Chapter 3 - The Note Inside the Candle
Sandra was waiting in the kitchen when Benjamin got back at three in the morning.
She looked defensive and exhausted.
“Did he forgive you?”
Benjamin placed the grocery bag on the counter.
“That’s not the question.”
Toby had fallen asleep on the couch clutching Catherine’s note.
Benjamin carefully lifted the passbook and looked at it for the first time.
The account balance was $18,400.
Enough to matter.
Not enough to explain Harold’s cryptic comment about “signing papers.”
Then Benjamin noticed something tucked behind the passbook.
It wasn’t another note.
It was a deposit slip from the previous month.
In the memo line, Harold had written:
Toby Education Fund — First Transfer
First transfer.
Benjamin stared at the words.
Sandra came to his shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
She crossed both arms.
“Benjamin, if he has more money than he lets on, why are we always the ones helping him?”
Benjamin turned slowly.
“Helping him?”
Sandra rolled her eyes, then stopped when she realized how it sounded.
“I mean with rides, with visits, with—”
“When was the last time you visited him?”
Sandra said nothing.
Neither had Benjamin.
Toby woke as the clock on the microwave hit 3:17.
“Did Grandpa get home okay?”
“Yes.”
“Can we light Grandma Catherine’s candle here?”
Sandra opened her mouth.
Benjamin answered first.
“Not tonight.”
Toby looked down at the note.
“Mom took Grandma’s picture down because of the guests.”
Sandra flinched.
“Toby—”
“Grandpa looked sad when he saw it was gone.”
Benjamin leaned against the counter and covered his face.
His son had noticed everything.
The cold plate.
The missing photograph.
The silence.
The next morning, Mr. Sterling called.
Benjamin expected a conversation about bank business.
Instead, his boss said:
“Your father seemed like a decent man. You might want to think about what kind of evening he walked into.”
Then he hung up.
May you like
Benjamin had spent years worrying about how he looked in front of important people.
It had never occurred to him that the important person in the room might have been the one carrying the grocery bag.
