Inheritance Prompt

Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing

 

Weekly Writing Prompt

Consider what you would do with an inheritance. Say a distant relative leaves you a small sum of money or a boat. How would you feel about your newly inherited property? Would you feel guilty or strange about accepting the inheritance? Or simply overjoyed? And what would be your next move with your newfound wealth? A trip to Bermuda with your better half? An addition to the house? Now, write a story exploring your reaction and your choice should money fall into your lap.

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—Thanks Wordclay for the fun of working out the hand and brain cramps!!  I love your prompts! 

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     The phone calls had been endless for Kathy Michael on her only day off in weeks, and she was at a loss for time and energy.  The bills had been piling up after her son’s motor bike accident, and more than two months had past.  Dillion had broken so many bones that he was laid up in the hospital for weeks.  Upon returning home she had to call in help at the house to assist while she worked her regular job.  She couldn’t win any longer, all of her days were marked with harrassing phone calls from the hospital to pay his past due account.  The problem was simple, there wasn’t any money left, her account was empty all but $50.  Which she needed for some groceries in the next week.  After the divorce with Trevor, Kathy had put on weight but with the money crunch she was vastly losing it.  It was almost cheaper to stay at home and just live off of her alimony than it was to pay for the gas to get to work every day, plus the home health aide that attended to Dillion. 

     Kathy heard movement on her front porch and then the usual click, clank of her mailbox opening and shutting.  The mailman, Garry, had finally showed up probably with all her new harrassing medical statements telling her that her credit was in danger if she didn’t resolve her account within 20 days.  She hesitated briefly before she slowly trudged with her faux fur slippers scrapping along on the oak wood flooring.  Opening her front door seemed laborous with dread, as if a thousand military troops were standing in wait for her just on the other side.  Finally, she surrendered and opened her weather worn wooden front door.  Kathy lifted the lid to the mailbox and peeked inside.  She was always cautious about sticking her hand in a mailbox without looking.  As a child she had blindly stuck her hand inside, till the day she pulled out a black widow with the latest issue of “Teen Magazine”.  Now she feared what bill was going to pop out at her and send her heart hammering.

     There was the usual junk mail postcards to start her own business at home.  She had been looking for extra income but not at the expense of an MLM that required you to buy and buy their garbage, all the while recruiting new vicitms to the same bologna.  There were a few companies that had her interest but without the resources to start up she wasn’t going to get very far.  Without her glasses on she could still see well enough, but what she saw skipped her heart a beat.  There was a return address for Scott & Scott Law Office and it had to be bad news for her now.  Had her ex husband decided it was time to get out from under his alimony or child support?  Trevor had always been a loser and his lack of wanting to pay his fair share was just a royal headache to keep dealing with every month.  She couldn’t wait to open it because she had to know what the prick was pulling on her this time. 

     The envelope was torn neatly with her fingers seperating just along the top crease.  Pulling out the letter it began, Dear Ms. Kathy Michael, like all the others had.  What she read next made her hands shake, and her eyes began moistening.  More than a month ago her Great Uncle George had passed away and she had only spent one summer with him when she was little.  He had scared her on the first day they met.  George was tall, heavy set, and had a head and face full of stark white hair.  At the age of 10 he was the scariest thing she had ever laid eyes on.  But, he had welcomed her into his home with a bribe that she couldn’t resist.  He had chocolate chips cookies and milk all ready for her arrival in the dining room.  It took her exactly 5 seconds to drop her bag off on the porch and race inside to search out the dining room.  They talked for a good while about their summer plans and she had calmed her fears of his long white beard when he let her touch it.  Now in a giggle of reminiscence, Kathy thought about what a good sport he had been when she asked if she could put it into a braid similar to her own.  Upon her satisfaction he looked at it in the mirror and told her that he could start a new look, and perhaps pick up a lovely lady to keep him company after she went home. 

     Her uncle had found a lovely woman.  It was during her stay there that the recently elderly widowed neighbor, Mae, had noticed he had a young girl staying at the house.  Mae came over to the yard while they worked in his small vegetable garden, and asked her uncle if he needed anything for the girl?  Uncle George nearly fell over his hoe when she gave him the fluttering eyelash routine.  He had told her that things were under control, but if she wanted to have dinner with them that evening she was welcome to join.  Mae brought the most delicious sweet bread she had ever tasted.  They seemed to talk in a world all their own over dinner.  Kathy had fallen asleep long before the widow left to go home.  They were married after a year and they were very happy together.  Surprising the family, in 2000 she died from a brain anurism and it left Uncle George heart broken.  Now they were together again, she thought, hopefully.  If only she could be so lucky to find that kind of love again.

     Her mouth had dropped to her chest and her eyes were stinging from her lack of blinking.  Her expression was frozen, and she couldn’t seem to get it into her brain.  Her Great Uncle George had left her his estate and holdings.  Of course, it wasn’t going to get her rich but it was sure as hell going to pay off her mortgage, the doctor bills, and knock off her car payment considerably.  Wow! What a wonderful man he was for thinking of her so highly.  Had he known about her financial needs and willed his own death to give her what she needed most, money?  It was silly she hadn’t said a word about it to him.  Her mother on the other hand may have thoughtlessly  mentioned it to her frail uncle.  No matter how much she told her mother to shut her mouth and keep a secret, her mother would spew it back out as fast as a her fingers could type in a phone number. Aside from that flaw, her mother had a good heart and helped with Dillion when she was able.  The bills were going to be paid off, she reminded herself over and over again.  As if she couldn’t believe what she saw in the letter.

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Author Note:  Aside from my husband, I am not related to anyone that would have even a small amount to give me as an inheritance.  Which is why I chose to write it in the view of someone who was desperate for money.  It is probably one of the greatest rewards to anyone who has to struggle with every day life on top of all the rest that is thrown at them.  This was a great prompt to develop, and as I typed along it fell together in a scene that brought tragedy with a resolution to a current struggle.