The Envelope Edited and Extended

                  The Envelope


                                                                    Written by Scott Wilcox


      Bobby Flaster always enjoyed his Saturday mornings.  He could sleep late and spend more time with his beautiful wife.  This morning, upon waking, he leisurely made his way to the kitchen, where his wife, Kathryn, had already been busy making breakfast.  With a smile, she greeted him and at the same time kissed him goodbye, explaining that she had some errands to run this beautiful morning.  Trying to keep his anger from bubbling over, he was discouraged that she would be gone and he couldn't spend as much time with her as he wanted.  However, they have had many discussions about her time and the things she does.  Although caught up in her fetching beauty he was often at a loss with her quick wit and sharp tongue.   

    Sitting down to a fantastic meal, he noticed the mail stacked up beside his plate and kind of pushed it to one side.  Taking a sip of his coffee as he stared off into space, wondering just what he would be doing if he were at work this glorious morning.  Taking a mouthful of his wife’s incredible version of a Western Omelet, and savoring the flavors, in which he allows to dance around on his tongue.  While doing so, he notices the mail once again, and resenting the intrusion he starts leafing through the pile.  All there was were bills, and more bills, which he set aside to go over later.  Nothing could spoil his good mood more then trying to figure out how they could possibly pay all the bills they had.

    Lifting his fork to take another bite, an envelope caught his eye.  Looking at it, he noticed it was rather beat up and scruffy.  Realizing it was just junk mail, he set it aside to throw away. 

    He took another sip of his coffee as he thought about what he would do today.  Finishing his breakfast, he decided the bills could wait, while he went to water the lawn.  As he goes outside to water the lawn he stops by the kitchen and tosses the letter in the trash. 

    After watering the lawn, he went right away to his office where he left the bills and began the arduous task of paying the bills.  His face often crinkled up when he saw the amount of a bill, and wondered how legally they could charge so much for their services.  He didn't know how he'd be able to continue to pay all these expenses; he already had to perform a tight rope balancing act to pay what he did.  Money for Bobby and Kathryn was a very tight commodity, and they had to budget their resources well.  Bobby always tried to make light of it in front of Kathryn, but deep down he struggled to do the balancing act he did.                   

    Upon completion, he looked down and sees that old, beat up piece of junk mail.  Bobby is stunned, since he remembered throwing it away.  He stopped and considered every move he made and he remembered throwing it away in the kitchen.

    Quickly rising to his feet, he had to check the garbage to be sure he hadn’t thrown out a bill by mistake.  Arriving at the basket and lifting the lid, Bobby expects that the letter should be right on top.  However he saw nothing that looked like a bill or letter, just basically kitchen scraps. 

    This didn’t sit very well with Bobby at all, he knew he had thrown that letter away and yet there it was, sitting on his desk.  Was someone playing a trick on him, or was he simply getting forgetful in his old age.  Not wanting to believe the latter, he continued to go over in his mind his actions that morning, as he made his way back to his office.

    Sitting behind his desk and staring at the junky letter, he knew he had not imagined tossing it away.  He definitely remembered seeing it fall into the trash.

    Drumming his fingers on the desk top he thought, Ok, normally I’d just throw junk mail away without a second thought.  But for some reason today is different, perhaps it’s because there’s just something about the way you look, or maybe I am going senile, I really don’t know.

    Wanting to end all the procrastination, Bobby reaches down and picks up the envelope.  He turned it over to looking for the postmark, he finds it to be ambiguous, it offers no clue as to who the sender was or when it was sent.  Tearing open the letter, Bobby is anxious to find out what kind of scam they were trying to catch him with.   

    Very surprised, looking at the letter, with its elegant rich cream color and heavily textured font, Bobby thought how out of place it seemed with the other mail.  Embossed upon the top of the page was what appeared an elegant family crest.  He was immediately suspicious, thinking Ooh some rich people are trying to play me for a fool. 

    Panning down further, he noticed from the law offices of Morton, Rubenstein, and Klein.  This concerned him, because he didn’t want to be sued for anything and that’s the only reason he could think of a law office writing him.  Continuing on with the letter, it read as follows:

        To:  Mr. Bobby Flaster,

                  It is with great regret that we are writing to inform you that your great uncle Charlie has passed away.  We are so sorry for your loss, but he has mentioned you in his will and we would appreciate you coming to our office on June 23rd at 9:00 AM for the reading of the will. 

      It continued on with who’s and what’s and wherefores, but Bobby didn’t need to go any further he just wanted to reflect upon what this might mean for his family.  Before getting ahead of himself, he thought about all the scams out there and wanted to do some checking. 

    Bobby signed on to the internet, so he could check the validity of this law office, before he made a fool of himself.  There was massive information to absorb and in short he learned, they were a very reputable organization. 

    On June 23rd at 9:00 AM Bobby and Kathryn were waiting to see what was in store for them.  After all the formalities were out of the way a lawyer began the reading.  It seemed that Uncle Charlie was extremely wealthy and he left a great deal to many relatives.  Then the attorney said to Bobby Flaster,  “I hereby bequeath my property, Fairstate Mansion and all that it comprises, including stables and summer house, along with thirty million dollars in a trust for the upkeep of said property, and one hundred million dollars solely for personal use, to use as you see fit.”

    Bobby was in sheer shock and couldn't believe what he was hearing, it took sometime before they were able to get his attention back to the subject at hand.  Meanwhile Kathryn was in tears as she understood what a incredible gift was bestowed upon them.

    It didn't take long for Bobby and Kathryn to settle into their new mansion, and begin enjoying the benefits of a fully staffed mansion, stables and the works.  Kathryn enjoyed her times by the pool and Bobby just enjoyed roaming his grounds.  While taking a walk, a stable's hand approached and said, "Excuse me Mr. Flaster, may I please have a word?" 

    Bobby not accustomed to it, enjoyed hearing this kind of respect answered, "Sure anytime, I'm sorry what was your name again?"

    The man slowly looked up and answered, "I am Phillip and I just wanted to let you know they we need some repairs in the stables.  We need a few reinforced latches on the gates, and some flooring work, along with a few minor details.  It shouldn't be too expensive and I will have a total bill for you, but I just need your ok to purchase what’s needed and begin the work."

      Still overwhelmed that he had a stable, staff and that he could afford them, thought for a moment and then responded, "Sure Phillip, if you think it will be reasonable for what I get, go ahead and do what’s necessary."

    Phillip thanked him as he walked away to get started with his job, meanwhile Bobby strutted away thinking he was on top of the world.  Just at that moment Bobby saw a butler rushing out to meet him, "Mr. Flaster, I have the roofers on the phone about your summer home."

      Bobby remembered this servant's name as he took the phone and said, "Thank you very much Bill, I appreciate all your hard work."

      Turning to the phone, Bobby had to get into his owner's mind set as he said, "Hello this is Bob Flaster, is their some problem with the roofing job?"

      The other line immediately had a harsh voice calling out explaining, "I'm sorry Bob but after looking over the job, we see that we will have to charge you an extra three thousand dollars over what was quoted, to add the durability ply."

      Shook for an instant Bobby had to regroup and realize he did have that kind of money, finally answering, "Well I don't like it much, since that was the price you quoted me.  However you had said that you would have to look into the added durability ply I asked for.  Therefore I will accept the extras, I'm not really happy about it, but that's my problem."

      After finishing his phone call Bobby was upset about the extra money, but thrilled that it didn't concern him as much as it once would have.  Finally realizing Bill hadn't left Bobby said, "I'm sorry Bill I am lost in my own little world here." 

      Handing him the phone back as Bill responded, "Not to worry sir, all part of a day's work.  By the way lunch should be ready for you and the misses shortly, would you like it brought somewhere in particular?"

      Bobby thrilled to have such service slowly answered, "Yes I think maybe me and Kathryn will eat out by the pool."

      Without missing a beat Bill responded just before leaving, "Very good sir, it will be at poolside as soon as it is ready."

      The good times kept rolling along, but it didn't take long before Bobby started getting the hassles of being head of the household.  The staff continued to air their concerns and want more money, time off and more benefits.  The mansion as beautiful and spacious as it was, needed tending to and he had to approve or deny any maintenance or repairs. 

    It wasn't long before he realized he had just traded problems for more expensive and complicated situations.  Sure he had the wherewithal to accomplish these, but still he realized that even with the millions he had, it was not inexhaustible.  He still had to be frugal just the same, on a much grander range, but still he had to spend wisely. 

    The expense and problems just kept mounting and Bobby was wondering whether this was a wise idea to want such an extravagant lifestyle.  Sure it was wonderful to have such luxuries, but there was a great deal of decisions and worries involved.  He had thought of hiring an accountant and assistant, but he has heard so many horror stories about accountants stealing and leaving people bankrupt.

    This was a major problem, at one point he thought maybe if he set up a separate account at a different bank with maybe a million dollars in it, the accountant could use that money to work with.  Loosing one million dollars would be a huge loss, but he would not be flat broke.  Then he realized, what would the use be having an accountant to only manage part of his money.  He would be paying big money to an accountant to manage his money and he would still have to manage the biggest part of it and watch the accountant the whole time.

    Learning this he thought what a horrible position he had been left in and then he thought, Why Uncle Charlie did you do this to me?  Pausing briefly he thought, How did you do it all Charlie, I mean run this place and all your money?

    Bobby was unaware but a painting of Uncle Charlie seemed to radiate an even more brilliant smile as Bobby thought that.