Chapter 25 - THE LAST ACCOUNT
The estate finally closed fourteen months after the first Christmas.
Independent administrator issued final accounting.
Dad’s assets.
Taxes.
Debts.
Business interest.
Corrected advances.
Executor-fee adjustments.
My valid forty-thousand-dollar loan balance deducted.
No pretending I owed nothing.
My brother’s legitimate company loan handled separately.
Final estate distributions made equally according to will after adjustments.
The numbers were not glamorous.
They were correct.
My brother signed.
I signed.
Naomi looked at me.
“Read it.”
“I did.”
“Every page?”
“Yes.”
Growth.
I signed.
The estate closed.
No secret account remaining.
No hidden second will.
No mysterious property in Europe.
Dad’s affairs were finally done.
The brass key had one last administrative status.
Property of estate?
Dad hid it in Romy’s horse.
The estate administrator concluded it had negligible value and could remain with me after documenting the cabinet had been cleared.
I asked Romy:
“Want the key?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Doesn’t open anything.”
Correct.
I put it in a small envelope with the estate papers.
Not a necklace.
May you like
Not a shrine.
A key that had finished its job.
