Kindness Repaid

“Lucy I’m heading to town as soon as you can join me. I want to show you all the changes that have happened in this small town you remember which has spread enormously since you left and I need a trip to the hairdresser as I see grey hair has started to peep out under the color again. We need to look at your old home and decide what to do with it. It sat unused for a while, and we maintained the grounds then rented it out as an art gallery. Very upmarket.

You probably forgot you had a bank account here when you left and eventually the bank made me aware of it lying there as trustee for your estate until you reached the age of maturity. The rent has been paid into your account all these years and is a sizable sum now. Obviously, you forgot all about the house and bank account and fortunately I was a signatory so have been managing that for you. You probably need to investigate the tax implications as you wouldn’t have been declaring that income and I only thought about that issue this morning. You’ll have to sort that out.”

Clover drove Lucy through the new suburbs and Lucy recalled being surprised at the freeway that had been constructed during her absence heading north bypassing this town and at all the new suburbs that had once been farmlands as she took the exit ramp. The town was unrecognizable now with the once single main street now surrounded by up market shops in streets surrounding that had once hosted housing. She felt sad seeing it all as her memories had frozen the town in her memory. She’d been surprised at the expansion in the Claridge Medical Centre and news from Rick they had a purpose-built day surgery behind the center. She once again felt a pang of guilt at having neglected to visit her benefactors for all those years reflected in the changes. They stopped at a new shopping center with a wide parking lot and headed for Boutique Hair Salon Clover now favored then Clover turned to Lucy.

“Did you want to make a hair appointment while here Lucy? Perhaps you may wish to look around the shopping center to see how many services we now have available. Incidentally I forgot to tell you Rick would like to pick your brain about systems we have operating the medical center and day surgery if you have time while here and we have an extra car you can use if you want to take time by yourself to visit with any childhood friends.”

Lucy did a quick trip around the shopping center and noted there were other doctors’ offices there and wondered how doctors in town having more competition could be supported by the population but recalled there was now an industrial park on the northern perimeter of town Clover had told her about this and a factory processing milk products being shipped around the country was a recent addition.

Must have been a surge in population she mused to support all these services now on offer. She recalled Clover telling her there was a much-expanded elementary school and new high school servicing grades up to pre-university and technical training night school offering trade certification. So, it was more than a town now. After twenty minutes exploring, she returned to the hairdresser and saw Clover just finishing the hair color procedure.

The owner of the shop sitting behind the counter looked at Lucy as she entered and spoke.

“Clover said you are Mary Murphy’s youngest. I was quite young when you mom passed away, but she was really respected around town as I recall. If you want me to give you a hair style, I’ll do it for free now in respect for your mother’s contribution to this town.”

Lucy looked at herself in the wall of mirrors and noted her plain university teacher hair style. Then glanced back at Clover who looked immaculate. She could use a makeover and regretted her lifestyle had ignored personal appearance. She shrugged.

“Well compared to Clover I surely need to have a makeover but don’t want to hold up Clover from her planned activities for the day. And I’m quite capable of paying though thank you for your offer. It’s nice to know my mom is still remembered and appreciated.”

Clover laughed.

“Do it now, the only thing on my agenda after this is to take you to the art gallery as we need to talk about that some more.”

The owner beckoned her to the chair and over the next forty minutes worked her skills while Lucy watched fascinated as she was transformed into another person. She loved her new look and determined to take more care of her appearance when she returned to her work at the university. At the end of the makeover, she looked at the final result. She nodded in appreciation and reached for her purse and credit card, but the woman held up her hand and spoke sternly.

“No, don’t do that, this is for your mother in appreciation for her contribution to this town.”

Lucy gave her a hug as Clover rose and steered her out of the shop.

“Now we head for a look at the art gallery and then one of my favorite restaurants for lunch. We won’t see Rick until this evening as its operating day for him. You can then tell him if you’re prepared to look over our systems and see if we are up with the times in our record keeping. After eating we will discuss if you want to make any changes at the bank.”

Lucy was amazed at what the art gallery had done in making changes to the house that no longer resembled anything she remembered from living there. It was decidedly up market and one of the tourist attractions for the town. Clover spoke to the owner, and they were ushered to a large room at the back where students were being taught the principles of art. Most of those students were mature women taking painting up as a hobby. Clover introduced Lucy as the owner of the property being rented by them then whispered to the owner who nodded and took them to the main display room where pictures were displayed with priced tags that amazed Lucy. Clover pointed to one of the pictures on display.

“What does the writing say in the right lower corner Lucy?”

Lucy peered at the writing closely and read the words Mary Claridge then turned to Clover in amazement.

“That’s amazing work! Look at the asking price and she’s so young.”

Clover beamed with pride.

Soon they were on their way and Clover spoke again.

“Did you wish to visit the bank, Lucy?”

“Yes, thank you. Have Terry and Mary settled on a career path yet?  I know they’re only in their teens but sometimes even at that age teenagers have a clear feeling about their chosen profession. I know I did.”

“Terry wants to be a doctor like his father and grandfather and eventually take over the clinic someday, but we will see if that goal follows through. He’d taking all the foundational courses he can, so it looks like a probability. As you can see Mary wants to follow art and have her own gallery someday. I think she has potential to do that, and we will help her get started. She prefers to stay in this town and has a lot of teenagers trying to get her attention but focuses on her degree in arts.”

They reached the bank and the bank manager who usually demanded appointments always gave Rick preference. They grew up together and played golf together frequently. After a ten-minute delay he personally came out and ushered them into his office smiling broadly. Clover introduced Lucy and the manager recognized her from elementary school days taking in her newly acquired styling with appreciation. They were about the same age.

Lucy asked apologetically if he could supply her with bank statements going back in history and he frowned momentarily. That would be a lot of work, but he could arrange that. Clover interjected informing him she had all the statements back to the time rent began to pour into the account when the gallery took over the building. The manager relaxed and smiled again. Then Lucy dropped a bombshell. She wanted the bank account to be transferred to the names of Terry and Mary with Clover as the trustee for them both until they reached their age of maturity. Clover protested but Lucy smiled and held up her hand.

“This is what I want to do with this money, and I hope you can prepare the necessary documentation for me to sign over sir. It’s the least I can do to repay in small part the kindness and support I received from this family when I was in need.”

 The manager nodded with appreciation and turned to Clover for her reaction. Clover just nodded as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.

When the manager ushered them out, he informed the documentation would be prepared and ready for them to sign over next afternoon. Clover continued to dab her eyes on the way out to the curious looks of customers waiting for attention at the bank counters.

Outside Lucy spoke again.

I have one more request Clover and this will require we visit a lawyer. I suppose you deal with someone other than the one we originally dealt with when I was a teenager as he would probably be retired now. They drove silently to the law firm that still carried the name of the old lawyer now deceased with his daughter now qualified and running her father’s business. She searched through records and produced the original document granting ownership of the old home with Clover as power of attorney. Lucy inquired what it would take to change ownership over to the names of Terry and Mary with Clover continuing to be trustee with power of attorney. The young lawyer was businesslike and went over the procedures for change of ownership and the various ways this could be accomplished without incurring huge taxes in the process. Finally, Lucy decided on an option and requested documents be prepared to accomplish her wishes. The lawyer asked them to come back next week, and it could be signed off with all formalities attended to. Clover sat silently as this was done and outside the office heading for the car her emotions overcame her.

“That was yours Lucy, there was no need for you to do that as your success was payment enough for the money, we put into you as a family. Rick is going to be quite embarrassed when he finds out what you’ve done as we never intended for you to feel you had to repay us. It was done because we look on you as family.”

Lucy laughed and hugged Clover.

“Don’t you see how happy this has made me Clover? You felt happiness in doing what you did for me even though I was not part of your family. You have adopted me, and I feel like family and really want to do something for your children now so why do you want to deny me this happiness? I have more money than I know what to do with Clover and am able to help others who have nothing achieve success in life too. This is only the beginning of my generosity learned from your family.”

Clover sat silently for a while in the car then spoke.

“I need to explain what you just said to Rick when he arrives home and will do that when the kids have gone to bed, and we are ready for bed ourselves. I know he will interpret this as you felt obligated to do this and be hurt until I explain you just want to help others come up in life and your action was inspired by our generosity rather than an obligation. I think he will understand then.”

The next morning when Lucy got out of bed the pancakes were waiting in the kitchen, Clover was delivering the children to school, and Rick had missed his morning trip to the gym to talk with her. He moved forward to hug her as she entered the room. This was so unlike Rick as he was not a hugger, but she felt his appreciation in that hug. Eventually he cleared his throat and spoke softly.

“Thank you Lucy I really appreciate what you’ve done for Terry and Mary. You didn’t need to do that because what we did for you has been totally repaid by you grasping opportunities and making us proud and we have been frugal building up funds to take Terry through medical school. Perhaps you can help him further at the appropriate time by mentoring him as he studies but leave the financial support to us now. At the appropriate time we’ll probably buy out Terry’s share of the gallery so Mary can own it alone as he will take over the medical center when I retire if he does well at medical school, we’ll sort that out when the time comes so they are both treated equally. Now can you accompany me this morning as I’d like to have you assess our systems at the clinic and day surgery to see we are keeping up with best practice. It’s not often we can have a university professor at our disposal.”

To his surprise Lucy hugged him back.

“I’ll help you all I can while here. I need to be back and work in two weeks so need to tie up all formalities and bond with you and the children. I’ll make sure that I take time to visit more often despite the demands of my current professional role. Again, I want to apologize for letting study and work take your family off my horizon for so many years and hope you’ll accept my apology. You’re the only family I have, and I’ve missed out by not being a part of your life.”

Rick watched as she wolfed down her breakfast and then cleaned up before accompanying Rick for a day assessing their systems. There was not much to suggest as they were aware of the latest practices and systems to record. But she did have some suggestions and enjoyed her time fellowshipping with the medical practitioners who served the center and day surgery who enjoyed dialoguing with her and persuaded her to do night continuing education sessions during the time she had remaining for her visit to keep them on the cutting edge of their trade as practitioners.

At the end of her vacation, she felt happy at bonding that had taken place and what she’d been able to offer. As she said goodbye, she laughed that on coming visits she’d not bring her car as the drive was horrendous and she was not looking forward to the return journey. Next time she’d fly and rent a car for the one-hour drive from airport to this town.

Lucy’s first day back at the university surprised professors and students who wondered at the transformation of their colleague and professor. Gone was the stern appearance to be replaced by less stern clothes and a striking make over. Young bachelors saw her in a new light and there were some tentative attempts to get her attention and company after hours. But while she appreciated the new Professor Lucy, she fended off those approaches. Her work was her life, and she couldn’t visualize anyone being satisfied with the time and effort put into her profession which would essentially block them out. Where was the space for a man in her life? But as those looks continued, she began to wonder what it would be like to have a husband, perhaps children? Perhaps someday Professor Lucy might seek another less strenuous life to include family. She thought wistfully of the loving relationship Rick, Clover and family had as observed in her last visit. The idea of someone to share her life and love certainly was appealing.

Conclusion.

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