Sometimes I Write Things

The Last Request of Heinrich Abelard

Heinrich Abelard was a man who had lived a full life and long. As a boy, he had worked to rebuild a nation. As a young man, he had fought a war for his people. As a man, he had come to America with his family and built a home. Heinrich was a man who had labored all of his life. Now he was dead, and his niece, Annaliese, stood in the midst of mourners in the old man's living room, listening with passing interest to the reading of the will.

Some of the others cared more than she did. Perhaps they all did. Annaliese knew that many of them were waiting with baited breath to learn of their inheritance, and there certainly was varied treasures to divvy up amongst them, but she was not so concerned with material matters. She had little care for who would receive her late uncle's mansion or his fortune or his things; she was much more concerned with the fact that he was dead. He had always been her favorite uncle, and he was always quick to assure her that he felt the same. Heinrich loved Annaliese, and everyone knew it. That was precisely why they all thought it strange when the silver tongued lawyer in the finely cut suit came to the end of the will without so much as a mention of the dead man's favored niece.

"Is that all?" asked Aunt Margaret.

"Tough luck for the girl," chattered Uncle Charlie.

"I suppose that Old Man Abelard surprised us after all," remarked her cousin, Emmet.

The crowd dispersed, and Annaliese began to go along with the rest of them over towards the parlor for the discussion of memories, but a voice renewed and summoned her.

"Annaliese," the lawyer called.

She turned her heavy heart and her attentions over to the kind faced man with the thinning hair and rounded glasses. He had long been a friend of her uncle.

"Yes, Mr. Bethge?" she replied, gently twisting the skirt of her dress, modest and black. The dress was old and dated, but she found that it fit the occasion nicely.

"Your uncle left you something," the aging man replied with a twinkle in his friendly eyes. "But it's a secret," he added, and he couldn't keep himself from smiling when he said it.

"What is it?" she asked, her heart suddenly jumping with anticipation and renewed interest.

"You'll have to come here," Mr. Bethge replied; "I'll give it to you."

Ethan Fischer overheard it and came quickly to Anna from behind her. Suddenly, he grabbed her slender shoulders in abrupt and gentle play.

"A secret present, huh?" he excitedly proclaimed, and not the least bit softly, much to Anna's surprise and the lawyer's dismay.

She turned to face him, laughing at his crazy antics. He was staring at her with a wild grin and the unique glimmer of anticipation in his deep brown eyes. It was hardly the kind of thing she would expect from a youthful attendant not yet out of college who had just inherited his employer's estate. Ethan had worked for her uncle Abelard as an assistant throughout the final years of his life and the two had become good friends, as had Anna.

She shook her head at him.

"Ethan, it's secret," she reminded him, knowing full well that he was already aware.

The fare faced boy smiled at her, clearly caught up in the mystery of it. "Is it so secret that I can't know about it?" he asked her quietly.

Anna watched him, returning the grin. "Of course not," she replied, nodding her head to indicate his coming with her to the broad cherry desk where Mr. Bethge sat reclining in a comfortable chair. If anyone would be happy for her, it would certainly be Ethan.