The Saga Continues...

The next day, we went down to the Health Department to pick up the cursed letter from Greenway. I had made a point of asking the title company to tell me exactly what we needed to do with the letter. I was told to pick it up from the Health Department and take it to the courthouse to have it filed at a cost of $26.00.

Armed with this exact information, we headed on down and picked up the letter. Before we left, though, I asked the Health Department to give me exact instructions on what to do with the letter. NOW I was told to take it to the courthouse, GET IT NOTARIZED and bring it back! She would then make a copy for her files and I could then take the NOTARIZED letter to the title company. It must be NOTARIZED! Obviously, the title company knew that little bit of information, but for some reason, failed to say "NOTARIZED". I could feel the pressure in my head start to build.

We walked over to the courthouse and went in. There is only one door for entering the courthouse, now. They've closed off the other doors for security reasons. In Front Royal. Security reasons. Yeah, ok. At the security screening area, we put our possessions in the little basket to be scanned. I didn't take anything with me, so I was able to walk through the scanner portal and I was "in like Flynn". Jimmy, on the other hand, was another matter. He put his wallet, keys and little pocket knife in the basket. The young deputy handed him back the knife and said "You can't bring THIS in here!" Jimmy told him we were just there to get a paper filed, we weren't going into the courtroom. Would the deputy hold it for him? We would only be a few minutes.

"Absolutely NOT" he practically shouted. "You have to take this back to your vehicle and leave it there!" Jimmy turned and left the building without saying a word. The deputy looked over at me and said "What's HIS problem?" I just told the deputy that we were exasperated with dealing with a land sale and we were "up to here" with it. He continued to act like we were the worst of the worst for trying to bring a KNIFE into the courthouse.

Just then, Jimmy returned - having only been gone a few seconds. The deputy asked him what he did with the knife, knowing that Jimmy couldn't have walked back to the car in that short amount of time. Jimmy told him that he left it outside and would retrieve it when we were finished in the Clerk's office. The other, older deputy told him that the trustees were told to pick up anything they found outside and turn it in. The knife was probably going to be lost. Jimmy said he didn't care and we walked down the hall, leaving the two deputies shaking their heads.

Getting the paper notarized and filed took only about ten minutes and cost $21, not $26. When we were getting ready to leave, I told Jimmy we should just walk out without speaking to the deputies. I was almost afraid he might say something. But, when we passed the men, he said "Y'all have a nice day".

Outside, he walked around to where he left the knife, and sure enough, it was gone. My heart sunk. I guess the trustees found it and had turned it in, or worse yet, someone else had it. The older deputy had followed us outside. I was afraid he was going to start in on us and I could feel the pressure in my head building even higher. My headache was getting worse. I just wanted to leave. He put out his hand and when he opened his fingers, there was Jimmy's knife. He quietly said that he had felt badly for Jimmy and had come out (unknown to the younger deputy) and picked up the knife to hold for him.

To make a really, really long story a little bit shorter, we thanked him and took the notarized letter back to the Health Department, got it copied and then drove over to the title company. The next day, we went to settlement. A few days later, after another snafu, the money was wired to our account, the bills got paid and my headache went away.