Family Curse Ch. 02

"It's ok. I'm not mad at you." I said.

She didn't answer me but she did give me a hug.

"I hope we'll see you around." Jennifer said before they both left to mix into the party and then I lost sight of them.

Near the front door I found that my sister had finally arrived. Oh good timing.

"We need to go." I said.

"I just got here."

"I need to go home, now."

"Home? I was hoping you could come back to my place ..."

"Terri, it's important. Really important."

"What?"

"I'll explain when I know more but right now I need to get home. Pronto."

I was quiet during the drive out to the pool house. I wasn't about to tell my sister that I'd fucked even more girls. That was six now, not including her. But did I really fuck them or was I just losing my mind?

Our arrival at the house did not go unnoticed. We parked, got out, and headed to the pool area but our father was on us before we could get all the way there.

"Hey, kids. What's up?"

"Dad, go back in the house." I said.

"John, who do you think you're talking to?"

"Oh, you want to make this hard? Fine, I'm moving out. I'm here to get my stuff."

"Moving out. To where?"

"He's moving in with me." Terri assumed.

"Now wait, you guys. John, your mother and I talked about it. We didn't realize you'd be upset about living in the ..."

"Save it dad. I just need my stuff."

"You're right. We had no idea that you thought we were punishing you by putting you out here."

"Fine but right now I need my things."

"Now just wait a minute. We need to ..."

"Now dad. Right now. I need my things right now."

"So you can move out?"

"I don't have to move out but I do need my things and I need my sister with me."

"And why would that be?"

"Just call the police and have them do a property warrant. That's what I had to do." Terri added.

"Wait. There's no need for that. We're just talking here."

"We can talk, in the house where my things are."

My father led us pass and I opened the door to the pool house.

"Son, you're part of the family just like ..."

"Where are my papers?"

"Papers?"

"My letters. My papers. My binder."

"In the desk drawer." my sister said.

She hadn't even finished speaking when I rushed over and nearly pulled the whole thing out. Where was it? After a moment of searching and not finding it I was about to turn around and accuse my father of stealing it but then I saw the corner.

I pulled it out. This was the letter I'd gotten from the lawyer lady at the funeral. I looked at both my sister and my father. My little sister poked her head past the frame of my door to look in and see what was happening.

The words that the woman had said to me still echoed in my mind. "You've inherited the family curse."

I tore open the letter and pulled out the several pages that it contained.

Now, you might imagine that this would be some long letter that explained to me exactly what the curse was or that it might be some kind of joke at my expense like I originally thought. Instead it was a long list of banks, bank account numbers, access codes, and safety deposit box locations.

"What the hell is this?"

My father came over and looked. "Is this right?" he asked. How was I supposed to know?

My sister came over and looked. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Holy shit, son. That has to be something like 200 thousand dollars."

Ok, money is nice. Yay, for money and all but it wasn't telling me what I wanted to know. I frantically went through it all, page by page and there was nothing in there about a curse. The only thing that came even close was a hand written note at the bottom of the last page.

"All for you. Only fair after the other thing."

I should have been happy. As my sister pointed out, I was rich. But I didn't feel happy. I felt like I didn't have control over my life. Ok, so maybe women are psychic. Maybe they could all just tell that I had a bunch of money and they wanted it so that was why they had sex with me.

What? That didn't make any sense.

From the corner of my eye I saw my father pull out his phone to start to call someone.

"Dad, no. Stop."

"What?"

"You can't tell anyone."

"Why not? This is great news."

"John's right, daddy. Until we have this money safe in our account, we can't tell anyone about it."

I pulled out my phone and started to dial the number on the lawyer's business card. I wasn't surprised when I heard an automated message tell me the law firm was closed. However, I did get an emergency number from the message. I called that. It still wasn't the lawyer. I didn't know who it was. Probably some twerp they paid to answer the phone. Or maybe it was a call center. Anyway, I told them to get the lawyer on the phone for me.

"Tonight. Right now. Tell her it's the coffee guy. Trust me, she knows who I am."

I gave the guy my number and then we waited for a call back. It was tense in the room, at least for me. My father was making light of everything and Terri didn't know why I was so agitated.

If I'd inherited a curse, that means that someone else had the curse before me.

"Dad, did crazy things ever happen to Uncle John?"

"What crazy thing didn't happen to him?"

"He never got married. Why?"

"He loved the ladies too much. Even as an old man he was ..."

"Daddy, you don't have to go into detail." Terri said.

"He asked."

I was going to ask my father about the curse but as the sentence formed in my mind and my mouth opened, no sound came out. What?

(Did you ever hear of Uncle John having a family curse?) I tried to ask again. But again, no sound came out of my mouth. I probably looked really stupid with my mouth hanging open.

"John, what's wrong?" my father asked.

"Nothing." I answered as my brain yelled in panic.

"I can only imagine what you must be feeling getting all that money."

Money? No. Money was not what I had on my mind just then.

My phone rang and I answered.

"Karen, get your ass out here."

"Excuse me?" the lawyer asked.

"I need your help."

"Have you been arrested?"

"No, I need you to come to my house."

"That's not part of our deal."

"I'm making it part of the deal."

"I can't just disappear in the middle of the night. I'm spending the evening with my husband."

"Listen lady, I'm not asking. I'm telling. Get your ass out to my house, now."

"John, who are you talking to?" my father asked but I ignored him.

"No." the lawyer said. "I'll pay you whatever you ask, within reason, but I can't let you harm my family."

I rattled out the address to the house and then I told her "Every second you stall is one more second I get more pissed off. I'm waiting. You better show up. This is not negotiable."

"Tell me the address again." I gave it to her and then she said she was on the way.

It was about a half hour wait during which we all went into the house proper and sat at the dining room table. My father started looking over the pages and he used one of those old calculators with the big buttons to start adding things up.

Noticeably absent from this nearly complete family reunion was my mother.

When the lawyer arrived I invited her in and she was very surprised to see all of my family there. I guess she was worried I might have told everyone. I put her at ease by holding out the letter and asking her to look it over.

"I don't understand." she said.

I explained where I'd gotten it from and I asked her if this was legal. She just shook her head.

"I'm a criminal defense attorney. I don't handle this kind of thing."

"Oh, really." As she was saying it I did remember that there were some words to that effect on her business card.

"We're really sorry to call you out here at this hour." my father said.

"It's fine. I'm always happy to do a favor for my good friend John, here. You have to take care of the ones who bring you your coffee. I can get you in touch with someone who should be able to help with this but not tonight. If it's ok with you John, I'd love to see you in my office Monday afternoon. If you have time, of course."

"Yeah, ok."

"Very good. I look forward to seeing you."

"Before you go, could I ask you something in private?"

She looked annoyed but she swallowed it down and then smiled. "Certainly but I have to ask you to make it brief."

My father was then the one who looked annoyed as I went into a side room with the lawyer and I began whispering with her. No doubt my father thought I was talking about him. He couldn't be more wrong.

"Why me?" I asked. I thought I already knew the answer but I wanted to hear what she'd say. I was waiting for the word cute to come out of her mouth.

"This is why you really called me out here?"

"I'm trying to understand and I just need to hear the answer."

"Julie and I had recently been talking about what we'd do if we had the chance to have a fling with a strong, handsome young man. It was just supposed to be a fantasy. It was never supposed to be anything that we acted on."

Again I was hearing someone give me a reason as if they honestly thought it was their own agency that had caused them to do it. She really believed it had been her choice to take advantage of me.

"Can I call you Karen?"

"I don't see why not."

"Karen, I'm having a hard time coming to grips why this would happen to me. I'm nobody. I'm just a high school student."

"Excuse me? You're still in high school?"

"I'll be a senior next year."

"Oh my God. I thought you were ...."

"But I'm over 18. I just haven't graduated yet because the boarding school I go to has weird requirements."

"Well, you're a handsome young man. You can't be surprised that women would ask for sex from you.."

"Really? But it just seems so odd. I never imagined ..."

"That is the little kid in you talking. That is the boarding school student in you who sees women as these divine creatures on a pedestal. We're not. We're just people just like men. We like sex just like men. And just between you and me, you've got a lot more to offer in the sex department than a lot of other guys."

"I don't understand."

She came in closer to whisper even softer. "You've got a big dick."

"Oh."

"I suggest you start carrying some condoms with you in case you inexplicably get lucky and just can't help yourself. You don't want to catch anything and then bring it home to your girlfriend."