“I’ve thought of nothing else since Friday afternoon,” the judge continued. “Seth’s will was a desperate, last-minute attempt to correct a horrible injustice. By leaving so much to your mother, he was in reality trying to make amends to your great-grandfather and to all the Rinds families. Do you agree?”
Agree, damn it, Portia, agree. Jake had been here a hundred times. When he asks, “Do you agree?” he’s already assuming that you agree enthusiastically.
“Yes sir,” she said.
He took a sip of coffee, and Jake wondered if he drank the same wretched brew every morning. Judge Atlee said, “I’m wondering, Portia, at this point, what does your mother really want? It would be helpful to know that. I’m sure she’s told you. Can you share this with us?”
“Sure, Judge. My mother doesn’t want a lot, and she has reservations about getting all that money. For lack of a better term, it’s white folks’ money. It doesn’t really belong to us. My mom would like to have the land, the eighty acres, and she’d like to build a house on it, a nice house but not a mansion. She’s seen some nice houses but she’s always known she’d never have one. Now, for the first time in her life, she can dream of having a beautiful home, one she can clean for herself. She wants plenty of room for her kids and grandkids. She’ll never marry again, although there are a few buzzards circling. She wants to get away and to live way out there in the country where it’s peaceful and nobody will bother her. She didn’t go to church this morning, Judge, she hasn’t been in a month. Everybody’s got their hand out. My mother just wants to be left alone.”
“Surely she wants more than a house and eighty acres,” Jake said.
“Well, who doesn’t want some money in the bank? She’s tired of cleaning houses.”
“How much money?” Judge Atlee asked.
“We didn’t get that far. In the past six months, she’s never sat around and thought, ‘Okay, I’ll take five million and I’ll give each kid one million and so on.’ That’s not my mother, okay? She doesn’t think in those terms. It’s just so far beyond her.” She paused for a second, then asked, “How would you divide the money, Judge?”
“I’m glad you asked. Here’s my plan. The bulk of the money should go into a fund for the benefit of your blood relatives, not a cash giveaway that would turn into a feeding frenzy, but a foundation of sorts that would be used solely for education. Who knows how many Rindses are out there, though I’m sure we would quickly find out. The foundation would be tightly controlled by a trustee who would report to me. The money would be invested wisely and spread over, say, twenty years, and during that time it would be used to help as many students as possible. It must be limited to a sole purpose, and education is the most likely. If it’s not limited, then there would be a thousand requests for everything from health care to groceries to housing to new cars. The money is not guaranteed, but must be earned. A blood relative who studies hard and gets admitted to college will qualify for funding.”
“How would you split the money?” Jake asked. Portia was smiling.
“In broad strokes, I suggest this: Let’s work with the figure of twelve million. We know that’s a moving target but it’ll be close. Fund the bequests to Ancil and the church at half a million each. Down to eleven. Take five million of that and place it in the trust fund I just described. That’s a lot of tuition, but then we can anticipate a lot of kinfolks, both old and new.”
“They’re still arriving by the carload,” Portia said.
Judge Atlee continued, “That leaves six million. Split it equally among Lettie, Herschel, and Ramona. Of course, Lettie gets the eighty acres that was once owned by her grandfather.”
Jake took a deep breath as the numbers rattled around. He looked across the table and said, “Lettie’s the key, Portia.”
Portia, still smiling, said, “She’ll take it. She gets a nice house and a nice cushion, yet she won’t be hassled by a fortune everybody wants a piece of. She told me last night the money belonged to all of Sylvester’s people, not just her. She wants to be happy and she wants to be left alone. This will make her very happy.”
“How do you sell it to the rest of them?” Jake asked.
“I assume Herschel and Ramona will be thrilled. Who knows about Ancil and the church. Keep in mind, Jake, that I still control the estate, and I will for as long as I so choose. Not a dime can ever be distributed without my approval, and there is no deadline to close an estate. I’m sure no one has ever called me a jackass behind my back, but if I want to be one I can sit on Seth’s money for the next ten years. As long as the assets are protected, I can keep them bottled up as tightly as I wish.”
He had slipped into his Chancellor’s tone, one that left little doubt Judge Reuben V. Atlee was about to get his way. He continued, “Indeed, it may be necessary to keep the estate open indefinitely to administer the education trust we’re talking about.”
“Who will run the trust?” Jake asked.
“I was thinking about you.”
Jake flinched, then almost fled at the thought of dealing with dozens, maybe hundreds of eager students clamoring for money.