As Joy watched television that evening, she saw her own face on the news repeatedly as they searched for her after her enormous win. The store where she purchased the ticket had even released the video footage of her buying the ticket, showing how poor and run-down she had looked. She was mortified to see herself looking that way. After enjoying the clothes she had purchased in Bayshore, she saw how far she had come in the few weeks since her win. She was humiliated to realize how zealously they were hunting her. Now the hotel clerk’s comments made her feel a bit paranoid. Even the next day, as she enjoyed her daily walks along the Riverwalk, she found herself looking around to see if anyone was taking undue notice of her.
The mall had lost its appeal and she began to take tours around the city, using both tour buses as well as an occasional taxi, but now that her name was out there she was sure her credit card glowed with her name on it. She feared that everyone knew who she was and was looking for her.
When they released footage of her at the Bayshore mall and interviewed a clerk in one of the stores, she realized she was a lot more recognizable. Having gotten her passport, she considered leaving the country now, but she also knew she needed to take care of a few things. She finally called the three investment brokers the banker had recommended. At one office, she was not put through immediately. They wanted her to leave a number, but she refused. The two she spoke to were aware of who she was by her name alone. One of them was very anxious to make her winnings ‘work’ for her, but when he advised transferring funds she got nervous. Both the sum he mentioned and the way he was asking gave her the creeps. She felt like he was taking her money and absconding with it. Going with her gut instinct, she refused and said she’d get back to him. The phone calls left her feeling isolated and alone. She knew she could just leave it all in one lump sum in the bank, but she’d read the small print where it said the FDIC only insured it federally up to one hundred thousand dollars. That meant she could lose it all if the bank went under. At least, that was how she interpreted it.
She remembered the lottery official suggesting she get a financial advisor. She wondered how different that was from an investment broker. She also began to wonder about having a lawyer and maybe getting a will drawn up. She’d seen the interview of her siblings trying to heartbreakingly garner public sympathy as they pleaded with her on television to get back in contact with them. Their tale that she’d run away to the streets implied she was mentally unfit to have such funds and they only wanted what was best for her. She practically shouted at the television as she watched their lies. It made her angry and she wanted to make sure they never saw a dime of her money.
With these factors in mind, she made a phone call to a prestigious downtown law firm, but they wouldn’t give her an appointment until after the holidays. When she pleaded that she needed to see someone sooner than that, they relented and gave her an appointment for the twenty-eighth, still a few days away. To her it was a relief as she had time to think about what she wanted. She knew she would need a will to keep her siblings from inheriting if something should happen to her. She also wanted the name of a financial advisor and thought perhaps they could recommend someone. It was not going to do her any good to just randomly call them from the yellow pages. Even the phone number of the firm downtown was provided by one of the hotel clerks. She’d also thought about moving from the hotel. She’d been here too long and that question the other day if she was THE Joy Parker had unnerved her.
She spent the Christmas holiday in her room. She’d ordered room service early with the reasoning that they would have a lot to do without dealing with her food. She hadn’t realized that a lot of people stayed in hotels over the holidays instead of with relatives. She looked out at the lights of the city and the beautiful decorations along the water of the Riverwalk. She thought back over the years when her parents were alive and her siblings had come to spend the holidays. They had always treated her like a servant, ordering her about and then becoming angry if she rebelled and fought back or ignored them. Any complaints to their parents had fallen on deaf ears. It was not that Joy could do no wrong, but their parents had realized late in life how precious their children were to them, how hard they had worked when the older ones were younger, and how much they had missed out on. They weren’t making the same mistakes with Joy. As a result, compared to their strict upbringing, she appeared spoiled to her older siblings.
As Joy ate her dinner, she reflected over the years since she had been abandoned by her family and how much different she felt since then. She missed her parents horribly, but she didn’t miss her siblings in the least. Those selfish bastards could rot in hell for all she cared; she saw them for what they were. It hadn’t been her fault in the least that her parents had a child so late in life, or that they decided to raise her differently. To take it out on a helpless child was reprehensible. To take revenge when their parents died, she shook her head again at the thought. She decided to remember the good Christmases, the ones when their parents were still alive and loved her enough for all of them. They had still loved her older brothers and sisters, but it was like they were vultures waiting to pounce and criticize their parent’s choices as the much younger Joy opened her presents. They always waited until Mom and Dad were out of range to get in their vicious zingers though. As she got older, Joy had often wondered if their parents were aware of the animosity that was hidden so well, except from the helpless kid they took it out on.
She knew the interview implying she was mentally unfit to handle the money she had won was only the first of several things in their arsenal. By setting this precedent, they would give the public something to believe in case something did happen to Joy so they could grab her money. She’d thwart them if it was the last thing she did.
Joy opened the only thing she had bought herself for Christmas…a beautiful gold watch. She had seen the other kids her age with cell phones to tell the time. They no longer wore watches, but she remembered a time when her mother had adored the various watches her father had given her. They were fashionable and collector’s items. Her siblings had taken every last one of them. Her own was a Gucci with different bezels and bands that allowed her to change the color to complement what she was wearing. It made her feel elegant and classy, something she was striving for. She was so looking forward to the course she had signed up for, hoping it would give her insight into what she needed to achieve the results she desired. Meanwhile, she waited.
CHAPTER TEN
The meeting with the lawyer was scheduled for two in the afternoon. Joy arrived at one forty-five looking stylish in her camel coat. She was wearing a pantsuit the saleswoman Maida had recommended and she really liked it. She was carrying a purse that was far above what the teller Betsy had purchased on her behalf and she was wearing her Gucci watch and some of the nicer jewelry she had bought in the Bayshore mall.
“Hello, I’m Ms. Parker. I have a two o’clock appointment?” Joy told the receptionist. She hadn’t dared to use her full name in case they watched the television or saw the papers. While the pictures of her weren’t great, they were plastered everywhere. Still, they were grainy enough that she didn’t think she had been recognized…yet.
“Yes, Ms. Parker. Mr. Duncan will be with you shortly,” she told her as she got up to help her off with her coat. At first, Joy didn’t understand, but she quickly caught on and behaved as though she was used to that.
“Thank you,” she said politely as the woman took her coat and hung it on a coat rack in the plush outer office. There were deep-seated couches and chairs just waiting for people to sink into them, all the latest magazines, and then, “May I get you coffee, tea, juice, or water?”
“No, thank you,” Joy responded, trying to act as though she were used to being treated this way as she went to sit down and await her appointment. She knew if she drank anything she’d have to pee and she didn’t want to take the chance of spilling anything on her outfit. She wanted to look nice, professional, and worthy of bein
g in this office. She glanced up as the woman returned to her desk to answer phone calls. She wondered what it took to be a receptionist in a law firm such as this. She knew she had none of the skills and hoped the course she would be attending next week would give her some insight into what she needed.
“Ms. Parker?” another woman was standing behind where she was sitting and Joy whipped around. “I’m Lenora Abner,” she said, holding out her hand. “Mr. Duncan got tied up on a phone call and asked me to speak with you. Will you come with me for now?” After they shook hands, she indicated that Joy should walk ahead of her.
Joy nodded, feeling stunned by the woman’s poise and presence. She exuded confidence. Joy wondered if she were a lawyer. She soon passed Joy slightly and escorted her into a conference room. “Now, we can wait for Mr. Duncan although I don’t know how long he will be, or if you don’t mind talking to me, perhaps I can help you?”
“Are you a lawyer?” Joy asked, feeling foolish for asking. She saw the skin tighten a little around the woman’s mouth at the question.
She smiled, “I assure you, I’m a fully-qualified lawyer and if you need legal services I can be of help to you. Now, when they made your appointment they didn’t take much information, so would you be so kind as to tell me why you feel you need a lawyer?” She indicated Joy should take a seat.
Feeling like an errant school girl, Joy sat down in one of the expensive leather chairs that surrounded the long, oblong table. The view from the window overlooked the city and was quite impressive. “I need to have a will drawn up,” she said quietly as she looked at the woman.
Lenora Abner smiled at the young woman. She could see she looked nervous. “If you don’t mind my saying, you seem a little young to be worrying about so heavy a legal matter.”
“Well, I just came into some money and I don’t want my family getting hold of it, or me, if something should happen,” Joy confessed.
Lenora’s perfect eyebrows beetled as she considered what the young blonde had just said. Her clothing was modest, but well-made. She didn’t look like she had a lot of money, but she knew looks could be deceiving. She pulled a legal pad to her and began to write. “So, you want to draw up a will that would specifically exclude your family from inheriting. Do you also want a living will?” she looked up from her notes as she wrote.
“What is a living will?”
“It’s a legal document that allows you to assign your medical wishes should anything happen to you. You can assign a person or persons to carry out those wishes. For instance, if you were in an accident that required you to go on life-support, they would have the legal obligation to have the plug pulled if you so desired. There are a host of things you can stipulate in such a document.”
Joy considered that. She wouldn’t want to be kept alive by such means. She also didn’t know anyone that she would assign such a heavy responsibility to. “I don’t have anyone I could name,” she mused.
“We can get to that later once we have filled it in. Would that be something you’d like to have us do as well as your will?” She was smiling at the young woman, wondering how much money she had inherited and if she had the money to pay them for their services, or if she was deluding herself.
Joy slowly nodded as she considered it. “I want to make sure that my money goes to worthy causes if I should die and that my family couldn’t ever get their hands on it,” she stated emphatically.
“So you said. Your family, I take it, do not get along with you?”
The blonde shook her head. “They abandoned me when I was fourteen years old and now they are looking for me. I saw where they implied I’m mentally unbalanced. I think it’s a ploy to get some of my money.”
“Are we talking a lot of money?” she couldn’t help but ask, wondering at the young woman’s tale.
Joy hesitated for only a moment, “Over three hundred…” she began, but then there was a knock on the door and a head popped in.
“Lenora, you have a phone call. It’s Mr. Zardesky,” the receptionist said apologetically.
“Please take a message. I’m with a client,” the woman said tersely, gesturing to the young woman across the table from her and obviously annoyed by the interruption.
“I told him that, but he said it’s an emergency.”
“It’s always an emergency. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to return his call.”
“Yes, I’ll tell him,” she replied, hearing the warning note in the woman’s voice as she pulled her head out of the conference room.
Lenora turned back to Joy, exasperated at the interruption. “I’m sorry about that,” she apologized.
Joy shrugged, looking very young as she did so. “It happens.”
Lenora smiled. The girl looked like she was playing dress-up in that outfit. While it was of quality material and matched, it didn’t seem to quite suit her. “Let’s get back to this,” she indicated her notes. “What would you like to happen to your…estate,” she hesitated to say, again wondering if the girl was just wasting her time.
Joy shrugged again. “I guess I’d like some sort of trust set up so that when I die it goes into that and helps lots of people…maybe kids,” she said, sounding like one herself.
The attorney smiled at the exuberance and naiveté. “Are we talking an irrevocable trust or a revocable one?”
“What’s the difference?” Joy asked, realizing there was so much more to this than she understood.
The questions and answers continued for a good hour. Joy specifically named her brothers Randall and Stewart and her sisters Cecelia and Patricia in her will. Each was left merely one dollar, so they couldn’t sue the estate. She also stipulated that everything would go into a trust and should her siblings try to sue the estate they would be responsible for any and all legal costs associated with defending her will and they would get nothing. She was also given a packet to create a living will.
“Wait, are you Joy Louise Parker? The one who won the Powerball?” Lenora asked after a while.
Joy hesitated and then nodded.
“Didn’t you win that in Wisconsin or something?”
Again, she nodded and then added, “I thought getting out of the state, out of town actually, was a good idea.”
“But why San Antonio?”
“There is a course I’m taking down here after the new year. I thought the warmth of Texas was a little nicer than the cold snow of Wisconsin,” she grinned.
“Of course,” Lenora agreed. “Besides the wills and the trust, is there anything else we can set up for you?”
“Actually, do you know of an investment advisor or broker? I contacted a couple in Wisconsin, but one of them tried to get me to transfer a lot of money to his account and that didn’t sound right.”
Lenora’s heart went out to the young woman. “You were smart to sense that and yes, I know the very people I can refer you to. You can trust them and they will make sure your money is protected.”
They went on talking for well over two hours and not once during that time did Joy see Mr. Duncan. Maybe he thought it was better to have Lenora handle things since she had started with Joy, but the girl was not certain she shouldn’t be insulted. He was, after all, a named partner.
“Well, Joy, I think we have enough to get going on this,” she indicated the many pages she had filled in on her legal pad. “If you will leave your cell phone number with–”
“I don’t have a cell phone,” Joy cut her off.
“Oh, then your e-mail…”
“I don’t have an e-mail. In fact, I don’t know how to run a computer.” She felt as though she were being defiant.
Lenora couldn’t comprehend that; they lived by these electronic gadgets. Still, she knew the firm would love to have Ms. Parker as a client and she was not about to offend her or lose her if she could prevent it. She knew Duncan was going to try to take this account away from her, but she wouldn’t let him. She’d fight him on it every step of the way. He’d been ‘too busy’ to take
this client meeting when he saw it was a kid and Lenora had been ‘stuck’ with it. She’d see that Joy was taken care of by their firm…personally. “Do you have a number where we can reach you?”
Joy gave her the hotel name and number. “But I may have to move. I’ve been here over a week and I think they are figuring out who I am.”
“There are other accommodations we can arrange,” Lenora told her.
“Another hotel?”
“No, we have executive suites, a condo you can stay in,” she told her, mentally crossing her fingers that the partners would allow it. She thought they would when they realized how much money this girl had and the kind of business she could bring them in the long run if they became her only legal counsel.
Joy thought it over and nodded. That might solve her problem of being spotted. Still, she would miss the room service and walking out to restaurants, the Riverwalk, and the mall. Then she realized what living in an apartment or a condo would mean…she’d have to cook, and she had no idea how. She’d never fixed anything other than cold pizza and maybe a ready-made meal from the store. She’d have to food shop, something she hated with a passion since she didn’t really know how. But she had learned to clothes shop, so she could learn to food shop.
“Have you ever considered changing your name?” Lenora asked kindly.
Joy looked at her, startled. She never had. “Why would I do that?”
“It would be a way to preserve your privacy as everyone is looking for you now.”
Joy waved that away. “I’ll be old news in a few weeks.”
Lenora had to concede that was probably right, but who knew? Reporters were tenacious and tended to stick to a story if they smelled news…anything for a headline. She hoped Joy was not being naive. She could help her if she decided to go that route. In the meantime, she would prepare her legal documents, give her the referral, and see about her staying in the condo for the time being. They concluded their business and Lenora made sure to give Joy her business card, writing her cell phone number on the back. “If you need anything, if there is a problem, you call me,” she emphasized.
The Outsider Page 13
