Chapter Four
Heather and Bethany Madher stopped by the Wells Farm on the first day snow actually accumulated on the ground. Heather drove her Range Rover and she and Bethany wore brand new “farm” outfits--all flannel, denim, and stylish work boots. Tracy gave them the tour of the house and Robbie eventually caught up with them.
Heather gave him a kiss on the cheek and gushed about the house. “This place, now this is warm, cozy, human. I feel like a bird on display sometimes in Charlie’s mansion.”
“The place is like a museum to all things Madher, well the idea of the Madhers, not the real Madhers.” Bethany added.
“Yeah, well, it is a little like that. It’s sort of an institutional building. It took me a while to really figure it out.” Heather said.
Bethany scrunched up her nose. “What do you mean, Mom?”
“Oh, we’re not really just a family, we’re a big thing. Like a company.” Heather said. “The house is sort of like another corporate headquarters or something.”
“Ick.” Bethany said simply.
Heather shrugged. “It’s got pros and cons. It took some getting used to. I’m not from money as they say.”
Tracy asked, “Where’s your family from?”
Heather said, “We’re actually from Cleveland also. I grew up on the West side, way out there. Sort of the West side version of here. My dad was a professional, an Engineer actually. My mom was the artist of the family. She sang and danced.”
Robbie said, “It seems like you combined both talents.”
Heather shrugged. “Well, I’m not into the numbers as much as Dad was, but I do alright. I like the ideas.”
“I looked you up online after we visited for Thanksgiving. Bethany, did you know your mom has six patents?”
Bethany shook her head, no. “Mom, WTF? That’s really impressive and you never mention it.”
Heather put a hand to her eyes in embarrassment. “Oh man. I dunno if anyone should be too impressed by those. Here’s how it works: on TV sets we are bored, so bored so often and people always shoot the shit. A guy I was dating at the time was all into technology, venture capital, etc… So I tossed a few ideas out there. A few months later, a bunch of patents. Nothing ever came of them.”
Robbie asked, “So what do you do now? It seems like you are into helping fund different projects.”
She put a hand on Robbie’s shoulder and looked at the girls. “Why don’t you two run along? I know we’ll bore you to tears.”
Tracy said, “I’ll show you around more, Bethany.” The girls left to go look at the house and yard.
Heather said, “Yeah, we do a lot of that. The Madher family has a positively enormous pile of money to play with, and we like to invest in good ideas and good people. I tend to be interested in the more wildly speculative stuff. That’s why I am curious about Matt’s invention.”
Robbie led her into the library. He said, “There are a couple problems, Heather.” He pulled Matt’s notes off the bookshelf and put Johnny’s drawings on the table. There were also some photos of the construction process. He laid the stuff out on the table. “First, the original invention has been dismantled. My brother is more of an artist than an engineer, and the engineer on the project is basically a genius and didn’t need any notes or very detailed plans.”
She started smirking and laughed, “Robbie, I’m only laughing because of the paradoxical statement I’m about to make: Geniuses are a dime a dozen. Well, they are when you have enough money. Well, that’s overstating it, but still, you get the point, anything one person did, another person can do, right? No magic here.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I agree with that premise. The other problem is--it was my brother’s life’s work and well, it just isn’t right to do it.”
She pursed her lips and examined his face. “Wouldn’t it be honoring their memory to continue his life’s work?”
He shook his head, no. “Well, like I said, he was more of an artist, maybe more of a writer or a painter type than an engineer. It would be like hiring a ghost painter to finish a partially completed van Gogh, or taking Ernest Hemingway’s notes and publishing a new book under his name.”
Heather smiled warmly, “Do you have any booze? I could go for a martini about now.”
“Sure! He said. How do you take it?”
She made bedroom eyes at him and hissed, “Dirty!”
He laughed. “Oh man, I haven’t been around a bonafide actress for a while.” He mixed the martini and grabbed a beer for himself. They sat down in the library again.
“I completely love and adore this room.”
Robbie looked around, “Yeah, it’s the work of generations, really.”
“It has soul.” She said. She sipped her drink. “Robbie, this is going to sound totally crass.”
He laughed, “Believe me, I’m not shy.”
Heather looked around. “Alright, so how much would it cost for those plans and the notebooks?”
His face turned serious. “Heather, I really like you, and I’d like to work with you, but I can’t. They’re not for sale.”
Heather said, “Well picture this instead, imagine you, Tracy, even your friend Amy, all plugged into the top tier. Tracy could be in movies, on TV if she wanted. You could do whatever you want.” She took a pause and sipped the martini and sucked the olive off the toothpick, and said, “And you could do who you want. And we could advance Matt and Telia’s amazing work.”
Robbie sighed a heavy sigh. “No.” He said simply.
She drained the glass. She was shocked to be turned down by anyone about anything especially when she flirted with a man. “How about another?” She held the empty glass out.
Robbie mixed a second Martini and tried to change the subject. “So what does your family do for Christmas?”
She sipped the Martini and regrouped. “Robbie. I love you guys, but I’m like a little terrier when it comes to pursuing something this important. I apologize in advance!”
“Fair enough. I’ll think about this a little bit more, but I won’t make any promises, I hope you can understand my position. We’re still adjusting to this situation.”
Heather looked horrified. She recognized how crass she was being and apologized. “Holy shit, Robbie! Holy shit! I’ve been a total pig. I’ve been totally, totally insensitive. I just felt this compulsion. I hope you can forgive me.”
He waved it off, “Oh, no problem at all. I appreciate your passion.”
“Good! I am dropping it. If you ever want to talk about it, you can call me any time. I’ll go track those girls down, now.” She downed the rest of the glass then went to look for the girls. Robbie watched her leave and put the books away again.
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 30