I am not sure what I think about this first chapter yet. It definitely could use a lot of work, but then, I needed to start somewhere. I would appreciate all feedback, just send any commments to JasOdin (at) yahoo.co.uk, thanks.
Frazer Nido was a man of little acquaintance and certainly of no real friends or known family. He was not what one would call sociable in the least but he did in fact, on very brief occasions, take to talking to me, which was a rarity indeed. To call this a privilege would be inaccurate, but he was pleasant enough on those rare happenstances of us enjoying a discourse together. As far as I know, he had never really talked to anyone else, certainly not at work, and moreover never anywhere else, so I was little surprised when at his funeral no one, save for me and the priest attended. The priest’s presence there was entirely ceremonial and dutiful, and I doubt he had actually ever met Nido before a day in his life. As a result the ceremony was utterly simple and impersonal, filled with the most necessary of eulogy’s more directed at the mortality of man, rather than focussing on the personal habits and person that had made Nido’s life. Near the end of the funeral, the priest asked me to say some words, seeing as I was the only person in attendance, I felt obligated to say something of the poor man who had no soul other than mine really to remember him, and for me I barely remembered him anyway. I got up and stood looking down on the casket which contained his corpse and thoughtfully, yet forcefully blurted out generic statements almost as bland as the priest’s speech had been. I tried to recall the few experiences Nido and I shared and tried to reflect on the kindly character in his eyes, and the seemingly gregarious manner in which he spoke. Other than that all I could really comment on was his attention to detail at work, and how the halls and bathrooms would sparkle after he had finished cleaning them, but I felt awkward mentioning these things. As far as I had known, this was really all Nido had done with his life, what he had done with the remainder of his time I could not fathom, nor was I particularly interested to guess.
After the funeral, I went back home and thought briefly on the brevity and sorrow of life, especially a life given without companionship. This train of thought soon found it’s way out of my consideration when I picked up the newspaper and found an interesting article about the rising cost of real estate in western Australia. I soon lost myself to the daily routine of work and had nearly forgotten all about Nido’s funeral and all of the bleakness that went with it. In fact, he was the furthest thing from my mind when one day about a month after his burial, I received a phone call from a man who said he was a lawyer and he was calling me in regard to Frazer Nido’s estate. The attorney asked me to come in to his office for a consultation with him in this regard, and he asked me if I had seen anyone else at the funeral. Surprised by the question, I responded by saying that only the priest was there. To this he replied by asking me if I was sure of this, to which I reaffirmed my answer, and asked him why he asked. Ignoring my question completely, he asked me if I happened to know the name of the priest who was there. I told him I did not know it, I thought it was something Irish, perhaps O’Gorman, or something like that, but I really had not payed attention too much, I had only introduced myself to the priest as a formality and only briefly caught his name. The lawyer said that was fine, and that he would look him up in the diocese’s records, and he then asked me to come in to his office in two days if I could make it. I said that I thought I was free, and that I may just take a longer lunch break, but asked him how long the appointment might take. The lawyer said he was not sure, but he thought it should not take very long at all, and he asked if I could bring anyone as a witness, not that it was necessary, but he just wanted me to feel better about what passed knowing I was in company. I said I would ask my wife to join me, providing that she was also free at that time, and with this I said goodbye and hung up, wondering about the peculiar phone call that had just taken place.
When I got home that evening I was thinking about what had taken place and started thinking of Nido again, and wondered, what his lawyer could possibly want with me and why he was so demanding to know about the priest as well as those who attended the funeral. I could think of no real reason these enquires were necessary and was starting to feel a little suspicious of the whole situation, yet curious at the same time. Having these mixed thoughts about what to do with myself, on whether I should attend this thing or not, and also if Kelly might want to attend with me, and even if she would have the time or inclination to do so. I decided to ask her advice on the situation and see if she would be my escort in this matter. When I approached her I did ask what she thought
“I think it is a little strange, Steve, but I would say there really should be no harm in it, especially if you take someone with you, as it happens, I am actually free on Wednesday at that time, so I’ll go with you if you want me to”
“Thanks honey, that means a lot to me, this thing just has me wondering and I don’t think there could really be that much harm in it, but still, I can’t shake the curiosity that Nido would think to have his lawyer call me, I didn’t even think he really knew my name, and on the few occasions we did speak to each other, I don’t really remember giving him any hint that we were at all close.”
In the two days that passed I came to think of this situation as more and more odd, but was actually relieved when Kelly showed up to my job to pick me up and take me to the lawyer’s office. I was happy to see her, and she looked especially elegant and classy that day as well, which somehow seemed suiting for this occasion, even though I was not entirely sure what this occasion might consist of. When we arrived to the lawyer’s office we walked in through the elegant corridor which had the usual things one might expect in such a place. It had a bronze statue of Justice, as well as well-lit marble on the base of either side of the wall and all sorts of other distinguished things that suggests a successful practice this firm may hold. The secretary in the waiting room had guided us to meet Mr. Penniman, and when we arrived in his private office, he greeted us with a professional confidence and impersonal and obligatory handshake. He asked us to have a seat and proceeded to speak about the matter at hand.
“You are Mr. Steven David Whitmann?”
“Yes” I replied
“And you I presume are his wife?” He said addressing Kelly
“Yes” Kelly returned,
“What is your name, full name including middle?”
“Kelly Sarah Whitmann”
“Okay, if I could just get you both to sign and date here, stating that you were both present to this meeting on Wednesday the 21st of September 2005, these are all formalities this in no way obligates you to do anything, except to admit your presence here at this time.” He then handed us a sheet with lots of legalese on it, and two ‘x’s marking where they had printed name and signature as well as date next to them. Reading over what I could it seemed fairly benign and I decided to sign the document, and then gave it to Kelly, and she also took the same action as I had and signed as well, returning it to Mr. Penniman. Mr. Penniman spoke at that time about why ultimately we were there.
“I am here representing Frazer Theodore Nido’s estate and his last will and testament. Mr. Nido died on the 16th of August of this year, and in his last will and testament he requested that all who were present at his funeral, and had signed the guest book should be present also for this reading of it, his last will and testament that is. There being only one person who was present to this event, you, Mr. Whitman, are the sole person to hear his will, allowing of course, Mrs. Whitman’s presence, with your permission?”
To which I nodded consent, than interjected “But what about the priest, he was there too, why isn’t he here?”
Visibly annoyed, Mr. Penniman continued “Members of the funeral service itself, including clergy, are excluded from this and are not asked to attend.”
“Then why were you so insistent on knowing his name and all of that if it was of no consequence whether he come or not?” I again interjected. Again, with more annoyance on his face for having been interrupted, Mr. Penniman proceeded
“The reason, Mr. Whitman, it was so important to know, was to verify whether you were the only person at the funeral, it was unknown to our agency whether or not you were the only person in attendance and whether you knew about the clauses of Mr. Nido’s will. As to the will itself, I shall read as follows. ‘Upon the event of the death of Frazer Theodore Nido, any in attendance at his funeral shall have the equally divided portions of his estate, which are to be liquidated after the reading of the will then disbursed equally and accordingly, in the event that there is only one attendant, he may do with the estate as he sees fit, and to him will be given Mr. Nido’s estate with all of its contents. In the event that no one be present at the funeral, his assets are to be liquidated and the capitol is to be donated to the Linguistics Society of America’ Seeing, as you are the sole member of this attendance, Mr. Whitman, it appears that you will inherit Mr. Nido’s estate in full and all of his assets as well, to do with as you deem fit. That is of course if you desire to inherit these, you are by no means bound to take his assets as they are.”
“Well what are his assets Mr. Penniman, so that I may know what it is that I am actually inheriting?”
“His estate, sir, consists of a property and his personal items that he had in his house, none of which is yet known to us, nor anyone else presumably, because he went through great pains to make sure that no one interact with his things until his heir, presuming of course that there was just the one, could see them first. Afterward, it is to be thought that you may do whatever you desire with these things and the property, pending you take the estate.”
“What is the catch? Does he have debts? Is his place still mortgaged? What is the property tax like? Does he have any money I am also due to inherit? Forgive me for being rude, but these are all considerations I would like to think about before I agree to take on a burden of property like this.”
“As far as we know, Mr. Whitmann, there really is no catch, he has no debts to speak of, his house has been paid off for many years, and the property tax is quite minimal, not more than $300 annually, because it is located quite a ways out in the countryside, so not really prime real estate. As far as capital is concerned, there is actually an account of about $50,000 you will inherit, and this is to say nothing of whatever contents you may find inside his estate.”
“When must I decide I want to do this or not? May I see the property first?”
“You will have one week to decide, otherwise his assets are to be liquidated and donated to the LSA, and as far as seeing the property is concerned, I can tell you where it is located, but I can not give you any idea as to the contents within, the only way I am allowed to give the key to you, or allow you access to the house is if you sign this contract in fulfilment of the will, stating you are taking the estate, otherwise, no one is allowed to get in. Naturally, we will allow you some time to consider this proposal and should you decide to accept it by the end of the week, please contact us and its yours, otherwise I thank you for your time and bid you good day.”
After Mr. Penniman had finished speaking I exchanged my glance with Kelly, and nodded toward the door, when she spoke to Mr. Penniman, saying “I think, Mr. Penniman, this is a lot to consider for right now, so if its alright with my husband, I believe we should at least sleep on this, and we’ll be back to you within the week.” She then looked toward me and said “That is, honey, if its okay with you?”
“Certainly, those were my thoughts exactly” I replied. I motioned toward the door, and said goodbye to Mr. Penniman and again we shook his hand and found our way toward the door. On the way out, we had much to think about, so it was a quite ride back to work. When we arrived, Kelly gave me a kiss to part with and soon I was back at work, thinking about what I had just been told by Mr. Penniman. After work, I came home and saw Kelly sitting at the table filling out a crossword puzzle, we exchanged casual greetings when I finally spoke to her about the meeting.
“I think we should consider what the meaning of this could inheritance could be. I mean, I feel a little uncomfortable inheriting the possessions of a man I barely knew and besides what could this guy have in his house that no one knows about or apparently has ever seen? I just don’t know honey, I’m tempted to just let them liquidate and give away his belongings to that charity, they could probably use it more than we could.”
“Well, obviously you have given this a lot of thought, honey, but I think perhaps you should consider some things before you decline the inheritance.” Kelly responded sweetly.
“Like what?” I quipped.
“Well, for one thing, you were the only person at this man’s funeral, right? Maybe, you’re really the last and only person to remember him, at least it would be worth seeing a little about who he was before his memory is lost from humanity forever. I say we should go to his place and check it out, from the outside I mean, and if it creeps you out, you can always decline, but on the other hand, if it seems harmless, well maybe you could think about it a little more.”
“I suppose you’re right about that, although I’m sure that he must have had someone in his life. I mean, how could anyone be that much of a hermit these days? Maybe he had some distant relative who simply could not attend his funeral, or didn’t even know about it... I would feel awful taking the things that mattered most to this man from the rightful heirs to his estate.” I returned
“True, but my guess is, honey, if these distant relatives didn’t hear about his death either in time for the funeral or since then, he probably didn’t matter enough to them, or they didn’t know enough about him anyway to make them his rightful heirs. No, I think that his last will and testament were clear on the conditions of who would inherit his estate. I believe Mr. Nido knew how few people were in his life and that is why his will is so strange in the first place... I’m guessing Mr. Nido would want you to have his estate, if no one else thought he was worth showing up for, then he would want you to have it. But... of course its really up to you what you do, and I support you one hundred and ten percent” Kelly observed, making me think about it a little harder, until I came to the conclusion that she was right.
“Okay, honey, I’ll do it, I think we should go to his address and walk around, providing it is safe. And, after all, if it looks too creepy or like there are dead bodies inside, then we’ll just say no” I ejaculated. Kelly, simply smiled in agreement, seeing that her case had been made and received. It was still quite bright out, and we decided to do this now, so off we went to Frazer’s house. Kelly and I drove to Frazer’s house, which was off of a dirt road a good ways into the countryside. We arrived there and found the house to be a good ways from the road with a long two-tracked driveway made of stone leading up to the garage. This incredibly isolated housed, seemed to emulate it’s resident in both custom and appearance. It was both wildly isolated with a difficult road to reach it and it was very plain and old. The garage was obviously added on sometime after the main house was built. It seemed harmless enough, just a plain white house, badly in need of some paint and touch-ups, but otherwise standing and just a little sad. The yard, in which it sat, was vast and it looked like it was well taken care of, which seemed odd, considering how long ago Frazer had died. It was filled with rock gardens, and short grass.
As we approached closer to the house, there were a few windows around it, but as we tried to look in, it was too dark inside to really see anything, except for some unusually large painting on the wall opposite of most windows. I could not make out exactly what the images on it were, but they were well painted it seemed, and it only made me curious as to what this mural might be. I asked Kelly what she thought about it, but she could not make much of it either, saving to say it looked like a vast MC Escher painting, filled with brilliant colours and vast amounts of tiny images, which were too small to make out a coherent theme. As for furniture or anything else, we could not see very much, because they apparently would have obscured the view of the mural, so they must have been on the other side of the rooms. It appeared that not much really was visible at all inside this house, but it was really starting to elevate my curiosity, and I said as much to Kelly. She too was very curious by all of this, and she told me to call Mr. Penniman and take the house. She reasoned that the taxes and upkeep seemed low enough, and if they were too burdensome, we could always sell or donate the house and get a tax writeoff.
Kelly and I returned home, and I called Mr. Penniman, leaving a message on his answering machine that I would take the house. He called me back some days later, and again asked Kelly and I to come to his office so that I could fill out some paperwork, and collect the deed to the house as well as the key. When we arrived to his office, he said he was glad to see that I had made this decision, which was a surprisingly emotional statement for Mr. Penniman to make. I told him, that I figured Mr. Nido needed to be remembered by someone, and it may as well be us. With this brief encounter we parted company, and Kelly and I left to see the interior of this seemingly isolated and plain house and reveal a little more about it’s former resident.
