The girl with the blue umbrella||✔

Nine

The funeral occurred a week after she had died. I attended but was in the background. I couldn't gather my thoughts together. Her death had hit me really hard.

A phone call pulled me out of my thoughts and I began to ponder over picking up the call. I let go to voicemail but my cellphone started to ring again. I checked the screen of my phone and saw that it was an unknown number. No unknown numbers call me so I decided to stop moping and picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"You're Martin Lancaster, aren't you?"

"Yes I am. May I ask who is speaking?"

"My Name is Lucinda Joseph. I was the daughter of Goldy Joseph your next door neighbor."

"Oh I have heard about you from Mrs Goldy."

"Oh Martin." She sighed, hearing the tone in which I spoke with. "Her death must have hit you really hard. It hit all of us hard but you, the hardest. You took care of our mother when none of her children could. You're more of her child than any of us ever were."

"Please don't say that. Yes, her death affected me, it still does, but I wasn't even with her before she had died." I said with a lump in my throat. I blamed myself for not being around. Perhaps if I had been around, she would still be alive.

"Don't blame yourself. I need to talk to you about something urgent. Could we meet up at that cafe five minutes away from your street? I'm already on my way there."

I hadn't left my house in a while and I had no intentions of leaving but the tone of her voice compelled me to say yes.

I walked down to the cafe with my head hung low. My dark hoodie, protecting my head from the sunlight. I knew that is wasn't healthy to remain indoors for all this time but it was way better than going out.

I got to the cafe Ten minutes after she had called. I was walking exceptionally slowly all because I kept wondering what she wanted to see me for.

Once I stepped into the cafe, I rose my head and searched for Lucinda. I have seen her picture in the family portrait that Mrs Goldy hung in her hallway, so it wouldn't be too hard to recognize her. I looked around and spotted her Golden locks that looked just like Mrs Goldy's. She was talking to a small girl that looked like the smaller version of her, who was tugging on her sleeve. There was no doubt that she was Lucinda's daughter.

"Evelyn, you have to be patient. We'd get some ice cream after I'm done here okay?" I heard her say to her daughter as I approached the table where they were.

"Excuse me." Once I said that, both of them's attention turned towards me. "Are you Mrs Lucinda?"

"That's you mummy." The little girl tugged on her mother's sleeve harder.

"Call me Lucy. Please take a seat." She said and I sat with them.

"I'm Martin. You called me to meet you here."

"Oh I know about that Martin. How are you holding up?"

"I've been better."

"I can only imagine her painful her death must have been for you. Did you know Goldy isn't even her real name?" She had a sad smile on her face when I didn't respond. "Of course you didn't. She didn't want anyone to know that. She always hated her name. Everyone called her Goldilocks instead because of how gold her hair was. That only motivated her to legally change her name to Goldy."

"Not to be rude but is there any reason you're telling me this?"

"The day my mother told my siblings and I about this, was the day my father had died. He was the first to call her Goldilocks. That day, we all realized how little we knew about her. You'd expect children to get closer to their parents but we ended up drifting apart. I mean look at me. I live in the same town as my mother used to and not once did I visit. If only I could turn back time..." She spaced out for a while before she continued. "My gratitude towards you for taking care of my mother knows no bounds. Before she died she left a will which says 'After all the property I own is distributed, Martin Lancaster is to receive $100,000.' And to be honest I totally agree with her."

My ears perked up when I heard the the will. "What? Why? How did she even get that much money?" My thoughts were all over the place.

"My mother was a lot of things but she was not poor. She only decided to lay low after retiring. She had decided to give you this because it was the least she could do. I found out about your financial situation and your mother's condition too. The only reason why she hasn't gotten better is because you can't earn enough to pay for the right treatments for her. You need this."

She was right. That money could help me in ways I could only imagine. The thoughts of having that much money was intoxicating and scary at the same time. There was only so much I could do as a high schooler with multiple jobs. The thoughts of having my mother back ran filled my head and there was no room for modesty anymore. I am human after all.

"I'll accept it. Thank you so much. This has helped me in ways that no one else could imagine. I wish I could thank Mrs Goldy myself. But she's gone now and there's nothing I could do about it."

"You being with her through her last days on this earth is more than enough thanks. None of this was your fault okay. You don't need to carry such a heavy burden, you're still a teenager. Live your life okay. They money will be sent by tomorrow. I'll be leaving now. Stay safe." She touches my shoulder and went with her daughter.

While walking back home I couldn't help but thinks about the outcome of today's meeting. Everyone in life experiences ups and downs. I could only hope that this was the last time I would ever experience any downs.

•••••
Thoughts?

Although this book is a work of fiction, I try as much as possible to make this have a realistic setting. Things like these actually happen in real life, so, Martin's reactions towards things like these should be understandable.

Ayeesha 🌴