Chapter 5

The second day after we returned home from the funeral, we drove about an hour and a half to the city where my father's personal attorney had an office. My father was an only child of deceased parents. My mother, Shelly, and I were the only parties present at the reading of the will other than the attorney and a staff member who would act as witness.

My father had made certain that my mother was included on every item in his portfolio. Every deed, title, and stock certificate included her on it. The two had agreed that it would be best to not transfer items of great monetary value to their children at the time of his or her death since at that time such transfers would be subject to the rather painful bite of the death tax.

With such arrangements already made, the reading of the will was rather brief. Shelly and I both learned that each of us would receive access to a trust fund setup in our name when we reached the age of twenty-one. This was one way some tax safe funds could be set aside for us. My mother would act as trustee until then.

The lawyer handed me a letter before we left and asked me to read it to myself while in his office. He led everyone else out of the room to give me a bit of privacy.

My Dear Son Tom,

If you're reading this letter then I am no longer with you. I wanted to tell you just how proud I am of the man your growing to be. In many ways your mother and sister will need to rely on you now more than ever before. I need you to be there for them son. I need you to stand in my place. You are the head of the household now.

I know that legally your mother is your guardian and the owner of everything in my estate, but that isn't the way she will view things. She was raised to demur to a man in all important decisions. She will state her opinion, and if you're as smart as I think you are you will consider it; but in the end she will see things as yours to decide and I can tell you that makes for a pleasant and peaceful relationship — just be careful not to abuse her trust.

When you reach legal age your mother will likely begin to transfer much of my worldly goods into your name. If you're the kind of man we both believe you're growing to be — this will be perfectly safe as you will always have the best interests of your mother and sister at heart. If not — well you can see the risk she would be taking.

I wish you success in all of your endeavors Tom. You've been a son to make a father proud and I've cherished the chance to be your Dad.

I hate to end with something that may sound a bit corny — but I truly do mean this wish for you son: Live long and prosper.

Love,

Dad

After the attorney's office my mother had me drive home and drop them off before I went to the meeting Mr. Blanchard, Dad's business partner, had asked me to attend. When I reached the office Mr. Blanchard greeted me cordially, as always, and asked me to call him Jim from now on.

"Tom as you know your dad and I were equal partners in just about everything we did. I know that you received a letter today and I'm probably the only other person on the face of the planet your Dad let read that letter. I just want you to know that I agree with your father and mother's assessment — you're a good man Tom.

"Now we have some business matters that you need to be aware of. First you should know that both your father and I liked to be involved in critical decisions regarding our businesses and what directions they should take; but neither of us wanted to be bogged down with the day to day details of running each business. I want to make sure that you understand that you can decide how involved to be in our office on a daily basis and we'll adapt to your needs. I also want you to remember that this office is yours just as much as it is mine.

"You should also know that your father and I had a buyout agreement that made provision that should either one of us pass on and our next of kin not want to be involved in the business the other partner would buy the shares for current market value. I am prepared if you wish to exercise that option as well," Jim told me.

"What would you prefer?" I asked.

"It isn't like that Tom," he told me sincerely. "If either you or I could have our way your dad would be alive right now here in this office handling things as usual. Now that that isn't the case I truly have no preference. If you want to see how the two of us get along and try things for a while that's fine by me. If you have other plans for your life and want to take the cash option — I'm ready to deal with that as well. If you want to finish college first and then decide that's okay to. Whatever you decide Tom — I'll be okay with it.

"You, your mom, and your sister — you're more like family to me than many of those that are actually related to me. I'll be okay with whatever you do and ready to back you the whole way."

"Thanks Jim that means a lot to me! If it's alright then I'll take a few days to think about it and then we'll talk again."

I walked through the door of the house that had been our home for the past thirteen years and took off my suit jacket and tie. It'd been a very strange and difficult week for me. My father was gone and I was now the man of the house. All I'd been hearing all day long was that I needed to take my father's place both at home and in his business dealings. Just how was that going to square with my intention to be the man in both Maggie and Kalli's lives?

I'd missed two therapy appointments and only managed to swim twice all week. My leg was sore and stiffened. All week long I'd been walking with a cane and struggling to keep the pain off of my face. My mother must have heard me come in because she was now watching me from the hallway with the pain clearly telling on my face.

"Tom, why don't you head over to Maggie's house and use their pool? We can't keep having you miss your therapy and exercises — it's not good for you.

"If I have dinner ready at six-thirty will that give you enough time to exercise and stretch?" mom asked.

My watch said that it was about four. "Probably. I'll do my best to be back by then."

"Well we'll wait for you in any case," she said as she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I turned around and headed back out for the car. My leg was hurting just too damn much at the moment to make the relatively short walk to Maggie's place. About sixty seconds later I was stepping out of the car and walking up to the front door. Just as I was getting ready to slip my key into the lock the door opened. Both Kalli and Maggie were there with anxious looks on their faces.

"Hi Tom. Did everything go okay today?" Maggie asked.

"Things went just fine Maggie. My worst problem is this damn leg. It's really hurting a lot right now. I was hoping to spend some time doing my stretching exercises and then an hour in the pool. Do you feel up to helping me?"

"Anything for you Tom. I'm sorry your leg is bothering you so much. I'll go get things ready," Maggie replied.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kalli asked.

"Well if you wouldn't mind helping me get out of these clothes I'd appreciate it. I can hardly bend my leg far enough right now to untie my own shoe and it hurt like the dickens just getting it on this morning."

Kalli led me over to a nearby chair and helped me sit down with my legs out in front of me. Kneeling down, she untied my shoes and slipped them off of my feet. She pulled off my dress socks and tucked one in each shoe. Next she opened the buckle of my belt and then unfastened my dress slacks. I lifted my butt up off the chair while she slipped my slacks down and off. Kalli neatly placed them over the arm of the chair so nothing would fall out of my pockets. I had made myself useful and unbuttoned my shirt and slipped out of it. Kalli took it from me and hung it over the back of my chair before helping me out of my undershirt. Next came my under shorts, she slipped the boxers down while I raised my butt once more and then folded them and my undershirt and placed them on top of my slacks.

With Kalli's help I stood up and began to hobble through the house towards the back yard. Kalli stayed by my side until I had reached the pool area and was comfortably seated in a cabana chair.

Maggie came out and took one look at the swelling and the angry looking red scars and said "It looks like it must feel just awful Tom. I'm sorry we weren't able to help you sooner. Now should we start with the stretching, or maybe a few minutes in the water first?"

"I think the pool for a few minutes, then some stretches, and then back into the pool," I replied.

Kalli had disappeared and I was too busy trying to force myself through the painful exercises to notice for the time being.

Maggie and Kalli had both grown closer to our family after Mr. Jamison had died. He was always friendly and everything in fact it was probably our family's routine that had changed somewhat after his death since both my parents made every effort to include Kalli and Maggie in our plans when they could.

When Kalli heard me mention that my mom was at home fixing dinner it must have tickled some memories in her mind: what it was like right after she lost her dad, how my mom had often come over to help with the cooking and housework in those first few weeks.

In any case, while Maggie and I were busy struggling through my painful exercises, Kalli went over to visit with my mom and sister and to see if she could be of help preparing dinner. My mom was making my favorite foods: turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Yeah I know, it probably sounds more like Thanksgiving dinner than a meal the last week of summer prior to school starting again.

Kalli helped peel the potatoes and cut them up to boil while mom and Shelly took care of the rest of the meal. During their time together they talked about the sense of loss from losing both my dad and her father. When my mom mentioned that now I was the man of the house a look of sadness must have crossed Kalli's face because my mom took her in her arms and tried to comfort her.

A few minutes later, after they were all back at their various chosen tasks, mom asked "Is it that there is no head of your house now Kalli? Your parents had no strong son to turn to?"

"That's part of it Mrs. Hartman," Kalli started to reply.

"Call me Clara dear."

"Okay Clara. You've hit on a big part of it, but there is more to the story. It's hard for me to talk about it but sooner or later you and Shelly are two of the people I would have wanted to tell it to anyway. I'm just not quite sure I'm ready yet," Kalli replied as several more tears made their way down her cheeks.