Southern Fried by Rob Rosen

with all the possibilities. How exactly was he Granny’s
    other grandson? And then, lastly, “Where is he? Beau, I mean? Is
    he still in jail?”
    Pearl sighed as her hand went from my head to my cheek.
    “Mister Newman is checking on that now, sugar. He needs to
    find him, too. Tell him about his inheritance. Seems like that will
    of your granny’s was just as big a surprise to him as it was to us.
    Ms. Jackson drew it up herself and had it sealed away. He knew
    about it, but wasn’t allowed to read it until after she passed.”
    I shook my head. “Isn’t that strange, though? Why would she
    do such a thing? Keep Beau a secret from us, from her lawyer?”
    Pearl’s smile returned. “Now, Trip, you know as well as I do
    that your granny was a strange one. But I’m sure she had her
    reasons, even though I can’t begin to imagine what they might
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    have been. Guess we’ll just have to wait and ask Beau himself.
    Maybe he can shed some light on all this. I mean, based on his
    antics at her funeral, he must’ve known something that we don’t.”
    Which did in fact make sense. Maybe he knew he was family,
    knew she was his grandmother. But why the animosity toward
    me then, his brother or his cousin? “You’re right, Pearl. We’ll just
    have to wait and see.” I smiled again. “Meanwhile, any plans for
    all that money?”
    She shrugged. “Give most of it to my kids and grandkids, I
    suppose. A large chunk to the church. Take me a trip someplace
    warm, but with none of this god-awful humidity or pollen. Plus,
    that will of hers says that I need to stay at the mansion; doesn’t
    mention if I can hire me some help. With four million, looks like
    I can hire me a whole mess of it.” She smiled, her face lighting
    up. “But what about you, boy? You gonna stay on here?”
    I pushed myself up on my elbows, that bile in my belly suddenly
    on fire, like molten hot lava. “I wish I knew, Pearl. Guess me and
    this Beau person will have to come to some sort of arrangement.
    After all, this place isn’t all mine, as we all thought it would be.”
    Her hand found mine, the flame doused, if only for a second.
    “You always did want a brother, boy.”
    Truth be told, I always wanted a sister, someone to play dress
    up with, to talk about boys with. Still, even a brother would be
    nice. It meant I wasn’t alone in the world any longer; I had family,
    however small it might have been. “He looked a little older than
    me, don’t you think?” I asked. “It would be nice to have a big
    brother.”
    It was then that we heard the front door chiming: “I Wish I
    Was in Dixie” . Seemed more like Oz right about then, except in
    this case it was a mansion landing smack-dab on top of yours
    truly. “Guess we’re about to find out,” Pearl said, already turning
    to go answer it.
    The rest of them stood there staring at her as she left, the
    door ajar, her footsteps disappearing down the staircase. I gulped
    and stared as well, a million thoughts buzzing around my addled
    62 Rob Rosen
    head. Or maybe it was just a single major one: a brother.
    Only, it wasn’t Beau that entered a short while later, it was
    Pearl and Granny’s lawyer. And neither one of them looked all
    that happy. In fact, Pearl was swinging her head from left to right
    and then back again.
    “Uh oh,” I managed, my gulp repeating. “What, they wouldn’t
    let you in to see him?”
    Mister Newman echoed Pearl’s headshake. “No one to see,
    Trip. He was never arrested.”
    “But they took him away,” I retorted. “We all saw it.” The
    others nodded in unison.
    He frowned. “They took him away because he was making a
    scene. But they didn’t arrest him. They asked him where he lived
    and dropped him off there instead.”
    My smile returned. “So we’ll go to wherever that is and
    straighten this all out. Divvy up the property.” Go to the beach and
    build us some sand castles, like brothers are supposed to do . Toss a ball