Chapter Twelve: One Road Ends, Another Continues

One day, for some odd reason, she got dressed up like she was going somewhere. I didn't know why at first. I gave her the protein shake that I had learned to make palatable for her for lunch: milk, ice, protein mix, a little bit of chocolate syrup with a dash of vanilla extract, a half a banana , sweet and low and a half of a multi-vitamin pill blended in for an extra healthy supplement. She seemed pretty happy with it and thanked me. I said "no problem" and went to the back of the house to take a nap in a reclining chair. I woke up a couple hours later and peeked through the kitchen door and into the living room to check up on her. She looked like she had dozed off. I went back to the reclining chair and watched several episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants. About an hour later I peeked once again to check her status. She was frozen in the same position. I walked over to her and called "grandma!". There was no response. I got closer. She wasn't breathing, and her cheek was cool to the touch. She had died, dressed in her Sunday best, an add for holiday fruitcakes in her lap, seated in her favorite chair in the house that she had lived in for almost 50 years. I had kept my promise to my grandpa.

Hardly anyone showed up to the funeral. My aunt and her banker husband gave me three days to leave the house; I had been staying there to answer calls from relatives and keep the house clean for the wake. My grandmother appointed my aunts husband executor of her will, which had been altered to his specifications with her approval. The sale of the house probably netted over 400,000 dollars. My father got 30,000 dollars, and I got 10,000 dollars. The rest of the money went to the bankers family. I didn't mind, I had long anticipated the money grab. My parents were seething. They never wanted to talk to my fathers sister again. They felt betrayed. Oh well, I thought, when it comes to greed there always has to be winners and losers.

I took the money and started to use a good portion of it to fix my broken down car. The smart move would've been to sell my car for anything I could get for it and buy a used car that was in better shape. But my grandpa had given me that car and I couldn't bear parting with it. I ended up spending nearly half the money on repairs [tune-up, tires, shocks and struts, drive shafts, rack and pinion-man I was stupid]. The rest of the money was spent on a cell phone, hotels, food, and a job finding excursion into the desert that ended up fruitless. With a small amount of inheritance left I came back to Orange County and found a job at a dog and cat kennel. I was always good with animals, especially cats. But after three months working there my car blew a head gasket, and while trying to fix the problem myself with the help of a co-worker my car was towed off the street. Now I was REALLY homeless; with no where to stay and no way to get to work.

Next up: Why Not Join the Military?