulldozer. He
33:26was quiet a moment. She didn't bury his
33:28car to hurt him. Deie, she buried the
33:31last reason he had to ever come back to
33:33our door. The mirror ball turned
33:36overhead. Little squares of light slid
33:39across the water in the hole. I was
33:41jealous of this place my whole
33:43childhood. MV said she was always here.
33:46Every night, every weekend, I thought
33:49she loved the rink more than she loved
33:51me. He laughed softly. Turns out she
33:55built it as a lid. Naen leaned her head
33:58against her uncle's shoulder. My best
34:00thing is buried right under this moon,
34:02she said. Hm. I thought she meant the
34:05car. MV shook his head. She meant she
34:09was free. The man from the auto museum
34:11in Dayton called on Monday. The dig
34:14video had now been watched more than 40
34:17million times. The pink Cadillac was the
34:20most famous ruined car in America. The
34:23museum wanted it for a permanent exhibit
34:25along with the payment book, the title,
34:28the bowling ball, the golf bag, and the
34:31man said with real reverence, the
34:33hairpiece. They offered $85,000.
34:38At Hartley's, the liars table was
34:41certain she would say no. "She'll never
34:43sell Fern's car," said Shorty. "Never in
34:46a million years," said Bud. 20 bucks
34:49says she keeps it, said Orville. Naen
34:52said yes. She said it on the phone,
34:55standing in MV's kitchen without a
34:58second's pause. When she hung up, Tess
35:01was staring at her. Mom, that's Grandma
35:05Fern's car. No, honey. Naen sat down
35:09across from her daughter. It was
35:11Virgil's car. Grandma paid it off and
35:14buried it so she'd never have to look at
35:16it again. She didn't keep it, Tess. She
35:19got free of it. She reached over and
35:22tucked her daughter's hair behind her
35:24ear. And so am I. Orville paid Shorty
35:28$20 and grumbled about it for a month.
35:31The new roof went on in October. It was
35:34silver and curved and shining, and it
35:36was paid for every penny by Curtis
35:39Callaway. The museum money did the rest.
35:42New wiring, a new furnace. The maple
35:46floor was sanded back to bare blonde
35:48wood and finished until it glowed like
35:50warm honey. The colored bulbs were
35:53replaced, all of them. The mirror ball
35:56was cleaned until it threw stars. In the
35:59center of the floor, where the hole had
36:02been, Naen had a carpenter build
36:04something special. The joists were
36:06rebuilt and the floor was replaced. But
36:10in the middle of the silver moon, they
36:12set a thick square of glass 3 ft across,
36:15flush with the boards. Under the glass,
36:18on a bed of the original moonglow clay,
36:21lay a single green cardboard coupon. The
36:24museum let her keep that one. September
36:264th, 1959.
36:29Paid in full. Skaters glided right over
36:32it. That winter, Naen and Tess moved out
36:36of MV's spare room into a little rented
36:38house on Locust Street, four doors down
36:41from the one Callaway Motors had taken
36:43in 1957.
36:45The lease had one name on it, Naen
36:48Frell. She had taken her own name back.
36:51The first night in the new house, Naen
36:54passed her daughter's door and stopped.
36:56The suitcase was empty, shoved under the
36:59bed. Every shirt was folded in the
37:02dresser. Her sneakers sat in a neat pair
37:04by the closet. A poster of the pink
37:07Cadillac rising out of the mud was
37:10already taped to the wall. Naen leaned
37:13against the door frame and didn't say a
37:15word. She didn't want to jinx it. The
37:18Moonglow reopened on the first Saturday
37:20in December. The line went down the
37:23bluff and onto the highway. People came
37:26from Kentucky and West Virginia and
37:28Pennsylvania. People came from Texas
37:31because of a website called Free the
37:34Cadillac. Mr. Petty Bone ran the snack
37:37bar in a bow tie. The Liars Table skated
37:40badly for the first time since 1964,
37:44holding on to each other and the rail.
37:47MV climbed up into the old DJ booth and
37:50put on the first record, All Skate. 3
37:53weeks later, Naen sat in the little
37:56office behind the skate counter doing
37:58the books,
38:00payroll, taxes, inventory, the same work
38:04she had done every night for 20 years at
38:07another kitchen table. Only this time,
38:10at the end, she opened the checkbook and
38:12wrote one more line. Pay to the order of
38:16Naen Frell, $212.50,
38:1950 cents, her first week's wages, for
38:22her work, with her own name on it. It
38:26was the first paycheck of her life. She
38:28looked at it for a while, then she
38:30didn't cash it. She walked out onto the
38:33empty floor, knelt in the middle of the
38:35silver moon, and slid it carefully under
38:38the edge of the glass, right beside her
38:41grandmother's last coupon. Two pieces of
38:44paper, 67 years apart, paid in full.
38:48Fern Frell was left with two babies, two
38:51rooms over a feed store, and a pink
38:54Cadillac she couldn't stand to look at.
38:57Everyone in town thought she buried it
38:59out of spite. She didn't. She buried it
39:02so the man who hurt her family would
39:04never have a reason to come back. And
39:06then she skated on top of it for 50
39:08years. Some people think the opposite of
39:11losing everything is getting it all
39:13back. It isn't. It's getting free of the
39:16thing that owned you. Curtis Callaway
39:18told his wife she had never earned a
39:20dollar. He was wrong. She had earned
39:24every one of them. He had simply made
39:26sure her name was never on the check. So
39:29if someone ever tells you that you're
39:30worth nothing, don't argue. Just go do
39:34the work and write your own name at the
39:36bottom. And when you're done, put it
39:38under glass where everyone can see it.
39:41If Naen and Fern's story made you smile
39:44and maybe made you cry a little, please
39:46like this video and subscribe for more
39:48stories about women who start over.
39:51Share it with someone who's carrying
39:52something they need to bury. And tell us
39:55in the comments, what's one thing you
39:57finally got free of?

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