the inheritance

Jade sipped her coffee. As she talked to Carole about her fortune—over millions of dollars inherited from some unknown relative—Jade couldn’t help but keep repeating that she felt like it came out of nowhere. Carole just shrugged and shook his head, laughing. 

“Well, it would’ve been if I hadn’t known it was from a relative. Maybe I can find him on Ancestory.com. A rich guy in Europe or something!”

Carole took another sip of his hot chocolate, and then looked at her closely. “Can you explain to me again why this is important?”

“So I put the phone down pretty slowly, staring in shock, my jaw on the wooden floorboards of Connie’s and my living room. I just have inherited so much money, I don’t know what to do with it.”

She took a deep breath, and Carole leaned in. “I’m in the middle of Christmas break before finally graduating college and landing my dream job.” She shrugged. “Now that money’s in my life, I can’t just throw my future away. I have to graduate and then get my dream job.” She shifted on the booth and turned to the waiter as he asked her whether she wanted more coffee. Carole looked outside at the Christmas red and green lights decorating the stick-skinny trees.

“No, thank you!”

“Okay!” He walked away, muttering that no one wanted the Supreme Cream Coffee they offered—

“Well, no one wants the government’s so-called gifts!”

After whizzing around and lowering her cupped hands, a grinning Jade rested against her booth’s headboard and flicked her red eyebrows at Carole’s aghast face. “Well, just saying how things are going around here. Don’t want even a liquid interfering in my life.” She crossed her orange freckled arms and rested them on the table. “Right?”

Carole shrugged. “Sure.” He ground it out like he heard it a million times—Jade and her hatred of the government.

“Ooooh. You’re really against this whole new future life, aren’t you?”

“No. I just don’t want to keep talking about it!” He glared at her and continued eating his eggs and ham sandwich. “You’re so funny—”

“It’s not about being funny. It’s about being right. I’m not going to waste my time giving every cent to that stupid organization called the government if I don’t have to. I—”

“Don’t have a choice.” The other redhead spread his long, bare arms. “Look at this place. We don’t have to eat here. Yeah, I sure feel like we do. It’s the only nice place in town. It’s the only sane place in town. The town of Govno. That’s right—Govno. Stands for Government No. Or something like that!” He cracked up, hitting the table. “No government!”

Jade raised her eyebrows and leaned forward.

“…Never gonna be true.” Carole laughed some more, shaking his head.

“Let’s go, Carole. Not hungry anymore.” Jade clambered out of her booth, leaving the coffee for the waiter to dump. If only ruining the government was as easy as trashing some drink at a mediocre diner. She stayed quiet while they walked down the sidewalk back to Jade’s apartment. She shivered as the wind played with her long wispy hair. As cars’ headlights lit them up and then zoomed past on the street beside them, Carole made some small talk. But Jade made a smart comment about the government, and Carole’s sneakers screeched to a halt.

Jade only looked around her.

We’re going to enter a whole new year. The government’s only going to get worse. She bit her lip and looked at the townhouses lined up on the opposite side of the street like those colorful houses glued together in children’s books. And the other diners and a school not much farther away. They—all plastered with metal and revolving doors. You entered with the sound of your voice and you exited by just walking outside. Everything was done for you. You just had to breathe.

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