Bigrig Ch. 18

"Jonathan, I will not plague you ever again, unless you allow me to. And you alone have the power to stop me now. It is up to you if you choose to live with my dealings with you day after day. If I should haunt your dreams, you have allowed me too. And I would prefer that you didn't. I'm not worth any of that. Not even remotely.

"Go on with your life and forget me. Let me die. Let me go. I'm not worth your time, or the energy to keep me alive in your heart or soul. I don't even deserve to be thought of again by you.

"Be happy, Jonathan. That's what I want for you. To be happy. And I believe you have the makings for that, right there in the room with you. Embrace them and love them with your whole heart. They will give you all that you need.

"But forget me. And do not, for god's sake, be like me. Don't even give that a thought, boy. I forbid it. You will be so unhappy, so consistently bitter. It will destroy you, and that, I would become very displeased about. Don't make me come back and punish you for doing this. I will, Jonathan! I mean it! You just take what I give you, now, and make a new life for yourself. You deserve that, my love. You actually deserve more, but I can only give you what I have. So, take it and go on with your life. Be a good boy and make yourself happy.

"Goodbye, Jonathan. If we ever meet again, I hope it is on much better terms."

The screen became a rich blue tint suddenly. Silence hung around them, thick. Strangling them with its cruel fingers. Jonathan held his hands to his mouth fighting the sobs that threatened. He was feeling so deeply bereft. The hurt and pain of his grief swelled to a point that he felt he would die from it.

Bruce only stared at the blank television set, completely taken aback from all of what was said. He began to analyze it trying to decipher if the man was serious or not. Or was he playing another of his games with them? Was he challenging them, even from the grave?

It just seemed much to weighty at the moment to completely digest. He shifted bringing himself out of his mental deliberations hearing Jonathan making what sounded like choking noises. Becoming animate suddenly, he gathered him into his arms stroking his hair gently.

The lawyer sat studying all of them, watching each one absorb what was said in his own way. And he gave them all the time they needed to do this, especially Jonathan, who seemed the most affected by it.

He called to his secretary requesting that she bring them all drinks. She quickly entered the room with several that she distributed among them. And when everyone had been served, she disappeared once again, into the reception area.

After a long wait, the lawyer asked Jonathan if he was ready to continue. He nodded and the man began to hand each one a copy of the will.

"My fee has already been taken care of, so it will not affect any of your assets..." the man began, then went right into the reading of the will to them.

Of course, Bruce thought that he could argue the sound mind and body part, but said nothing about it. He sat listening to all of the legal jargon that seemed to obscure the true facts of the will itself. That is until the man came down to the real meat of it.

"...Jonathan, to you I give all of my possessions, finances, investments, my entire estate, with these stipulations: Mr. Tony Santini is to receive one eighth of my finances and investments; Mr. Maurice Dubois is to receive one eighth of my finances and investments; Mr. Peter Rossenovff is to receive one eighth of my finances and investments; Mr. Bruce Crawford is to receive half of my possessions, finances, investments, my entire estate to ensure the care and safe keeping of Mr. Jonathan Bowman.

"If it should be that anyone should forfeit such findings, i.e. by verbally stating so, or any gesture of refusal, or opposition of said inheritance, all will be retracted from all other recipients and beneficiaries.

"Should anyone die prior to or hence after the reading of this will, his portion shall be absorbed by all remaining parties.

"At no time shall any part of any or all of these investments be liquidated or annulled....

"The mansion may be sold if Mr. Jonathan Bowman and Mr. Bruce Crawford see fit..." he went on reading it to the end.

"Does anyone have any questions?" the lawyer asked when he finished reading the will.

"Yes," Bruce went back to one of the previous pages scanning over the part he had marked with a checkmark. "So, if I decide I want to oppose my part, that means everyone else looses their part too?"

"Yes, that's what he wanted."

"He set us all up, is what he did. None of us can refuse it. Or all of us will loose out. Man, he was eccentric."

"He knew that some of you would be tempted to oppose. So, he wanted to ensure you all agreed on the opposition, or would not." the lawyer explained.

"And none of us can cash in any of the investment?" Tony asked then.

"No, sir. You can live off the interest and profits, but you can't sell, trade, or cash them in." the man stood then. "He also knew it may be a while before the bureaucracy of the legal system might release your portions to each of you. So..."

He went to a large painting on the wall pulling it back. It revealed a large safe which he opened quickly. One at a time he pulled out five packages wrapped in thick brown paper. Starting with Bruce, he began to hand each one out, placing the last one on his desk. "...This one will have to be split between all of you." he tore into the paper revealing a large amount of money wrapped in paper bands of one thousand dollar increments.

"There's one million in each of your packages. And he asked me to advise all of you to deposit this money into bank accounts and live off the interest for the next year, or until the inheritance is released to each of you, especially yours, Mr. Bowman." the man addressed Jonathan at the last.

"Please, call me Jonathan." the youth cringed at the sound of it.

"Yes, sir, Jonathan."

"Can I change my last name? Seriously?" he asked then.

"If you like, I can have the forms drawn up as soon as possible, but you need to decide by what name you want to be called before I can submit it. And that will hold up your inheritance, sir."

"So, what do you advise that I do, 'cause, I hate being called Mr. Bowman." Jonathan quipped.

"You could wait until the legalities of your inheritance is completed and received, then issue a name change. Or, we could go ahead and do the name change, then submit the forms for the beneficiaries."

"I guess I need to think on it then, don't I?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, sir..." the man nodded singularly, finally calming somewhat. "But if you wish there be no problems with receiving your inheritance, I would advise you wait until after it is received. Changing your name now, may cause some problems and legal issues as a beneficiary."

Jonathan grimaced at that. It could be a year before all of it was settled, and to have to bare being called Mr. Bowman for that long, just didn't settle well with him.

"There are other ways to deal with that, Jonathan." Peter suggested.

"Okay, I'll trust that. But I'd like to keep my part." he informed the lawyer then.

The man smiled leaning back in his oversized comfortable chair. He caused it to swivel to one side but continued to look at all of them as a whole. "This means that none of you can refuse your parts. If you do, Jonathan looses his, as does all of you." he seemed to suddenly take on the personification of Mr. Bowman himself.

"Just let us sign what we have to and get the hell outta here." Bruce grumbled then.

"Oh, I have to sign something?" Jonathan asked then.

"Yes, sir. And I do have a few other things that I need to go over with you before you leave, such as the eight cars in Mr. Bowman's garage." he stated.

Jonathan perked suddenly. "I can have one of my own?"

"Yes, actually, they are all yours now. With this power of attorney," he lifted a piece of paper from his desk. "All that must be done if for me to sign the titles over to you, or whomever you decide to give the cars to. Plus, the limo is at your disposal. You may take it and use it however you wish."

"Oh, my god, Bruce!" he jumped in his seat turning to the man throwing his arms around him. "I get a car of my own!"

Everyone chuckled at his excitement.

This is the end of the Bigrig saga. I have so enjoyed sharing it with all of you. And I may continue it with a sequal depending on the response to this possibility that I get. I hope that you, my readers and fans have enjoyed it as much as I did.

My favorite part was opening my emails and reading all of your remarks, then answering them. I have actually gain a few very good friends since I began this. And if I decide to continue this saga, I may do so possibly in the novels category.

Unfortunately, I had to end it somewhere. I realize there is no sexual content in this chapter. That may disappoint many of you. But I assure you, that if I continue this, it will begin with a very surprising coupling. *Grins*

Until then, I hope to see you all again, in the folds of the pages....