Uncle Allen’s Junk

He set the phone down and stretched—then checked the time—6:22. Early.

''Who was that Mitch?'' asked his wife, Pam.

“My mom. She said my Uncle Allen passed away.”

“Oh, no! I’m so sorry. Were you close to him?”

“No, not really. I spent some time with him when I was young, but we haven’t kept in touch for years. Mom said his attorney needed my address so he could send some things that Uncle Allen wanted me to have. I guess it’s my inheritance or something.”

“Wow! I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I hope there’s some money in it. With the baby coming soon, we sure could use it.”

“Nah, if I remember right, he didn’t have anything—mostly junk—so that’s probably what’s coming. I gotta get ready for work. Try and get some rest, sweetheart.”

The next day a UPS truck arrived. Pam watched as box after box got stacked in the small living room.

“Oh, goodness!” she said, as more and more boxes arrived. “Just put them wherever you can.”

When the delivery man finished, she signed for 109 boxes. There was barely a trail left through the house. She tried to straighten the boxes, but they were too heavy to move. Finally, she gave up. She’s let Mitch rearrange things when he got home.

“What the heck?” he said, walking in the door. “What’s all this?”

“Your inheritance, I assume. I opened two of the boxes and they were just books. I hope you didn’t mind.”

“No, but there’s no room left to move. What’s in the rest of them?”

“I don’t know,” she said, looking up from the book she was reading.

Mitch started opening the other boxes to peek inside. Thirty minutes later, he yelled, “They’re all books!”

“Great!” Pam said. “Isn’t it wonderful!”

Pam was a bookworm and loved to read anything and everything she could get her hands on. She was also working on getting her GED.

“No, not really,” Mitch replied. “We need to get rid of them. I’ll call Goodwill.”

“No!” Pam said vehemently. “You can’t!”

“Sweetheart, they’re just books and there’s way too many of them. Tell ya what, pick out a few and I’ll donate the rest.”

She walked over to him, pouting. ‘Please, Mitch. I want to keep them. Just stack them in the baby’s room and I’ll sort them out later.”

“Oh, alright,” he conceded.

Weeks later, the baby’s room look like the public library. Pam even had the books indexed. She spent her days reading everything to their unborn child, from math to history, and science to agriculture.

Mitch felt a little neglected and would sometimes have to beg for attention when she got too wrapped up in a book.

“Sweetheart, I’m home—I’m hungry. Would you please come out of there and fix dinner? What are you doing anyway, studying? Stupid books!” He wondered why Uncle Allen couldn’t have willed him something that he was interested in—or money would have been nice.

By the time the baby arrived, Pam had received her GED diploma. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl they named Lisa.

“Oh, she’s going to be so smart!” Pam said.

“Yeah, just like her mommy,” Mitch said, a little snidely. “Maybe now we can get rid of those darn books and make room for the baby.”

“Now, you pay Daddy no attention, baby girl,” she said to Lisa. “He’s just mad ‘cause mommy’s smarter than him.”

“Smarter than me? Aren’t you forgetting who the breadwinner is in this family?” He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Later, when the baby was finally asleep, Pam went over and sat beside him.

“I’m sorry for saying that, Love.”

“And I’m sorry for what I said.”

They hugged. They may have had their differences, but they loved each other.

Lisa grew and, just as Pam foresaw, she was smart. By the age of four, she could read and write and was already up to the letter K of the World Book Encyclopedia.

“That’s my DNA at work there!” Mitch bragged to family and friends. Pam let him have his glory—she knew he needed it. Because of the added expenses of having a child, Mitch had to work longer hours, which was the worst part. But the good part was, it provided more time for Pam to spend reading and studying with Lisa. Pam felt this was one of the main reasons for Lisa’s intelligence.

When Lisa entered public school, Pam entered college. Her husband was not happy when she told him, but he agreed to support her decision, as long as they could afford it. Because of her love for books and need for money, Pam also took a small job in the college library. She made lots of new friends at school and was soon invited to participate in book clubs, debates, student counsel, and even fraternities, which she politely declined.

Considered gifted, Lisa was advanced two grades. Not only was her intelligence at a higher level than most five-year-old’s, but so were her social skills, making her fit right in with the older children.

Mitch had to deal with a lot. Inside, he knew his family was smarter than he. It somewhat ate at his ego, but he held his tongue and supported them in all their endeavors, no matter how expensive, including Lisa’s field trip to Washington DC. Anything for his baby girl.

As time usually does, it flew by, and Lisa flew past her peers. Pam got her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and started on her master’s. With all the added student loans and Pam not working a full-time job, it was a struggle for Mitch to keep the bills paid.

Then Mitch developed a cough. It started slowly but continued to worsen over the next several months. Then one day while the girls were at school, he went into their domain, the family library, a place he seldom frequented. He looked around at all of Uncle Allen’s books, intermingled with hundreds of others that had been added over the years. What a collection! He wondered if the girls had read them all. Taking a deep breath of pride, his heart felt like it would burst. His beautiful intelligent ladies! Tears filled his eyes as he dropped to his knees. Please, dear Lord. Take care of them, he prayed. Then he began to cough. He coughed until he could hardly breath. Then he dialed 911.

Mitch was in the hospital for a considerable amount of time, receiving radiation treatment. He needed a lung transplant but feared it would take months. The insurance would cover it, but it wouldn’t pay their other bills.

“Maybe we should file for bankruptcy,” Pam suggested.

“I’m so sorry, honey. I’ll get back to work soon and get this all straightened out,” he reassured her, but they both knew that was not likely to happen soon.

Call it serendipity or a miracle, the lung transplant finally came through at just the right moment. Though the cancer was serious, it had stayed localized to his lungs. Mitch and Pam knew the young man whose lungs were donated, because Pam had been his favorite teacher back during his first year of high school. The family had donated his lungs after he was killed in an accident. And the transplant was a success, but by this time, Mitch and Pam’s bills were all delinquent and they were being evicted from their home. Even though Lisa had to take her finals the day after her dad’s operation, she passed with flying colors.

Several weeks passed. Lisa was preparing to relieve her mom at the hospital in a few hours. She took a shower and grabbed a book out of the library before heading to the hospital. She knew her dad didn’t care much for reading, but also knew he was already tiring of television and needed to stay engaged with something. She grabbed Treasure Island from Uncle Allen’s collection, a book she had read back in third grade from her own collection, knowing it would be an easy read for him and maybe even perk his interest in reading. Then she headed for the hospital to see her favorite man.

“There’s my little honey bunch!” Dad said softly when she arrived.

Lisa looked over at the nurse, who chuckled.

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Daddy,” she said, giving him a soft hug. “How do you feel?”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’ll always be my little honey girl. In answer to your question, I’m feeling much better than I did a few weeks ago. I have a new lease on life.”

“A new lease on life for all of us,” Pam chimed in, getting up to give her daughter a hug.

“So, what did you bring me?” Mitch asked, trying to see what she was holding.

“I just grabbed a book out of the library, Dad,” Lisa said, handing him the book. “Maybe you’ll like it. It’s just something to pass the time.”

“Thanks, honey,” he said, laying it on the end table.

“Well, Lisa, have you eaten breakfast?” her mom asked.

“Not yet! I didn’t want to waste any more time, Mom. I knew you’d be tired.”

“Oh, thank you, dear! Why don’t we go down and get some breakfast at the cafeteria before I leave? I’m famished and you’ll be too after a few hours here with nothing to eat.”

Lisa looked over at her dad. “Do you mind, Dad?”

“No, of course not, Honey. Bring me something sweet.”

She smiled at the pun. “Okay, Dad. We won’t be long,” Lisa stated.

As they walked out together, Mitch smiled. He was so proud of both of them and felt terrible for what he’d put them through. Now what? he wondered. I’ve really let them down. And I still have no idea when I’ll get back to work and start bringing in some income.

Mitch reached over for the book Lisa had brought him. Kind of a kid’s book, he said to himself, looking at the title. But it was okay. Lisa knew he really wasn’t into reading anything too difficult or profound. Besides, maybe it was something he could get into without a lot of effort.

He opened the book and thumbed through it. The place where page 51 should have been was a hollowed-out space that contained another book—a little black notebook. Inside was a ledger, dating back to 20 years before, of Uncle Allen’s saving account. The ending balance was a little over $20,000. In the back of the book was a note that read:

Mitch,

We never got to know each other very well when you were growing up, but you were always my favorite nephew. Not only because you helped me so many times when you came over to visit as a kid, but also because you were always respectful and kind to me, when so many others weren’t. Thanks for that.

The bank account is also in your name, so feel free to use the funds any way you see fit.

Love, Uncle Allen

Mitch was shocked. He didn’t even know how to react. He sat there in silence, thinking of all the bills he could pay with this amount of money and maybe even have a few dollars left over. He had prayed for God to help him provide for his family and he had not only given him his life back, but he had provided for their finances. He realized now it wasn’t just serendipity. There were other, greater powers at work here.

Lisa and Pam walked back into the room.

“Your sweet girl brought you something sweet to eat,” Lisa said, laughing.

He just stared blankly at them both.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Pam asked him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not only okay,” he said smiling. “I’m great!”