Posts Tagged ‘feeding frenzy’

About a week after Mr. Hodge passed I received a visit from an associate of Whitney, Bowles and Young. Apparently, Mr. Hodge had remembered me in his will. My family and I had found this out just yesterday when we were called by Eddie Pearl.

Eddie Pearl now stood on the porch; he was clutching a battered old briefcase in his left hand, while his right hand stood paused over the doorbell. His dull face moved into a practiced smile while I peered through the peephole.

“Mr. Winslow, It’s me Eddie Pearl, from Whitney, Bowles and Young… We spoke on the phone yesterday.”

“Sure we did Eddie,” I said solemnly as I opened the front door to my parent’s home,” Come on in. You said there was something about Mr. Hodge’s will that pertained to me?”

Eddie perched himself on the edge of the couch and opened up his secondhand briefcase to the tiny flipping sounds of old brass hinges. He reached inside with a smile and produced three tasseled scrolls.

“Mr. Winslow, upon the reading of the will last Tuesday, it appears that you have the sole pleasure of inheriting his three Imperial Koi.”

“But shouldn’t they go to his daughters?”

“One would think, and so did his daughters… they are rather upset by this whole scenario,” He spoke curtly.

He clutched those scrolls tight enough to cause his knuckles go white, and then closed his eyes and relaxed his grip with a calculated smile.

“Take the scrolls Mr. Winslow.”

I gently gripped them, and unrolled a portion of one and tried to read the oriental characters that were written upon the aged rice paper.

“What does this say, Eddie?”

“Those documents are legal proof that the three Koi which you now possess are in fact Imperial Koi, No doubt they are the three oldest living Koi in the world each believed to be at least 175 years of age. You have also received access to the pond in the backyard for the next five years, after which the care and upkeep fund which was set aside for them by Mr. Hodge will have been depleted and you will have had to establish a new permanent residence for them.”

“ What….”

“Otis, Mr. Hodge is obviously a very generous man. To leave such a valuable gift to such a young man as yourself is not only unheard of, why it is practically obscene.”

I stared down at the aged scrolls with disbelief; dumbfounded I said nothing but nodded for Eddie to continue.

“As I was saying, you will have access to the fishpond in the backyard of 137 Sycamore Lane in Dallas, TX. Mr. Hodge also set up a small trust for the upkeep of the pond, and the care of the fish, by our accounts this trust will only last 5 years. Due to the impending nature of this matter, and the fact that Mr. Hodge left the most valuable asset in his estate to the care of a minor, and also as representatives of Mr. Hodge’s estate and children we will be filling a formal contest against the will’s validity.”

I looked up at Mr. Pearl,” What do you mean, Contest the validity of the will?”

“Quite simply, Mr. Winslow, A boy of 16 has hardly any business tending to the care of Imperial Koi. Imperial KOI, Mr. Winslow. Did Mr. Hodge tell you nothing about them?

“Well he taught me how to take care of the pond and how to feed them,”

“Mr. Winslow, I do not have time to explain all of this to you, if all goes well with our proceedings Mr. Hodge’s daughters will have this matter cleared up in less than 3 weeks. We at Whitney, Bowles and Young feel it is of good moral character for all involved in this matter to adhere to the original will’s intent. So until this matter can be cleared up we would request your assistance in taking care of their Imperial Koi.”

Eddie didn’t look like much of anything, but did he know how to brow beat me.

“Mom, The guy from those Lawyers is here.”

My mom strode in from the backroom, dressed as if it were Sunday morning.

“Well hello Eddie, awfully nice of you to drop by, especially since Otis wasn’t even invited to the reading of the will. Isn’t that against the law, Eddie?”

“Mrs. Winslow, as you already know we were unaware of any changes Mr. Hodge made to his will prior to his death. He had filled a new will with another law firm only a few days before his unfortunate accident.”

“Mr. Hodge intended for Otis take care of those fish and by God he’ll take care of those fish.”
Eddie pulled his briefcase open with a flourish.

“Mrs. Winslow, we don’t really want this to get out in the public, do we?”

“I’m beginning to think we do, Don’t we Otis?”

I nodded my head vigorously, while Mom championed us forward.

“Mrs. Winslow, we are prepared to take this matter to court and contest this will. The matter will be resolved by an old republican judge, who will more than likely side with the plaintiffs. Or we can do this the easy way.”

Mom grabbed a chair and sat down with Eddie.

“Let’s hear about this so called Easy Way, I’m listening.”

“Mrs. Winslow, have you ever heard of Imperial Koi?”

My mother turned white, and she said softly to me “Otis you need to leave hon, why don’t you go look after Mr. Hodge’s Koi for a bit.”

“What a splendid idea, Run along Otis, and look after the Koi, I don’t think anyone has looked after them since the burial.”

My mom looked at me and smiled, “Go ahead, Otis.”

I slumped out of the recliner and headed out the front door. Jumped on my bike and headed straight to Mr. Hodge’s house.

I climbed over the fence, as I had always done and went to the edge of the slightly murky pond.

As my shadow hit the pond the three sisters came to the surface sniffing, and croaking out a loud and deep oinking sound that could only mean one thing.

“Just a second, I know you are hungry, let me get into the shed and I’ll get you some food.”

Luckily no one had locked the rickety tin shed’s door; I grabbed the jar of Lucky Golden Carp Pellets from the shelf, and went back to the pond, where the three Koi had practically beached themselves onto the shore of the pond.

“Get back in the water, silly girls,” I said with a smile,” I’ve got dinner right here.”

They flopped themselves back in the water and dashed around the edges of the pond in a clockwise pattern that zigged and zagged in front of one another as I came closer to feeding area of the pond.

I reached into the jar and pulled out a small handful of pellets and chucked them into the center of the pond and before the pellets had time to get wet all of them had been devoured by the ravenous fish. As I watched their frenzy, I was glad that Mr. Hodge had kept Koi instead of Piranha.

I reached in for another fistful of pellets, and my hand brushed up against something.

Forgetting about the food, I pulled an envelope out of the Koi food jar that simply read “For Otis”.