My Dear Cousin - My Aunt’s Estate

26^th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

Here comes the point that I’ve been dreading. This could be the dumbest or most evil thing I’ve done in my life. In hindsight, well, I should have said no to the whole thing. You may recall that at some point one of our aunts died, and she, having no children, meant a part of her estate to go to my family.

What I got out of that was about fifty thousand dollars. I recall my two siblings getting their checks first and my (Pickle) and I both thinking that I was going to get shortchanged. I had honestly been treated that badly by family over the years. It just wasn’t all that odd an idea for me to get cut out of my aunt’s estate, but the next day the check came and those fears disappeared.

I remember that at this point I went out and bought a car. It was a Honda Civic, and I got it used. I had replaced a good amount of my computer equipment and updated a number of things. I mean, the dumbest thing I had spent money on was trying to get my old car to stop leaking transmission fluid which ended up destroying the car.

Anyway, I had a little over half the money from the inheritance left when a valve went out in the front bathroom. You see, we had galvanized pipes which rust on the inside and gum up your valves and I had replaced almost every valve in the house at this point.

I remember getting that bad valve off was hard. I would spray it with WD-40 and tap it with a hammer. Then I’d try to get it off the pipe and when it wouldn’t come I would spray it again and let it sit for an hour. I think it took six hours to get it off but that was worth the work to let me work on the toilet.

Anyway, (Pickle) figured that we needed to remodel the bathrooms. I think he just figured that I had money, and he should spend it before I did. They always figured I was bad with money which could be one reason why they never gave me much of it even if they owed it to me.

I didn’t think things through and I agreed to have the place remodeled. One of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. I’ll save the next dumb thing for my next letter.

Best,

 

Richard Leland Neal

My Dear Cousin - My Legal Guardian

4^th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

At this point a tangent may be in order. I don’t believe I mentioned that my legal guardian and the executor of my mother’s estate was the old man’s sister. Yes, my aunt on my (Yule)’s side became my guardian after my mother’s passing. The old man was busy with his new wife and mom didn’t trust him.

I’m not sure why he was in charge of the upkeep of my home, but you see my aunt did the work. We ripped out the carpet ourselves, and my aunt and her husband put in the acrylic tile. When the wood under it rotted, and the tile came up she hired her nephew from another aunt to put it back together. When the wood rotted again they finally got a professional to do the work. After the third rotting they gave up.

From what I gather I could have had a lot more work done for what I paid for the floors, light fixtures, and a few plugs. My aunt, with the old man’s permission, overpaid herself. I’m only bitter about this because I live in so much of a slum and still haven’t gotten my home repaired.

My aunt was poor and needed money. We have all done things we’re not proud of for money. I get it, she handled things for me that my old man was too much of a child to deal with. She deserved something for that, but she also deserved to be in prison for child neglect. Even had she not been my legal guardian it is now state law that she needed to report the old man for leaving a ten year old alone.

If you ask at this point why the old man, who at least saw what the house looked like on weekends when he came over to take me to the store, didn’t do anything about the state of things, I have an answer. He didn’t really care.

I once called him and said we needed a plumber, because the tap was leaking in the bathroom. He just said “No we don’t, let it leak.” That weekend he called me into the bathroom and said “you forgot to turn the sink off.” I told him to try turning it off, and he finally called his sister who sent her husband to fix the problem.

My old man was like that. He would live with broken things. Oddly, he would also go to the store and fill up two carts worth of things that would then wind up on the floor. He would never take any of it back home with him on Monday when he left to go be with his wife. That is unless his wife came with him to my home. In which case she would walk off with whatever she could get her hands on.

Evil stepmoms, am I right,

 

 

Richard Leland Neal