CHAPTER NINE
Drew drove up the driveway of his parents’ house, admiring and envying their home as he usually did whenever he stopped by.
He knew his parents had started off small when they were first together like him and Lacey, but he couldn’t help thinking about his own one-story, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home and how much he wanted one like the beautiful four-bed, three-bath split-level his parents owned, one that he could put a beautiful, large family in: a wife and at least five kids—although he realized he’d need a slightly bigger house than theirs for that.
Jack hopped out of the car and headed for the front door and Drew quickly followed him, watching sun rays dance on his son’s golden head. It pained him and warmed him simultaneously how much the seven-year-old looked like his mother.
Jack ran up to the door and started knocking, then reached up for the doorbell.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Jack heard his mother’s muffled voice say. She sounded quite normal, and he was relieved that she seemed to still have it all together. But she had always been a strong woman, for as long as he could remember. Drew waited with his hands resting on Jack’s shoulders for her to open the door. When she finally did, he let go, enclosing his mother in a bear hug. Jack threw his arms around her too although he could only reach her thighs.
“Hi, mom,” Drew said, enjoying the familiar feel of his mother.
“Hi, grandma,” Jack piped up.
When Drew pulled away, he noticed his mother’s hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her brownish-red hair, streaked with grey, was pulled loosely away from her face in a messy bun, and one age-spotted hand clutched the top part of her dress tight.
“Hi, boys,” she said in a weak voice, attempting to smile.
Drew was not sure if it was his imagination or if she really looked older than the last time he had seen her, which was just some months ago. But of course he wouldn’t be surprised considering the heavy stress suddenly laid upon her.
His father was dead.
Drew held Jack closer to him, but Jack broke away and squeezed past the two of them into the house. His mother smiled at him, wiped an escaped tear from her face then turned to follow their young leader. Drew stepped in and closed the door behind them. For a second he expected to see his father in the kitchen or in the living room, or hurrying down the stairs to say hi to them, but then he remembered:
his father was dead.
He looked around the rooms instead. Besides the missing pictures, everything looked pretty much the same as the last time he had been there. But the house now had an emptiness to it, a void that made the whole place seem and look quite different.
“How are you doing mom?” Drew asked softly.
There was a beat before she smiled.
“I’m fine, Drew. Really. Now are you ready to help me?”
“Sure. Can Jack help too?”
“No, but he can watch some television in the meantime.”
She headed to the family room and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels, then started looking through the stack of animated films she kept near the television stand for when Jack or Elaine’s daughters came over. Jack saw what she was doing and groaned.
“I’ll find something to watch grandma, just let me have the remote!” he said.
Alice looked at Drew, as if asking if that would be okay.
Drew looked sternly at his son.
“Jack, let your grandmother find something for you to watch…”
“But she only has girly movies!”
Drew held back a grin; Lacey would be proud.
Instead, he said:
“Hey how about
Chicken Little?
She’s got that one and that’s not a girly movie right?” Drew was glad he had ordered some newer movies and had them mailed to his mom. Elaine’s girls never got tired of
The Little Mermaid
and
Beauty and the Beast
and the other so-called timeless classics in his mother’s collection, but he knew the same things would not go over well with his son.
“Well, I guess that’s okay,” Jack agreed.
Drew went ahead and set it up while Jack settled on the couch. His son had enjoyed
Chicken Little
in the theater and Drew was sure he would enjoy it again.
As soon as they were out of earshot of Jack, Drew asked his mother, watching her face closely: “So when’s Elaine coming?”
His mother shrugged.
“She didn’t say. She was pretty upset with me that I didn’t call her right after I called you.”
Drew was disgusted.
“Well, that’s pretty selfish of her considering the circumstances. I really don’t know what her problem is.”
Drew never figured out what the issue was between his sister and his mother, only aware there was always great tension between them. He could not imagine why, and Elaine would not talk to him about it. In any case, he found it inappropriate for the current situation; she should be able to put whatever it was between them aside for the time being.
He sighed.
“You want me to call her for you? Find out what’s up?”
“Oh, no—it’s okay. She’ll show up; it doesn’t matter when—she won’t miss the funeral.”
“Well, okay mom, whatever you want. So what did you want me to help you with?”
“Well, first of all,” she started walking up the stairs, indicating that he follow her, “I need you to take your father’s things down these stairs and wherever they’re supposed to go—I labeled them.”
“Well, all right, let’s get started.”
As he walked into his parents’ bedroom, Drew was surprised at how clean and empty it looked, save for the cluster of boxes and containers that he assumed were his father’s disposable belongings. He wondered if there was anything in them that he would want. He asked his mother for a summary of the contents of each box. When he was satisfied that he did not need what she had boxed up as trash, he carried that box down to the garbage. Then he went through the boxes in which his mother had packed all of his father’s books. He took out books that might be of interest to him, and he carried the remainder to his car, laying them on the backseat for a later trip to the local library. As for the boxes of clothes and shoes, there was no doubt that he would want nothing from his father’s wardrobe except for a few ties, so he wasted no time taking those boxes and packing them in the car for a later trip to the Salvation Army.
By now, his car was almost filled to capacity, but he still had the passenger’s side. He figured he would just have to leave Jack with his mom when he ran the errands. It had always been difficult for him to leave Jack anywhere, but since he had to for various reasons—school and camp for example—he started getting used to it a bit; besides, his mother needed someone to be with her. He could not hog Jack to himself.
By the time he had finished going through and transporting all of the boxes to the trash or his car, the distraction of the work had worn off and he started thinking about his dad.
He had always thought of him as a great father, the model for his own parenting approaches, and Drew would miss him terribly. His father had not been home for long periods of time as far as he remembered; in fact, in his childhood, he remembered seeing him just an hour or two before his bedtime, but the time he did spend with him and his sister meant the world to Drew. He was funny and playful with them, playing board games and teaching them card games. He read to them, and brought them gifts from time to time.
Drew never doubted his father’s love for them, nor his own love of and admiration for him. The fact that he was dead still had not sunk in, and he did not want it to. For now, he preferred to ignore it, pretend it did not really happen. That it was someone else who had died.
Back in his parents’ bedroom, Drew asked his mother what else she wanted him to do. She headed over to his father’s side of the bed and sat near the head of it, next to his father’s nightstand.
“Well, since you’re in the same field as your dad—all that business and accounting and stuff—I was hoping you could help me make sense of some of his financial files.”
“Did dad have a will?”
His mother looked stricken, as if the thought had not occurred to her.
“Why yes, I’m sure he does. I’m just not sure where.”
“Well, I’m sure whatever lawyer you guys use will have a copy.”
“We’ve never used a lawyer, Drew…” She paused. “But I suppose he did at some point—he’s been involved in all sorts of things unbeknownst to me.”
Drew’s ears perked up. His father had always been a little more on the quiet side when it came to personal matters—health issues, the details of his work days and the like—but he supposed he at least discussed them with his mother. Now that his interest was piqued, he was suddenly filled with enthusiasm and excitement.
“Where did you say those files were?”
His mother pointed at the drawers of the nightstand.
“It seems the more recent and relevant things are in the top drawer. I would love to know what was going on.”
Drew went over and started looking through the files. Things he expected to see there were there, as well as a few other files that he assumed his mother had been referring to. He pulled those and started looking through them.
As he sorted through the files, Drew was horrified to realize how eager he was to find out what he had gained at the loss of his father. Did his father have real estate somewhere they didn’t know about? More bank accounts in Switzerland perhaps? The Cayman Islands?
Drew was not exactly poor, but he had been struggling recently to fulfill his son’s needs, and as much as he loved his son, he was glad he was his only child at the moment. Lacey’s jobs had helped a little, but he always wanted more, more to give to both his son and his wife.
Suddenly, he could not stop thinking about what his father might have left for him instead of grieving him, and he wondered if he was a monster for feeling this way.
Drew was not aware how much time had passed, so he was startled when Jack’s voice came from the door.
“It’s over, dad. What can I do next?”
Drew put down the papers, and after leading Jack back down the stairs, set him up to watch
Madagascar
.
“We should really meet with that lawyer soon,” he said to his mom when he returned to the room. “Dad had a lot of assets and obligations, and if you didn’t know about any of this stuff,” he pointed to the Thomas Gibson files he had taken out, “then who knows what else you don’t know about.”
Drew was fascinated by his father’s secrecy. The Thomas Gibson projects seemed like a good thing—why would he hide it?
Drew was both somewhat amused and amazed that his father had been able to keep these side projects a secret, although according to what he’d read, his father had managed to stay behind the scenes most of the time.
Only the recent article where his dad was pictured shaking hands with someone could have given him away. Drew figured it was some sort of luck no one the family knew had seen that article—or else they’d commented to his dad directly on it.
Drew also wondered if Elaine knew anything; she had always been a little closer to their dad than he was, and with her quiet, secretive nature, he figured she had a better chance of knowing more than anyone.
“So I guess we’ll wait till Elaine gets here so we can meet with the lawyer together. I mean I’d assume he’d leave most things to you, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea to assume anything now,” he said, indicating the files once again.
His mother dropped her head for a moment as if thinking, then raised it and looked at him.
“We’ll take care of it after the funeral. Will you help me plan?”
He laughed.
“Elaine’s probably better at planning this sort of thing…” he noticed her face, “…but okay, yeah. Sure, I’ll help. Whatever you want me to do mom.”
Alice smiled.
“You’ve always been a sweet boy, Drew. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Sweet? Did sweet boys have such a strong desire to scavenge their father’s belongings and assets?
***
“So who should I invite?” his mom asked him.
They were sitting at the kitchen table while Jack was still watching his movie and she had pulled out a notepad she had obviously been using for planning the funeral.
He wondered for a moment if she was losing it.
“Mom, I don’t think it’s quite like a wedding. No invitation necessary.”
“Oh, I know that, dear, don’t be silly. I just want to make sure we tell everyone who needs to know. I don’t want to forget anyone.”
Drew thought about it.
“Well, dad’s parents are out considering his mom is dead and grandpa is…wait he’s alive. Do you think he can make it? Where is he again?”
“George’s sister is taking care of him…”
“Oh yeah, aunt Miriam—you’ve got her right?”
His mother nodded.
“Okay, well then there are his previous workplaces—you know those better than I do; I only know the last two. Maybe places before I was born or too young to remember—you’ve got those?”
She appeared to be thinking, then she started writing.
“And his friends from college, high school maybe…”
“Yes, I have the schools, but I have to think about the people. I will submit it to alumni news though.”
“Do you want me to help you with that? E-mail the schools I mean?”
“Well, I was just going to mail…”
“Yeah, but e-mailing might be faster. Other than that, there’s your side of the family I guess. And your friends.”
His mother made a scoffing sound.
“There’s no one to tell,” she said.
“Don’t you have siblings? Wouldn’t they come?”
She shook her head. “I doubt it.”
Drew didn’t understand. He knew his mother didn’t have the greatest relationship with her father or her siblings, but he thought by now they would have gotten past whatever had happened. He thought when you got older, you got smarter about relationships, especially familial ones. After all, who wanted to end up old and alone? Sometimes family was all you had.