Friday Morning

I was 19 years old  when I lost both my grandparents. My grandma, Mimi, had died because of surgery complications. My grandfather, Bobby, followed her the next week, when he died in his sleep of, according to the doctors, old age; but if you'd ask his only daughter, my mom, and her family, he died of a broken heart.

That, and the money they left behind for their daughter, were the beginning of the tragic comedy I call my life.

I turned 32 when my father passed away at 63, he had a heart condition since the day he was born, and although we always knew he would die young, it was very hard on the family, especially on my mom. 

My parents always had a fairy tale kind of relationship. He bought her flowers every week and on her birthday, he would always have a special surprise ready for her.

Once, he took her to Paris, on a romantic vacation; another time he got her a collection of plates with animals on them, my mother always loved those; and the biggest one was on the year he passed. I always suspected he knew his time was coming, and he was trying to give my mom a new life companion. That's when Toby arrived, the family's cat. Wherever she went, he went behind. They were like a disney princess and her animal companion. During the first few weeks since my dad passed, the only things allowed in her room were cigarettes and Toby, to give her company and comfort, the cat always felt… empathetic and… human? Yes, human.

At work I was given a one week license, mostly to help my mom with the funeral and to be by her side during the mourn. But, as my mom didn't want anything to do with anyone besides her cat, I made the best out of the worst and visited my sister Katy in her house in L.A. 

Katy had always hated L.A but her job was there and she couldn't move for the time being. We spent the week watching rom coms and laughing at dumb fail videos online. We really helped each other get through it, and I thought that's where our bond started to become strong again.

That week we decided that, whenever we got a break from work, we would go on a trip to Italy. When the time came, during summer break, the idea was still in our heads, but Katy hadn't a cent to her name, as her company was having financial issues and she had her salary suspended, with a promise that it would only be for a month or so. 

Knowing that she would repay me when the time was right, I decided to pay her ticket and everything else. She insisted that we postpone the trip at first, but with enough perseverance on my part, she agreed, as long as I received the payment when the time was right, I accepted of course.

Italy was wonderful, so filled with life and culture and wonderful art all around. My sister, which worked for a fashion magazine, was obsessed with the clothes and the fabrics of Italy, but she wasn't able to buy herself anything, as she was pretty much broke. Everywhere we went she would get bummed out that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she couldn't get a thing. Finally, I got tired of watching my sister so sad, and I gladly offered my credit card for her to buy anything she wanted!

'You cannot possibly expect me to accept this!' She said almost outraged 

'I can, and I do, you said it yourself. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I don't want you to miss it' I said with a smile in my eyes

'But… but… everything’s so expensive! What if I can't repay you afterwards? And you've already paid for the ticket, and the food and…'

I cut her before she continued '…and I'm happy to do so! You'll pay me when the time is right, just forget about it and enjoy it! We're in one of the most beautiful countries in the world! And besides, I've just been promoted, money shouldn't be an issue for the time being'

She looked at me with a conflicted face, as I reached my credit card extension out, for her to grab. She did, and we finally went shopping!

I had never seen her happier. She bought dresses, and skirts, some hats, a beautiful pair of boots which I couldn't help myself but buy too, and some exotic rolls of fabric which were… quite expensive. I cannot lie, when I first saw the receipts I nearly had a heart attack, but I knew I wasn't only counting on my money, Katy would pay me back, when the time was right.

We came back from italy with thousands of dollars worth of clothes and fabrics and pictures and art stuff Katy was obsessed with. She was always such a geek for artsy things.

After a month back to work, my mom fell sick. Katy was up to the neck with her job, so I, once again, asked for a licence to help my mother. Given the circumstances, and with a little bit of help from HR, I was able to be in the hospital by my mother’s side, though there wasn't much to do.

My mom had contracted a severe case of pneumonia and had a lower respiratory infection. The doctors said they’d do their best, but giving her age and the fact that she had smoked since she was young, it was unlikely that the situation would get any better. It went by so fast. One would suspect that two weeks off work would feel quite strange, but I could only think about one thing, my mom, and how to make her feel better, in any way I could. Katy visited from time to time, but her job really had her hands tied behind her back.

Thursday, the fourth of april, was the last time I saw my mom’s eyes blink, and heard her heartbeat. When the doctor announced the time of death I bursted out in tears as Katy holded me in her arms telling me everything would be okay, and that mom was in a better place. That didn't make me feel any better. Her main doctor said the damage to her lungs spreaded too quickly and there wasn't anything they could do. I always suspected it wasn't her lungs, but her heart. Her abandoned heart, left behind, broken by the love of her life.

When the doctors came, asking hard questions, Katy said she would take care of the funerary expenses as long as I took care of her medical ones. Without thinking much of it, I accepted, I was destroyed inside and couldn’t think much with mom’s cat wandering around bringing back memories of her.

Later that day we found out mom didn't have any funnerary plans, but she did say that she wanted to be cremated and have her ashes buried at her favourite spot in the city, up a hill, under a peach tree. Luckily for us the cremation process was both cheap and quick, so that afternoon Katy, Toby and I buried mom where she had asked.

The next day, on a sunny Friday morning, mom and dad’s lawyer, Donny, asked to see Katy and I personally, so we went by his office still quite stunned by what had happened the previous day. The lawyer told us what Katy expected. Both my mom and my dad had life insurance, and although my mom had received my dad's insurance money, she hadn't spent even a half of it, and she still had money left from her parents inheritance. It was a lot of money, enough for one person to live years, maybe their whole life, without moving a finger to earn it. The transaction with the insurance was going to be a tricky one for me. 

When we went to Italy I had overpassed my credit card limit, and although the bank had paid for my expenses, they made it very clear that my account would be under close observation for the following months and that I was not to use the account, neither to add or subtract money from it. They were mainly afraid that I was doing something illegal outside of the country and that their bank would end up involved in it.

‘You can store the money on my bank account if you wish… we’ll just calculate whats due to each one of us and I’ll keep your part until the time is right. It's the least I can do since the Italy thing is sort of my fault’ Katy offered

‘I told you before’ I said tired and still in pain ‘what happened in Italy wasn’t your fault, if anything it was mine for not checking my credit before offering it’

‘Well, the money has to be transferred as soon as possible if we don't want the insurance meddling with it’ Donny said

‘So if you're willing to trust your sister with the money, I think it’s what's best for the time being’ he looked at me impatiently.

I know I wasn't careful and maybe I should have reconsidered it, but I was tired, stunned, in pain and wishing to leave that sketchy office in the middle of downtown the moment I could.

‘Fine, put it in her account, I don't really care, can we leave now?’

‘You sure can, I’ll close up the finer details with your sister via mail. My deepest condolences to the both of you’

‘Thank you’ I said as I left the office.

Katy didn’t say goodbye or thank you, or anything for that matter as she left the office.

Two days later I didn't have any updates on the case, so I called the lawyer to see if anything had changed. No one answered. I wasn't that surprised honestly, since I had noticed he didn't have an assistant or a secretary when he called us into his apartment looking office. 

Since there were no results I called Katy, but when I did, a pre-recorded operator voice told me that her phone was ‘currently out of service’. My sister always had her phone battery uncharged so I decided to call her office instead. When someone finally picked up after several attempts I couldn't believe what I was being told. My sister had not worked there since she got in trouble for dating a superior of hers. A secondhand lawyer named Donny Baskerville that had always had an eye for the magazine designers, but that, apparently, had gone too far this time.

Although it was painful and even paranoid of me to connect the dots, I did. I had nothing left to my name but a fat, human behaving cat called Toby. I called the police department and I filled a case for fraud, stealing, and missing people. Last time they were seen, they were at an airport headed to Italy.

Anyways officer, I'm afraid that's all I can recall. I'm not sure how a few of these details will be useful, but I really hope it can be of some help to bring both of these putrid people to justice. For using me and abusing my hurt feelings during such hard times. 

Once again thank you for looking into the case one last time.