Last Will and Testament

My doorbell rang. People I know normally call before they come to my house, so I was annoyed at being disturbed by a survey-taker or someone equally unwelcome, especially this late in the evening. I closed my book, went to the door, and looked through the peephole.

There was a young woman in a sundress standing outside. She didn’t have a clipboard or a sample and demonstration kit. There was a purse slung over her shoulder, and what looked like a DVD case in her hand. I couldn’t imagine who she was. She wasn’t dressed like the weirdos that go door-to-door selling religion, and she didn’t really look like a hatchet murderer, either. In a way, she looked familiar, and she was very cute, but she looked tired and unhappy. I opened the door.

“Are you Matt Chambers?” she asked.

“Yes. What do you want?” I responded.

“My mother gave me this DVD and told me to bring it here and watch it with you.”

I had never heard that line before. “Is this some kind of new-age sales pitch?”

She said, “Please, just play it. Mom told me she knew you from when you were kids, and she made me promise to bring it to you. She begged me not to watch it alone. She said we had to watch it together the first time.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“You’re Matthew Chambers, aren’t you?

“Matt, yes,” I replied.

“I’m Deborah Harrison’s daughter, Amy.”

“Deborah Harrison? Debbie? Wow, that was a long time ago. I haven’t seen her since right after high school. How is she?”

“She died last week. Ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t find it in time,” the girl said. She looked like she was going to cry.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Come in. Sit down, please.” Gesturing toward the sofa, I sat on the foot stool in front of my reading chair. “Your name is Amy?”

She nodded.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.

Amy pulled a tissue from her purse and dabbed her eyes. “I’m done crying, for now at least. I did a lot of that over the last four years, ever since Mom was diagnosed. She had surgery, radiation, chemo, even some experimental treatments. She finally got to the point that she asked her doctor what her odds were. He said about one in ten of surviving another year, if the new drugs worked. That would be considered a successful clinical trial. She politely told him to screw himself and came home.”

“That’s the Debbie Harrison I remember, all right,” I said, smiling. Amy made eye contact with me and actually smiled a little herself.

“That’s exactly what Mom said you’d say,” she said. “Play the DVD. Mom made me promise to watch it with you. She made me promise again just before she died. I have no idea what’s on it.”

I still didn’t understand what was going on, but I popped the DVD into my player and grabbed the remote. “OK, here goes,” I said, pushing the “Play” button.

The screen was black, and then a woman’s voice came through the speakers. She said, “Amy, Mattie, this is the video version of my Last Will and Testament.”

“That’s Mom,” Amy said.

The voice continued, “At the end of this video is the phone number of my lawyer. He will have been notified of my death and will mail you letters with passwords. When you call him with those passwords, he will begin the process of settling my estate. I’ve always been a fighter, but sooner or later, I know I’m going to lose this battle with the big C.

“Anyway, I, Debbie Harrison, make this video, and the legal documents my attorney has for you, in sound mind and in good faith.

“If either you, my darling Amy, or you, Mattie, are watching this alone for the first time, trust me on this: I will come back and haunt the living shit out of you. Amy, you know what a bitch I can be, and Mattie, I’m sure you remember how I was. I never really changed. Sorry. Deal with it. I did.

“Now, I trust you two are in a room together, probably Mattie’s living room. Sit together on the couch, get comfortable, and say good things about me. I’ll be back in one minute.”

There was an audible click, and then nothing.

“Debbie’s the only one who ever got away with calling me Mattie. What the hell?” I said.

“That was Mom,” Amy said. She was almost giggling.

“Yeah, it sounds like she really didn’t change. I remember how she was, but I always liked her. We had a lot of fun,” I said, smiling.

“Knowing Mom, this will be interesting, in a weird sort of way. So, I guess you need to move over here and get comfortable. May I?” Amy asked, gesturing toward her feet. “These sandals are cute, but they suck to wear all day.”

“Of course,” I said, kicking off my shoes. I plopped down on the couch next to Amy and put my stockinged feet up on the coffee table. “Come on, put your feet up.”

Amy put her bare feet onto the table and sighed, “Thanks. I guess our minute is just about gone.”

Debbie’s face appeared on the screen a moment later. She looked older, of course, but she was still just as beautiful as I remembered. The main change in her appearance was that she looked too thin.

Debbie started talking. “OK, are you two comfortable? I hope so. I feel weird talking to a camera, but I want you to be able to remember me when I still looked human. I’m in remission right now, but I know it won’t last this time, either.

“Amy, honey, by the time you see this, you will have seen me at my worst. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through that. Just remember, I love you and I’m free of all pain now. Mattie, I know I’m a lot older than I was when you last saw me, but right now, I feel pretty good about my appearance if I have a wig on. So, this is supposed to be a happy video. It also has some things in it that I’ve never told anyone, including the two of you.”

Amy said, “She must have made this about two years ago. That’s about how she looked the summer after I turned sixteen. I remember she bought a new camera.”

Debbie continued, “First, I want to talk to you, Amy. I’ve tried to be the best mother I could to you. I trust that you know, or someday will know, that everything I’ve ever done since you were born has been driven by my love for you. Yes, I’ve been harsh at times, and I’ve been strict, but I’ve tried to raise you right. I’ve provided for you very well, if I do say so myself, and you will be fine after I’m gone. Just contact the lawyer.

“I’m going to try to keep doing their stupid treatments until you’re eighteen, but then I might just accept the inevitable. If you’re eighteen or older now, you will start getting a monthly payment from a sizable trust fund, and when you turn twenty-five, you’ll have access to the principal to do with as you wish.”

“Oh my God,” Amy said. “I never knew Mom had any real money.”

The video went on, “As you know, Amy, I made all my final arrangements myself. The funeral home will have contacted my attorney to notify him of my death by now, so he will have already begun implementing my instructions by the time you see this. Mattie, the lawyer’s office isn’t far from you. You’ll have to go see him too, since you’re the executor of my estate. I didn’t ask you, but I knew you’d do it because you’re a good guy. You were when we knew each other, and I’ve sort of checked up on you over the years. I wasn’t being a stalker. I kept my distance. Now, I think I’ll take a break so you two can talk to each other.”

The screen went blank again.

We sat in silence for a moment, staring at the blank and silent television. Finally, Amy turned toward me and asked, “How well did you know my mother?”

Here it comes. I felt my face start to burn.

“We went to school together, all the way from first grade. We played at each other’s houses as kids, hung out with the same people. We had classes together all through school. As we got older, we sort of group-dated with some of our other friends. Your Mom and two of her friends and me and two of my buddies all went to the prom together. Stag, really, since it was a group date. The summer after graduation Debbie and I dated some. I guess she was kind of my girlfriend for a little while.”

“Did you have sex with her?” Amy asked.

Shit.

“Yes,” I said. “A couple of times. We weren’t exclusive, and we knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”

“She told me she didn’t know who my father was,” Amy said. “She admitted she went a little wild the summer after graduation. So, do you think you’re my father?”

“It’s possible. I guess that’s why I’m the executor of her estate. Honest, Amy, I didn’t know,” I said.

“It’s OK,” Amy said. “Mom told me that if I ever found my father, I shouldn’t hate him, because she was sure he never knew she was pregnant. She told me she moved away from home as soon as she found out.”

“That explains it. All I ever knew was she moved away suddenly. No one seemed to know where she had gone, and her parents claimed they didn’t know,” I said.

“They probably didn’t. I never knew much about my grandparents. Apparently they died when I was a baby, and Mom didn’t talk about them much.

“I remember that. They were on vacation on someone’s boat and there was a bad storm. They drowned along with one or two others,” I replied. “That was about two years after Debbie left town.”

“Do you have any other children?” Amy asked.

“Until a few minutes ago, I didn’t think I had any children. I never got married. I got so caught up in starting my own business that I didn’t take much time for women. I guess you could say I married my business.”

“That’s the way Mom was. She told me she worked very hard to take care of a baby, go to school, and still feed us, but it paid off. I grew up in a big house in a nice neighborhood, and Mom’s business was constantly expanding. She finally sold it when she gave up on the treatments,” Amy said.

“Look at the screen,” I said, pointing to numbers counting down from ten. “I guess the video’s re-starting.

“Hi again,” Debbie’s image on the TV said. “I hope you’ve had a nice discussion. The truth is, Mattie could be your father, Amy, but it’s a one in three chance. I know, don’t judge. I told you I was a little wild that summer after high school. To be honest, I was kind of a slut. And, I got a wonderful, sweet, brilliant, beautiful daughter out of it.

“Here’s the thing. The other two guys are now dead. Sam got drunk and drove into a tree on his twenty-first birthday, and Ron went in the service and died in Afghanistan about five years before I made this video,” Debbie said.

“Those guys were my buddies in school that we went to the prom with,” I said to Amy.

The video continued, “I broke contact with everyone after I left my parents’ home, but I did some checking when I first realized I wasn’t immortal. So Mattie, whether you’re the father or not, you’re my executor, the trustee of Amy’s fund, and her guardian, if you’ll have her and if she’s not yet eighteen.

“It’s up to you to decide whether to get tested to find out if you’re father and child. My lawyer has instructions to pay for it if you want it. Discuss it between yourselves and decide what’s best. The attorney’s office has instructions to make room in their schedule at ten in the morning on the Monday after you call.

“Obviously, I don’t know when I’m going to die, so that means I don’t know when you’re going to see this. Mattie, if you would be so kind, let Amy stay at your place tonight, so you two can talk. Decide in the morning when you’re going to contact my attorney. He mailed both your passwords to your address, Mattie. They should get there within a day or two after you see this video, if you, Amy, followed my request to go to Mattie’s the day after my funeral.

“Here’s the lawyer’s contact information,” Debbie said, as her image was replaced on the screen by a name and phone number.