Family Ties

A knock at the front door pulled Denny away from his newspaper and coffee. He laid the paper down and proceeded to the front door.

On the other side of the door stood a small, mousey little man with thick round glasses and a bowler hat. He was wearing a neat brown suite with a blue bowtie.

"Good Morning." The most man began tipping his hat to Denny. "My name is Fredrick Wright and I am afraid I have some awful news."

"Who died?" Denny questioned, worried.

" You are truly intuitive Mr. Papel." Said Mr. Wright as he pulled an envelope from his satchel and handed it to Denny.

Denny took the envelope still looking at Mr. Wrighy with question. He began to open the envelope. " How do you know who I am?" Denny asked the man while pulling an invitation from its sleeve.

"I deliver messages to whomever they tell me." Mr. Wright replied as he whisked his glasses off his face and pulled a cloth from his shirt pocket and vigorously cleaned the lenses. He replaced the cloth and his glasses in time to see the perplexed look on Denny's face.

"Is there a problem Mr. Papel?" Mr. Wright questioned.

"I dont know this person. Why am I getting an inheritance from them?" Denny held up the invitation and note attached.

" Again," Mr. Wright began, "I only deliver the message."

Mr. Wright tipped his hat to Denny, turned on his heels and marched back the way he came. Denny closed the door slowly, rereading the note. He did not recognize the name of the deceased nor the address in which he was to appear to received this inheritance.

Denny struggled with the decision to attend the gathering in which he had been invited. He weighed every side and reason. He could sure use some money to get him where he wants to be in life. To own a business as well as a home. He decided to sleep on it and he would decide in the morning.

That night Denny dreamt of his success with the auto garage he planned to open with his inheritance money. When he woke, he decided he was going to attend the reading of the will of this long lost Aunt of his. He packed a weekend bag and headed up the coast.

Denny soon arrived at a mile long driveway that curved up a hillside. After a long mile lined with trees, at the top of the hill, thenriad opened up to a large turnabout driveway that circled in front of a large three story cabin that overlooked a large lake on the backside. It was breathtaking.

Denny drove up to the door and a butler opened the door for him. He stepped out and handed the keys over. The butler hopped in the driver's seat and went off to park Dennys car. Denny walked slowly towards the house. As he approached the door, it slowly swung open. Denny hesitated but heard conversation through the foyer and hall ahead. He continued inside and followed the voices to a parlor.

When he entered, the room instantly became quiet as everyone turned at the opening of the door. Denny entered clutching his invitation. Instantly a gorgeous woman with long black hair and a red dress waltzed over with her nose in the air at him.

"Who; pray tell, are you to be here?" She scoffed and walk away mumbling under her breath.

Denny shook it off and continued into the room. Behind Denny the parlor door opened again and Mr. Wright stepped in.

"Good evening to you all." Mr. Wright began, " Thank you for attending the reading of Mrs. Violas will. If you will all follow me to the library, we will provide further refreshments as Mrs. Violas lawyer proceeds with the reading."

Mr. Wright held the door open as the seven people in the room filed out. Mr. Wright closed the door behind them and rushed to the front of the line to lead them all upstairs.

The troupe eneters the library, upon entry, there are servantsvhokding trays of champagne and caviar and finger foods and coffee. Once they are all refreshed, they all find seats in front of their late Aunts glorious pearlescent desk. The lawyer sits and and opens his briefcase preparing to read from the will.

The lawyer takes a deep breathe and begins to read, " the last will and testament of Viola Blanchard states thus: all of my seven properties, four homes, yacht, five vehicles and total monetary fortune if 6.3 million dollars will go to the descendant that can set my soul free. Find my spirit and help it move on. The first of you to do so will render everything I owned in life. If none succeed, my fortune shall be donated to Saint Jude Children's hospital and my belongings sold at an estate sale and the proceeds from those sal and a to be donated as well." The lawyer lowers the paper he was reading from and lookd around at them all. "You all know what must be done, it is up to you to figure out how to go about it. You all have until dawn, and their are no rules. You will all be monitored on the security cameras and will be disqualified for various infractions. Good luck to you all." The lawyer closes his briefcase and walks away.

Everyone looks at each other unsure of what to do next, though they all know, they can not trust each other.

Without a word, Denny turns on his heels and exits the room. A few minutes pass and the door to the library opens again, everyone looks expectantly at the door, but nobody is there. The next thing they know, a can flies into the room and begins to smoke as soon as it lands. The pink smoke made them all gag and cough. The choked on their own tongues and scraped their faces off due to the burning of the poison, before you knew it, all six of the people in the lo library were dead.

At dawn, Denny emerges from the house into the cool, crisp morning air where he is greeted by the lawyer and Mr. Wright who were waiting with a cup of coffee and a scone for Denny.

Denny took the coffee and scone willingly and began to chew the Danish.

"Congratulations Mr. Papel." Mr. Wright might began. "Can we ask how you did it?"

Denny swallowed hard, took a swig of the coffee, and cleared his throat.

"Simple." Denny replied. "Her diary said that the end of her whiny entitled family would be the reason her soul is set free. So I eliminated all of her whiny entitled family."

All three of them laughed as Mr. Wright and the lawyer walked away and Denny turned back to his glorious new home and went back inside closing the door behind him.