“For the past five years, Amanda Barnes has lived alone in an old house in Northern Texas. She entered the workforce at an early age, and because of her determination and perseverance, had long held a position of authority in the city’s businesses. Virtually everyone in town knew Mrs. Barnes by sight and always paid their respects when they met her. Sooner or later, however, age tends to take its toll, and the woman was forced to quit her job and tend to her household at an old ranch.
She and her husband, Lloyd, lived together for nearly 40 years, raising two handsome sons, Spencer and Walt, who were born one after another and left their family’s nest as soon as they turned 18. The young men were beckoned by the city lights and entertainment, and of course, life on the ranch couldn’t give them that opportunity.
In time, Walt and Spencer settled down and even had families and children. Unfortunately, Lloyd and Amanda Barnes would see their grandchildren a couple of times at most, and even then, only in pictures. As if ashamed of their provincial origins, the sons rarely visited their parents, and if they did, they did so only on some serious occasion, like, for example, selling the cattle after the death of their father or leasing land for pasture.
With her husband gone, Mrs. Barnes’s life came to a monotonous, hopeless rut. Despite her rapidly deteriorating health, the old woman labored to keep the house and homestead in good condition. In the evenings, sitting in front of the television, Mrs. Barnes looked through old photographs and remembered the times when her family had been united. Wiping away bitter tears, the elderly woman could not understand where she and her husband had gone wrong in raising their sons and why they had grown up to be so selfish.
Mrs. Barnes’s only comfort came from visits from Viola Ross, who worked as a nurse at the local hospital. The young woman treated the lonely old woman as if she were her own mother and visited her every day, bringing her groceries and medicines. They had known each other for a long time, from the time when Walt was a young man and tried to woo Viola but could not win her hand because of his bad temper. Mrs. Barnes, at the time, worried about this, for she had grown quite fond of Viola.
Now, Viola had a loving husband and daughter, Rebecca, and she preferred not to speak of her failed relationship with Walt. Sitting in her kitchen now, Mrs. Barnes glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, its hands crawling like sleepy flies. The old lady had been expecting Viola, and she grew anxious when the nurse didn’t arrive on time.
At last, the front door creaked, and familiar footsteps were heard. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Barnes. How are you feeling today? Any headaches? Heart not bothering you?” Viola asked with concern in her voice.
“Hello, my dear. My head has been hurting since the morning, but thanks to your visit, I feel much better already,” Viola Ross, out of habit, took the groceries she had bought out of her bag and put them in the refrigerator. Then she took her blood pressure and shook her head disappointingly and gave her an injection.
“You’ll feel better now, Mrs. Barnes. Lie down on the sofa and try to sleep. I’ll close the door myself,” Viola said goodbye and patted the old woman on the shoulder. Amanda Barnes closed her eyes and sank into the sweet dream in which she saw her sons and her grandchildren nearby.
And so, the old lady continued to live with these occasional visits from Viola and the phone calls from her sons every once in a while. As time passed, Mrs. Barnes’s health deteriorated by the day. The old woman found it difficult to keep the house in order, which in recent years had become run-down and began crumbling before her eyes. Her sons still visited their mother very rarely, and if they did, it was only for a few minutes.
When autumn came, it began to rain, and the rain could sometimes last two weeks. That would have been all right, but Mrs. Barnes, as bad fortune would have it, had a leak in several places at once on her roof, and the old lady had to live in humidity, placing all the containers she could under the leaks.
This angered Viola most of all, who knew that the poor old woman had two healthy sons who could fix the roof if they wanted to. The angry nurse first called Walt and then Spencer, but to her disappointment, neither of them had any free time to help their old mother. One of the sons had a daughter who was supposedly getting married, and the other one had a work emergency. Viola then asked her husband, Jack, to help Mrs. Barnes repair the roof, so using their own resources, the good couple replaced the old shingles and fixed the nasty leak.
“My heroes, how grateful I am. I was starting to come down with a cough from the dampness,” said Mrs. Barnes softly and wiped away a tear. Although the old woman did not say it aloud, deep in her heart, she was hurt that her sons had not come to help their own mother.
A few years passed, and Viola could not help but notice Mrs. Barnes’s deteriorating health. Calling Walt, the woman said, “Listen, you and your brother need to take your mother to town. It’s hard for her in this backwater. The ranch too needs a lot of work. I’m going through a rough patch right now. Maybe this could wait until later, or perhaps Spencer could help. He’s got a bigger house than I do.”
Walt answered, making up problems that didn’t exist as he went along, “Maybe this could wait until later, or perhaps Spencer could help. He’s got a bigger house than I do.”
Viola understood everything and hung up the phone. And then, after consulting with her husband, she decided to move Mrs. Barnes to her place, all the more so because Rebecca had now grown up and was in high school, so she could help the old woman if she needed it. At first, Mrs. Barnes had resisted desperately and did not want to leave her home.
But then, realizing that no one wanted her but Viola and her family, she reluctantly agreed. When she moved to this unfamiliar home, the old woman had no idea that the time she would spend within its walls would be the last period of her difficult life.
Viola, along with her husband and daughter, surrounded the old woman with the care and love she had been deprived of all these years. And if Walt and Spencer had rarely visited their mother before, now they stopped coming at all, leaving all the trouble of caring for the old woman to Viola and her family.
Moving into the Ross home had, of course, prolonged Mrs. Barnes’s life, but as we all know, time spares no one. Amanda Barnes was no exception to this rule, who, despite Mrs. Ross’s best efforts, died on a warm May morning, three days short of her 80th birthday.
Viola hurried to break the news to the old woman’s sons, but they took the news of their mother’s death with cold calm, as if they had buried her in their hearts long ago. “What? So you’re not coming, Walt? This is your mother. Can one even do that, not come?” exclaimed Viola, who couldn’t bear the idea of treating her parents that way.
“No, we’re not coming. Our presence won’t be worth much anyway, what with the funeral preparations and all. You can manage without us,” answered Walt and hung up.
Tears welled up in Viola’s eyes. This was the first time she had experienced such a thing, and it was hard for her to pull herself together and proceed with the funeral. After seeing Mrs. Barnes off on her last journey, Viola locked the old woman’s house and mentally prepared herself for a possible visit from her sons.
A year later, there was a knock on Viola’s door. To her great surprise, there stood an imposing middle-aged man with a leather folder in his hands. “Good morning. May I see Rebecca Ross? I am an agent from the notary’s office, and I need to give her Amanda Barnes’s last will,” said the stranger.
“Well, come in, please,” Viola whispered, stunned. The notary agent entered the hall, where a visibly excited Rebecca was already waiting for him. She had recently celebrated her 18th birthday and was a little embarrassed by the attention she was receiving.
The notary agent, with a little cough, corrected his tie and announced in a mundane voice, “Amanda Barnes wrote a will in favor of Rebecca Ross, a will that bequeaths Mrs. Barnes’s house and any bank accounts over to her.”
Needless to say, the words of the notary agent made a lasting impression on Viola and her family. After all, the woman who had been caring for the sick old lady out of the goodness of her heart never expected that this woman would make her daughter the heir to her property. Tears welled up in Rebecca’s and her mother’s eyes.
At this time, the notary agent, after leaving the necessary papers and details, quietly left. Rebecca, of course, never imagined that wealth would descend upon her. After all, the late Mrs. Barnes had a large sum of money in her bank account, which the thrifty old lady had been saving up for decades.
Amanda Barnes had not forgotten about her sons. She left a letter for them, which only they could honor. The day after the notary agent left, two cars belonging to Mrs. Barnes’s sons pulled up in front of Viola’s house. Walt and Spencer’s indignation knew no bounds when they discovered that their mother had bequeathed all her possessions to Viola’s daughter.
“You forced my mother to write a will in your favor! You’re a thief and a crook! This will not fly,” shouted Walt, waving his hands. But when he and Spencer read the letter left by their mother, their facial expressions changed, and they calmed their tempers.
The letter read, “My dear sons, Spencer and Walt, if you’re reading this letter now, I am no longer alive. I understand your indignation about the will, but I made it while I was sane and in good health. It was difficult for you to give me a few hours of your time, so I decided not to burden you with an inheritance. Don’t hold it against Viola. I think my old house and my bank account have a greater use in her hands. Goodbye, and raise your children right so that you never have to go through what I have gone through.”
Without saying a word, the brothers went outside and got into their cars. Since then, Viola hasn’t seen them for years. Only once, on the 10th anniversary of Mrs. Barnes’s death, did she find them weeping at her grave. It was obvious that the sons realized their mistake and sincerely regretted their actions. And also, they believed that their mother was watching over them from above and, as before, wished them only good and prosperity.
