Earl Sunderman had belonged to the local Masonic lodge for nearly fifty years. As his health had become increasingly frail in his waning years—he was eighty-seven—he had decided to move into a nursing home and wanted to supervise the division and apportioning of his estate himself. Earl desired to leave a considerable sum to his Masonic lodge and he met with Ol’ Leroy McKrank to discuss the details.
Ol’ Leroy McKrank showed up at Earl’s residence in his trademark overalls and rang the doorbell. Earl invited him in and shook Ol’ Leroy’s hand.
“Alright, so how much we talkin’ about Earl?” asked Leroy.
“Well, Brother, I have decided that I’d like to give about two thousand dollars to the lodge and I would like the lodge to…”
Ol’ Leroy gave a long, high pitched whistle. He had never personally spent, donated, or considered any transaction involving that much money at one time. “Shucks! You’re practically fixing to buy the lodge, eh?”
“The lodge has been very important in my life, but I would like the lodge to use the money for the purpose of…”
“Boy, this will sure help out our savings account. Nothin’ feels better than adding to the lodge’s savings account.”
“Savings account? Oh no, Brother Leroy, I want this to be spent right away!”
The last statement stopped Leroy dead in his tracks. “Spent you say?”
“Yes. I want the lodge to take the money and buy new aprons, collars, jewels, gavels, and whatever other materials and regalia need replacement. The last time I saw our Deacon’s staffs, the paint was practically gone. The lodge’s cotton aprons are more yellow than white. I would like the lodge to replace all of it.”
“Ahhhh, I see, I see. But don’tcha see what’s wrong with your little idea? You see, we can repaint the staffs, bleach the aprons, use a little metal cleaner on our jewels to get the corrosion off, and even put some cardboard over the broken window in the fellowship hall, and still put a lot of your money into savings. Don’tcha see how much better that plan is?”
Earl was caught off guard by this statement. He had never imagined that someone would not be completely thrilled to take his donation and spend it as he wished.
“I think I’d just rather have the lodge buy new things.”
“Well, I can sure try to tell the lodge to do that, but you know we’ll have to draw a warrant on that. I’ll tell ‘em that’s what you wanted, but they gotta vote on it. No tellin’ what they’ll want to do. Now if you’ll gimme that check I’ll go deposit it in the lodge’s account.”
Earl gave up and handed Ol’ Leroy the check. He could only hope that the lodge spent it as he had wished. He was starting to think that he should have given the money to the United Way, where it might actually do some good.
Like what you are reading at the Euphrates? Email the author at euphratesblog@gmail.com to join the Banks of the Euphrates mailing list.
I’m pretty sure that this lodge is in my district.