Chapter 1

Ken Miller never thought of himself as a deep-thinker but now in doing this drive to the University of Texas at Austin, commonly called UT, he couldn’t help but think on the fragility of life and the finality of death. He had a vague recollection of what had happened one night when he was five years old and was at the home of his grandparents who were babysitting him. He was awakened from his sleep by the voices of a commotion downstairs. In looking out the window he could see a police car there with its mars lights on that were flashing.

The next morning he was told that both his parents had been killed in a motor vehicle accident. A man in a stolen car was involved in a high-speed chase with the police. This driver had blown a red light and hit his parent’s car directly in the side. The three people involved in this accident were pronounced dead at the scene.

Ken because of his parents being dead now lived with his grandparents, Don and Margret Miller. They were loving grandparents and did their best to raise Ken right. Gramps was a mechanical engineer and besides teaching Ken numerous things instilled in Ken the need to always do his best and strive to be number one in everything he did. Grandma was an elementary school teacher and she gave Ken the necessary study habits to be his best. They were truly great and loving people and he was going to miss them.

That was because just after the first of the year Gramps suffered a massive heart attack and died. A week ago Grandma had a severe stroke and she passed away. The reason Ken was now driving back to UT was that he was coming back from Grandma’s funeral. Ken was a student at the university and was finishing up his senior year.

At the funeral one of the mourners introduced himself to Ken as Ray Harvey who said he was an attorney and was also the executor of Ken’s grandparent’s estate. He said that Ken needed to stop by the office and see him. He gave Ken his business card that indicated among other things that his law firm’s name was Harvey and Brandon. Ken took the card and said he would do that but it would be late next week as he was heading back to UT. He needed to study for the final exams coming up on the first of the week.

While Ken was driving back to school, the thought came to mind that he was all alone. No parents, no grandparents, no brothers, no sisters, nor aunts or uncles, it was just Ken now to face the world all alone. Someone had once said life wasn’t fair and Ken unquestionably agreed with that statement.

Ken took these final exams and thought he did well enough to pass but he wasn’t sure how high the grades he would get would be. The grades for these courses would indicate if they would keep him in the upper ten percent of his class. He will earn a degree in business administration but he had no plans to attend the graduation ceremony since he had no one to share that moment with. Ken couldn’t say he was bitter but he knew he wasn’t a happy camper at this stage in his life. Remembering what Gramps and Grandma had taught him he knew he needed to put their deaths behind him and get on with his life. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that was what they would have wanted him to do and he would honor them by doing that. He would also remember them in his prayers.

With his ten-year-old SUV now packed with the belongings he had removed from the rented apartment with the lease expiring, he was on his way back to his home or he hoped what was his home. Since it was on the way he stopped by the law offices and spoke with Ray Harvey who greeted him.

“As I told you at the funeral I am the executor of your grandparent’s estate. I am also a successor-trustee of their trusts in which you are named as the sole beneficiary. Besides those trusts, there is a trust that was set up for you with the funds we secured from the settlement of the uninsured motorist coverage on the automobile policy. Included in that trust are the funds we received from the municipality because of the police department pursuing that high-speed chase that resulted in the death of your parents. I have taken the liberty of combing those trusts into one living trust in your name. You are the trustee and I am a successor- trustee. As your circumstances change in life I am sure they will, you can make changes to this trust. The funds for this new trust are invested at Schwab and currently are worth close to fourteen million dollars.”

Ken was shocked to hear the amount that this trust was worth.

“In addition to the trusts, the house and the forty acres of land with it are yours and there is no mortgage. I don’t know if you are aware of that large wind and solar panel electric generating farm that is about four miles north of your house? Well, eighty acres of that project is on land that you now own. Those eighty acres are on a long-term lease to the power company that pays you a good monthly sum. The amount of their payment will increase by two percent a year per the lease agreement. The remaining land of that large electric generating farm is owned by others. I understand it was your great grandfather who initially purchased that land. In addition to that, the oil pumps that are on the southern end of your property at your home also generate a monthly income for you. I will do the necessary title transfers and make the necessary notifications.”

Ray now had his secretary and another lady come into his office to witness and notarize many documents Ken needed to sign. He told Ken to stop by the Schwab office and see Kay Sanders, an investment advisor and give her copies of some of these documents which she will need to do the transferring and setting up of his trust account.

“So tell me, Ken, with you owning a forty-four hundred square foot house that sits on a large amount of land, having a significant investment account, and receiving a substantial amount of monthly income from the power and oil companies what do you plan to do?”

“To tell it like it is, I have no fucking idea. I was going to go to grad school and get an MBA which would help me secure a job with a large corporation but now it doesn’t seem I will need to do that. I will probably look around to go into a business for myself but what that is or if I do that is up in the air at this time. I know I will do something in business because that is what my grandparents would have wanted me to do.”

“If you do go into a business stop by and see us and we will incorporate the business as that will protect your assets.”

There was a shaking of the hands as Ken left the office wondering if it was a dream as to what just had happened. He made a mental note to stop by the Schwab office on Monday.

After parking his car on the driveway of his now official home, Ken started to take some of the items from the SUV into his home.