What Really Matters

What Really Matters

          "' I, Joesph Cartwell, being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath the following: to my wife, Jillian E. Cartwell, I leave the sum of one hundred dollars, $100.00, the amount of a bus fare to her boyfriend's house in California. To my spoiled son, Colton F. Cartwell, I leave my crystal prism, a unique possession, with the hope that he may someday be able to see what clearly matters. The remainder of my estate divided into the following charities. . '"
         "What? I contest this. $100.00 is all I get? I was married to this loser for five years, and that's all I get. I want to challenge this. I will hold this up in the courts until I win."
         "Mr. Cartwell enclosed a copy of the Pre-Nuptials you signed before the wedding with an Addendum to his Will if you contested. It states, 'If Mrs. Cartwell contests, the Pre-Nap goes into effect and, according to the Pre-Nup, she is to pay the estate the amount paid on her behalf at the time of the marriage to get her out of debt, which equaled $103,169.25 upon the completion of the reading of the Will.' Do you have that amount available today, Mrs. Cartwell?"
         "Of course not. All of our accounts have been frozen since he died."
         "They were his accounts. And it was his wish they were to be frozen upon his death. The Will stands as read if you do not have the funds available by the end of business today. Do you have any further questions?"
         "No. I will call my friend to see what I can do. Yow will be hearing from me." Mrs. Cartwell got up and left the attorney's office, leaving the attorneys and Colton.
         "You said my dad left me a prison?"
         "No. Your dad left you a crystal prism. A piece of shaped crystal that reflects light into assorted colors. It is in storage. We will send it to you once we have retrieved it. Any other questions?"
         Remembering how they treated Jillian, he decided not to ask about the worth of the prism. "No, no other questions."
         "Very good. You are free to leave unless you are interested in knowing how your father divided his estate."
         "I can leave? OK, I guess I will then. He didn't leave any money for my education, huh?"
         "No, it stipulated that if you were a fifth-year senior or higher, which, according to records, you are a seventh-year senior with no claimed major, you would receive no additional support from his estate. Except, of course, the prism. Anything further?"
         "Uh, no, I guess not. How soon do I have to get out? A year or so?"
         "Hardly. You have one month. Then, the estate goes up for sale. You only have one month to remove your belongings. We will have an executor living on the premises to monitor the estate and catalog all the items for sale. Any questions you have can be addressed to him." Shuffling through some papers, he locates the piece of paper he was looking for and briefly reads something, "His name is Mr. Starn. It says he is an ex-Marine. I am sure you two will get along for your stay there. Do not associate with Ms. Cartwell, no matter what she promises you."
         "Don't worry about that. We didn't get along while Dad was alive, and now that he is dead, I don't have any reason even to see her, let alone talk with her."
         "Very good. As I stated, we will forward the prism to you soon. Good afternoon." The attorney then turned his back toward Colton and began speaking to the other attorney present.
          Colton, feeling cheated out of his father's money, left knowing his dad cheated him out of the life he was used to and expected. He couldn't go back to school without someone paying for it, and he only had one month left in the only home and lifestyle he had ever known. His dad tried to instill a sense of self-sufficiency into Colton; however, Colton just ignored his father and bought something expensive to make himself happy, only to abandon it within a week for something better, shinier, or faster.
          He treated people the same way.
          At one time, a pretty brunette named Brittany was interested in Colton. She had known him from their classes and at different parties they attended. Eventually, Brittany took the initiative and introduced herself to him. Soon, they became a couple and, for a time, inseparable. Like all of Colton's games, this soon bored him, and without caring about Brittany's feelings, he told her to go away and not return.
          Colton received a package a week before being forced to move and having nowhere to go. After opening it, he discovered it was an odd-shaped piece of glass with a short note attached: As advised, enclosed is the prism your father left you in his Will.
          Looking at the prism, he didn't notice anything special about the piece of glass. He waved it in the air, gripped it with both hands, and even brought it to his eyes to look through the prism and see the colors the lawyers spoke about. The only thing he saw was a blurry image of the room.
          "It figures he would give me a piece of junk that didn't work. Might as well sell it tomorrow and buy something I want."
          As he arrived at his favorite pawn shop, David's Consignment and Electronics, he saw Barb, the clerk, and immediately went over to her. "Hey Barb, where's Dave? I have something special I want to sell. It was priceless in my dad's Will, and I want to give him the first crack at it."
          "Oh, yeah, I heard he passed. Sorry to hear the Col."
          "No big. I wasn't close to him. So, when is Dave due back?"
          "Tomorrow. Let me take a look at it. I can give him a heads up then so he can be ready."
          Pulling the prism out of his pocket and handing it over, he said, "It's called a prism, not prison."
Looking at him with a raised eyebrow, she said, "I know, I have seen these before. It changes what's called white light into different colors."
          "That didn't happen when I held it up to my eyes. It must be broken."
          "That's not how it works. You need to shine a light into the prism for the colored lights to appear. Holding it up to your eyes does nothing." To illustrate her point, Barb holds the prism up to her eyes and freezes.
          "Barb, I get the point. Barb. Barb?"
          Talking to no one, Barb whispers, "I forgot all about this. It was years ago when it happened. We had such a wonderful time and had wonderfully happy memories."
          "What are you talking about? What memories?"
          "I looked into the prism and saw a vision of a Christmas from years ago. I forgot all about it. The vision was like reliving it all over again. It was wonderful."
          "Let me see that." Taking the prism back, Colton holds the prism up to his eyes and sees only a blurry sight. "You must have just remembered something because there is nothing here. Never mind, I'll be back tomorrow to see Dave." With that, Colton left the store.
          Once back at the mansion, Colton went to his room to find that most of his belongings were boxed up. While sealing another box, Mr. Starn acknowledged Colton as he entered the room.
          "I see you are back. As you have not begun to prepare your things to move out next Tuesday, I took the liberty of doing this for you. You may not be taking this seriously; however, we are. You will be outside this house by seventeen hundred hours."
          "There is no such time as that. You made that up."
          "That is 5:00 p.m."
          "Come on. Give me one more week. I have been too busy looking for a different place, and they all want money I don't have. I've been too busy to even look for a job. Come on, please. Look, I'll give you this prism. It refracts the light of something like that. You can put it in the estate sale and get lots of money. Just one week. It's not cracked or broken. Look for yourself."
          Knowing it wouldn't make a difference in the final decision, Mr. Starn indulged and looked through the prism.
          After four minutes of silence, he spoke, "You have one additional week before you must vacate." He returns the prism to Colton and leaves his room without another word.
          Curious, Colton holds the prism up to his eyes again and sees nothing but the blurred sight of his room. He closes one eye, squints, and revolves the prism while holding it with the same results.
          "There is nothing special about this piece of glass or prism or whatever it is. Dad, wherever you are, I hate you for giving this to me. It is unfair that you left me nothing but this broken piece of glass and gave strangers money that belongs to me. Just not fair."
          Tossing the prism in an open box, he reopens all the closed boxes and looks for items to sell. During his search, Colton removes all his gaming consoles, three laptop computers, and shoe boxes full of game cartridges and places them all on his bed to decide what he needs to sell.
          "I can't sell these; I have no idea when I will want to use them. There must be other things I can sell that I will never use or want."
          Digging further into the boxes, he discovers an old photo album, a baseball, a baseball glove, and assorted other items from his earlier childhood.
          "Junk, all junk. None of this is worth anything to anyone. Maybe I can take all this stuff to Dave's store and see if I can get $1,000.00."
          After playing games until 3:00 a.m., Colton wakes up at noon the following day. He grabs the box with his childhood items and prism and leaves. Entering David's Consignment and Electronics, Colton spots Dave at the front counter.
          "Dave, just the man I am looking for. I have many items I know you will want to buy."
          "Hey, Colton. Barb told me you were here yesterday. She wanted me to look at what you brought."
          "Great. Let's start with this box of items I needed to eliminate because they take up too much room."
          "Sure, no problem; I also want to see that prism."
          Pulling each item out of his box, Colton fabricates an elaborate story for each item to try to increase its value.
          "Finally, this baseball glove was purchased during the World Series game when I was twelve and never used."
          "Interesting history of all your items. However, I am interested in the prism."
          "Oh, yeah. Sure, here it is." Reluctantly handing the prism to Dave, Colton inwardly cringes.
          Instead of looking at the prism for cracks or flaws, Dave places the prism in front of his eyes. Dave's only sound is a gasp as he stares intently through the prism. After what Colton felt was an eternity, Dave places the prism on the counter.
          "You only see blurred images?"
          "Yeah, sorry, it doesn't do whatever you were looking for. Now, can I get, say, $1,200.00 for everything?"
          "Colton, I will give you $100.00 for everything in the box. I am not going to buy the prism. After listening to Barb and looking through the prism, I can't imagine why you can't see anything. I guess I feel sorry for you. Your father left you a priceless item; you will never know what he gave you and the real worth."


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