The Storage Unit

“Is this it?” I stop in front of the storage unit and check the number against the letter I am holding.

“Yep, number 5309.” My brother says from behind me.

“So what do you think we should do now?” I ask with a frown. I didn’t want to do this in the first place. When I received the letter from my grandmothers’ attorney I almost trashed it. She made her feelings very clear the last time we spoke 2 years ago and I had no desire to hear or have anything to do with her since then.

“I guess we open it and see what the old coot thought you needed to have, seeing as she didn’t think much of you.” He chuckles and raps on the storage unit door. I sigh and take out the key that came with the letter. I hold the key in my hand but hesitate to open the unit.

Laughing up at my brother I say with a grin, “What if she left me all her trash and wants me to clean it out? I mean she said I was trash so it makes sense.” He laughs and takes the key from my hand.

“Only one way to find out, lets open the unit and see.” He fits the key into the lock and I tense as I hear the click of the lock.

“Wait!” I say breathing hard as I put my hand over his stopping him from removing the lock. I don’t know why but I suddenly feel lightheaded and my chest hurts. I don’t want to know what is in there, I just want to put that part of my life behind me. I have come so far since she disowned me and wrote me out of her will. She said very plainly that her disappointment in me was bone deep and that if I were to continue on the path I was on she would write me off. Well I continued and she erased me from her life at least that is what I thought, until I got this stupid letter.

“My dearest granddaughter.”

Why did she start the letter that way? I was confused and a little bit apprehensive about her motives. The rest of the letter was just as confusing.

“If you are reading this letter then I have passed on. I know that we didn’t have the best relationship but you are my only grandchild and thus I am leaving you my most prized possessions. They are located in a storage unit outside of town. My attorney will give you the key and the directions. Warmest regards, Wilamina Wilkinson”

That was it, no I love you or heart felt apologies. Just as impersonal in death as she was in life. Her attorney had left me a brief note with the address of the storage facility and a small envelope with the key in it. They both had arrived a week ago via certified mail. It took me two days before I actually opened the package. My brother is the one that encouraged or more like threatened me to just open it or he was.

He is always encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone. My dad and mom met when Sam was 5 and got married when he was 6. He was the ring bearer at their wedding and he looked so cute in his little tux. Our parents said it was love at first sight and two years later I came along to complete the family. Even though there is an 8 year age gap between us it doesn’t bother him or me at all. We are and always have been very close and I don’t know what I would have done without him these last few years. Grandmother Wilkinson was my moms, mother and she came from “old money” and had the old ideals and opinions that came with it all. My mother was constantly telling me to just apologize and go see her. I refused since I was not in the wrong for wanting to live my life the way I wanted to. My mother let me know that she had passed away and asked me to come to the funeral. I refused since I didn’t want to have any emotions about her death since I had so many in regards to her when she was alive.

“What’s wrong?” My brother asks his brow furrowed in concern. “Are you ok?” He puts the key in his pocket as I shake my head.

“No, I am not ok.” I say a little shaky. “I don’t know what is wrong with me. I feel so conflicted right now.” I look up at him, my eyes stinging with unshed tears.

“Sis.” He says softly and pulls me into his chest and wraps his arms around me. I instantly feel his warmth, even though it is a bright and sunny day, I hug him back and let his strength seep into my soul. “We don’t have to look inside, we can just put it up for auction and cash the check.” I smile into his chest and look up at him.

“Thank you for saying that. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I know she hated me and my choices, so I don’t know what she could be thinking giving me her most prized possessions.” I shake my head and back away from my brothers’ warmth and comfort. “I mean this makes no sense. Two years ago…” I trail off and drop my hands to my side. I shake my head again and take a deep breath. “Ok I can do this.” My brother ruffles my hair like he use to when I was a little girl and it makes me smile, but I still slap his hand away and glare at him. He chuckles and reaches for the lock on the unit. I hold my breath as he takes the lock off and reaches for the handle. He pauses and looks back at me.

He asks softly. “You ready for this sis?” I nod and he pulls the unit door up.

We both look in the unit and gasp at what we see.

Boxes. That is it just boxes.

We walk into the unit. There is a small trail that leads to the back of the unit and on either side is box after box.

I look at the first box and inspect it. There are no markings and no labels. Just a plain brown packing box.

“You have got to be kidding me!” I say in exasperation. “That old bat gave me boxes?” I throw my hands up and spin in the small space. My brother chuckles and picks up a box. He grunts with the effort of picking it up.

“Dang, they are heavy!” I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms in front of me. He sets the box down in front of me and looks up and I give him an incredulous look. He rolls his eyes “No really they are heavy!” I reach over and grab one of the boxes and I am shocked to find that it is indeed heavy.

“Holy moly these are heavy!” I heave a box up and set it on the cement slap next to the one my brother has taken down. “So you want to open them at the same time and see what treasures await us?” He smiles and nods. “Ok, on the count of three then.” We both reach down and grab the edges of the box.

“One.”

“Two”

“Three”

Chapter 2

We tear into the boxes. He is much more efficient getting his open. I just rip the top flap a little. I laugh and gesture for him to rip my box open as well. He gives me a smug look and rips the top off of my box. He freezes and looks up at me slowly.

“Wow, sis.” My smile fades and I look down at what he is looking at. I drop to my knees and open the box more to get a better look.

“Wow!” I say reverently as I pull out a bubble wrapped crystal figurine. It looks like me. I unwrap it and hold it up. It is me and I am shocked. It is a depiction of me at 9 or 10 in a little ballerina outfit. My arms are arched gracefully above my head and I am caught forever in glass doing a perfect pirouette en dedans. I sit down holding the fragile glass. My brother has pulled out more glass figurines and they are all of me in different ballet moves at the same age. I look up at him, he has a baffled expression on his face. I too, am baffled and shocked.

“What are these and why do they all look like you from ballet?” I shrug and place the figurine back in the box. I look around me and my eyes go wide.

“Sam, you don’t think all these boxes are glass figurines of me do you?” I shudder at that thought.

Sam grimaces “God I hope not, that is creepy.” I nod my agreement. I get up and brush the dust off my jeans and reach for the next box. It is much lighter and I sigh in relief. Sam does the same and we both tear into the next set of boxes. The next box I open has folders of documents and papers in them. I glance at the top stack and I am puzzled to see my name listed on the front of the documents. I pick them up and open the folder. Inside is a list of property holdings. A long list of property holding. I am listed as the owner of them.

“Sam!” I say slowly as I hand him the list. He glances at it and then whistles low.

“Dang Jules it looks like you are a land Barron now.” I shake my head in disbelief again. This is just not real I think. Things like this just don’t happen in real life.

“Sam why would she have all this and list me as the owner of all this property? It just doesn’t make sense. I mean mom is her heir not me.” Sam shrugs and reaches for another box. I reach out and touch his hand.

“I think we need to have mom and dad here. They need to know about this and help me figure out what is going on.” Sam puts his hand down and nods.

I set the folder back in the box and reach in my back pocket for my cell phone. I find my mom’s name and click to connect the call. She answers on the first ring.

“Juliet, are you ok? What did you find? What did she do?” My mom says in a rush of concern and panic.

“I am ok mom but I think you and dad need to come out to the storage unit gran did...” Then is hits me what she said. “Wait, mom you knew about this?” I have a little bit of an edge in my tone.

She sighs heavily and I can hear my dad in the background asking if it is me on the phone.

There is some rustling and then my dad’s deep voice booms on the phone “Jules what did the crazy bat do?” I smile since my dad and grandmother never got along. She thought he was too pedestrian for my uptown debutante mother.

“She left me a storage unit full of boxes. I think you and mom need to be here. There are some creepy figurines of me and documents that say I own a bunch of properties.”

“Text me the address and your mom and I will be there shortly.”

I text them the address and look up at Sam. He is still sitting on the floor of the unit he is watching me intently. “You ok sis?” I nod and go to sit next to him.

“Mom and dad are on their way.” I feel better knowing that my family is going to be here and they are going to help me sift through the boxes and figure out what is going on. My grandmother may be gone but I feel like she has found a way to control me from the grave. I feel a cold chill travel up my spine and I shiver. Sam hugs me close and we sit in silence waiting for our parents to show up.

Chapter 3

Mom and dad arrive about 30 minutes later. Sam and I are sitting in my Jeep. Sam is asleep next to me in the passenger seat. I have always envied his ability to just sleep anywhere he lands. I on the other hand am holding the file that held the properties list. I wanted to Google the addresses and see what kind of property I was dealing with. Lots, all of them are just empty lots. They are all over the city and empty. What am I going to do with empty lots? I sigh heavily and lay my head back against the seat rest. I am glad daddy is going to be here. He can help me with the properties. “What were you thinking gran?” I say softly to myself.

A pair of headlight cut across my line of vision and then go dark. I drop the folder as I reach for my door, I shake Sam awake. “Mom and dad are here.” I say as I pull my door open. I bend to gather up the files that lay scattered on my floorboard. Once I have them all picked up I stuff them back in the folder and shut my jeep door. Mom is standing next to the Jeep holding out her arms. I step into her embrace and her rose and lily perfume calm my nerves and I just know everything is going to be ok. “Hi mom.” I say as I hug her tight. “I am so sorry…” I start to tell her how sorry I am about gran, but she just shushes me and kisses me on my cheek.

“I know baby girl, I know.” That is all she says and I fall apart. I let loose the torrent of emotions and tears I have been holding back for years. All the pain of my grandmothers’ last words hit me full force.

“Juliet if you quit ballet and drop out of college, you will no longer be welcome in this home.” I stood there staring at my grandmother in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me!” I told her as she stood there stoic and stubborn in her perfectly pressed black slacks and white blouse. Her blonde hair up in a tight bun. Not a hair out of place. “Rest assured Juliet I am absolutely serious. I do not joke, I have paid for your education and dance classes since you were able to walk. I will not see you throw away a brilliant and promising career just because you want to do something, what was it again?” She asks.

“I want to work with children and be a dance teacher.” I say to her again. This time I am hoping she understands that I am tired of the demands that ballet has placed on me and my body. I don’t love it like I use to and I want to just try to instill the joy and pleasure I once had for dance into other children.

“Absolutely not, you will go back to school and stop all this ridicules talk at once.” With that said she turned to walk away.

“No! I will not and I don’t care if you disown me, this is my life and I am going to live it the way I want to.”

She turns slowly to glare at me. She is stone still as she gives me an assessing look.

“Then you are of no use to me and you are trashing your life for nothing. Leave and do not come back,” With that she walks away and slams her office door.

I hug my mom tighter and she rubs my back. “I loved her mom I really did, but she was just so unreasonable.” My mother nods and gives me one last squeeze.

“I know baby girl, trust me I know.” She chuckles and I smile because it was her mother and she definitely would know how she was.

My dad comes up behind me and ruffles my hair and gives me a quick hug. “Ok JuJu bug let's get the boxes out of the storage unit, I brought my trailer so it will be easy to get the boxes loaded.” I glance at the Land Rover and the trailer attached to the back. My dad always thinks about everything.

We make short work of clearing out the storage unit and in no time we are on our way to my parents house to unlock the mystery's that my grandmother has left for me. I am apprehensive but optimistic about what we will find. Based on what little I have discovered I am a little creeped out but I know there is a reason, because my grandmother always had a reason for everything she did. I am just thankful that I have my family by my side to help me unravel the storage unit mystery.