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Danny checked his wristwatch. It was almost 8 am. He couldn't afford to go late to work like he'd been doing the past few days as his mother's fever got worse. Good thing her temperature was normal that morning. He pressed the cold face towel gently to her forehead and pulled up the blanket to her neck area.
"Maa. I have to go. You gonna be okay?" He whispered so as not to startle her. She blinked her eyes open and smiled.
"I'll be fine. I wish you'd go to school and not have to work so hard."
He should be in college but their survival depended on one of them working so he used his high school diploma to get a job at a construction site.
"I do this for both of us. Sleep now. I'll be back in the evening…," he was saying when he heard a loud knock on the door. Who could that be? He opened the door. A tall man dressed in an expensive black suit with a leather case stood before him.
"Mr Lugo?" The man asked.
Danny nodded. "Yes. Who are you?"
"Nathan Preston of Preston & Goodman law firm. May I come?"
Danny furrowed his brows but opened the door wider to let the stranger in. The things Nathan Preston said within ten minutes of his presence in Danny's house changed his life forever.
Danny helped his frail mother out of the car and they both stood, admiring the old mansion.
"Oh dear. This building is quite old. And all these thick thorns?" She turned to glance at her son and the look on his face made her shake her head. "Danny? Don't sell the house short. Your grandpa knew what he was doing when he willed it to you."
"But maa, look at it. It's so old. No one has lived in this house for decades. Is it even worth anything in the market?"
She gazed at him for a long moment. "You want to sell your inheritance?"
He combed his fingers through his ebony hair in confusion. "I don't know. I'm just saying."
"Okay. Let's go in first and look at it. If you still don't like it, then sell it."
The way his mother said those words made him feel like he was an ungrateful child. Those were the words the other Cokers whispered to his face at the family meeting. But he was not.
A slender, middle-aged woman, regally dressed, eyed him with a smirk on her face. The others looked at him like he was just picked up from the streets. Danny smoothed down his Sunday suit and sat in a corner in the beautifully decorated living room.
Nathan Preston had insisted that his presence at the family meeting following the funeral of his grandfather, Aaron Coker, was non-negotiable. The old man's will had stated so.
As Nathan Preston read Aaron Coker's last will, the three sons, one daughter and six grandsons of the old man became agitated. Some paced the room while others gave Danny a murderous look. Aaron Coker had willed his Haddington Mansion to Danny while he left crumbs to the children.
"Are you sure he's Uncle James' son?"
"Who knows? Ever since father disowned James, nobody knew anything else about him…"
"Apparently, the old man kept in touch with him…"
Danny stood, having heard enough, signed some documents and collected the key to the mansion from Nathan.
Danny and his mother looked through the mansion, room by room. In the study that looked like a library filled with old books neatly arranged on many shelves, there was a letter addressed to him.
Aaron Coker left his treasures and riches to the grandson after his heart. And they were hidden right in the old mansion. Danny held his mother so tight she could barely breathe.
"I can't believe it, maa." He whispered.
His mother smiled. "Now you can go back to college."
Describe what you see
I see an old mansion. The state of abandonment is obvious from the dry twigs, branches and trees surrounding it.
Describe what you feel
I feel the mansion belonged to someone old and it was abandoned so it could be passed on to someone else.
This is my entry to the A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words. To participate, click on the link.
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