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Cheque Please! The Case of the Curious Checkbook�
Audited by the accountant firm of
Benjamin Donatelli and Beverly Ledbetter
Cheque, Please—A Round of Applause for Our Sponsor!��Just as every check tells a story in Ordeal by Cheque, every investment tells a story, too. Today's story includes Regions Bank, whose generous support has made this workshop possible. Their commitment to financial literacy and education helps ensure that teachers and students alike enjoy dividends that last a lifetime.������Thank You for Investing in Education and Keeping Great Ideas in Circulation! �
The History of Checks
Historians believe the idea of written payment orders dates back to Ancient Greece and Rome, where wealthy citizens used written instructions to transfer funds. The funds and recordkeeping were handled in the temples by priests.
Similar systems were used in China and the Middle East, where merchants relied on written promises and payment orders to conduct trade over long distances.
The word "check" comes from a term meaning to control or verify, because the document served as proof of payment.
Modern checks developed in England during the 1600s.
Customers of the newly established banks, such as Bank of England, wrote orders instructing banks to pay money from their deposits.
By the 1700s, checks became common among merchants and wealthy individuals.
signed by Nicholas Vanacker, instructing the bank to "Pray pay this bearer Tenn pounds", London, 22 April 1659
1764 cheque, Bank of England
How did checks make trade and personal finance easier than carrying cash, and why are many people now choosing electronic payments instead?
Payments Made By Checks
2025 25%
When you write the amount to be paid in words, if that amount is different from the amount written in numbers, the bank will honor the amount written in words. That amount is legally binding!
No, your legal signature does not need to be in cursive. Legally, a signature is any unique mark, symbol, or written name created with the intent to validate a document or authorize a payment, such as writing a check. Easy-to-read text handwriting helps avoid disputes related to the intended recipient or payment amount.
You can use cursive or print handwriting to complete a check — as long as it's legible.
Ordeal �by �Cheque
a short story told completely via checks!
Florida Statute Reference
Section 1003.4282(3)(h), Florida Statutes specifically requires instruction in balancing a check book along with bank accounts, interest, contracts, billing disputes, savings, investments, and financial laws.
Example Learning Objective
Students will analyze checks and other banking documents to reconstruct financial events, balance a check register, evaluate spending decisions, and explain how personal financial choices affect long-term financial well-being.
Ordeal by Cheque supports Florida's required financial literacy instruction
and as a primary source activity.
The February 1932 edition of Vanity Fair, featured the short “story” Ordeal by Cheque by Wuther Crue
s “Ordeal by Cheque” (1932) is a classic, but it wasn’t the first to tell a story through expenses.
The Courier (Lincoln, Nebraska), January 26, 1895 –
Wuther Crue’s “Ordeal by Cheque” (1932) is a classic, but it wasn’t the first to tell a story through expenses.
The Courier (Lincoln, Nebraska), January 26, 1895
Intertextuality
Intertextuality is when a text depends on the reader's knowledge of other texts, experiences, or cultural information to create meaning.
“Ordeal by Cheque” demonstrates that meaning is created through the interaction between the text and the reader's prior knowledge.
The checks alone are merely financial documents; when readers use their understanding of banking, family life, and story patterns, they become a complete story.
Connection to Ordeal by Cheque
In Ordeal by Cheque, the checks themselves are primary documents because they are original financial records. Readers use these documents as clues to reconstruct the story and understand the events in the family's lives.
Primary Document: An original source of information created by people who were there or involved when an event happened.
Banking records tell stories. In Ordeal by Cheque, checks reveal relationships, choices, debts, and consequences, showing how everyday financial transactions can uncover mysteries without a single spoken word.
Checks are more than payments. Ordeal by Cheque uses banking transactions to trace lives, expose secrets, and demonstrate how financial records preserve stories across generations.
Through deposits, withdrawals, and handwritten checks, Ordeal by Cheque transforms ordinary banking documents into clues that reveal love, loss, crime, and changing fortunes.
Banking leaves a paper trail. Ordeal by Cheque shows how checks document decisions, relationships, and unexpected events, turning financial records into a compelling narrative.
Financial Forensics: Investigating Ordeal by Cheque
Step 1: Pass out the cheques to each member of your bank examiners. Create a timeline. Put the cheques in chronological order.
Step 2: Each bank examiner should fill out an Inference Form for each check they have as it is connected to the timeline.
Step 3: Read each check as a group and begin to create the story of Lawrence Exeter Sr. family. Make connections from one check to another. (create a financial autobiography)
One Cheque, One Sentence, One Story…….
Reading Between the Cheques
Follow the Funds: Infer the Plot
Directions: Write one sentence for each cheque inferring what the story of “Ordeal by Cheque” is as if you were a character in the story.
I was so overjoyed at the imminent arrival of my first child that I made quite the extravagant purchase at Goosie Gander Baby Shoppe.
Thankful everything went well with the delivery and both my wife, and my son Junior are home with me.
It’s going to be a very Merry Christmas for Junior as we celebrate our first Christmas together as a family.
Credit Risk and Assessment Report: Lawrence Exeter, Jr.
The Scenario: It is 1931. Lawrence Exeter Jr. walks into your bank asking for a massive personal loan. Your team forms the bank’s Credit Risk Officers who must review his historical check activity to approve or deny the loan.
Your tasks: As a team, write a formal Credit Evaluation Memo, that grades Lawrence Exeter, Jr. on the 5 Cs of Credit.
Next, complete the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning form to defend your loan decision.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Claim: Lawrence Exeter Jr. would (or would not) be a good credit risk.
�Evidence: Cite specific checks from the story that support your reasoning.
�Reasoning: Explain which of the 5 C's of Credit most influenced your decision.
Discussion Questions
Which of the 5 C's seems strongest for Lawrence Exeter Jr. early in the story?
Which C changes the most over time?
How do his financial choices affect his character and capacity?
If you were a banker, would you approve a loan for Lawrence Exeter Jr. at the end of the story? Why or why not?
What evidence from the checks supports your answer?
Tic-Tac-Cheque!
Materials needed:
A blank tie-tac-toe board for each team of two OR a blank sheet of paper and let the students draw the grid
small cards with vocabulary words on them
2 different color sets of chips/small paper for
each team (6 per student): one color is X,
the other O OR allow them to mark the square
How to Play
1. Choose X or O
Player 1 is X and Player 2 is O. Assign a color to each.
2. Draw a Card
On your turn, draw one vocabulary card.
3. Define the Word
You have 15–30 seconds to give a correct definition.
4. Claim a Space
Correct answer: place your chip/small paper to claim that spot on any open square. OR mark an X or O on the grid
Incorrect answer: No square is claimed and play passes to the other player. OR If a player answers incorrectly, the opposing player may try to define the word. If correct, they may claim that square.
3 in a row wins!
�
More advanced version….
Financially Secure vs Bankrupt
Basically, the same as Tic-Tac-Cheque, but with 5 squares.
One player is Financially Secure, the other Bankrupt.
The object of the game is for Financially Secure to get 4 in a row—Bankrupt merely tries to block.
If Financially Secure gets 4 in a row, they win. If they are blocked by Bankrupt – they lose!
Activity | Florida Requirement |
Reconstruct the life story | Analyze financial records |
Maintain a check register | Balance a checkbook |
Identify major expenses | Basic money management |
Categorize needs and wants | Spending decisions |
Find suspicious transactions | Consumer protection |
Calculate balances over time | Mathematical reasoning |
Create an alternate ending | Financial decision making |
Write a financial autobiography | Long-term financial planning |
Ordeal by Cheque Alignment Ideas
For additional information or ideas… contact the accountant firm of
Benjamin Donatelli
Benjamin.Donatelli@hcps.net
Beverly Ledbetter
bledbetter@usf.edu
OR
msled25@hotmail.com
�You've followed the money, uncovered the clues, and survived the Ordeal by Cheque! Before you close your account on tonight's workshop, please make one final deposit—your feedback. Your insights help us balance the books, improve future workshops, and ensure that every teacher receives a rich return on their investment of time.�
Cheque, Please! Before You Cash Out…�
A cheque will be coming to you!