The Inheritance

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” thought Alice Hooper as she was browsing Reddit. It’s been exactly a year since she came out as transgender, and yet it still hasn’t fully sunk in. As she kept on browsing, she couldn’t help but reflect on everything that’s happened. Alice furrowed her brow slightly as she thought of everyone she lost over the last year. Some left right away, in silence, others left gradually, slowly fading away from her life. Somehow nobody made a scene as they left her life, to the disappointment of some of her more confrontational friends. The ones that hurt the most were the ones that she had to leave herself… Her phone rang with the one contact she did not expect to see.

“Mom?” Alice said, trying to keep her voice feminine, but sadly to no avail.

“Alex, dear, knock it off with the squeaky noises, please,” the voice on the other line sounded both concerned and annoyed, “I don’t have much time.”

“I haven’t heard from you for a year and that’s how you chose to start talking to me? And I see that after all this time you still haven’t bothered to learn my new name,” responded Alice, immediately annoyed. These kinds of shouting matches were normal before she came out, but it seems that a year apart was not enough to cool her mother’s temper.

“As I said, sweetie, I don’t have much time and neither do you,” Alice could hear that her mother was scheming something and was about to make her daughter’s life a little bit harder. “And neither do you. That is if you want the money of course.”

“Money? What money?”

“Your dad left you a small inheritance when he passed away. From what I’ve heard it should be around 20 thousand, but the catch is that you have to claim it in person before you turn 25, otherwise, it will go to the next of kin, or to be exact - me.”

Alice felt the color leaving her face when she realized what was happening. She was turning 25 in less than 8 hours. If she had any hope of seeing that money she had to hurry and she didn’t even know what to do.

“Why did you wait until today to tell me?”

“Well, my dear child, that was supposed to be your birthday present last year, but somebody decided to pretend that he’s a woman and run off on me. I’m giving you as much of a heads up as you gave me last year. I already sent the lawyer’s information to your email.”

The phone went silent as Alice rushed to check her email. Sure enough, there was the email from her mother with nothing but an address and a phone number. Grabbing her purse, she rushed out of the house and jumped into her Subaru, dialing the number left by her mother.

“Thank you for calling the office of Felix Aitken, attorney at law. How may I help you?” asked a receptionist in a pleasant voice.

“Hi, I was told that your office is in charge of the will of Matthew Hooper, I need to come in and sign for my inheritance,” said Alice, hoping she wouldn’t hit any traffic along the way.

“Let me check with Mr. Aitken, please,” said the receptionist and put Alice on hold.

The sound of jazz of the hold music did nothing to calm her nerves. This was huge! There was so much she could do with that money after all. Sure, she was getting by just fine without the relative luxuries of her previous life, but that doesn’t mean she would let half of her yearly wage just slip by. Her thoughts turned to her father. She never did get a chance to tell him that she was a woman… Then again that was probably for the best. Who knows how he would react to his “precious boy” being one of “those damned freaks.” She couldn’t help but smile at the ridiculousness of her situation. Not even an hour ago she was sitting at home, thinking of how much her life has changed, and here was her past desperately rushing back into her life.

“Hi, thank you for waiting,” the phone came back to life. “Sorry it took so long, we had trouble finding the file, but yes, we are in charge of Mr. Hooper’s will. Are you one of the recipients?”

“Yes, the name in the inheritance should be Alexander Hooper, but I’ve legally changed it recently,” said Alice, mentally thanking herself for still keeping the paperwork in her car.

“If you have the proof of name change on you, we should be able to process the paperwork without any issues.”

“Yeah, I have it with me right now. I should be at your office in about 15 minutes.”

“Sounds good, sir”

“Actually, it’s ma’am,” replied Alice, slightly dying inside.

“My apologies ma’am, we will be ready with your paperwork in just a few minutes,” said the receptionist and hung up the call.

Alice sighed in frustration. In a year she’s gotten used to being misgendered everywhere she went, but it still stung. For every nice person calling her by her preferred pronouns, dozens missed the mark. Alice didn’t dwell on whether or not those people did it on purpose. It was better to give people the benefit of the doubt and go on with her life. The only good thing about those gloomy thoughts is that the trip to the lawyer’s office flew by before she even knew it. Ali felt dirty pulling up next to a brand new Porsche in her old Impreza, but maybe now she could afford a small upgrade in the car department. With those thoughts, she proudly entered the office of Felix Aitken.

As she was walking in through the doors Alice was expecting to see someone like her father - old, mean, and morbidly obese. Surprisingly, the attorney waiting for her by the front desk was pretty much the opposite. Felix turned out to be a fit man in his late thirties, wearing a tailored suit and some most likely expensive cologne. After the brief exchange of pleasantries, he invited Alice to follow him into his office. Walking in, she noticed the very well-thought-out interior, a stack of paperwork, and her father’s will, which was already on his desk. Gesturing for Ali to sit in one of the chairs facing his desk, Felix took his seat and took out a black leather notebook and an expensive pen from his desk.

“It’s nice to see that you were finally able to find time for us, Ms. Hooper,” said the attorney, double-checking the paperwork. “Your mother was telling us that you were out of the country, and as we had no other way of contacting you, we had to take her word for it.”

The mere mention of Ali’s mother made her slightly clench her jaw, but keeping her emotions under control, she just politely nodded. Meanwhile, Felix, having checked the paperwork, slid it across the desk towards her along with the pen and the notebook. Noticing her puzzled look, the attorney explained.

“This notebook was part of your inheritance. He said that these are the contacts of everyone involved with his company.”

“Wait, what do you mean company?” Alice was taken aback. “I thought I was inheriting the $20,000”

“Well, according to your father’s will, you now have the controlling stake in his company along with the $20,000, which will be processed as soon as we process the taxes and attorney fees, of course.”

Alice was not ready for that. Leading her father’s company meant having to learn the ropes of her father’s business, something she was far from enthusiastic to do back when her father was alive, let alone now. Not to mention the board of directors that knew her before her transition. Either way, this could not happen.

“Are there any conditions in his will?” asked Ali, desperately trying to figure out what to do.

“Not that I’m aware of, ma’am. You’re welcome to deal with your inheritance in any way you see fit.”

That was good at least. She could probably just sell the company. Maybe even to the board itself. It’s not like she could lead it the same way her father did anyway. Or maybe she could just let the company deal with itself, it survived for a year without her anyway. With those thoughts, she signed the paperwork and made her way out of the attorney’s office. The path ahead was still unclear, but at least now she didn’t have to worry about the money.