Aban's Accension

Chapter 4: The Will

Chapter 4: THE WILL

by Shireen Jeejeebhoy

Mr. Myerstein regards her for a moment from behind his paper-stacked desk, his fingers tented before him. Suddenly, he leans forward, untenting his fingers to clasp his hands on top of the desk but doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t blink. Her eyes take in that his hands have a fine cloak of black hair and that the sun is burning up the back of his head and throwing a shadow onto the desk. But she keeps herself disengaged from him, from this situation. She slouches down in her seat.

He seems to come to a decision and sits up, while reaching for a single sheet of paper. “The will is simple,” he explains in his rapid-fire speech as he looks at the paper in his hand. “Your grandmother leaves all her assets to you. She had changed them all into cash to make it easy for transfer to you and so that you decide what you want to do with the money. She thought you might like to go backpacking across Europe or do a Master’s.” He darts a look at her from under his eyebrows. “Are you in university?”

Aban shakes her head no.

“You graduated high school?”

“Yeah.” Backpacking, what would that be like? A Master’s? Her? Mom always said she was an average student, not university material like her and Dad. Dad always nodded to agree with Mom, and then he’d say he liked his little girl the way she was; he didn’t need no intellectual for a daughter. She swallows the memory into the churning of her stomach.

There are so many papers on this lawyer’s desk. I guess smart people like paper, she thinks.

“Well, you can go to university if you like now." He clears his throat. "You also inherit her house. And as I explained before, there is enough here to pay for the upkeep of her – your -- house. The house has no mortgage or lien on it. So. You can live in the house, sell it, rent it, go to university, travel the world, whatever you like. She hoped you’d use it to expand your horizons, to see life differently from what your parents would’ve shown you.”

“My parents showed me life fine.”

“I’m sure they did. I’m sure they did.” He quickly waves away his previous remarks. “Here,” he passes over the piece of paper. “This is the will in its entirety.”

She reads it slowly. There are lots of words in it she doesn’t understand, but she isn’t about to let him know that. Her eyes fall on a row of numbers. Numbers she gets. She gasps when she gets to the last line and reads the sum total of her inheritance.

“All this?” He leans over to look at the line she’s pointing to.

“Yes. That is the total accruing to you after all expenses are paid.”

“And the house too?”

“Yes.”

She stares at him, then back at the will, then back up at him.

“Have you finished reading it all?” he asks.

She shakes her head mutely and reads it all again, frowning in her effort to understand. She gives up. She raises her head and lowers the will to her lap. He hands her a set of keys. “These are for the house. One is the front door key; one is the back.” He stands up. “Come, I’ll take you down to the bank. The manager is expecting us.”

She freezes in her chair. He stops at her elbow and regards her profile a moment. He awkwardly places a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is much to take in. But you can call me anytime if you need help, and the bank manager is a good gal. She’ll make sure you know what’s what, financially speaking. I took the liberty of mentioning you to her as she was your grandmother’s manager and just in case you decided to come down.” He pats her shoulder then takes the two steps to the door, opens it, and waits.