Sophia joyously clapped her hands as she sat back on the twin bed to watch, “Sybil, we have to get you into a dance class. You are so beautiful when you dance!”
Sybil fell into her mother’s lap. “They don’t have dance classes way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Sophia lifted Sybil onto her lap to be sure they both didn’t get pulled off the side of Donna’s bed. “We can get you into a class in Albuquerque or Rincon even if you do love to dance out here on the mesa tops!”
Sybil sneered at her mother and ran to her room, “Yeah, right! I don’t like living here, Mom, I don’t like it at all!”
Donna lifted up on her elbows, “Mom, I think I am all right now. Can I get up and get dressed for school?”
The girls were dropped off at their schools. Sybil went to the school in Rincon and Donna went to the school closer to the main highway to Albuquerque. Sophia hurried home to clean the kitchen, run a load of laundry, vacuum the front living room and take a hot bath.
Today she would show up at the lawyer’s reading of the will dressed as a professional woman. Professor Sophia Vinder had only taken off one semester to look after her father. Two years ago, Sophia had finally earned her doctorate. She had worked on sites in twelve foreign countries and had written a profound article on the development of stronger bones once the concept of eating on a regular basis was introduced by agrarian societies. She also had published a book on the development of languages in Central Europe during the middle ages. This last book had won her an honorary award from Cambridge, England.
Her prestige and accomplishments were not going to be represented today in old jeans. Her suit made of red wool with a lining tailored in white silk would be set off by her cream colored turtleneck accessorized with the turquoise necklace Geoffrey had given her for their eighth anniversary. This would be just the ticket to impress her dear mother.
The brick building sat on the corner of Fourth Street and Central in downtown Albuquerque. The renovation of buildings was a new part of the political scene in Albuquerque. Many buildings had been redone to stimulate growth and yet retain the memory of colonialism in New Mexico. Some of the red brick buildings appeared to be boarding houses which probably were renovated brothels or large family houses. The older buildings once in stages of disrepair were now frame and stucco, painted in mustard yellow and red catsup hues the signature colors of the 1950’s.
Samuel Goldfarb’s office was a more modern model. It was a stucco painted white with bars on all the windows giving it the feeling of secrets well kept. There were no other buildings with bars on the windows in the area and this set it apart from the others on the immediate block. Behind Samuel Goldfarb’s office was a hospital parking lot and to the far east of the parking lot was a rehabilitation center.
Sophia parked the yellow van beside her mother’s silver Mercedes, which was parked to the left of Granger’s green Mercedes. Sophia cautiously studied the parking lot to take inventory of who had already arrived. She could see Geoffrey’s turquoise truck parked in the far corner of the parking lot. Geoffrey did that to keep others from banging into his treasured truck. There was a white Mercedes parked towards the back and two other nondescript vehicles parked on the right side of the building’s entrance. Sophia tilted the rearview mirror to study her makeup. Her eyeliner was perfect. The slight touch of rouge on her cheeks gave her a healthy look and her lip gloss was glistening.
The calf- length coat of wool was pulled close to her she ran across the parking lot to the lawyer’s office. The wind was still billowing from the southwest. Pieces of paper and plastic bags blew freely in the wind, slapping against the cars and the sides of the building. As Sophia ran to the steps in her laced boots the door opened. She smiled when she saw Geoffrey holding the door for her. Geoffrey quickly pulled her to his side, “Well, don’t you look marvelous!” He gently took her arm as she tried to move her purse to her opposite shoulder. He yanked her into a side room.
The thickness of the red carpet buffeted their foot steps. The wall paper was a bright blue giving the room warmth, which was in stark contrast to the portraits of men’s profiles framed on the walls. A round table of mahogany stood free from chairs in the center of the room. The linen drapes of glistening gold were held open with brown chords to allow visitors to view the parking lot.
Geoffrey let go of Sophia to whisper coarsely, “Sophia, there are two other men here who are evidently your father’s other sons. A tall man with an ascot is here representing your half sister who lives in Canada. Granger is birthing a bovine. He has made it clear to Samuel Goldfarb that only he is the inheritor of your father’s estate and they are not welcome.”
A booming voice interrupted Geoffrey’s quiet dialogue, “Sophia and Geoffrey, you both are here! Excellent, come in and let’s get started.” Mr. Goldfarb reached out his hand to Geoffrey who took it with a firm congenial shake. Sophia put her hand out, but Mr. Goldfarb was already walking out of the room and down the hall. Sophia was amazed at the thick rich carpet yet wondered why it was scarlet red. “Geoffrey, do you believe there will be a confrontation?”
Geoffrey shook his head, “We shall see. I do believe this is going to be very interesting.”
Mrs. Margaret Pino, the bereaved widow, sat in the largest chair in the room. It was a Queen Anne chair with golden embroidery of flowers and birds. The arm rests on the sides allowed her to rest her arms comfortably as royalty. To her right was a wooden table graced with a tray of tea cups and a plate of biscuits. As Sophia and Geoffrey entered, Margaret pointed to the table beside her, “If you want something to drink help yourself.” Margaret’s right hand gently waved over the tea cups and biscuits as if giving a blessing.
Geoffrey choked down a laugh, “No, my lady, I do believe we are sufficiently fulfilled.”
She shrugged pulling her suit jacket of gray linen down to her waist. “I guess Mr. Goldfarb wanted me to be the servant in the room.” Margaret lowered her head to look at Geoffrey coyly.
Sophia and Geoffrey sat in two straight-back wooden chairs toward the back of the room. She quickly noticed that Geoffrey was the only person in the room wearing jeans, but at least Geoffrey’s white shirt was well ironed and his turquoise bolo tie gave him a very stylish look. There were two tall men sitting in straight back wooden chairs on the opposite side of the room. Both men were dressed in nicely tailored black suits with striped ties. They nodded at Sophia and Geoffrey who returned the nod. Geoffrey quickly took Sophia’s hand in his.
Mr. Goldfarb cleared his throat, “We are waiting for one other person to enter the room. I believe he is freshening up at the moment.”
A hand was raised to the left of Sophia. She leaned forward to find a young man in his thirties who was smiling. “I’m back, thank you, you may proceed.” The man’s ascot tie of purple paisley made an impression as it was tied firmly at his neck. He had a high forehead, a brown goatee, and a warm face.
Samuel Goldfarb’s short height was not noticed now that everyone was sitting. Mr. Goldfarb pulled his reading glasses out of his pinstriped suit as he walked to his desk. Granger followed and then stopped. He appeared subdued as he did not fully enter the room, but stood leaning against the door jam fidgeting with his car keys. Sophia smiled at him, but Granger ignored her. Mr. Goldfarb sat behind his desk to open a heavy brown folder. The rubber band snapped as he withdrew a thick bundle of white legal papers.
“All right, it is my duty as the legal representative for Dr. Walter Pino to inform you of his wishes in regards to the dissolving of his estate. I am going to ask that everyone please be quiet until the reading of the will is completed. If anyone has anything they wish to ask or anything they wish to define this will be done once we have completed the reading. Does anyone have any questions at this time?”
Granger coughed, “I thought we weren’t to speak until you were finished?”
Mr.