Member-only story
The Tightwad
A Short Story about an Old Man and his Money
The old man saved every penny. It was as if he vacuum-sealed his wallet and every tug on his purse-strings unraveled pieces of his soul and frayed the edges of his peace of mind. When the old man was young and he got his first job as an engineer, his paycheck was so big that it scared him. But he still took the bus to work, and continued living in the tiny one-bedroom apartment that he rented in his last year of college.
When he started a new job that required a car, he purchased the most rudimentary car fathomable, devoid of any hint of a bell or a whistle. The old man’s buggy was equipped to drive only, and had no radio and no air condition. So when he drove around in the searing midday Texas heat, he’d sing along to tunes in his head as sweat rolled down his face and other parts of his wilted frame. Even though he was earning enough to live a very comfortable lifestyle, in his mind’s eye, he could not afford the luxury of an air condition or radio in his car. Forget about the heat, the old man was intent on squirreling away his nuts for a rainy day.
If there was a tightwad organization, the old man would be the president so long as there were no fees associated with membership. Throughout his adult life, whenever people joked or poked fun at his legendary cheapness, the old man just laughed, thinking that his detractors…
