Close to the Heel Read Free Page B

Bill Gates—with warmth and dignity.
    â€œI want you to know that of all the joys in my life, you were among my greatest. From the first time I met each of you to the last moments I spent with you—and of course I don’t know what those last moments were, but I know they were wonderful—I want to thank you all for being part of my life. A very big, special, wonderful, warm part of my life.”
    Okay, that didn’t refer to me.
    His hand shook as he took a sip from a glass of water.
    â€œI wanted to record this rather than just have my lawyer read it out to you. Hello, Johnnie.”
    I glanced at Mr. Devine. He was smiling fondly at the image on the screen.
    â€œJohnnie, I hope you appreciate that twenty-year-old bottle of Scotch I left you,” he said. “And you better not have had more than one snort of it before the reading of my will! But knowing you the way I do, I suspect you would have had two.”
    Mr. Devine chuckled.
    â€œI just wanted—needed—to say goodbye to all of you in person, or at least as in person as this allows.” His hand was still shaking as he took another sip from his glass.
    â€œLife is an interesting journey, one that seldom takes you where you think you might be going. Certainly I never expected that I was going to become an old man. In fact, there were more than a few times when I was a boy that I didn’t believe I was going to live to see another day, never mind live long enough to grow old.”
    I knew what he meant. He’d told me a lot about his life. He’d been a pilot during World War II and traveled a lot after that. He’d been in more than a few scrapes, and the way he’d described them, most of them had been more serious than any mess I’d ever been in.
    â€œBut I did live a long and wonderful life. I was blessed to meet the love of my life, your grandmother Vera. It’s so sad that she passed on before any of you had a chance to meet her.”
    He didn’t mean my grandmother. He meant the woman he’d actually been married to. That was okay too. He’d been pretty upfront with me about her. He’d told me how much he’d loved her. He’d met my grandmother after his wife died, and he’d loved her too. But she didn’t want to get married, not then anyway, and she’d never told him that she was already pregnant when she left him. He didn’t know about my mom at all until he read about her death in the national newspaper and saw my grandma’s name. Then he’d done the math.
    I zoned out after that because he wasn’t talking about my grandma; he was talking about his wife. I didn’t tune back in until he said, “You boys, you wonderful, incredible, lovely boys, have been such a blessing…seven blessings. Some blessings come later than others.”
    Did he mean me? So now my cousins knew about me too. Interesting.
    â€œI’ve done a lot, but it doesn’t seem that time is going to permit me the luxury of doing everything I wished for. So, I have some requests, some last requests. In the possession of my lawyer are some envelopes. One for each of you.”
    I glanced at Mr. Devine. He nodded. There was one for me too.
    â€œEach of these requests, these tasks, has been specifically selected for you to fulfill. All of the things you will need to complete your task will be provided—money, tickets, guides. Everything.”
    Guides? What would I need a guide for?
    â€œI am not asking any of you to do anything stupid or unnecessarily reckless—certainly nothing as stupid or reckless as I did at your ages. Your parents may be worried, but I have no doubts. Just as I have no doubts that you will all become fine young men. I am sad that I will not be there to watch you all grow into the incredible men I know you will become. But I don’t need to be there to know that will happen. I am so certain of that. As certain as I am that I will