Stella and Clark hang up the phone after receiving a late night distress call from their son, Olin, whose last installment of college tuition is now seriously past-due. Anybody with kids in college knows about this kind of phone call.

There’s no time for a check to pass through the mail. "We’ll have to send it by Western Union," says Stella, "but that’ll take cash."

So it’s off to the ATM for Stella and Clark — never mind that it’s well past midnight. As the couple enters the ATM booth, a shadowy figure across the parking lot begins strolling toward them.

Let’s back up a bit. As they hurriedly left home, Clark pulled on a pair of trousers and grabbed his ATM card. That’s all! Stella, who was still dressed, left her purse in the kitchen because Clark would be driving.

Now, as the bad guy walks up to the couple he finds neither one of them has any cash on hand. So he orders Clark to get money out of the ATM.

Feeling a bit tricky, Clark purposely enters the wrong PIN number. After the second entry the ATM — as it’s programmed to do — eats Clark’s card. "Well, I guess that’s that," says Clark as the bad guy, disgusted at the events of the evening, runs off into the night.

Back in the car, Clark is relieved that he wasn’t robbed, but what about the tuition payment?

"Not to worry," says Stella as she pulls off her left shoe, reaches under the foot pad, and pulls out a $100 bill.

"Egad," says Clark. "That’s amazing — but it’s only $100 and we need $200."

Stella kicks off her other shoe, reaches under the foot pad and drags out a second $100 bill. "My mother taught us girls to always carry money in our shoe," Stella says.

The day is saved for Olin — thanks to the teachings of his grandmother. Many years ago mothers told their daughters this was "mad money."