Danny part 2
Danni woke up as the alarm went off and rolled over in the massive bed, the grey satin nightie flowing over the curves of her body. She sighed, slid out of bed and stretched. She padded to the bathroom, discarding the nightie on the bed, and dropping her panties in the washbasket. She showered, using mens shower gel and deoderant and dressed in boxers, jeans and a T shirt before going downstairs. He made himself some toast and coffee, glancing at the clock. His appointment with the solicitor was for 2 o’clock, it was now only 10. He looked out the window, the garden ran down to a hedge at the bottom with a gate, the gate led onto a meadow beside the stream, he could see a tractor moving up the field, cut grass spinning up behind it. As the tractor turned at the end of the field he could see that the driver was wearing a flat cap, but was shirtless, his muscles clearly defined in the morning light. He felt a stirring in his jeans, turned away from the window sat at the table to finish his coffee.
He was startled by a knock at the back door. He opened the door. A stocky, muscled older man stood there, and Danny realized with a shock this was the tractor driver. The man grinned “ don’t remember me do you?” he asked. Danny shook his head and the man held out his gnarled and calloused hand “ Ben Marsh” he announced and the cogs in Danny’s brain clicked into place “oh of course” he nodded “Jen and Tom’s father” he added. Ben looked at him, then asked if Danny had a few moments. Danny nodded “I have just made coffee, can I get you one?” he offered but Ben declined. “Thing is” He began “ that land there” and he waved at the meadow “ your Auntie owned it, now I suppose it’s yours?” .
Danny paused “I don’t know” he shrugged his shoulders “I am meeting with the solicitors this afternoon, I don’t know if I have been left anything!”. Ben frowned “see if you own it I would love to buy it, will give you a good price mind”. Danny sighed “ until I know whats happening I cant say “ he took a deep breath “ it took most of my money just getting back from China, I am not even sure I should be in the house” he explained. Ben grunted, made Danny promise he would let him know about the land and left. As he climbed up into the tractor, Danny saw the broad sweep of his shoulders, muscles in his arms and his powerful legs.
Danny reluctantly turned back to the kitchen and washed the dishes and cleaned up the breakfast things. He walked out the front door and locked it before opening the door of the bright red mini and fastening the seat belt. He started the engine and tuned the radio to a local station. The first song on the radio was “Lola” and he smiled to himself as he drove, singing to the music “walked like a woman but talked like a man”. After a few minutes he drove into the village and parked in the car park behind the main street. He opened the door and looked around, the village was busier than yesterday, there were more people around and he looked down the main street, noting what had changed since the last time he was there. As he walked through the alleyway to the main street, he noticed a man sat by the entrance, sitting on a tattered blanket with a paper cup at his feet. His beard was greasy and matted, his clothes dusty and worn and he asked “got any change sir” as Danny walked past. Danny reached into his pockets and looked at the man “sorry mate” he sighed and walked towards the cash machine. He inserted his card, input his number and tried to with draw cash but it refused as he thought it would. He got a balance, noting that even if he did have a place to live, he was broke! He looked at his phone, he was ten minutes early but he quickly located the solicitors offices above a shop and went up the stairs to the reception.
A woman in her thirties sat at a computer and looked up as he walked in “Mr Adams” she nodded, “please take a seat, Mr Barker will see you in a minute”. He sat on a plastic chair but no sooner than he had sat down the door to his right opened. A tall, lithe man in a dark grey business suit looked at him “ Mr Adams?” he held out his hand and Danny rose and shook hands “please come in” and he waved Danny into his office. The office was small, a desk three chairs and walls lined with books. “I am Peter Barker, your late Aunts legal representative and executor of her estate” he explained. “Before we start I do need to go through some formalities, do you have a driving license and passport?”. Danny nodded and laid them on the desk. Barker picked them up “if you don’t mind I would like to photocopy these?” he asked. Danny nodded and he opened the door, spoke a few words to the receptionist and minutes later he returned the documents to Danny. As he did the woman came into the room. Danny looked at her, noting that she was wearing a smart summer dress that fell to her knees, white ballet flat shoes and as she sat down he caught a brief sniff of perfume. She sat down, smoothing her dress as she did so and crossed her legs. Danny noticed her manicured nails, the carefully applied makeup and the smart hairstyle. Barker nodded, “this is my wife Ellen, if you don’t mind I think it would be useful for her to be here, she assisted your Auntie in financial matters”. Danny nodded “fine, I don’t mind”.
Barker produced a brown folder and slid a piece of paper from the folder. “Firstly” he said “ can I express my condolences at your aunts passing, she was a wonderful woman and respected by many”. He continued “your aunt left strict conditions attached to her will, and I have to ask you to abide by those conditions if you are to benefit from the estate”. Danny looked at him, puzzled “what conditions” he shrugged “ as far as I know there is only the house and the land” he explained. The two exchanged a look and Peter continued “ there is more, but you have to agree to the conditions before I can tell you what the estate consist of”. Danny ran his hands through his hair “ what are the conditions?”.
Peter nodded, “the first is simple, you are not to sell or demolish the house whilst you are still alive, do you agree to that?” , Danny thought for a moment “what if I cant afford to live there though?” he asked. Peter exchanged a look with his wife and she spoke for the first time “I don’t think that will be an issue” she smiled as she said it. They looked at him expectantly and he nodded “ok, I agree”. Peter smiled, “the second condition is that you must donate 10% of all your annual profits to local charities and to help the village, do you agree?”. Danny looked at the two, how could he agree when he had no job, no income and no way of knowing what money he could spare? He then remembered his Aunties words “sometimes you have to have faith in God and people”. He nodded “ok, I agree to that” he sat back in the chair wondering what was to come next. Peter nodded “that brings me to the third condition” he took a deep breath and began to read from the paper “you must agree that the properties at Riverside Court are let under the same rules they have been let, with no increase in rent other than the minimal annual increase, and that you will ensure they are maintained to a very high standard”. Peter looked at him expectantly as Danny tried to grasp what had been said “hang on, what properties!” he rubbed his eyes “ are you telling me Auntie owned those flats?” . Ellen nodded “she had them built and they are managed through a letting agent, but that is public record and that’s all we can say”. Danny’s mind was spinning, he nodded “ok, I suppose the letting agent does all the work, and there must be a small profit there somewhere. Ok I agree to that”.
Peter seemed to visibly relax, he pushed the piece of paper across the table and nodded at Ellen. She left the room to come back seconds later with two women who were wearing aprons. She explained that the ladies worked in the shop below, and were there to witness his signature on the agreement. He signed the paper and the two ladies signed and left. Peter looked at him “ I am glad you agreed to the conditions, had you not agreed your auntie made alternative arrangements but you would not have been anywhere as well off, you would have had a house, and a small annual gratuity, but not what you are in line for now. Danny looked at him “ what am I getting then?” he asked.
The two smiled. Ellen pulled a sheet of paper from a file “you get the house, and the land as well as ownership of the properties at Riverside court” she handed him a printout from the Land Registry. “I will fill in the paperwork for the details to be changed” she continued “ you also inherit the contents of your Aunties bank accounts, one current account and two savings accounts” and she handed him a printout “this is the current account as of this morning”. He looked at the document and ran his eye over the current balance. His eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped “fucking hell” he swore “ there’s over 100 grand in there!” he looked at her “sorry I swore but is this mine?”. She nodded “ that is just the current account, these are the savings accounts” and she handed him two other printouts. He glanced at them then looked up “this cant be right, this one has 500 thousand in it!” He looked at the second sheet “this has 1.5 million in!” . Ellen smiled indulgently “ look again, you missed a aero, the first is 5 million pounds the second 15 million pounds” she tapped the paper with a lacquered nail.
Danny felt like his head was about to explode. Peter looked at him “ would like you a minute to digest that whilst we make coffee?” he suggested. Danny nodded dumbly and the two left the room. He looked at the figures, remembering his aunties insistence on getting value for money when shopping, her attitude towards repairing rather than replacing and her refusal to spend more than was necessary. His parents had died when he was 11, victims of a car crash, he had gone to live with the only relative he had, she had provided for him, always the best clothes, shoes and school equipment. When other kids had bikes for Christmas, his was far more expensive than the others, when he needed a computer she bought the best, but he never knew how much wealth she had. There was a discrete knock at the door and Peter poked his head around “are you ok?” he asked.
Danny nodded” all this money, where did it come form, is it legitimate and are there no other relatives?” he babbled. Ellen laughed “ it came from you Uncles investments, he was a very successful stockbroker, when he died your Auntie took over, she was even better, investing in new technology and new firms, she had a talent for spotting investments that would take off, she made a lot of money investing in battery technology, long before electric cars became common”. Peter chipped in “ as for relatives, no as you know, there is no other family”. They explained the bulk of the money would be transferred to accounts in his name, they would handle all the paperwork and tax issues, but Ellen then asked him “ do you have any way of supporting yourself at present?”. He shook his head “ getting back from China and the fine took all I had” he stated “but if this money is coming to me I suppose I have to wait?”. She shook her head “your Auntie anticipated such a situation” she replied “ and gave us power of attorney and authority as executors to advance money to you”. He smiled “so you can sub me a few quid then” he laughed and she nodded “ give me you bank details” she quickly took his bank card and typed a few things into her laptop “there” she said, “can you check the transfer has gone through?”. He opened the banking app on his phone and logged in, his eyes widening as he registered the amount transferred “5 grand!” he muttered and said “what else do I have to do?”.
Peter and Ellen took him through the paperwork and it was an hour later that he looked up and they said that was it. Ellen shook her head “not quite Peter” she reminded him and he nodded, “there is one other thing” he sighed “your Auntie employed our services to look after her financial affairs and legal matters”. Danny could sense what was coming next as he continued “your Auntie was as sharp as a razor and knew her finances inside out, but when it came to tax and legal matters she trusted us to manage things on her behalf, we had monthly meetings to discuss things but that was really for her to be kept abreast of what we had done for her”. Danny nodded “ what was the arrangement, hourly billing or yearly fee or what?”. Peter nodded “ we billed her by the hour, but at a preferential rate she agreed on “ Danny thought for a second “this rate, is it agreeable now?” he asked and they nodded “good then we continue as we are, just me picking up the tab”. He saw the two of them visibly relax and Ellen said “thank you, a lot of people use us in the village because they trusted your Aunties judgement” and she smiled “ we look forward to working with you”. Peter looked at him “there is something your Auntie said, and she asked me to tell you to look at the owl” he shrugged his shoulders “ I hope it means something to you?”. Danny shook his head “no idea” he said mystified.
Danny walked out of their office and into the street, the same man was there in the alleyway, his cup held out. Danny walked the few yards to the nearest cashpoint and this time was able to draw cash. He peeled off £100 in £20 notes and walked back to the man. He rolled up the notes and pushed them into the cup, the man looked at him with astonishment as he did so. A young woman walking by said “ he’ll only buy drink or drugs with that” but the man stood up and shook his head “ I am not a druggie, nor an alcoholic” he said and held out his hand to Danny, showing a tattoo on his wrist of a name and a date. Danny shook his hand and noted how firm the mans grip was and how piercing his gaze was. “I don’t know what happened to you” he muttered “but if you ever need help tell the solicitors to get in touch with me”, and he turned and walked down the street.
As he walked back to the car the full impact of what had happened was just filtering into his brain, his Auntie had not only left him a house but enough money to mean he could live really well for the rest of his life. He drove home and walked into the house, as he did so he dropped the car keys into the decorative bowl in the hallway and with a start realized it was in the shape of an owl. Intrigued he lifted it to find a small key taped to the underside, with a tag, written on the tag was “The Fighting Temeraire”. He smiled, hanging in her office was a large reproduction painting by Turner and she had explained It many times. He walked into the office and for the first time realized the painting was hinged, and behind it was a small safe. The key opened the safe and inside he found a brown envelope and a small white envelope with his name on it in his Aunties beautiful cursive script. He sat down at the desk and opened the brown envelope, finding it full of cash, he counted £5000 in all. He then opened the other envelope and read:
“My dearest Danny, if you are reading this I have gone to meet my maker and all material things mean nothing. I hope you will approve of the way I have asked you to step up and carry on my work, helping those who cannot help themselves. By now you will have realized I have put my faith in you to carry on my work that I have done, and I am sure you will do that in a way to make me proud. All the money and the houses in the world mean nothing if you do not use those things for good in this world. My hope is that you will find purpose and meaning in the life, and lead a happy and contented existence.
That brings me to my final wish, I have left you with the means to live the life you wish, unfettered by traditional roles and expectations. I know you dress as a girl, if that is how you wish to live your life then I wish we could have discussed that, I do not care what clothes you wear, who you sleep with or what you do in the bedroom, I love you like the child I never had. Be honest with yourself and those who you love, be the person you feel you should be.
Yours in love and faith, Emily.
By the time he had finished reading the tears were streaming down his face and he sat down on the floor of the hallway. His grief and sorrow broke like a dam and he did not hear the footsteps behind him until a strong arm lifted him to his feet and someone engulfed him in a warm bear hug as he sobbed into their chest.
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