| Eva patiently waited for her stepbrother, | | | | before the time of the fire. The police soon |
| Robert, to end his drone about the money he | | | | identified Robert as the arsonist. But since |
| was to get from the will - something about | | | | it was his own property, as long as he didn't |
| opening a business with other people's money | | | | file a claim (He said it was an accident) he |
| and having the bank foreclose on some | | | | got off scot free. |
| recalcitrant properties. I didn't seem fair | | | | |
| that Robert would inherit everything except | | | | Sad with the loss of Dad's mementos, Eva sat |
| the contents of the old house, but after all, | | | | reading the single piece of his writing left |
| she had to remind herself that she qualified | | | | in the world. Halfway down the last page of |
| only as a stepdaughter. Dad's passing did | | | | the will, he sentimentally inclluded a poem |
| not seem like losing someone she ove, but | | | | he wrote for his beloved stepdaughter. It |
| rather gaining a lump in her heart that | | | | read: |
| wouldn't go away. | | | | |
| | | | 2 |
| She daydreamed about the wonderful talks she | | | | |
| and dad shared. About when Mom was alive, | | | | You came like smoke into my life |
| about the hard days of her ilness and about | | | | |
| her passing. Robert had been able to go to | | | | To warm my heart and bless my wife. |
| college, even if she had not. I wasn't so | | | | |
| bad being a veterinarian's assistant, since | | | | Your giving nature deserves to find |
| she always loved animals. If only she could | | | | |
| finish her schooling and become a vet | | | | A precious hearth for a heart that's kind. |
| herself. But she knew it was an impossible | | | | |
| dream with no funds ti finance her education. | | | | One month later, as a final gesture, Eva |
| | | | decided to make one last visit to the old |
| Rober's smile turned into a smirk as he | | | | homestead. She gathered the bags readied for |
| offered his opinion on what she could do with | | | | her trip to her job at the animal hospital. |
| the furniture left in the house. Eve | | | | She cried as she eared the street of her |
| couldn't imagin anyone wanting to buye these | | | | youth. One last turn revealed an empty lot |
| old, run-down pieces, but Robert's suggestion | | | | already over-grown with weeds. |
| of a one price sale to a local send hand shop | | | | |
| would have to do. Then Robert's brow | | | | Reaching to the sky, a lone chimney stood |
| furrowed with annoyance as he ranted on about | | | | mute, surrounded by ghostly memories of |
| the missing stock portfolio belonging to her | | | | happier days. As Eva approached the small |
| dad. There as no specific mention of it in | | | | fireplace at the base of the chimney |
| the will and Robert wanted to make shur he | | | | mentioned in her will, of a hearth struck a |
| got everything owed to him. Of course, the | | | | chord in her mind. Frantically she grabbed a |
| house and land, even though mortgaged to the | | | | stick and frantically pried at the |
| hilt, would pay the outstanding bills with | | | | hearthstone. Raising it, the dark space |
| money left over. | | | | under the stone at first seemed empty. No, |
| | | | something wrapped in a dark, wet bundle |
| After their first conversation about settling | | | | occupied the space. Unwrapping the folds |
| Dad's affairs, Robert's frequent phone calls | | | | carefully, an envelope addressed to her, a |
| became surlier by the day. Two weeks later a | | | | letter enclosed with a large number of stock |
| call from the police cam with the shocking | | | | certificates. Now tears of sadness turned to |
| news that her Dad's house had burned down to | | | | joy as she pressed the evidence of her |
| the ground. The house itself did have fire | | | | father's love to her chest. The sadness of |
| insurance to the tune of $100,000.00. Lucky | | | | her loss was transformed into the promise of |
| Robert. | | | | a bright future. |
| | | | |
| Lucky also was the fire investigator who | | | | This fiction story closely parrallels some |
| canvassed the neighbors, one of whom recorded | | | | events in my life. |
| the license plat of a car in the street just | | | | |