Heiress

Heiress

The youngest daughter sat in the chair in the dining room, wiping another tear. The others had already taken the china, the tv screen and divided what was in their mother’s jewelry box between them. They were headed for the cellar now. Each of them got a bottle that was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. They pushed and shoved their way back up the stairs and set one down in front of her. “Here’s your share, but that’s all you get.” The elder brother made arrangements with the furniture movers three days ago and they pulled up right on time. The antique desk and chair disappeared as did the collection of artifacts. “The safe….the safe!” The older sister made her way to the office. After throwing book after book from the bookshelf, she found the hide-a-key book and unlocked the safe hidden behind the family portrait that was forgettably discarded on the floor. The second eldest brother calculated the bonds and the elder distributed evenly among the three of them. “Sweetie, did you want anything from grandpa’s house? I’m here now.” The older sister walked through the foyer, adding the crystal vase holding the funeral flowers to her stash. The second eldest brother was in the den, having his way with the cigar stash and alcohol. The eldest was busy taking the paintings off the walls. An hour later, they looked at each other, satisfied after looting everything they could from the house of their youth. "I estimate about a million each." The second eldest son thought out loud. Today was the funeral. After the repast guests had gone, the siblings began their hunt - the food still sat half-eaten on the table. The youngest had no appetite. She knew it would come down to this. She knew of the ambitions and greed of her siblings, even as her father, slowly ebbing away, called them for company. Always busy, always in a hurry and never present. They just stayed away and waited. The show they put on at the funeral was as genuine as they could muster, but she saw through it. She knew them better than that. She stood, cleared the table and adjusted the chairs. She packed the food and washed the dishes with numb, robotic accuracy. Then she heard a knock at the door.

Father’s attorney stood somber, with suitcase in hand and entered. Everyone made their way to the dining room and sat. “Your father’s last will and testament.” He pulled the papers and adjusted his spectacles. “I, Franklin Waliford Jasper Chordion, being of sound mind, do hereby bequeath all of my earthly belongings to my four offspring. The house is to be sold, the vehicles to be divided between them and the remainder of their inheritance to be given from the bank lockbox. Only the person with the correct password may inherit what is in the lockbox. The password is…” Without a word, the eldest snatched the paper out of the attorney’s hand, saying, “We’ll take it from here. Thanks and goodbye.” The sons and oldest daughter immediately rose unceremoniously and looked to escort the attorney out. “But, I wasn’t done, your father….” He had no time to finish before the oldest daughter pulled the seat, forcing him to stand. The second oldest son handed the man his suitcase and swept a hand towards the door. The eldest already had the door open for him with a tight-lipped smile. “Thank you, sir. So sorry…” The youngest tried to make things right, but the attorney was only able to look in her direction before his arm was taken by the eldest sister and pushed to walk out. The eldest and youngest son and the eldest daughter poured over the paperwork, found the password and gathered their belongings. “Stay here.”, they told the youngest. The siblings piled into the SUV and drove straight to the bank. In the silence, the youngest finally had time to walk around the house, remembering her dad and allowing for a bit of bereavement. The phone rang.

“Little Ms.? This is your father’s attorney. There is something very important that I needed to mention during our meeting.” The poor man sounded breathless. “Just before your father passed, he told me to reset the password and give it to only you.” The youngest didn’t know exactly how to react. She told him that she was still at home and her siblings had gone to the bank. The attorney returned, gave the youngest the password and left. She waited.

With a slam of the front door, the siblings returned. “How could he trick us like that?!? I bet there’s nothing in there anyway.”, the oldest sister said as she plopped on the couch. “The safebox had what was really important. I mean, how much could have been left after that? He only had the bonds. Everything else was in the house.” The second oldest paced past the fireplace. “Okay, we’ll do one more sweep before we call the realtor to put it on the market.”, the eldest son sat in the recliner as he threw the rest of the will and testament into the air. “I wish you could just give me some time to find a place to stay. I haven’t even packed.” The youngest voiced her concern. “Its not our fault that you waited until he died before you made plans. Besides, you had time today - if I were you, I’d do it now.” She climbed the stairs and closed the door. They apparently had gone through her room, looking for valuables as well. Clothes were strewn everywhere and her drawers were opened. She took her bags and began to pack.

By the time she came back downstairs, everything lay bare. The rest of the furniture and area rugs were gone, the kitchen was empty, including the food. Every room had been picked through thoroughly. She was left with nothing except the bottle of wine in the middle of the floor and the key to the Ford in the drive. It was the oldest car dad owned. She took one more look around, picked up the wine, loaded the car and made her way to the bank.

The cashier at the counter rolled her eyes in boredom and said,”We already told you, we can’t open the box without a proper password. I can call my manager again if you want me to, but he’ll just say what he said before. Please don’t make us call security like last time.” The youngest saw the scenario play out in her mind. Yeah, sounds about right for them. “No, I just want to put my password in.”, she explained. “The original customer has reset your password, ma’am. It won’t work just because you came back at a different time.” The cashier got ready to walk away. “I wasn’t here before. I just want to get this done and be on my way….please.” The cashier walked to the lockboxes and pulled the right number. She designated a room for her customer and left the box on the table. The digital password keyboard slipped out and the youngest put in the password. The lid popped open. As she opened the box, she wiped dust from the documents inside. Stocks, bonds…..and a letter from her father. “If I’ve done this right, only you have what’s in this box and the others have already ransacked the house. Beloved, everything here is yours with my relieved appreciation for your loving care. Don’t say anything - just take it and disappear, little one. I left it for you to do just that. Daddy loves you forever”. As she folded the paper to put it back in the envelope, a cashier’s check slipped out. One hundred million dollars was printed on the check. “Daddy!”, she whispered. Taking the letter and check, she replaced everything else inside of the box and pushed the keyboard back in place. A message flashed on the screen: "Would you like to change your password?" She selected the affirmative and put in a new one, opened a second account at the bank and made plans to spend the night in a nice hotel downtown. Tomorrow, she would start her new life with her father’s blessing.