Saturday Oct 13

Bobbie’s sons arrived around midnight, after she was in bed. She heard them and decided she couldn’t face them that night. Trixie and Barb were there for them anyway.

“Is Mum alright?”

“She went to bed a while ago and was crying, Charlie. I think she cried herself to sleep.”

Eddy wiped his eyes. “Thanks for being here, Aunties.”

“If you are settled, Barb and I will head to my place and you boys should get some rest.” Trixie hugged them goodnight and she and Barb left.

When the door closed Charlie looked at Eddy. “Fuck, this doesn’t seem real, Grampa just died, and now Dad?! I can’t believe we’re here and I don’t know what to do now.”

“Let’s have a couple drinks and then we should try to sleep, Mom’s going to need us tomorrow. We should call uncle Jamie.”

Charlie was getting some glasses down. “Trixie and Barb will probably take care of telling everyone and I already talked to Grandma and Uncle Jamie.”

A few hours later, the next morning, Bobbie was cried out and felt hollow inside. The October sun shone dully though the kitchen window and she mechanically started making coffee and put a loaf of bread on the counter next to the toaster. Then she took jam out of the fridge and put peanut butter and butter on a tray beside the bread. Her stomach clenched at the thought of eating so she poured her coffee and went into the cozy office/den beside the kitchen.

Bobbie was a computer programmer and an ISO 9001 efficiency expert before she was management and now was a bona fide list maker. She went to her desk, pulled out her laptop, opened a spreadsheet and began a new list called ‘Alex’s final act’ with notes and contact info. Her big brown eyes were filling with tears and her hands were shaking as she typed so she closed the list and vowed to get back to it later.

She opened a big paper folder and stared at the deed for a property on Highway 2, near Crow Harbour, it was a Motel called the Water Wheel Inn. It was a run down motel on beautiful property. Bobbie and Alex thought about it for years and it became their ‘dream of the day’. They dreamed of fixing up the place and having great parties and fabulous gardens, Alex wanted to be a ‘gentlemen farmer’ with his hands in the dirt and she dreamed about a building a big barn to host events like weddings and family reunions. She wanted a greenhouse and garden and hens laying eggs to create farm fresh food for receptions and for the restaurant connected to the Motel. Alex found the location on a map of old settler land grants and said it was land where Bobbie’s ancestors originally settled back in 1773. Her father agreed, saying he inherited a woodlot close by and that seemed to be all that was left from the original land.

Somehow the dream became reality. They planned to sell the house for financing and use the income from his shares for renovation. They had not told anyone about the Waterwheel Inn and now Bobbie was full of misgivings.

She heard her sons stirring. Bobbie closed the folder and went to greet them. The three of them hugged for a few minutes. Charlie was the youngest, he was a Registered Nurse who worked mostly in the outreach clinic at Crow Harbour Hospital. He was a typical fiery redhead but had no freckles and startling blue eyes. He married his university sweetheart June (Ling) and they had 2 beautiful daughters Niko and little Suzy and were trying for another.

Edwin (Eddy) was her oldest son. He had her dark hair and eyes but always had the same laid-back confidence and drive as his father and was a surgeon at the Hospital. His wife Jenny (Fisher) was an Anesthesiologist and they met back when they were both residents. They had twin boys Clay and Walt Jr., after her father, who were 6 and in grade 2 and a daughter named Laura who was the same age as Niko.

“I don’t understand!” Said Charlie “He wasn’t even sick, was he?”

“Did he go to the doctor recently? Did he have heart trouble or something?”

“No Eddy, he wouldn’t hide heart trouble from you! Trust me there’s nothing we could have done. Here’s the number and address for the morgue, you can call them about the autopsy. Since there was no obvious cause of death they have to do an autopsy… for insurance too, I think,” Bobbie trailed off.

“Thanks Mum I know this is all pretty horrible and unexpected, we’ll head out to see if we can get details. We need to know how he died.”

After they left, Bobbie went back to the study and tried to plan her next moves. She gave up and made herself shower and put on a brave face for the rest of the day. No sooner than the last bit of lip gloss hit her lips when the doorbell rang. She wasn’t expecting anyone so she was somewhat guarded when she answered the door. It was three men. One was Alex’s partner and their old friend Alan Rickard, but she didn’t know the other two.

They came in and Alan introduced the ComCan’s head of HR and Chairman of the board.

“On behalf of everyone at ComCan we extend or deepest sympathies and I personally want to tell you how shocked and sorry I am Bobbie. There are a few financial details we should go over.”

They sat down at her table and he continued “Alex was in his office and we think he died before he finalized the sale of his shares so although the shares still belong to you, as someone not employed by ComCan, it might take some time for you to sell them and your inheritance might be delayed.” You do have an immediate entitlement to life insurance.”

Bobbie was upset and was confused by the visit, she wished Eddy or Trixie was there. “How long will things be delayed?”

Alan held her hand “We are going to convene a special board meeting to vote for you to fill Alex’s seat, you are eminently qualified and it might expedite things.”

“I’m his only heir how come I don’t get the shares right away?”

“It’s complicated” insisted Allan.

The other two men gathered their papers and excused themselves. Alan let go of her hand and she could see the tears in his eyes. He gave his condolences again and said “You should come into the office next week and pick up Alex’s things and we can talk more.” He excused himself and said he’d see her at the funeral.

As they were leaving, her brother James called and told her how sad he was for her and suggested that he and his partner Jarrod would bring Florence to town the next day.

What Bobby really wanted to do was call her friends and lose herself in a glass of wine but went to the den and opened her spreadsheet and called the Citadel City Memorial Home instead.

Eddy and Charlie returned from the Morgue. She didn’t talk about Alan’s visit. “Dad died from a brain aneurysm. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it. It might have been there his whole life.”

They ate a little then Bobbie and her boys went to the funeral home and made all the arrangements. The only thing left to do was write the obituary. The Funeral home handled the publishing, the service and the catering for the reception; for a cool $15,000. Bobbie decided on a cremation and wanted the ashes to be interred in Crow Harbour where his parents were buried. They asked if she could supply some pictures and they could create a slideshow and Bobbie remembered her retirement party power-point so she agreed to forward a copy to play at the reception.

When they got home, they called Bobbie’s Mom. Florence, being a doctor too, wanted the details from Eddy before she talked to Bobbie. “Oh Sweetie she said I know just how you feel and I know there’s nothing I can say to make it better, you’ll have to come visit me after all the funeral business, it will be good to get away.”

“I would love that Mom” she heard the door bell so excused herself and handed the phone to Charlie.

As she walked to the door she heard Charlie say “I don’t know Gramma, I don’t think she’s eating anything.” Bobbie was frowning when she opened the door to Barb and Trixie with 2 XL pizzas and a box of red wine.

Trixie asked “What’s wrong Bobbie?”

Bobbie said “Well apart from the obvious, I think Mom’s already fussing over me.”

“That’s understandable,” and Barb gave Bobbie a hug.

Eddy and Charlie fell on the pizzas immediately and Bobbie managed to eat half a piece while Barb and Trixie put the leaves back in the dining table.

They spread out the rest of the pizza on the table and all sat down and ate pizza and drank wine.

“How are your twins doing Eddy? Are they involved in any sports?”

“Remember how Dad used to come to all our Hockey games when we were kids? I’m busy in surgery and can’t seem to find the time. They are still learning to skate this year. Linda takes them to lessons and last year Grampa would take them to the river. He told me they mostly sat on the shoreline and ate snow and watched him skate up and down. This year they might have actually skated with him.”

“Oh Eddy, it’s hard to lose Dad and now Alex. I’d love to take them skating, I’ll be visiting Mom for the next little while I think.”

“That’s a good Idea Bobbie, I hope you come to Crow Harbour for lots of visits,” said Barb.

“OK, the funeral home gave us a template but we can personalize his obituary ourselves. He grew up in Crow harbour and is survived by his wife of 37 years and college sweetheart Roberta (Bobbie) Orlov (McNally). And sons and grand kids and all that. Predeceased by his parents. He graduated with a Masters Degree in Math From Crow U and went on to start ComCan Computer Systems. He loved math and computers and watching documentaries and reading non-fiction. His family benefited from his generous spirit and his easy sense of humour and his love of music and socializing.”

“He liked movies too, we had a movie club for a while, back when you had to rent them. We’d get together with friends and pretend to discuss the movies. Can you guys add anything?”

“He liked good coffee and bad Chinese food.”

“He loved skating on the river and always had a rink in the back yard.”

“Do you remember all the skating parties? Mom, you would make hot chocolate and those spider dogs to roast over the campfire.”

“You kids always wanted skating birthday parties.”

“He was a good swimmer too, I remember the pool parties in the summer,” said Charlie

Barb was clearing away the leftovers and the others were still putting the finishing touches on the obituary. Bobbie went into the den and emerged with her big folder. It was as good a time as any to describe her (and Alex’s) retirement plan. The family was now gathered in the family room. There were two large couches flanking the fireplace at the end of the room. A large television was over the fireplace and two armchairs were positioned between the family room and the kitchen.

With all eyes on her, she told them “Alex and I found a small motel in Crow Harbour that needs to be fixed up and we bought it as our retirement project. We’ve been preparing to sell the house and move back.”

Her closest family members and friends sat in stunned science.

“Sell the house​​?” asked Charlie.

“Yes, we used this house as collateral for a loan we took out to buy the motel and we planned to sell it to pay off the loan. We were going to use the money from the ComCan shares to renovate the motel.”

Eddy walked over to the kitchen and poured some more wine. “So you and Dad decided to throw away all his retirement money and equity from our family home on that dump of a Motel outside Crow Harbour; and even now you’re considering sinking your life into this weird scheme? “

“Well, we wouldn’t spend all of our money,” Bobbie responded curtly.

“You can’t sell the house, we grew up here. How selfish can you be?” interrupted Charlie.

Bobbie’s voice wavered “It’s not selfish… we planned it to be closer to you and the kids! And running a motel will give us, I mean me, something to do.”

“Calm down everyone,” pleaded Barb.

“Can you get out of this deal Bobbie, or stall it until you know about your inheritance?” Trixie was annoyingly practical.

Bobbie put down her glass, picked up her folder and her laptop, turned and said “I’m selling the house!” And walked upstairs to her room and closed the door. She sat on the bed and closed her eyes and said “You would have convinced them. They’d be patting you on the back and gushing over what a great investment you’d made. Heck, you convinced me! They’ll never believe in me. Alex, I don’t know if I can pull it off.” She made herself promise that she would concentrate on the memorial tomorrow and worry about the motel later and she couldn’t help it, she cried herself to sleep again.