When Amy’s grandfather leaves half of his money to his feuding neighbor, in his will — the family is left utterly confused. But when a letter reveals the truth, the family cannot help but realize that their grandfather came with more surprises than they ever thought possible. What will happen next?
I never truly grasped why my grandfather held onto grudges, particularly his relentless feud with our neighbor, John.
As far as I could remember, my grandfather and John were constantly engaged in bitter disputes over the most trivial things — especially over their exquisitely maintained gardens.
My mother and I loved flowers, and my grandfather had taken it upon himself to make sure that our garden bloomed them.
“Amy,” he said to me one afternoon as we dug into freshly baked cookies, “For as long as I can still garden, you and your mom will have fresh flowers.”
And even then, the rivalry with John was something else that I knew throughout my childhood. It was the stuff of local folklore, characterized by endless petty complaints and cunning acts of sabotage that everyone in town knew about.
For the past few months, my grandfather’s health had been on a steady decline. He went for blood tests and other general health check-ups regularly.
After my grandmother had died of a sudden heart attack a few years ago, my grandfather began to take his health seriously, including adding vitamins and supplements to his breakfast routine.
“I don’t have an illness, or anything,” he said one evening during dinner. “It’s just old age finally catching up to me.”
Eventually, my grandfather passed away.
Now, it’s been a few months and my grandfather’s will was about to be read. My parents and I were sitting in our family lawyer’s office, waiting for him to reveal my grandfather’s final wishes.
My mother sat teary-eyed, unable to believe that my grandfather was no longer around. But at the end of the day, we were grateful that he had a peaceful death, and a beautiful funeral, highlighting his life.
The lawyer began to read through the will, talking about the things that my grandfather had left to each of us. My mother got his antique furniture, my father got his tie and bow tie collection, and I got a portion of my grandfather’s money.
“What about the rest?” my mother asked. “The rest of Dad’s money was supposed to be for your studies, Amy.”
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