The Legacy Ch. 04

Opening the first two bedrooms, I discovered them packed with the furniture that was missing from the other part of the house. I was really surprised at this. I figured after all this time, the furniture would be useless. However, it just smelled a little musty from lack of use. I couldn't detect any strong smell of mildew. I may have just gotten off a lucky. Maybe that was the reason the power and heat and been kept on. Uncle Jim had said in his letter that some of the funds from my inheritance had been used for upkeep, but I had never imagined that. I knew my father had some money that he had inherited from his folks, and that he had been very frugal with his money since my mother passed away, but I never imagined it had been enough for this.

Finally, it was time to check the last bedroom. This had been my bedroom, the one I had left so many years ago, when I'd gotten into trouble. Opening the door, I was expecting to see it also full of stored furniture. I was surprised to see it exactly the way I left it. On the desk was an envelope with my name on it.

Opening it, I read"

Clay,

Before we moved to Florida we made arrangements with Tom Wilson to have the place looked after, while you are gone. If you're reading this it means you must be out of the Marines, now. Everything should be in fair shape for you to reclaim. This is your home. It will probably need some repairs, however. There is a trust fund to take care of any major repairs. The trust fund is also paying the taxes, and utility bills. I thought it would be cheaper to pay them, so you didn't have to replace everything. A lot of the furniture are antiques that would be very expensive to replace.

After you read this letter, contact the law offices of Dan Crawford, in town. He should be able to release the balance from the trust fund to you. I also know he has a sealed letter for you, from your Dad. After you receive these, give us a call down in Florida. We will be glad to discuss all of this with you, plus I have a few more things you need to know.

Love,

Uncle Jim and Aunt Helen

This gave me a lot of think about. It was one of the strangest letters I had ever received. It was almost as if there were some big secret being hidden from me.

After reading this, I decided to bite the bullet, and go check out my dad's study. Walking back downstairs I was surprised to find that the door was locked and none of the keys I had would fit. It looked like I was either going to have to break it down, which didn't seem right, or have a locksmith come out and open it for me. As I thought back to the letter, maybe the lawyer would have a key for me, since Uncle Jim had written that he had a letter for me from my dad.

Suddenly, I heard someone pounding on the door. Opening it, I saw a boy of about sixteen years old. He looked familiar, although I knew that I didn't know him. He stood there carrying a shotgun, and demanded to know who I was, and what I was doing in this house.

Then it dawned on me and I said, "You must be one of the Wilson's. My name is Jake Thompson and I used to live here a long time ago. And according to a letter I got from a lawyer I now own this place. I was going to stop by in the morning to talk to Tom, and let him know I was back."

"Tom is my grandpa! My dad told me about you. He said you went to school with him and Mom, as a matter of fact he said you used to date Mom."

"Then you must be Mark's boy. I went to school with Mike and Mark both, but Mike was older. He was still pretty cool, and let Mark and me hang out with him. He didn't just brush us off because we were a couple of years younger. Is Mike still around?"

"Uncle Mike moved to Phoenix, about six years ago. Said there was not enough work around here, and he didn't want to be working in the coal mines. He usually comes back for Christmas or a vacation, every year."

"Well, tell your dad that I am out of the Marines, now. I'm going to be here fixing up the place for a while. Also tell him and your grandpa and I will stop by in a couple of days, to talk to them."

After he left, it was starting to get dark. I really didn't feel like driving any more today. I decided what the hell? I'd slept in a lot worse places. I'd just grab my sleeping bag and camp out in my old room. I'd get started fixing the place, in the morning.

I was just laying out my sleeping bag on top of my old bed when I heard someone knocking on the front door. Opening it, I saw Mark Wilson, with a big grin on his face.

"Jake! It's sure good to see you. Last anyone around here heard you are still in the Marines."

"Mark! It's good to see you, too. Yeah, I just got out of the Marines a couple of days ago. They claimed it was time and I couldn't be a Marine anymore due to a little scratch I picked up. So they discharged me and here I am."

"You look fine to me? What happened?"

"Well, I got a scratch on my leg, and can't march anymore. You know the Corps insists that Marines be able to march in formation and look pretty, so they discharged me."

Mark looked at me funny and said, "Yeah, right, pull the other one... it's got bells on it! Now what's the truth? Why'd they really discharge you? They catch you messing with the General's daughter?"

Laughing, I said, "I can't put anything past you. Actually, I got wounded and fucked up my leg pretty good. Since I could no longer do my job, and would go nuts trying to do a desk job, they gave me a medical discharge."

"While that kind of sucks, everyone knew you would become a gung ho Marine, just like you Dad and Uncle were. Oh well, I guess it's their loss. So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't really have enough skills that cross over into civilian life. The Marines didn't really train me for that. Sure, I can creep up on someone, and find out everything they know... I can hit a moving target at a thousand yards... but somehow I can't see making a living doing that," I said laughing.

"Yup! There's not much call for any of that around here."

"Actually, I ran into a little trouble in Claysville, yesterday. The DA kind of offered me a job with the Sheriff's Department there. I turned it down, because after clearing up my trouble, it was kind of embarrassing to the Sheriff's Department. I thought that after that, it was kinda doubtful that they would welcome me with open arms. It might be something to think about doing around here, though. "

Upon hearing that Mark started laughing his ass off and said, "I can just imagine the look on old Judge Tyler's face... you, joining the police force in Wheeling!"

"Is that old bastard still around? I don't think the judge would be too much against it. After all, I stayed out of trouble and joined the military, just like he ordered."

"No, Judge Tyler retired years ago. His son is sitting on the bench, now. You remember Sid, don't you?"

"Nerdy Sid? He's the town judge, now? I don't think he'd have any trouble with me in the police force. I used to protect him while we were in school!"

"Yes, you did, but that was before you beat Bill Spelman half to death."

"But why would it make a difference to him? Bill Spelman was nothing but a rich bully. As a matter of fact, Sid was one of Bill Spelman's regular victims!"

Mark just started laughing again and said, "Sid may still hate him. But Bill Spelman is now the Chief of Police. So if I was you, I'd be very careful about watching my step in town."

"You're probably right about that. How the hell did he ever become Chief of Police?"

"How do you think? His daddy's money! Bill has made a lot of enemies around here; but he wants to get into politics. So, he's keeping his head down, mostly. I don't think he'll give you too much trouble, unless you give him a good excuse; although, you might think about trying for the County Sheriff. You remember Van Johnson? He's the Sheriff, now. He still hates Bill Spelman; even worse, now, than when we were in school. I think that with your background, he would jump at the chance to hire you, even if it's just for a chance to rub Bill Spelman's nose in it."

I chuckled at that and said, "I'll have to think on that. I'm not really hurting for a job yet. I've got my savings and pension to live on. Since this place is paid off, I've no real expenses, except for what it will cost to fix it. Maybe I'll just kick back and enjoy the life of a retired gentleman."

This started Mark laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair and said, "You? A retired gentleman? If you're anything near the way you used to be, you'd go nuts within a month!"

"It'll take longer than a month just to fix this place back up. Although, I do need to thank you and your family for keeping an eye on it. It's really not that bad. It looks like you have been doing a lot of work to this place."

"Not really too much. We've been paid for all the repairs, although a storm did break one of the windows last week. I haven't got around to fixing it, yet. Dad still comes around about once a month to check the place over; but he took a fall about six years ago, and can't really do much, anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Tom was always a good man, willing to help anyone that needed it."

"I'm running the farm, now. Mike finally got fed up and moved to Phoenix, so it's just Dad and my family living down the road now."

"I met your son, but I didn't catch his name. He told me I used to date his mother? Just who did you marry, Mark?"

He looked at me a little funny and said, "Sally Nicholls. I know you were dating her when you got in trouble; but after you left, and we knew you wouldn't be coming back, I started dating her. We were married about a year after graduation. We have three boys now. You met our oldest son, Tom. He was named after Dad. He's sixteen. Then there's Matt, he's thirteen; and Jimmy, who's twelve."

After seeing how nervous he was telling me about marrying my old girlfriend I said, "That's great! I don't think you could've found a better girl than Sally. From what I've seen of your boy, you should be very proud."

"Yeah, I'm proud of them, but I gotta keep my eyes wide open. Those sons of mine can be real hellions. They're almost as bad as we were when we were that age."

We sat and visited for a while longer, until there was a knock on the door. Opening it, I found Tom was back again.

"Dad, Mom says she wants you to come home soon. And she said to invite Jake to dinner tomorrow night."

After hearing this, Mark said his goodbyes, and went home with his son. Looking at the clock, I was surprised it was after midnight, already. I shut the lights off, and went back upstairs to my old room. I slipped into my sleeping bag. It took a while to fall asleep, surrounded as I was by all the old memories.

Edited By TeNderLoin, and The Old Fart