Very Short Story: The Springturn Inheritance

Felicity walked into the office, fabulous and confident like always.  Elaine was expecting her sister, but not the two lawyers who were with her.  Even though this was Elaine´s office, Felicity took over, motioning the lawyers to wait and leading the way into the conference room.  

Felicity got right to business.  ¨Aunt Matilda died.  That means that you are the new Duchess of Springturn.¨  Felicity pushed a black ribbon across the table.  She paused for a moment to run her finger over the gold embroidery of the Springturn crest.  “Aunt Matilda loved Springturn.”

Elaine knew she was supposed to te the ribbon on her arm, or have Felicity do it for her, but she hesitated.  She looked up instead at the map of the world peppered with red dots for every office of her company.  Springturn was a blank spot on the map, with not a single dot.  Elaine worked in the capital of the country, a country in which Springturn was a border state with nothing going on besides agriculture and immigration problems.  All she could imagine of her future there were chaotic meetings with unprofessional people shouting at her about immigrants having rights (or not) and about people cheating on livestock subsidies.  She had seen it on TV.  Aunt Matilda was unruffled.  Elaine held her arm out to Felicity to tie on the ribbon.  “Wow,” she said.  “I don’t know what to say.  What happens now?”

Felicity spelled it out.  “The lawyers are here to do their thing.  The funeral is the day after tomorrow.  We should go now, but, I guess you probably have stuff to do here.  You should make a statement…. What’s the matter?  Do you want me to write it for you?… Then you will need to be in Springville to ‘receive condolences.’  Then you will need to go out and meet people, like a tour…. Don’t look so horrified!  People will love you.  You are so organized.  You are going to be an amazing Duchess.  Did you see Aunt Matilda’s new office?  It is much nicer than here, with a view of the lake and the countryside.  You can even see Mt. Beetle on a clear day.”

Elaine pulled Felicity into a hug, mostly to hide her emotions, which were running along the lines of, ‘over my dead body will Mt. Beetle be visible on a clear day.’  She told Felicity she was feeling overwhelmed and would Felicity please send in the lawyers.  She needed to talk to them alone.

She sat them down opposite her after the handshakes and condolences and said, “Sell it.  Sell the title.  Sell the property.”