The Imp Prince

by Kat Lind (ed)

  His brother replied, “Keith, I don’t want to go to college. I don’t want to be taking business classes, and I’m sick of school. I’m really looking forward to being able to just work every day, and that’s what I want to do.”

  “I still think that it’s a shame. You got grades just like mine in school. Why do you want to waste your life?” demanded Keith.

  “Blast it! I’ve told you and Mom and Dad over and over again that I don’t want to go to college. Look at it this way, with me not going to college all of the money that we would’ve had to split can now go to you to help pay for a fancier school. That way, it’s easier on Mom and Dad, and you can have a bigger allowance. I’m going to be making money, and you won’t have that for a while.”

  The boys’ father spoke up, “Kevin, your mother and I have already told you how disappointed we are that you’re not going to continue your education. I think it’s a severe mistake and one that I’m afraid you’re going to regret your whole life. However, as your mom pointed out you are almost adult. And you have to be able to make it the decisions in your life. I don’t like it, but if that’s what you want to do with your life, I guess that is what you’re going to do. I just wish that I knew how we failed to raise you to value education.”

  A voice, old and scratchy with age, interrupted from the open doorway. “Now Philip, many lessons are learned outside of school. And those lessons form your life just as much as formal education does. Let the boy do what he needs to do, and if later in his life he decides he wants more education then he can go in and work it out himself. After all, that’s what I did, and I hope you’re not telling me that I wasted my life,” said the elderly man leaning against the door jam.

  “Poppa! You know very well that’s not what Philip was saying. He just wants the boys to do well in their life and be happy. We wouldn’t have this nice house, and we couldn’t even afford to send even one of our sons to college if Philip wouldn’t have gotten an education that positioned him for his job with Acxiom,” chimed in the mother.

  The old man walked slowly into the room leaning on his cane. His age sat heavily on him, bowing his shoulders with the weight of time and stooping his back. The aged shape was a stark contrast to the brightness of his eyes and the mischief in the grin that he flashed toward his daughter. “No fussing at your ancient father, daughter. Just keep in mind when you all are pushing on Kevin that there is more than one way to live your life. Where would you be, if I hadn’t believed that?”

  The woman blushed and turned her eyes to smile at her husband. His answering smile showed the deep affection between the two of them, underscoring the warm feelings in their home. Lost in the moment, they didn’t see the looks that their sons exchanged or the accompanying eye rolls.

  The next second, the grandfather had lightly whacked the back of the closest grandson’s head. When both boys turned to look at him, he smiled and wagged his finger at them silently. The boy whose head got whacked, Kevin, immediately stood up and pulled the chair back for his grandfather. Seating the old man next to him, Kevin had managed to slip back into his own chair before his mother and father looked up.

  Chapter 2

  “Brrrrr! It is really cold around here,” Keith said to his father.

  “You just keep forgetting how cold it gets here in the winter. I suppose school is a much warmer,” replied Philip.

  “Yes, I was just wearing a light jacket a week ago when I was there. Now I feel like I should be piled up with blankets at night and in a down parka during the day. Of course, with exams, I didn’t have a lot of time to go outside.”

  “School seems to be going well for you, son. The first semester of the sophomore year wasn’t so good, but you did a great job of catching up, and this year your grades sound like they should be good.”

  “I think so, Dad. I’ve been working really hard on them because when we come back to school after the break, we are going to be talking to a bunch of companies about internships. I’m hoping that one of the stock brokerages will offer me a position.”

  “Keith! That is absolutely great news. If you do a good job in the internship, they will know you and can mean a good job offer coming from them. If everything works out right, anyway.”

  The young man responded, “I hope so. But you’re right Dad, it’s all about who you know. My fraternity brothers are really becoming close, and a lot of them are from very wealthy families. In fact, I’ve been invited to the Hamptons for New Year’s Eve. One of my friend's parents have this big swanky weekend party, and he’s invited me. I hope you and Mom won’t be too disappointed if I take off for there.”

  “Of course, you have to go! That is an awesome opportunity. You need to make all the connections you can because this is the best time in your life for making those. Once you get in the workplace, it is a little harder to make connections because you have to do the social status dance and that can be very complicated. You will also have to find a good wife for helping you move up in the world.”

  “Thanks for understanding, Dad. I hope you can explain to Mom that it’s not that I don’t want the family time, but this just is a really good opportunity.”

  “Keith? Dad? Mom says dinner is ready and that you guys better come to the table.”

  “Tell your mother that we will be right there, Kevin,” responded the older man. He turned and looked at his college student son and smiled, “Let’s go join the rest of the family for dinner. We have something to celebrate!”

  Both men turned and left the living room in perfect harmony with each other.

  <<<>>>

  The conversation at the dinner table was low-key, comfortable, and general. From the foot of the table, the woman watched the four men in her life with a happy, contented smile.

  “It is so nice to have you all back under one roof again. You boys are growing up so quickly, and I know that I won’t have a lot more moments like this, so I treasure each one,” she said.

  “Kelly, this is a wonderful meal. You have definitely outdone yourself tonight. It’s been ages since we had the beef roulade,” said the elderly man, as he leaned back in his chair and gently patted his stomach.

  “Thank you, Poppa. With Keith home for Christmas break, I wanted to have a special meal to welcome him home. The beef was always his favorite dish, and I even made an apricot honey cake for dessert, just like he wanted for his part of the birthday cake every year. I don’t get to spoil the boys very often anymore, and this is a good excuse,” she replied.

  Turning to Keith, Kelly grinned at him, and asked, “I haven’t heard much about who you are dating now. After the last breakup, I thought for sure that we would be hearing about a new girl, or are there more than one?”

  “Mom, you always want to know everything. A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” was Keith’s reply.

  “Oh… That means at least there is kissing going on.”

  “I’m playing the field right now, Mom. I’ve been studying too hard, and the fraternity always has events going on. That means I haven’t had a chance to find somebody that I wanted to focus on.”

  “Well, I hope at some point you’re going to be bringing some nice young lady home to meet us.”

  “Mom! Why don’t you concentrate on Kevin? He’s around here, and you can get all of the dating news from him.”

  “Sorry, Keith. I haven’t been doing any dating. Just like you, I’ve been too busy,” interjected his brother.

  “What have you been working on so hard? I thought you work regular hours at the gas station,” sniped his twin.

  Kevin looked at his brother with a serious expression, and said, “Mr. Harrington is getting older, and he’s been running the service station for a long time. He’s thinking of retiring, and I’ve been taking over more of the responsibilities for the service department.

  “I do all of the scheduling right now and oversee all the mechanics. We are even upgrading our testing equipment to some pretty complex computer stuff. There is a lot to learn
about how to use and maintain it.”

  “That is really funny!” Keith said with a laugh in his voice.

  The boys’ grandfather interrupted, “What’s so funny?”

  “Grandpa, don’t you think it’s funny that Kevin didn’t want to do any more classes and didn’t want to continue his education and now he has to learn how to operate new equipment?”

  The old man stared hard at his grandson without saying a word. He held the look long enough for the young man’s smirk of amusement to start to fade before he replied. “I remember all of the conversations that the five of us had from the years before you went off to college. Nowhere in there did I hear your brother say that he did not want to learn anything. He just said he didn’t want to go to college. Or do you remember something different than I do?”

  Before the young man could respond to his grandfather, his mother interrupted, “No fussing at the dinner table! I will not have my dessert ruined by cranky talk. Do you all understand me?”

  Keith answered immediately, “Yes, ma’am!”

  Her father just gave her a long look, tinged with disappointment. Refusing to meet his eyes, Kelly stood up from the table and said, “I’ll go get the dessert and then perhaps we can start planning the New Year’s Eve party. It will be a lot of fun to have you boys home for that.”

  Keith exchanged glances with his father. Phillip’s nod told his son that he would take care of it. The sharp eyes of the old man noticed the exchange but didn’t know exactly what was going to happen.

  Kelly came back into the room with a beautifully glazed honey apricot cake. Putting it down on the table, she seated herself behind it and began to cut into it, placing each piece on a plate and passing it around. The first piece went to her husband and the second to Keith. As she started to hand off the next piece to her father, Philip took a deep breath and said, “Kelly, I’m afraid that Keith won’t be here for New Year’s Eve.”

  The knife stopped in mid-stroke, and Kelly quickly glanced up and stared at her husband’s face. “What you mean, Philip? I thought the college break was till after the first of the year.”

  Phil responded, “He’s has been invited to a very important party in the Hamptons for New Year’s Eve. It’s important to his career that he makes these connections, Kelly, and I know you don’t want him to sacrifice that.”

  Only a little wobble in her voice seemed strange as she responded, “Of course not. I understand.”

  Chapter 3

  “Come in, come in! Your coats can go over here, and everybody’s in the living room by the tree,” boomed Philip as yet more guests came to the front door.

  There was holiday music playing in the background, and the air was filled with the smell of the Christmas holidays. Cinnamon, traces of pine smoke from the wood burning in the fireplace, delicious odors of baking cookies. Anyone coming into the house would have known immediately what season it was.

  The house was packed. There were people in holiday dress everywhere. Perched on the arms of sofas and clustered in small conversation groups standing around the rooms. A woman in a server’s uniform carried trays of drinks from group to group, making sure that everyone had enough to drink. Through the open doorway, a heavily laden table was visible, bearing all sorts of foods and treats.

  Philip ushered the latest group of guests into the room. “Don, I’d like you to come over and meet my son Keith. He’s now a stockbroker in New York. We are quite proud of him.”

  “Keith, I’d like you to meet Don Marland. He’s the new president of the First Street Bank and is also on the board for the Kiwanis.”

  The young man smiled at his father and shook hands with the guest, saying, “I’m pleased to meet you, sir.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too. Your father is always bragging about you. Sounds like you’ve gone from college to wonderful job. How do you find living in New York City?”

  “I really enjoy it. However, a stockbroker works all sorts of hours, and I’m a pretty junior one. We get all of the legwork for the more established guys, but I’m learning a lot.”

  Philip interjected, “We are very proud of him. He’s doing great things in his career, and I expect him to continue. Of course, we are looking forward to when he and his brother start providing us with grandchildren.”

  Just then, the other twin came into the room. His head was bent down to listen to what his grandfather was saying as he guided the old man to a comfortable chair close to the fire. After making sure that his grandfather was settled and had something to eat and drink, Kevin stood up and glanced around the room.

  Don called out, “Hi Kevin, how is the house coming?”

  A smile lit up the young man’s face, and he said, “The house is great. I am finding all sorts of things that can be improved in it, and I think by the time I’m done fixing it up it is going to be an awesome place. Thank you so much for letting me know that it was going to be sold at auction.”

  “With your job history, there wasn’t much problem getting that size of mortgage. Eight years at one job and a pattern of steady promotion is exactly the sort of thing that mortgage companies like to see. I understand that Smitty Harrington is now totally retired. Does that mean that you’re taking over the entire operation?” responded the bank president.

  “Yes. He says is getting too old to get up and down to work on engines and mufflers. I think his knees really bother him in the winter but this way he can still come in and supervise when he wants to. I like having him there, he has so much interesting knowledge in how to fix things that I am never bored,” answered Kevin.

  Kevin was casually dressed, even for a party. He wore his shirt open at the second button with a deep red pullover sweater on top of it. His wardrobe could’ve been summarized as “neat but not flashy” in the society page. His tanned face and upright posture were signs of someone who moved around a lot and managed to get outside frequently.

  This contrasted strongly with his brother. Stockbrokers tend not to be outside when the sun is up. Keith was much paler and was definitely less muscular. Even though the two men were the same height, the differences in their posture and general musculature made them look like brothers but not necessarily twins any longer.

  Don asked, “Did you ever get that floor done? The one that you were complaining about taking forever?”

  Kevin flashed a broad happy smile. His voice animated with a homeowner’s passion, he said, “Yes. I have five coats on it, and it looks awesome. I am so pleased with it that…

  Cutting across his brother speech, Keith interjected with a raised voice, “Everyone? Could I have your attention, please?

  When the voices in the room quieted, and everybody turned to look at him, Kevin took a step away from his father into the middle of the floor. He began to speak, “As many of you know, my parents sacrificed a lot so that I might go out in the world and make a good living. They did this without asking for anything in return. And they’ve given me something special that I can truly never repay. Even when dating a beautiful actress like Anna Therfeld and every time I go to an award-winning play on Broadway, I’m conscious of the fact that my parents made this possible. Not only did they encourage me to complete my education but they provided me with the training and ability to make my dream a reality.”

  Turning to his father, Keith handed him a set of keys. Grinning at his father, the younger man said, “You might want to look in your driveway, Dad.”

  Searching around the room with his eyes, he spied his mother in the middle of the doorway to the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. Offering up a brilliant smile, he said, “Aren’t you going to go with Dad, Mom? Don’t you want to see the surprise?”

  With a smile on her face, Kelly moved up to join her husband as they and their partygoers tramped out to the front driveway. Kevin went over to check with his grandfather, bending down and murmuring something. When the old man shook his head, Kevin made sure that his grandfather’s glass was refilled and then followed the crowd out
side.

  He was the last one to join. Standing next to a beautiful Mercedes automobile, Kevin was happily showing the features and special finishing touches to his father and a group of interested townspeople.

  Looking at his brother, Kevin smiled. He knew how much Keith loved to be in the spotlight, and this was a great way of capturing it. He knew his mom and dad would love the car. It was a surprisingly thoughtful gift from his brother, and even Kevin was impressed. It was a magnificent gift and one that his parents would treasure and use.

  Someone watching him would’ve noticed that for a brief moment his smile turned sad, but it was like a cloud drifting across the sun and didn’t last. The only thing that did was a happy smile on the face of a generous man.

  <<<>>>

  The church was packed. Rupert O’Donovan had lived in the town for 94 years. He was born there, live there, died there. People were standing against the walls, packed into the balcony and even listening from the nave. He had been respected, loved, and would be missed.

  His daughter was devastated by grief. It didn’t really matter that her father had been old. Kelly O’Donovan Miller was like a broken reed. Dressed all in black, she clung to her husband’s arm and stared blindly across the church. Philip Miller was not much better. His father-in-law had been an integral part of his home for more than 30 years. The old man had been there for advice, for guidance, and sometimes for a good rousing argument.

  Isolated in their grief, the couple sat down in the family pew and waited numbly. A forceful flurry of activity centered around their son. Kevin organized and orchestrated, ensuring that his grandfather’s funeral would pay tribute to the man that he had loved his whole life. He made sure that those contemporaries of his grandfather that had come from nursing homes around the area to attend the funeral were carefully seated and their comfort ensured.

  When the minister had a question on the service, it was to Kevin he went for an answer. A low-toned comment from one of the ushers caused Kevin to reply, “It’s the least I can do to honor my grandfather. After everything that he gave to us, he deserves a funeral where people can say goodbye. And at least this is something I can do to help my mom and dad. I can’t make the hurt go away, but I can keep some of the confusion away from them.”