Crystal Control
Chapter 4
I awake the next morning exactly the same time my alarm starts going off. Typically I hit the snooze four or five times before getting up, but today I am wide awake. After showering and getting ready for the day, I join my folks for breakfast much to their surprise.
“Morning sport” my dad greets me “your up and at em early today, specially for a Monday.”
“Went to bed early last night” I tell him.
Mom is moving around in the kitchen in her robe getting dad’s breakfast. “Do you want me to make you what dad and I are having?”
“Sure mom thanks.”
Dad and I chit chat for awhile till mom has breakfast done. As we are eating breakfast, I decide that now would be a good time to talk to them about Madeline.
“While we are all here, there something I need to talk to you about.” I start out. They both look at me “Yesterday Madeline invited me over to lunch since you guys were gone and Jack was golfing. Anyway, we got talking and she really opened up to me about some things, mostly about their desire to have a child, it turns out Jack is unable to.”
They both are now really interested in what I’m saying. I pause for a second to link up with each of them and tell their minds to be acceptable to what I say to them. “So anyway” I begin again “Madeline asked for my help and I agreed.”
I could tell they were both surprised, but with my prompting there was no explosion or anything. “How exactly are you helping, are you donating sperm or something?” my dad asks first.
“Well, you could say that,” I respond, “but we’re cutting out the middle man, no labs” I shoot back.
“Oh” my mom says nodding her head, “OHH!” she finally gets it “what about Jack, how does he feel about that.”
“He suggested to Madeline that she find someone, she decided I was someone she could trust and feel comfortable with.”
“So, when are you going to do this……?” my dad asks next, not really sure what to say.
“We actually started yesterday” I smile sheepishly.
“No wonder you went to bed early” is all my dad comes up with.
“So are you done then?” my mom asks.
“Mom, I’m not sure, we’ll probably do it some more to make sure she’s pregnant.”
Again, I put in there minds that they should be ok with this.
“Well” my dad says, “I kinda wish you’d talk to us before hand, but it’s nice that you are willing to help them, although Madeline is a nice looking woman so I’m sure it wasn’t a real chore for you or anything” he smiles at me, I think he’s actually proud of me some.
Mom smacks him playfully on the arm “not as good looking as your mom of course” he quickly follows up.
Mom then adds “Well, I wasn’t expecting to be a grandmother quite so soon, but I love you and I love Madeline and I know she has wanted children for a long while so I’m happy for her.”
“Thanks, both of you” I replying, not hiding my relief very well. Although I had put it into them to accept things, I still was a little nervous. After breakfast was over, dad left for work right away. Mom decided to get dressed and go visit Madeline to give her blessing to the arrangement.
“Before you go mom” I stopped her “could you call the school and let them know I won’t be in for a couple of days.” Since I had already impressed on her to accept what I said, she didn’t give me any argument.
“Sure hon, plan on spending more time with Madeline?” she asked.
“Maybe, I replied, but I have some business to take of care first.”
So I gathered some of my things and took off for downtown. First place I was heading was to Uncle Bill’s estate lawyer to take custody of Bill’s warehouse and loft apartment. After finishing there, I went to my bank and withdrew the $50,000 that had been in his life policy.
My next stop was to Jack’s office. I was a little apprehensive about seeing him before Madeline I had our talk with him, but this was business and although I didn’t care for Jack much, he was one of the best investment guys around.
“Alan, this is an unexpected pleasure” he said shaking my hand as I entered his office. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“Normally yes, but I have some business things to take care of, so I’m taking a couple of days off” I replied.
“Really? So what can I do for you?”
“Well, when my uncle Bill died a few years ago, he left me $50,000, and I’d like to give you $25,000 of it to invest, preferably in something with high return.”
“I don’t usually work with small amounts like that, but since you’re almost family, I’m willing to help you out.” ‘You have no idea’ I thought to myself. “High return investments are typically riskier though, are sure you’re willing to risk that money, it’d go along ways towards a college education?”
“Yes, I’m sure, actually that’s why I want to increase my money, to help fund my future” I told him. Now I put into his mind that he needs to make this money grow so although I want high returns, he’s to protect this money as it was his own. While I’m in his mind, I look at his business dealings and note that not all of his work has been what many would call legal. I make note of that, it may come in handy sometime.
“Well Alan, I’ll take care of your money like it was my own. In fact, I have a investment in mind, a small startup company that thinks there on to something big, something to do with this whole GREEN thing everyone seems to be onto. It looks sound and has a chance to pay off BIG.”
“Perfect, you know what they say, GO Big or go home” I rise shaking his hand and exit.
Next I head to the public library and spend the next several hours reading up on the environment, global warming, pollution effects and as much published research as I could find. With my new ability to read and absorb information, after a few hours I have a much greater sense of the trouble our planet is in. Most of what I read points to the problems, very little about solutions, although some scientists have theories or ideas on ways to help save the planet, but most do not have the financial resources to push forward.
One thing I do understand at this point, is this is going to be a monumental task, and even with my abilities I’m going to need help.
Next I head over to Uncle Bill’s old warehouse and home. It’s located at the edge of the industrial end of town; it was part of an old vegetable packing facility and is the only building left. It is five stories tall, with Bill’s living quarters taking up about half of the top floor. The rest of the floors have old hardwood floors and brick pillars every so many feet. There are lots of windows all away around the building, big ones with small glass squares, and most so dirty you can’t see thru them, but they do let in some light.
There are three old freight elevators evenly spaced thru the middle of the building. There are also staircases at both ends, and two more outside in case of fire. I enter the building thru a maintenance entrance, the only others are large roll up doors. Getting onto the nearest elevator, I pull the cable that activates the elevator and ride it up to the fifth floor and then enter Uncle Bill’s apartment.
Bill’s apartment looks like a lot of those loft homes I’ve seen on TV, there are no real walls, just dividers to divide up the living spaces. The kitchen is large with all the appliances, I hesitantly open the refrigerator, wondering if there was any food left in it. After this many years, they have to be really nasty. Fortunately somebody had the foresight to clean it out after the funeral. Probably my mom.
There is also a large bathroom area with a giant claw tub shower combo. The only bedroom has a king size bed and a couple dressers and closet, still has Bill’s clothes there. The living room area is also large with two leather couches and a futon, a very nice stereo system and an older projection TV. Just off the living room is what appears to be Bill’s study or office, there’s an old roll top desk and a computer desk with an old computer. Actually, it was probably new when Bill died. Also a couple of file cabinets.
For a bachelor, Bill was pretty neat guy; the place was in pretty good shape. Really dusty though, so I found some cleaning supplies and set about to cleaning the place up. An hour later the place is looking a lot better. My plan is to eventually move in here, but in the meantime this will be a good place to come and work out my big plans as well as a private place to take the ladies if necessary.
After finishing cleaning, I go to Bill’s office to check out what’s in there. It feels a little weird to be going thru his stuff, which why I hadn’t done this before. Going thru his desk, all I find is old bills and other paperwork that is way outdated now. In one of the drawers though I find a large key ring with several keys on it which I lay out on the desk, I’ll figure what those are for later. In the bottom drawer of the desk I find an envelope with my name on it. I open it and find a letter written to me from Bill.
“Adam, if you’re reading this something evidently something has happened to me. First let me say you’ve been the greatest nephew any uncle could hope to have. Second if I am dead, then everything I have, I have left to you. My lawyer has the title to my home and the old truck as well as my life insurance policy for you. He is supposed to contact you if something happens to me, if he hasn’t, his card is in my rolodex.
Also I need to explain something too you about me, hopefully you’re sitting down for this. I always told you and the rest of the family that I was in the import/export business. That is not really true; I am/was a thief. Typically I steal high value art or historic artifacts from rich SOB’s that really don’t deserve them and usually have obtained them thru underhanded means. The people I sell them too represent some of the best museums and art galleries in the world and make sure that they get to a place that deserves them. I guess you could say I’m in the retrieval businesses.
Hopefully you don’t think too badly of me for this, because what I do/did is still highly illegal. The reason I’m telling you this is that my lawyer has only given you the things I owned that were apparent to everyone, things that were obtained legally you might say. There is more tho, and it’s here in this building. In another drawer there is a set of keys. If you take those keys to the basement, you’ll find a good use for them.
One thing though, I ask is for to use what I’m giving you for good, get a good education and do good the rest of your days. I know you’ll make me proud because I am already proud of you and will always love you. Bill
PS: 3125”
I have no idea what the number is about.
Wiping the tears away from my eyes I put the letter down and pickup the keys. For some reason, knowing this about Bill didn’t bother me. I knew I had to keep his secret though. I was curious about what was in the basement, so I grabbed the keys and headed to elevator.
The basement was very dark and musty smelling. There were a few streams of light coming thru a few of the windows, but most had been painted black. I stumbled around a bit till I found a light switch. Once the florescent bulbs flickered to light, I could see more clearly that the basement was configured much like the other floors except for one major difference, there was a wall dividing the basement into two. All the elevators opened to this side of the room. The wall has several doors in it, some the size of garage doors and a couple regular sized ones.
I approach the first door and try the knob, it’s locked, but I do see a keyhole. I try several keys on the key ring before finding the right one. I unlock then pull open the door, which turns out to be a heavy steel door. As I open the door the lights automatically come on. But then I hear an alarm, similar to the fire alarms at school and a red flashing light to my right. Below the light is a key pad.
Thinking for a second, I remember the number at the bottom of the Bill’s letter, thankfully with my new memory, I remember it. I punch in 3125 and the alarm stops and the red light stops flashing. I breathe of sigh of relief, figuring either the alarm would bring the police which I highly doubted or something worse.
Looking around the room, the first thing I notice is a large object in the middle of the room; it’s covered in an old grey tarp. I walk over and pull the tarp and off. Next I almost fall over, because under the tarp is a 1966 Pontiac GTO convertible in perfect condition. My heart actually skipped a beat. I walked around the car taking it all in till I noticed the envelope tucked under the windshield wiper. I opened the envelope which had another letter, the car title and keys.
“Alan, Hey sport, if you’re reading this then obviously I’m dead and you found the letter upstairs. Glad you figured out the code for the alarm or we would be having this conversation face to face, so to speak. This whole building is wired to explode if that code isn’t put in within 30 seconds from its being tripped. I was always going to upgrade the system, something you might consider.
Anyway, SURPRISE! I’ve been saving this for your graduation and I regret not being there to give this to you. I know you’ve always wanted one and I happened upon this and had it restored. It is a beauty, but please be careful, it’s also a powerful car. The title is already in your name, it’s fueled and ready to go. Bet you wondering how to get it out of the basement tho, well the last elevator is just big enough to put the car in. On the main floor, there is a loading dock on the very end that has a ramp. Be sure to look around some more down here before you go, you may find some more goodies. Bill”
This was beyond unbelievable; the last couple of days have been the greatest of my life, probably most peoples lives. The only dark cloud is that it makes me miss my uncle that much more.
I kept the other $25,000 of the insurance money to in-part buy a car, but now I’ll be able to use it on something else. First thing, I jump into the car to see if it’ll fire up, after all it’s been sitting down here for at least three years. I put the key into the ignition, give a couple of pumps of the pedal and turn the key. VOOOooommm!!!! It fires right up and soon is purring like a kitten. After letting it run for a few minutes, I shut it down. Bill had said to look around first before leaving.
So I get out of the car and look some more around the room. I notice several crates over to one side so I go to inspect these. They are all about five feet square and have padlocked tops. I search the key ring for a key that looks like a padlock key, there are five, and there are five crates. After trying a couple keys I find the one for the first crate.
I pot the lid open and look inside; then nearly pass out. Inside the crate evidently from top to bottom (I can’t see the bottom inside) is stacked with money, the crate is full of cash. This box is full of bundles of $1’s, $50 per bundle. I go to the next crate and it’s full of $10’s, then $20’s, then $50’s and finally $100’s. I can’t believe it. I do some quick calculations, something new I’ve learned to do and estimate that conservatively there must be about $50 million dollars here.
There is a chair near by and I go sit down for a minute, this is really too much to take in, even for me. As I’m sitting there I notice another note pinned to the underside of the last crates lid. Another message from Uncle Bill “Alan, it’s all clean money, spend it wisely to do good – Bill”
Compared to the two first discoveries, the rest that I found was actually anticlimactic. I found Bill’s gear that he used to steal his fortune. Also found some other things that he had collected through the years, like an old Indian motorcycle that was in desperate need of restoration, an old Coke machine, mostly what most people would collect if they could.
Satisfied I’d seen most everything, I went back to the crates and after grabbing about $1,000 bucks in various bills, I closed them and locked the crates again. Then after opening one of the big doors, got in the GTO and drove it out and down to the third elevator. Then I walked back to the room, locking the big door again, I went over to the keypad again, I assumed that the code would be the same and it was. It beep a few times acknowledging that it was set and I went out the door I had came in.
Next I loaded the car onto the elevator, and Bill was right, it barely fit. Good thing it was a convertible, because I would never be able to open the doors. Soon I was cruising back home, enjoying the wind in my hair, excited for what laid ahead.
I was surprised when I got home that my parents weren’t concerned about the car. “I wondered what happened to this” my dad said while walking around the car “I saw it just after Bill bought it, didn’t look anything like this then.”
“It’s a beautiful car honey” my mom chimed in. I can’t hide my smile any more; it’s been a hell of a few days.
After dinner I tell my folks that I am going to start staying at Bill’s loft some nights including tonight. Then I head over to Madeline’s to bring Jack up to speed.