A Comedy of Heirs Read Free Page A

is Rudy’s stuff. I’ll look at it later.
    â€œWell, Uncle Jed,” I went on, “I think I’m going to head in to town and go to Fräulein Krista’s Speisehaus. I can drop you off at the Corner Bar, or you can go to Fräulein’s with me.”
    â€œI’m not dressed for no fancy place. You better take me to the Corner Bar,” he said.
    My mother gave me her knowing smile. She handed me the manila envelope because she knew that’s what I was going to Fräulein’s to do. She knew I was wanting to grab a minute to myself and read whatever was in this envelope.
    â€œI should be home before the kids get in from school,” I said.
    â€œOkay,” she answered. “Make sure you bring Uncle Jed home, too.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” I said. Uncle Jed hiked his pants up even farther, spit on his hands and plastered his hair down in place. He was going out in public after all.
    *   *   *
    Fräulein Krista’s Speisehaus is about my favorite place to eat in New Kassel. Especially because of its fattening goodies that I’m not supposed to have. I come here so that I can eat all the goodies I want without having to hide them on top of the refrigerator.
    Fräulein Krista’s is a big building that looks like it was magically picked up out of the Bavarian Alps and set down here in New Kassel. The interior is rugged with exposed beams. The waiters and waitresses look like adult Hansels and Gretels in their cute little knicker outfits, and the big stuffed brown bear that sits at the end of the bar only adds to the atmosphere. The bear, whom we affectionately named Sylvia, is a recent addition in the last six months. It’s sort of become the town’s mascot.
    I sat in a booth eating a pastry that I could not pronounce and drinking a cup of hot tea, relaxing before the influx of my father’s side of the family. I knew that I would not get one spare moment to myself once the week’s festivities got underway. And they would start arriving today.
    As my mother had known, I wanted to read the contents of that mysterious manila envelope. The package had no return address on it and the handwritten letter on the inside was not signed.
    The letter was short and to the point. Were you aware of this? was all it said.
    Inside were copies of newspaper articles. Newspaper articles from a hot August day in 1948 in Partut County.
    L OCAL M AN S HOT TO D EATH ON F RONT P ORCH
    Nathaniel Ulysses Keith, 72, of Pine Branch, was shot to death on his front porch while his family was trapped inside the house. Authorities have no suspects at this time.
    What the heck? I looked around the restaurant, uncomfortable. Unless there was more than one Nathaniel Ulysses Keith who was seventy-two years old in 1948 and lived in Pine Branch, this article was about my great-grandfather. Pine Branch was a community with a church, later a gas station and about 102 residents. There was only one Nathaniel Ulysses Keith.
    I scanned the next article. If I had any doubt that this article was about my great-grandfather, this article squelched it. There was a photo of my great-grandparents’ front porch, with a bloodstain on it that ran down the steps and into the flower bed. I remembered this porch. My grandfather, John Robert Keith, inherited this house from his father when he died. This was the house that my father grew up in. He was eight when his parents moved in there.
    When I was a kid there was a big throw rug on the porch right where that bloodstain was. I used to sit on it and try to embroider, much to my grandmother’s amusement. I was not a very crafty child.
    The article gave my great-grandmother’s statement. They called her by her full name, Della Ruth. Not just Della or Mrs. Keith, but Della Ruth. Her statement said that they heard gunfire and that a few hours later somebody came by, knocked on her door and told her that her husband was on the