Uncle Plats

by Aqua Allsopp

“Ya.” She nodded. “That’s a gut idea.”

  Together, they walked back into the barn.

  THE END

  Another bonus story is on the next page.

  Bonus Story 5 of 15

  Enriching Abandon

  Description

  A packet of letters filled with secrets and lies, lead Billionaire Levi Hendricks to an Amish Community in Pennsylvania. Where he not only finds family, but also love. For a minute he seems ready to put aside the tragedies of the past. But crimes of the past cast long shadows, and the secrets Levi carries threatens to eclipse the happiness he has found.

  *****

  The engine of Levi's Tesla idly hummed along to the silence of his grief as he sat outside his mother's house. He was an orphan. What a strange thought, the label seemed to slink on his frame like a poorly tailored suit. In his lifetime he had been given labels “Billionaire”, “Wolf”, and “Shark”, which he wore them all and embodied with ease. But, even at thirty years old, he didn’t know how to wear this burden. He took one last breath, before he switched off his car and made his way inside the bungalow his mom and dad had bought, when they had decided to retire to a city and where the prevailing winter cold did not irritate their afflictions of age. The palm trees and gentle warm breeze, which accompanied the dusty Monday morning sunrise, were as ill-fitted to the occasion as the title “orphan” was to Levi himself. Needless to say, he was not in the mood to be cheered. He made his way up the concrete path to the concealed entrance and dug his keys out of his pants’ pockets so he could enter.

  He paused at the doorway, his customary shout to his mom stuck in his throat. For a minute he could almost swear he smelled the musk of his father's bay leaf cologne, or hear the rumble of pots and pans from the kitchen as his mother experimented with some new recipe or other. Fresh loss always seemed to irritate the scars of past losses. Thus, when one is grieving, they don’t only grieve for their present loss, but for everything they’ve ever lost. In that moment grief crashed over his head like a tidal wave, as he realized those moments he had with his parents were forever lost to him. As a matter of fact, he was the only person left alive who could even recall them.

  When his mother had been around, his father’s death had hurt; however, there was the consolation that there was someone alive to reminisce with. Someone who had loved the man as much as he had. Now there was no one.

  He had ceased to live with his parents for so many years now. While he expected to be devastated, he never expected to be devastated by the loss of these small moments. These small moments that weren't even integral to his day to day functioning anymore. These moments that in recent years had been more like doses of nostalgia than necessary foundations. It wasn’t until these moments were ripped from him that he realized their importance was still as fundamental to him now as they had been when he was thirteen. It might not be for daily stability anymore, but they still brought some amount of stability into his life. No matter what was happening in his day to day existence, the thought that somewhere in the world his parents were still bickering about what TV show to watch, or that his mom was still insisting on sewing her clothes, acted as safety blankets. He hadn’t realized he had been clutching to until now.

  The fact was, they were now echoes that only he could hear. Shards of a glass vase that were only priceless to him. So he got up, walked into his mother’s bedroom and packed. He started with her clothes, he knew she’d want them to be donated to charity, then came her records, those he was keeping for himself.

  God, his mother love music. His mornings always began with a jazz song and his breakfasts were always served with swaying hips. Music was how his parents met. His mother was a pianist by trade. She had studied at Juilliard, and his father was the one who recruited her for the New York Philharmonic right after she graduated. They fell in love over time, their interactions over the years they both worked for the Philharmonic, Singular notes in the symphony was their love song.

  He taped close the final box of his mother’s life and allowed the quiet to penetrate the moment. He was sitting on the living room floor surrounded by boxes, the smell of bay leaves and food replaced by cardboard and dust. He would have to remember for all three of them now.

  *****

  “Mr. Hendricks, what would you like us to do with the piano?”

  The blue encased moving man peeped his head through the front door.

  “Hold on Elizabeth…”

  Levi moved the mouthpiece from his mouth so he could reply.

  “That should go in the truck that’s delivering to my penthouse.”

  “All right, sir.”

  The man went back inside and Levi continued his conversation

  “So you’ll meet the men at the penthouse? Are you sure? You don’t have to do that Elizabeth”

  “Vi, you just lost your mother. I’ll handle it and all your meetings this week. You should stay in Miami a little longer. The sunshine and beaches will help keep your spirits up.”

  “I’m not in the mood for high spirits.”

  “Well I’m not allowing you to sulk in your penthouse. So it’s either Miami or me bugging you every other day with cake.”

  “Miami, it is.”

  “I thought so. Would you like me to arrange a hotel?”

  “Nah, might as well get used to fending for myself, for when I fire you.”

  “Psssh, like you could last a week without me. How would you get clean underwear?”

  The sad part was, she was right. He never learned the meaning of having a personal assistant until he hired Elizabeth. Never before had he had such a loyal, efficient, professional and just overall pleasant employee. She was much younger than him, somewhere in her twenties and fresh out of college, but Levi was already contemplating leaving the company to her. On the few occasions he wasn’t well enough to go into the office, Elizabeth had not only been able to hold down the fort, but had taken the initiative to introduce ideas and innovations that actually had the company running smoother. He was getting older and after the train wreck that was his first engagement, he didn’t think he’d be making that long and tumultuous journey down the aisle anytime soon. So that negated leaving the company to one of his children. The death of his mother had him contemplating his own mortality and he made a mental note to start grooming Elizabeth as his protege as soon as he got home.

  “Levi!”

  “Mr. Levi!”

  It was the combination of both exclamations that drew him out of his reverie. He covered the mouthpiece of the phone as he turned toward the door.

  “I’ll be right there, Allen!”

  Allen made his way back inside once more as Levi made his way back to his conversation with Elizabeth.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Elizabeth’s voice was small and for a minute her age started to show. Levi knew his relationship with Elizabeth was more brother sister than employer employee, so any disturbance to his soundness naturally worried her. This relationship was particularly comforting now when he was feeling particularly bereft of family. So he did as big brothers had been doing for centuries, putting his little sister’s fears to rest by making statements he weren’t a hundred percent true.

  “I’m not okay, but I will be.”

  “That’s reasonable. Take this time off and don’t worry about the company.”

  “I won’t, I know you got this.”

  He could practically hear her blushing over the phone and it became quite apparent he had embarrassed her when she mumbled a quick “later Levi” and hung up. Levi chuckled to himself as he made his way inside to see what Allen had wanted him for. As soon as he entered, he immediately swerved out of the way of his very focused moving men who were in the process of moving the bed frame out of the house. He made his way upstairs to his mother’s room where he found Allen.

  He cleared his throat and asked, “What was it you needed me for?”

  Allen turn
ed toward him. “Good you’re here. When we were taking the mattress off the frame, one of my men noticed that there was something sewn on to the mattress.”

  Allen led Levi over to the mattress in the corner and made him feel the side where a noticeable bulge was apparent.

  “I know you said you wanted this mattress to go to charity, so I thought it best to bring it to your attention before we loaded it in the truck.”

  “Thanks Allen. Do you happen to have a knife?”

  As quick as lightning, Allen eagerly produced a kitchen knife. When Levi looked at him questioningly, Allen sheepishly explained. “I snatched that from one of the cutlery boxes in case you wanted to cut whatever it is off. I couldn’t do it myself on account of me being liable for any damages to your property. Have to be careful about lawsuits nowadays but I was curious about what was in there.”

  Levi just nodded awkwardly to the explanation and turned back to the mattress now equipped with the knife he needed.

  Allen shuffled around before saying, “Well, I’ll leave you to it.”

  He hopefully left the ending ambiguous, as if waiting for Levi to tell him he could stay, but Levi was by this time too engrossed in cutting the stitching he recognized as his mothers. He realized that the bulge had actually been sewn on in a sort of pouch. So he wouldn’t have to cut the mattress to get to whatever it was.

  Meanwhile Allen slinked out of the room slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was in the mysterious bulge. But, Levi was taking his time, ensuring he only sliced the stitching his mother had done. So it wasn’t until Allen was downstairs, overseeing the movement of the living room furniture into the moving truck destined for a charity drop that Levi actually successfully managed to remove the mysterious package from the mattress.

  He smugly placed the knife on the floor as he opened the makeshift pouch to find—letters. He moved from his position in front of the mattress and walked to the opposite corner of the room, which was parallel to the door. Just in case these were love letters between his parents and he felt the need to tear up a little bit, he’d have a split second to compose himself before anyone noticed him there. He took out the packet and sure enough the first letter was from his father. But what caught his eye was the letter behind that one. According to the envelope, it was from a Levi Schwartz of Pennsylvania. A bolt of dread rocked through Levi’s psyche until he remembered his mother’s maiden name was Schwartz.

  As he turned the letter over in his hands, he realized he was probably named after this relative Levi Schwartz and, if that was true, he must have been pretty important for his mother to want to immortalize his name. Then again, his mother had been orphaned right before she attended Juilliard or at least that was what she had told him when he asked. Now, he was questioning everything his mother had ever told him about his family since the date on the letter he was holding in his hand was the year he turned three years old.

  *****

  The last of the boxes were packed into the two moving trucks. One box would go to his penthouse, and the other would make a stop at the local orphanage and then the Salvation Army. Levi stood on the curb. He had done a quick walkthrough to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. Then he locked the door on the ghosts of memories.

  “All right, Mr. Hendricks, you just gotta sign here to verify that everything was packed in the trucks undamaged and we can get going.”

  Levi took the clipboard from Allen and absent-mindedly began answering the questions about the condition of his parents’ stuff.

  “When you arrive in New York City, let me know, so I can tell my personal assistant to meet you at my penthouse.”

  “Personal assistant, nice…is she cute?”

  Levi slowly looked up from the form he was filling out with a look of abject disgust on his face. Allen seemed to shrink into himself, realizing he had once again crossed a line with his employer. Levi shoved the clipboard in his arms and made his way to his Tesla. Before he got in he turned to Allen and said, “If my assistant even implies that you hassled her in any way, shape or form, I will blacklist you to every company, individual and small business I know. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes sir,” Allen replied, red-faced and nervous.

  Levi got into his Tesla and watched as Allen scrambled back to one of the vans. As soon as the van disappeared from his sight, he let out a sigh of release. He made a mental note to never hire Allen’s company again. He didn’t like the way Allen did business. He looked to the passenger seat of his car where the letters he had found earlier lay. Those letters had contained so many secrets. Dark secrets, which had just amplified the pain of his mother’s death to nearly unbearable levels.

  He sat in his car staring blankly at the road in front of him. He needed to decide what he was going to do about what he had found in those letters. The choice he made now would determine the road he would take. Staying in Miami would mean continuing upon the trajectory his life had followed up until now, ignoring the secrets those letters housed. Taking I-95 North could either take him home, or to the place his mother once called home. He sat for a few more seconds, contemplating his path. Then he started his car and drove.

  *****

  His mother had lied to him. All his life he had been under the impression that both his parents were orphaned by the time he was born. That’s why Christmas dinners and other family holidays were a three-person affair, unless his friends or his parent’s friends decided to join the small family.

  Yet the writer, Levi Schwartz, referred to Levi’s mother as “his daughter” and these letters were dated long after Levi himself was born. But, even stranger than grandparents writing letters from beyond the grave was the contents of the letters themselves. An odd combination of English, Bible verses and a language Levi couldn’t quite identify. The whole business was vastly mysterious and with all the other secrets those letters had revealed, his brain just couldn’t seem to stay still. This mental agitation was why Levi had made the whole trip from Miami to Pennsylvania without stopping.

  Levi pulled up in front of, what so far appeared to be, a normal farmhouse. He shut off his car and just sat in the passenger seat, staring up at the farmhouse in front of him. This place didn’t look so bad, it almost seemed idyllic. Most importantly, it didn’t appear to be a cult commune so that put one outlandish theory to rest. He picked up his phone to check the time, 5:20 a.m. Farm owners tended to be early risers, but his grandparents were probably either very old or very dead. Either way they wouldn’t be around to answer the door at 5:20 a.m.

  He had been driving non-stop from Miami, so a well-deserved nap would make for an excellent time-killer. Levi turned on his air conditioner and lowered his seat, settling in for his three- to four-hour nap. As his eyes weighed shut, the last thing he saw were the chain links of the tree swing, gently swaying in the breeze.

  Tap Tap

  What were the movers scratching now?

  Tap Tap

  He knew he should have gone with that moving firm from New York, instead of hiring one from Miami.

  Bang Bang

  He dropped the letters he was holding to go give the movers a piece of his…Levi’s eyes slowly cracked open to be graced with the rays of the morning sun. He blinked a few times to differentiate reality from his dreams and then immediately turned to investigate the source of the tapping on his window.

  He banged his elbow on his gear shift as he jerked away from the eerie figure framed in the car door window. The old lady, dressed as a pilgrim, pressed her nose even closer to the glass as she once again communicated her desire to talk to Levi by tapping on the window. It took a beat for Levi to reach for the window controls, and that was only after he had groggily concluded that ghosts couldn’t tap on windows.

  “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, are you lost?” the old lady asked in a subtly accented voice.

  “Ah, I don’t know.”

  The old lady’s brow wrinkled in confusion as she looked at him.
<
br />   “I see. Do you know why you’re sleeping in my front yard?”

  The last part of the sentence, set off bells in Levi’s head and his mind began to clear.

  “You live here?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Does your last name happen to be Schwartz?”

  This inquiry lowered a veil of suspicion on the old woman’s face as she tentatively answered that she was. This only seemed to become more pronounced when Levi visibly brightened after learning her identity. He decided that a more upfront approach would be best.

  “Ma’am, my name is Levi Hendricks and I’m actually here looking for my grandparents.”

  Suspicion made way for emptiness. A couple beats passed before the old lady tersely replied.

  “You better come inside and have some breakfast.”

  It wasn’t until Levi stepped into the kitchen, following behind the old lady that he finally realized what his maternal relatives were. For sitting at the table was an elderly man in a white shirt and denim overalls with a luxurious, long beard. Lining both sides of the dining room table were two other men and women all dressed either like the old man or the old woman.

  “You’re Amish.”

  Levi blurted out, the random pieces of the puzzle that had been occupying his mind since Miami, finally assembled themselves to form this eureka moment.

  The old lady turned toward him and replied in an almost accusatory tone.

  “And you’re English. Your name is Levi and you’re looking for your grandparents at the Schwartz’s house. You’re Abigail’s son.”

  The kitchen had fallen silent when he had entered earlier, but after the old woman made her declaration, it seemed like no one present dared to move much less speak. It just hung in the air, a heavy weight to the atmosphere in the kitchen. Levi fidgeted minutely under the scrutiny, but he had faced worse in boardrooms filled with financial cut throats and con men. This could not faze him.