The Apple Orchard
by Jobe
Chapter 6
We dropped Tony off at the store, I gave him a quick kiss as he got out of the front passenger seat, grandfather took his place. The drive to Edgemont took us about 35 minutes. We dropped grandmother off at a department store. I gave her my list and credit card that dad told me to use. "If you see anything else we might need, go ahead and get it."
Giving grandmother a kiss on the cheek, grandfather and I drove to his friend's office. As it turned out his friend was a lawyer. He told us that Tony's grandparents will stipulated that their house was to be sold and half of the proceeds were to go to Tony. In addition there was a trust fund to pay for his college or when he reached the age of 21. "Grandfather, why wasn't Tony told this?"
"Evidently from the court records, his uncle told the court he'd inform Tony since he was in college. The court agreed."
"So what do we do now?"
"Simple, we get a court order to enforce the provisions of the will."
"How long will that take"
"It'll take," looking at his watch, "15 minutes. I have already spoken to the judge and now all we have to do is walk over to the court house."
Entering the judge's chambers, he recognized the lawyer. He took one look at the papers and the copy of the will, signed the enforcement papers and designated an officer of the court to accompany us. The lawyer called Tony's uncle, explained that he was Tony's lawyer and needed to discuss the provisions of Mr. and Mrs. Dante's will. The uncle claimed there wasn't a will and his dad told him everything was his.
The lawyer and the court officer went to the uncle's place of work and served the legal papers. He had 24 hours to comply with the provisions of the will. When Mr. Dante saw the certified will, the judge's court order, he agreed to turn over all of Tony's trust fund information; he allowed us to take Tony's personal belongings. We proceeded to his home, grandfather and I packed his clothes, books, and his computer. We told his uncle we'd be back on Sunday to get the rest of his belongings. The lawyer informed the uncle he had 1 week to list the house.
Once everything was packed into the trunk of the car and the guitar case was in the rear passenger seat, we went to get grandmother. We decided to eat at the café across from the store so we could inform Tony about the will. I parked the car next to the diner, I checked with Anna if Tony had been here. She looked at her watch, "He should be here in 15 minutes."
I showed my grandparents our booth and told them Tony would be here in 15 minutes. I told Anna I would ordered for Tony as well. "Tony is going to be very surprised when he hears what we accomplished today." I hoped he wouldn't cry.
As we were looking over the menu, someone tapped me on the shoulder. There was Tony with a big smile on his face. "Mr. Thomas said I could have the rest of the day off. But I have to work a full day tomorrow, eight till nine."
I just smiled as Anna came and took our order. Tony and I ordered the cheeseburger with fries, grandfather took the same and grandmother ordered the house salad. While we waited for our orders, I could tell Tony was anxious to hear about are trip.
Grandfather began to tell him about the will, trust fund and the house. As grandfather was telling him all of this, Tony's eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. I told him that we have all of his clothes, some of his books and his computer. He looked liked he wanted to ask a question, but I anticipated it, "Oh there's also this old guitar that I took." He then had a big smile, "It's in the back seat of the car." He got up and literally ran to the car. When he came back with the guitar, he opened the case, removed the guitar; under the guitar where several pictures. As he removed each picture he showed them to me and my grandparents. They were pictures of him with his parents and grandparents.
"I was so afraid I'd never see these photos again. They're the only thing I have left of my family." With tears in his eyes he thanked my grandparents and looking into my eyes, he kissed me. Anna started to clap and laughed.
"Now that you have your guitar, I'd like to hear a happy tune." Tony took the guitar, tuned it and started to play. He really was good, and when he started to sing, everyone in the café stopped to listen. Looking into my eyes, it seems he sang the song just for me. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek. All the guests in the café clapped.
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