Temporary Title

Chapter One: An Unexpected Outcome

     When my grandmother passed away all I expected was a small ceremony at the old chapel on the hill and for her to be laid to rest in the Rolling Meadows cemetery north of town. I had good reason to suspect this, as that's exactly what happened. It was a warm, sticky day in May. The cicadas were humming their own funeral dirge and even the trees seemed to sag under the emotional weight of that morning. As I stood beside the hole in the ground that was once a member of my family all I could think about was how anything would really change. My grandmother and I were not close, no one really was to her as she kept much to herself. In her last years of life she had gradually become more secluded, hardly ever leaving her house and never visiting anyone. However, losing a family member, even as estranged as she, is never easy. After the burial was a private reception at the Rural Electric Building in town where most events and gatherings such as this took place. After some time of reminiscing and chatting among ourselves my uncle stood up and addressed the entire family.
"I know we are all here today because of our love for my mother, and I thank everyone for being able to come and send her off. It means a lot," he said, not really looking at anyone in particular. My uncle was not good at public speaking.
"But I think we all know that now is the only chance we have as a group to go over some, uh, legal matters"
Now I was intrigued. Grandma had TONS of stuff. Mostly junk and clutter but who knows? I mean people make money off old crap all the time. I seriously doubted I would get anything from her though and soon after my uncle started reading the will I stopped listening completely.
About 3/4 of the way through my aunts side of the family began murmuring among themselves. They had deliberately made an effort to push my grandmother into signing some of her stuff to them after she passed. She wasn't starting to become ill until a couple months ago yet by then they already owned half her furniture. As soon as she was in the hospital those last few weeks they went through and put color coded stickers on everything. What they (and the rest of us) were shocked to discover was that my grandmother did not keep her promise and in fact wanted most of her furniture to be donated or thrown away. They began to become angry, claiming my uncle, who was starting to get very agitated, was making it all up.
"We were closest to her! We are most deserving! No one else went to see her everyday while she was dying in the hospital." (Yeah okay..)
"Who gets the House then?"
We all stopped bickering and looked at each other. The House had slipped our minds completely while my cousins argued over who got her china cabinets and record player. My grandmother had lived practically all her life in a 100 year old Victorian estate. The house needed some TLC to say the least. The roof had gotten so bad there were leaks in some rooms and it had a creepy horror movie-esque basement. But I loved it. Oh boy did I love that house. No one in my family wanted to risk trying to fix it up only to discover it had more problems than the outside and outdated technology alone.
My uncle cleared his throat and looked further down the will where he read, "all my worldly possessions should go to those less fortunate or else be thrown away. As for the house, let it be given to my granddaughter Elizabeth to restore and fortify"
It was as if some dial controlling everyone's ability to laugh had been turned all the way to 100%. The room was booming with the jeers and sneering of my family members at my misfortune.
"You're better off tearing it down and starting again!"
"What a waste of time and expenses"
"That house should be burned for insurance money" they cackled. My mother put her hand on my shoulder.
"You don't have to accept it you know, just say you don't want to and we'll see about selling the land. We could use it to pay for your tuition," she said kindly.
As a soon to be college freshman I did need the money and the thought of taking on the project of remodeling seemed daunting. Still, something inside made me think I would regret not having it.
"Honestly Eliza, you should just sign it over to me," my cousin Ashley smirked.
I shot her a glare. "I'd rather sell it a pig farmer before giving it to you"
"Hmmph" she replied, sliding back into her seat.
After some other subjects were taken care of the meeting was adjourned and everyone started saying their goodbyes.
My uncle caught me just as I was about to leave and pulled me aside.
"Elizabeth, it is completely your decision.." he started. "But I know for a fact that if you don't take the House they will." Referring to my selfish relatives.
"I know it's not much but that house means so much to me and your mother too though she'd never say it. Please keep that in mind" he concluded before heading to his car and driving home.
In the end I decided to keep the house. For better or worse Grandma wanted me to have it and spiting my relatives, especially Ashley, was a guilty pleasure of mine. About a week after I signed all the papers, I received a letter in the mail from my uncle. Basically saying thanks for deciding to keep it and all that, what made me have a heart attack was the check for $10,000.