Sixteen Heirs

Sixteen Heirs The marbled sky lay heavy on the gray Great Lake when Grace Windsor Wexler parked her car in the Westing driveway and strode up the walk ahead of her daughters. Her husband had refused to come, but no matter. Recalling family gossip about a rich uncle (maybe it was a great-uncle—anyway, his name was Sam) Grace had convinced herself that she was the rightful heir. (Jake was Jewish, so he could not possibly be related to Sam Westing.) “I can’t imagine what became of my silver cross,” she said, fingering the gold-link necklace under her mink stole as she paused to appraise the big house. “You know, Angela, we could have the wedding right here.…Turtle, where are you wandering off to now?” “The letter said— Never mind.” Turtle preferred not to explain how she knew the library could be entered from the French doors on the lawn. The front door was opened by Crow. Although the Sunset Towers cleaning woman always wore black, here it reminded Grace Wexler to dab at her eyes with a lace handkerchief. This was a house of mourning. The silent Crow helped Angela with her coat and nodded approval of her blue velvet dress with white collar and cuffs. “I’ll keep my furs with me,” Grace said. She did not want to be taken for one of the poor relatives. “Seems rather chilly in here.” Turtle, too, complained of the chill, but her mother tugged off her coat to reveal a fluffy, ruffly pink party dress two sizes too large and four inches too long. It was one of Angela’s hand-me-downs. “Please sit anywhere,” the lawyer said without glancing from the envelopes he was sorting at the head of the long library table. Mrs. Wexler took the chair to his right and motioned to her favorite. Angela sat down next to her mother, removed a trousseau towel from her large tapestry shoulder bag, and took up embroidering the monogram D. Slumped in the third chair Turtle pretended she had never seen this paneled library with its bare and dusty shelves. Suddenly she sat up with a start. An open coffin draped in bunting rested on a raised platform at the far corner of the room; in it lay the dead man, looking exactly as she had found him, except now he was dressed in the costume of Uncle Sam—including the tall hat. Between the waxy hands, folded across his chest, lay her mother’s silver cross. Grace Wexler was too busy greeting the next heir to notice. “Why Doctor D., I had no idea you’d be here; but of course, you’ll soon be a member of the family. Come, sit next to your bride-to-be; Turtle, you’ll have to move down.” D. Denton Deere, always in a hurry, brushed a quick kiss on Angela’s cheek. He was still wearing his hospital whites. “I didn’t know this was a pajama party,” Turtle said, relinquishing her chair and stomping to the far end of the table. The next heir, short and round, entered timidly, her lips pressed together in an impish smile that curved up to what must be pointed ears under her straight-cut, steely hair. “Hello, Mrs. Baumbach,” Angela said. “I don’t think you’ve met my fiancé, Denton Deere.” “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Deere.” “Doctor Deere,” Mrs. Wexler corrected her, puzzled by the dressmaker’s presence. “Yes, of course, I’m so sorry.” Sensing that she was unwelcome at this end of the room, Flora Baumbach walked on. “Hi, mind if I sit next to you? I promise not to pull your braid.” “That’s okay.” Turtle was hunched over the table, her small chin resting between her crossed arms. From there she could see everything except the coffin. Grace Wexler dismissed the next heir with an audible tongue click. That distasteful little man didn’t even have the sense to remove his silly aviator’s cap. “Tsk.” And what in heaven’s name was he doing here? The delivery boy shouted: “Let’s give a cheer, Otis Amber is here!” Turtle laughed, Flora Baumbach tittered, and Grace Wexler again clicked her tongue, “Tsk!” Doug Hoo and his father entered silently, but Sandy gave a hearty “Hi!” and a cheery wave. He wore his doorman’s uniform, but unlike Otis Amber, carried his hat in his hand. Grace Windsor Wexler was no longer surprised at the odd assortment of heirs. Household workers, all, or former employees, she decided. The rich always reward servants in their wills, and her Uncle Sam was a generous man. “Aren’t your parents coming?” she asked the older Theodorakis boy as he wheeled his brother into the library. “They weren’t invited,” Theo replied. “Itsss-oo-nn,” Chris announced. “What did he say?” “He said it’s snowing,” Theo and Flora Baumbach explained at the same time. The heirs watched helplessly as the invalid’s thin frame was suddenly torn and twisted by convulsions. Only the dressmaker rushed to his side. “I know, I know,” she simpered, “you were trying to tell us about the itsy-bitsy snowflings.” Theo moved her away. “My brother is not an infant, and he’s not retarded, so please, no more baby talk.” Blinking away tears, Flora Baumbach returned to her seat, the elfin smile still painted on her pained face. Some stared at the afflicted child with morbid fascination, but most turned away. They didn’t want to see. “Pyramidal tract involvement,” Denton Deere whispered, trying to impress Angela with his diagnosis. Angela, her face a mirror to the boy’s suffering, grabbed her tapestry bag and hurried out of the room. “Why hello, Judge Ford.” Proud of her liberalism, Grace Windsor Wexler stood and leaned over the table to shake the black woman’s hand. She must be here in some legal capacity, or maybe her mother was a household maid, but of one thing Grace was certain: J. J. Ford could no more be related to Samuel W. Westing than Mr. Hoo. “Can’t we get started?” Mr. Hoo asked, hoping to get back in time to watch the football game on television. “I must return to my restaurant,” he announced loudly. “Sunday is our busy day, but we are still accepting reservations. Shin Hoo’s Restaurant on the fifth floor of Sunset Towers, specializing in…”