Burnt Offerings

Burnt Offerings

“Who is he?”

“My Uncle Robert. I first met him when I was a young girl. We all went on a safari to Africa and he was already living there. He was quite an odd man really, different, but very kind. And he absolutely loved Africa, the savannahs, animals, and just the culture of the country. My dad, your Grandad, told us that his brother was extremely rich from oil – I don’t know if he found oil or worked for oil companies or anything about how he actually made his money”.

“Did he always live in Africa? How come I’ve never heard about him?” David asked his mum as they sat outside on a cool autumn afternoon. The light was starting to fade and a chill hovered all around them as the warm liquid in their mugs began cooling too. Annabelle wrapped her cardigan around herself tightly and continued to tell David about his Great Uncle Robert who he would never have a chance to meet now.

“Well the last time any of the family heard from him was years ago.  I think he had a sort of nervous breakdown and wrote to say that he was cutting himself off from everyone. Your Grandfather made a trip over to see if he could talk to him but he never found him. He tried all sorts of ways and means to make contact but he obviously didn’t want to be found, so he wasn’t. I used to write to him for a long time until he just stopped. His name was actually David Robert and we named you after him because your Grandad was extremely fond of his brother. For some reason his parents  always called him Robert – why people do that I will never know”.

“So how come you know he died then?” David asked, intrigued by this mysterious Uncle, wanting to know more about him.

“I received a letter yesterday from Uncle Robert’s solicitor informing me that he passed away two weeks ago. They’ve already had the funeral apparently. I don’t know if there would have been too many people at it though, but then again I have no idea about his friends or how many he had”. Annabelle shivered as the wind picked up and the temperature began dropping. “Let’s go inside David and I’ll tell you more about it”.

They settled down on the wide comfy lounge, the one that Annabelle had wanted to get rid of for a long time, (but only because she was pressured from others). But each time she sank down into the familiar big cushions, their corners ripped from the threadbare material no longer strong enough to stop the lumpy fibre from pushing through, she knew that the couch would be in this house always! It just felt like this welcoming seat, along with a few other old bits in this house, belonged here.

“I must say that I was rather shocked to hear that Uncle Robert had married. It was probably quite late in life – too old to have children.  I don’t know who she was; except that the solicitor in his letter referred to her as Victoria. I’m not even sure if she is still alive? We didn’t even know where he was living to be honest. We assumed it was still in Africa and we were right about that.” Annabella sank into the softness and yawned.

“Well I must say that it’s all very intriguing. You said he was rich, so who will the money go to? There was only Grandad you said, no other siblings, but now Grandad has gone, do you think there is any chance you”ll get any of it?” David asked his mother, a little excited that they could get some of Uncle Robert’s money!

“Oh David” she said shocked, adding “I’d never even thought of that. I’m not interested in his money or anyone else’s for that matter. I was just so very sad when he stopped writing to me and I think that is when he had the breakdown or whatever happened. I’m happy to know that he married. I would hate to think that was lonely and lived in solitude for most of his life”.

“Well I didn’t mean to sound greedy but if he was worth a few bob, and there aren’t too many relatives around, then there’s a chance. I could use some money and I know you could for sure Mum. You could get yourself a brand new couch for a start!” and he laughed knowing that, from the look on his mum’s face, that would never happen.

“Well I don’t know anything about money son. His solicitor said he would be in touch when they found the will, so for all we know; he may not have written one. I’m off to bed now David. It’s been a long day and I have an early start tomorrow”.

Annabella stood up and stretched. She hugged her son and he kissed the top of her head. “Goodnight Mum. See you in the morning”.

In her bedroom she looked at the photo of her late husband James. It had only been twelve months since he died in a car accident and she missed him greatly. David had been her rock since his dad had gone. They had only had the one child – not from lack of wanting another one, but it never happened, and now she was just truly grateful that she had David – not only a good son but a reminder of her late husband.

Annabelle had completely put the thought of Uncle Robert out of her mind. When she first heard about his death she had felt very sad, but it was more about him perhaps being lonely in Africa, and never coming back home to see his only brother. That he didn’t even want anyone to know where he was mystified her and unless she made a concerted effort somewhere in the future, to find out exactly how and where he had spent his time hidden away, she supposed she would never know. “Another mystery in the book of life” she said aloud to herself driving home from work. “Oh well I can’t dwell on that – I have enough to think about”.

David had already gone to work when Annabella got in. He ran a restaurant in town – the head chef, so he and his mum often felt like they were in a revolving door – he was going in when she was coming out. She didn’t know how long he intended to stay with her but knew that when the time was right for him, he would leave. He wanted to see more of the world and experience new things.

She walked into the kitchen, putting her car and house keys into the bowl and picked up the mail. “Oh more bills, I just can’t keep up with them” she moaned, looking at the front of the envelopes, not bothering to open them. The bottom envelope, a larger and fuller one caught her eye. It didn’t look like the usual real estate letters with your first name on the front giving you hope of something fun or friendly inside. Opening up the top of it, she let the sheets of paper fall on the bench and she picked one up.

After reading the typed page she had to sit down to digest the contents. “According to this, Uncle Robert left me ten thousand pounds in his will” she said aloud to no one. “Oh how wonderful. But I am amazed that he remembered me, I knew he was very fond of me years ago but to leave me this much money. Wait until I tell David. Of course he gets a share”.

Annabella couldn’t wait til David got in from the restaurant. As soon as she heard his bike being padlocked to the post out the back, after the creaking wooden gate had shut, she ran to the door to tell him her good news. “So we did get some money” was what he uttered on hearing “Well ‘you’   got it but knowing you, it will turn into ‘us’ spending it!” he laughed aloud.

If Mother and Son thought ten thousand pounds was a lot of money to be left in a will, the next letter that David received in the mail and read, sounded as if it could be life changing.

Uncle Robert had died a very wealthy man indeed. He had left the bulk of his estate to his wife Victoria, but if she passed away it went directly to his only sibling, David’s Grandfather. But as he had passed away, it had to be left to another party. The strange part of the Will was that in the event of David’s Grandfather’s death, the estate would go to David, not his mother.

“I really can’t believe that your Uncle left his money to me – why would he do that when you were next in line after Grandad – his daughter and Robert’s niece.  I feel bad for you Mum. I mean you should really have been left the money. But I wouldn’t dream of not going halves with whatever I get given to me”. He walked over and put his arms around his mother and hugged her tight. He knew how fortunate he was to have a mother like his and this wasn’t going to come between them no matter what.

“David. I am so happy for you that you will perhaps have enough money to start your own restaurant – something you have dreamt of for quite some time. It will be a great opportunity for you and who knows I might even get a job washing dishes”! She laughed.

“Mum if I buy my own restaurant you won’t be washing dishes, no, we’ll find something better than that for you to do….as long as it’s not cooking!”

Annabella’s reputation for not being a very good cook stemmed from the days when she was first married. It continued up until now and David often teased her about her signature dish that his father named ‘burnt offerings’!

“Anyway love, let’s just wait and see what they say to us at the meeting. It’s next week so not to wait”.

The week flew by and suddenly it was Wednesday morning, 10am, and Annabella and David found themselves sitting across the table from Uncle Robert’s nominated solicitor, Mr Burns. Apparently the two men went back a long way together, to their first office jobs, mother and son were just informed.  They must have kept in touch somehow but Annabella didn’t know anything about their relationship.

The office was large and airy, light shining in through white blinds that were slightly open, and tilted upwards. The table was made from a blonde wood, and three glasses of water were placed on it to the left of each person. David took a sip of his and put the glass back down, rather too roughly and apologised as some water jumped out of the glass and on to the table.

“That’s perfectly alright” said Mr. Burns in a soft Scottish accent. “Shall we get on with it then?”

“Yes, I think we should” David replied looking over at his mum and smiling.

“Well, as you saw from the letter you received regarding the late Mr. Robert Chapman’s will, the bulk of his estate has been left solely to one person. Of course the initial beneficiaries of the estate, being the late Mr. Chapman’s wife, Victoria and his brother Richard have unfortunately passed away and so this is how, David, you have come to inherit the money. There were smaller amounts that were left to charities, a children’s orphanage, some schools and a church, all in Africa, where Mr. Chapman lived and worked for most of his life”.

David looked at his mother and took a deep breath. Even a person as nice as David would feel excited about knowing how much money he had been left.

“Now before I disclose the exact sum of money that you have inherited David, it does have a proviso attached to it. He shuffled the papers around, the rustling the only sound in a now silent room, stood them up in front of him and gently banged them on the table so that they were all exactly in line behind each other, then had a little cough. “This is the amount that you will be receiving, if you do agree to the terms of the will and I will inform you about shortly”. Mr Burns leaned over towards David and placed the letter down on the table in front of him. “There it is.” He said as he pointed to an amount that stunned David to the point of him not being able to breath for a few seconds.

He took some deep breaths and looked at his mother, who had moved over so she could see the amount too. Annabella was studying the page, asking herself if there were really that many noughts on the end of the figure.

“Are you joking?” David asked when he got his breath back. “We’re getting that much money?”

“Yes, indeed you are. But I will now tell you about the conditions of the will”. David and Annabella sat motionless, waiting in anticipation.

 In order to collect your inheritance you are required to live in Africa for at least ten years. You are to take over the reins of your Great Uncle Robert’s business. If you wish to leave after ten years, then it is up to you to find a buyer for the business or lease it as you see fit. If at any stage you feel that you want to leave Africa before the ten years has lapsed then we revert to the final paragraph in your Great Uncle Robert’s will, which states, in his words “If you don’t stay the ten years, you get your airfare home and the rest of the money goes to charity. But I also have to add that the lifestyle Robert was used to, could be classed as extremely lavish with no restrictions on comfort”. Mr. Burns sat back in his black leather chair and studied David’s face. He could usually gauge if someone was shocked, annoyed, or even disappointed after the discussions regarding a will, but he was having trouble today identifying David’s emotions.

David was in a daze. He didn’t know how to process what he had just heard. Nobody spoke for a few minutes and then the rational part of Annabella’s brain asked the question “What is the business?”

Mr. Burns cleared his throat before he answered. “It’s a twenty five sq. km game park”….Here Mr. Burns paused for a moment before continuing “so what I suggest is that you go home, take the week to think about it and shall we say, a meeting here next Wednesday at the same time?”. He held out his hand and shook, saying goodbye to a mother and son who had plenty  to think about in the next week.

They did think about it, discussed it, thought about it again and then decided.

They really only had each other. They had nothing to lose by starting a new life in Africa. Surely it couldn’t be that bad if Uncle Robert stuck it out all these years. But the idea that after ten years they would have more money than they ever needed was the draw card.

Their decision was made. They would treat it as an adventure, a new beginning for them both. And David was excited at the prospect that the wildlife park might need a quality restaurant nearby. This idea of his pleased Annabella – the thought that her son might be able to run his own restaurant in the very near future gave her great joy. “David, would you consider calling your restaurant ‘Burnt Offerings’?”…….