My journal for my kittens by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

The new normal

With that settled, I contacted the lawyer an asked for a meeting in his office. Then I drove to his office. I was tempted to drive the Rambler but decided that it would be more of a memorial to him. I will drive it only after I make a show of searching for one. The lawyer already knew what I was here for. We sat down in his office. “So how much material would you like me to liquidate?” he asks. I tell him that I would like to buy a house somewhere but not in this town. Grandfather Able mentioned accounts from businesses I own. I’m sure that he had you setup a living account. I would like you to set up a personal account for me, like a five figure salary. He laughs. “You already have that. Your grandfather had us setup funds.” He hands me a credit card. “This is an unlimited credit card. The bill comes directly to this office. You use this and your purchases are covered over. This other card you will use for your day to day expenses. That bill also will be handled by us.” We talk over many things that I have a concern about and I am now comfortable with our relationship.

“I do not know whether grandfather did this.” I pull out the bag and drop a bar of gold on his desk. “Please accept this as a show of my appreciation. Treat your people to a nice bonus. I will be looking for a house on the way back to where I am staying. I trust that all I need is to have the realtor contact you and you will handle the transfer and mortgage.” He happily tells me that we are going to have a good relationship. Around halfway between my hometown and where the hide is, I stop at a local inn for the night. It is my intention to visit a local realtor in the morning. The lawyer recommended that I look at a fixer upper. They are a good tax deduction. The realtor was not hard to find. A well kept office was almost next door to the inn so in the morning I walked over to it.

A very nice woman greets me and we sit down. “What can we help you with today?” She asks is an almost rehearsed greeting. She knows her stuff. She is nicely dressed but is not overly decorated. The usual modest jewelry and not a strong scent. The office décor is mid to upper range.

I can tell that this is all planned as to not scare off people thinking that her houses were too expensive.

“I am looking for a place somewhere around here. First is a lot of acreage like a farm although I do not intend on farming. The house can be a fixer. Not because of the price but I will want to do some remodeling and upgrades. Finally a few out buildings. I want to make a work shop and a barn that I can make into a car garage.” She is almost salivating but pulls herself back from the edge. She opens her computer file and types in my requirements. Now on the monitor she has a few places to show me. “We have not discussed your price range so I will just show you what I have.” She only has a few that meet my requirements. The display, I can tell is from the least expensive to the most. The first ones barely fit what I want but after going through all she had, I asked her about one that was towards the upper range. “Would it be possible to see this one today?”

She makes a call and tells me that it still is occupied by the owners. It has not been staged.

“All the better. This way I can see it in use, not as a showroom. I am a simple man who can see a home not a house. Can we go now?”

She is a little confused but she drives there.

I immediately see that this family is struggling. This could be a passed down family farm but it no longer is working for whatever reason. It could use some paint and other things but the owners are making sure that the lights stay on and the children have something to eat.

We go through all the buildings. It has all I need. I do make note of a family cemetery on the land. The realtor wants to go back to the office but I say that I want to sit with the owners and discuss my offer. She seems like I am going to disgrace the family by low balling them but I am the client.

We all sit. “I want this property and would like to enter a contract today. You are asking for seven hundred and fifty thousand for it. If you agree and sign right now, I offer you a mil five, sixty days to find another home. I will pay all closing costs and the realtors fee. I am preapproved and will close within a week. The sixty days starts after I close. You can take or leave anything that is here that is not building related.” They, along with the realtor are stunned silent. I take out my flask of water, ask for four glasses. “Only water” I tell them. They watch as I pour four tumblers full out of a small flask. I have them point to a glass and I drink out of it. They almost have brain freeze on how cold it is.

As they are looking at me like I’m the devil himself. I drop to a serious level. “I am a man, whose grandfather left him a good fortune with the instructions to pass it around. This flask is one of his inventions. I really want this farm as my home, not my house. Being blunt, my offer is not charity. With what I intend to do, this place will be worth what I am offering. I will tell you that the character of this place will be kept. Fixed up but kept. I intend to get married and raise my family here.

Your cemetery will be enclosed with a nice stone wall and large enough for your family to be buried there when your time comes. That will be put into the deed. How does this sound. I will go outside and you talk with your realtor.” I tell the realtor to write the contract up and email it to my lawyer after we sign it. Include account information for both of you.

I get up and walk around the yard for a while. One of the children comes out and gets me.

The realtor still looks puzzled. “I called the lawyer to check on you. He said that you were indeed preapproved. As soon as he gets the contract, he will review and have it closed by the end of the day. Who are you?”

They agreed with my terms. I sign the contract after making sure that all the stipulations are there, especially in regards to the cemetery. Then they sign. The realtor emails the contract to the lawyer. I ask them if we could wait for a bit. Soon both their phones are ringing. Both need a change of clothes. Both have received notice that the money is in their accounts. The place Is mine. “In the sixty days, I will be having contractors coming out to get me estimates.” They all are very happy. The family tells me that they can now breathe. I know of the businesses I own. Believe it or not, I own a large farm equipment sales and service store.

While I am still there, I call the lawyer. In minutes the families phone rings again and the person asks for the father. He is looking at me as I just smile. I hear him say that he would be there in the morning.

“I saw how well you took care of your equipment. I did not think that you would mind a recommendation. After all, I do own that business. See you in the morning.” While the realtor gives me a ride back, I tell her that she is to find them a good home and a good price in the town where he will be working. Again I will pay her fee.

In less than the sixty days, they have moved, the house is empty with the farm equipment still here. I got an idea. Before I started to have the crews come and start the renovations, I ask the gods if the Junkman could come here to see the machines that are left.

Jacob and Vanessa open what I was told is a door. I had sent them the GPS location of the farm.

Jacob looked like a kid in a candy shop. Vannessa told me of his old pickup truck and his love of old machines. I told the both that they could take it all. Now his crew is taking every piece. I do notice that the same tiger striped felid is here. She is a very nice looking woman.

Jacob says, “This old stuff is exactly what the goblin worlds need. Most of this is the horse drawn items. That will go far with their keeping the worlds pristine. Even the tractors can be converted from fuel. But I must tell you that some of the elders get carried away with these types of things. They love our motor vehicles.”

“At least,” I tell him, “tractors are slow.”

They take everything that is not nailed down. They do tell me that the goblin world thanks me for the things they were given. I was told that someday, they would like to welcome me. Jacob gives me the coordinates.

Maybe someday but I still have not made my first jump.

Side effects The house and out building activity has drawn attention. My parents insist on seeing what I bought. I try to tell them to wait until I finish but my mother insisted. They just showed up.

My mother always needed to change things. She would come up with an idea and my father would just pull out his spike nails. That was always a joke with us children. He did not use anything but large nails. Built to last.

I have hired people to do the remodeling but I want the original character to come through on all the buildings. Then she showed up. Luckly, I did instruct the work crews that all, I repeat all changes come through me. That includes the colors. She is my mother and I love her but when I would do some work at home, She and I would clash. She would sit there and tell me how I should do something, even though she has no training.

I was surprised. She held back. I could tell that she wanted to say things but I do think that my father had a talk with her. All I heard was “I know that this is your house but if it was mine,”

An idea came to me. A solution to both our problems. “Mom, you can see the direction I am taking this house in. How about I give you a budget and have you furnish the formal parlor. It must be in the period of a farm house not a town green mansion parlor.” My father showed a sign of relief. I gave her a debit card with ten grand on it. She needed to measure and plan. Luckily this kept her occupied until the room was ready for her.

I did not forget my father. My work shop was his to finish out. The structure was sound but needed to be rewired, insolated and heated. Then he had everything delivered. It was a joy to see him so lively. He and I put everything in place. Soon everything was finished. I topped it off when they were here supervising. My mom cried as I pulled in with the Rambler. “I found this online and it was already rebuilt.” I opened the trunk and took out a few rusted parts.

“I can make something good out of it.” Then I made his signature throat clearing noise. Those were the words he always said. I was happy for that day. They stayed overnight and went home. A tractor trailer ran a full red light after my parents were in the intersection. They both dies instantly. They were buried in their home town. My siblings started to talk.

“I should have had them stay. They were too old to be traveling, I should have hired someone.” All in all, it was my fault that they died. When the will was being read, they started on me. I stood up and told them all to go to hell. I told my parents lawyer that I want each to sign a document that they divorce me and then they can split my portion. They were very eager to do that.

The only thing is that they tried to contest my grandfather’s gift to me. My lawyer took each to court and I won. They had to pay my lawyer and court cost. All because my lawyer was my grandfather’s lawyer and my mother signed that she would not contest my gift. Grandfather could see the future implications. It makes my future less complicated. Now I am truly independent. Little did they know that all their wealth, both earned and inherited, Did not even match what I had and what I already gave away. I now need to contact the gods of all. I want to start my travels but want their guidance.