The Contract Read online

  All three saw Sara quickly look at, first Jason, then the Commodore, when she finished reading the contract and saw the copy of the guardianship papers.

  “What is your opinion of the contract?” the Commodore asked when satisfied she had finished reading everything.

  “It sucks,” Sara replied, glaring yet again at Jason.

  “Please find an alternate term, Sara,” Mrs. Erickson prompted gently. “I do not care for the term you used.”

  “Oh,” Sara said, startled. “I am sorry.”

  She paused a moment, then glared at Jason again. “The contract… It is moot. I will not be here. I will be in Indiana.”

  Jason shrugged. “I might be in Indiana for some reason at some time. If you remember, I said the solution would not be location specific. Or you might decide to come back to this area, at some time.”

  “And it takes too long. All these other arrangements! That is at least seven years!”

  Softly Jason said, “The term of payback is only as long as you determine it to be. As it is stated in the contract, the moment you inform me that you believe the debt is paid, the contract is fulfilled.”

  “It is not fair!” Sara nearly wailed.

  “In what way?” asked Commodore Erickson.

  “Just what he said. He has to consider the debt paid if I simply say so.”

  Sara was suddenly pacing in front of the desk, referring to the contract as she continued, “That is not fair. And look at this! A personal allowance. A huge allowance every week. An allowance for schooling. One for travel. Another one for clothing. Yet another for medical care. Money for college at any university of my choice until I get a Bachelor’s Degree. And I can extend that to Masters, if I want. Room and board provided if I live at the house here, or an allowance for them if I do go somewhere else.

  “Every little thing that I might object to, is grounds to cancel the debt. There is not one single way to terminate this contract, that he does not have to continue to provide everything listed. It all even goes into a trust account so he could not even recover the funds if I die.”

  “You do not think that fair?” the Commodore asked.

  “Not for him!” Sara said.

  “How do you feel about the actual terms?” Mrs. Erickson asked, holding her crocheting idle in her lap as she studied Sara’s face.

  Sara frowned. “They are ridiculous… On the surface, anyway. I cannot fault his logic. I did say what I said, after all, about doing anything but those two things.

  Sharing his room and bed… At home, when traveling, or when he might visit, if we are not in the same household… That is as close as you can get to the two options I turned down. Therefore, the next quickest way to cancel the debt. And you cannot really say the debt would increase. Nothing listed is much more than what he has already done, in the same time frame.”

  Sara had stopped pacing to answer Mrs. Erickson’s question. She began to do so again.

  Mrs. Erickson gently prompted Sara. “That may be… actually is true, in my opinion. My question was more to the physical aspect of the terms.”

  Sara paced back and forth directly in front of Jason, staring at him.

  “It really is a moot point as well, is it not? I cannot believe none of you realize it, but the way that contract is written, I do not actually have to share his bed. Not even a room. I could agree to it, and leave and still get everything listed.”

  She whirled around when Mrs. Erickson told her, “Jason McKindrick, like every McKindrick before him, knows exactly what is in any contract; written, verbal or implied; that he deals with.”

  Mrs. Erickson looked over at Jason. Sara did so as well.

  “Is that not correct, Jason?” Mrs. Erickson asked him.

  “It is correct, Mrs. Erickson.”

  “You knew that was the case?” Sara asked him.

  Jason shrugged. “I had Miss Richardson configure the contract that way specifically.”

  “So, even if I agreed to this. Found a guardian that would sign it. And, as I suspect you have already arranged, your guardian signed it. You had no intention of going through with any of it… The sleeping together, I mean. It is obvious you intended to give me everything in the contract.”

  “I have every intention of going through with it,” Jason replied, calmly. “Be-cause I know, that if you do agree to it, you will honor the agreement. You will not use the termination clauses unless you actually believed the clause to apply.”

  “You have known me for less than a week. How can you possibly be so sure of that?” Sara asked, her exasperation evident.

  “I do not know for sure,” Jason replied. “I simply feel it, deep inside. Just in the same way that I feel that I will someday marry you.”

  “Do not start that marriage thing again!” Sara warned him.

  The Commodore and Mrs. Erickson both grinned at the vehemence in Sara’s voice. Both quickly hid the grins when suddenly Jason and Sara turned toward them.

  Sara turned back to Jason. “One of these days someone is going to do really painful things to you. I hope someone gets pictures. I would dearly love to see them.”

  With what looked remarkably like an evil grin Sara suddenly said, “Even if you are so sure that I would share the bed, you should realize that since I know that I do not even have to do that, I could wear anything I wanted in your presence. You might never see me naked.”

  Jason shrugged. Mrs. Erickson and the Commodore exchanged a worried look. They were both sure that Jason, as smart and perceptive as he was, had absolutely no idea how close he came to having great bodily harm come to him when he responded to Sara’s remark.

  “I am fully aware of that. Seeing you naked was not and is not the goal of the contract. There are probably many women that would let me see them naked if I asked. Kathy Wilkenson said as much. And if I was willing to pay to see nudity…” Jason shrugged again.

  Sara’s eyes were slits as she glared at Jason. Jason assumed it simply a continuation of her earlier anger.

  Mrs. Erickson and the Commodore knew better.

  Jason survived the next few moments by sheer chance. He added, “The reason I came up with this is because I want to be around you as much as possible. I do not care what you wear or do not wear. Or even if you are in the same room of the same house, or in another state or country going to school or just taking a trip. I just want you to be a part of my life.”

  “Oh, dear!” Mrs. Erickson said when Sara’s face grew pale and she staggered back from Jason. Fortunately, Sara managed to collapse into the chair, and not the floor.

  “But…”

  “Hush, Jason,” Commodore Erickson commanded quietly as Mrs. Erickson took Sara’s shaking hands in hers.

  Mrs. Erickson saw the color come back into Sara’s face and knew she was fine. Stepping clear, Mrs. Erickson winked at her husband and then went back to her chair to watch Sara in action again.

  “You no good, low down, dirty…” Sara glanced over at Mrs. Erickson as she searched for words that she could use.

  “I should do this, just to make your life miserable,” Sara fumed, glaring at Jason.

  He hung his head humbly. “If that is the only way that…”

  The Commodore cut him off. “You are not helping your case, my boy. Take my word for it. Shut up.”

  Jason lifted his eyes to Sara’s, but he said nothing.

  Sara’s shoulders suddenly drooped. She sighed. “This really is all moot. I keep telling all of you that, but I keep getting sidetracked.” Again she glared at Jason, but only for a moment.

  “I have to go back with Mother. She cannot go through that alone. You would not visit. I doubt I would ever be able to come back here. I will just have to go bearing this debt.”

  “You could stay here, with us,” Mrs. Erickson said, quietly. “I could use a private secretary. Henry is a letch, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. If he is your guardian, you would not have to worry about it. I am sure you could pay Jason back a
dequately on what you would be making working for me.”

  “But I have to go back to Indiana,” Sara wailed.

  All three looked at her. Sara got very quiet, then sat down. She looked over at Jason.

  “Say it,” she said. Jason could barely hear her.

  “I do not think…”

  “Please, just say it. I know everyone that knows, is thinking it.”

  Jason stepped toward her. He took a look at the Commodore and at Mrs. Erickson. They looked on sympathetically, but offered no help.

  Sara looked up at Jason face. Saw the agony there. The reluctance to state the truth that he knew, and knew that she knew.

  “Please. I just will not accept it until someone else says it.” Sara was begging. She hated it, but she knew that was what she was doing.

  Jason went to one knee beside the chair, and for the first time he touched Sara. He took one hand into his as he looked into her eyes.

  “Mrs. MacDougal said your duffel bag and an old suitcase were sitting on the lawn. You are not going back to Indiana with your mother. Your mother is not going to Indiana. I will find her for you, as quickly as I can, but… I really do not know how long that will take. Look. Forget everything I have said. Just stay at the house. Mrs. MacDougal and the staff will take care of you. I will find a way to make sure things are okay even without you having a guardian. I will get an apartment. I can get Mr. Lawrence to sign off on anything I will need to do. Just, please, do not run away to try to find her. I promise you I will. I promise.”

  Sara stared at the tears in Jason’s eyes for a long time. “It is why you put the door into the next bedroom. So I would have a place… I could go in or out, without going into the hall.”

  Jason nodded.

  Sara’s eyes dropped to their linked hands. “You promise? To really try? Not to stop me if we find her and I get her to go back with me to get this all straightened out?”

  “I promise,” Jason said again.

  She slipped her hand from Jason’s. He stood and stepped back. Sara stood as well. Turning to the Commodore she said, “If you agree, I would like you to be my guardian, until my mother will take me back. Or… Or until I am eighteen.”

  “Of course. I would be pleased to be your guardian.”

  “I have the papers Mother signed at Jason’s. I can go get them, or bring them over tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow is fine,” Mrs. Erickson said. “Jason should be getting home. I’ll have Qwendellyn prepare a room for you.”

  “Oh. I guess I did not say.” Sara looked over at Jason. “I agree to the contract.”

  “I do not,” the Commodore said. “I forbid you to enter into that contract.”

  “But…” Sara frowned. “You are not my guardian yet. I can do whatever I want.”

  Commodore Erickson looked over at his wife.

  “Call the authorities. Tell them we have a runaway.”

  “But Commodore!” Jason exclaimed, caught totally by surprise.

  “Yes?” he responded, calmly.

  “I thought, even though you probably would not agree to the contract… I did not think you would turn Sara over to the authorities.”

  “I have no choice. If I am her guardian, we will discuss things such as this. If I am not, I am duty bound to make sure she is protected. I would, even if Martha would not kill me for not doing so.”

  “But…” Sara said. She suddenly felt exhausted. “I…”

  “Dear,” Mrs. Erickson said, taking the chair next to Sara’s and picking up her hand to hold.

  “What Henry is saying, badly…” She looked at him a moment and shook her head. “Intentionally, I might add, is that a guardianship is a trust. Despite Jack Lawrence. Discuss this contract with Henry. Then make the decision. I believe Jason will advise you the same.”

  “Mrs. Erickson is right. The Commodore has the responsibility to you to act in your best interest.”

  Sara sighed. “Then why did we just go through all of this? If I cannot pay you back, I would just as soon become a ward of the state. At least then I would not have so many things to worry about.”

  “Sara,” Commodore Erickson said, gently.

  Sara looked over at him.

  “Let us assume my name is on the guardianship papers. And you are in agreement with the guardianship. Is that acceptable?

  Sara nodded. The Commodore lifted an eyebrow.

  “Oh. Yes, sir. That is acceptable.”

  “By George, I think she has it!”

  “Stop it, Henry,” Mrs. Erickson chided him. She looked over at Sara. “You will have to excuse his occasional leaps into song. I have never found a way to completely stop him.”

  “Oh, well,” the Commodore continued. “Now. About this contract the young man wants you to agree to. How do you feel about it?”

  “I just…”

  Sara bit her lips at the chiding look the Commodore gave her.

  Suddenly she smiled. “I think it is unfair. Do you think you could get him to change it? Significantly? You are my guardian, after all.”

  Commodore Erickson laughed aloud. Mrs. Erickson grinned.

  Jason looked sour.

  “Well,” the Commodore said after a few moments, “the contract is in your best interests. Under one condition. No. Make that two.”

  He looked over at Jason. “I need your word, sir, that you will not take undo advantage of the situation. You are a young man, coming into full sexual awareness. My ward is a young woman, also coming into full sexual awareness. The two of you will be in close contact. Despite the best of intentions at the outset, the situation will have nearly unbearable times. Can you control yourself to the extent of stopping, before anything happens that you have agreed will not happen. I need your solemn assure on this, young man.”

  Jason looked at Sara a very long time. He met the Commodore’s gaze fully. “You have my assurance, sir.”

  Sara was frowning.

  “Sara,” Mrs. Erickson said. Sara turned to look at her.

  “What Henry asked Jason, I will ask you. Despite how you feel at the moment, at the age you are, there will be moments when simple curiosity could overcome your best intentions. Are you strong enough to deny them? Think carefully. I do know how you feel at the moment. But emotions are strong. And variable.”

  Sara looked at Jason, just as he had looked at her. Looking back at Mrs. Erickson she quietly said, “I am curious about some things, and know I will be more so in the future, no matter what my feelings about him. I am strong enough to resist. And I am sure that he will not do anything intentional to tempt me.”

  She looked at the Commodore again. “The other condition?”

  “Tell me, truthfully, how you feel about the terms. As Martha said, the physical aspects. Not simply that you agree. I need to know that it is actually an acceptable method to satisfy your need to fulfill a debt.

  “You will essentially be living together. Not having sex could actually complicate the situation.”

  “I understand,” Sara replied, though she thought about it for a long time. “I may want to do him bodily harm, from time to time. But, despite the way I feel about some things, I trust him to do exactly as he has said.”

  “Good enough,” the Commodore said. “I want you to get the shyster to sign this first, Jason. Just because I do not like him. You and Sara bring the contract and the guardianship papers by the marina tomorrow and join Martha and me for supper. I will sign them then. As far as I am concerned, you and Sara have a valid verbal contract. I trust you both to honor it.”

  “I give you my word,” Jason said.

  “So do I,” Sara said.

  “There is something the two of you should remember,” the Commodore said as all stood and moved toward the study doors.

  Sara and Jason both looked at him expectantly, half expecting some type of joke.

  “Always remember that one person’s trinket can be another person’s treasure.”

  Both nodded. “I will. I have heard t
hat before, and have always believed it.”

  “So have I,” Sara said.

  “But even more importantly,” the Commodore added, looking first at Jason, then Sara, “remember that one person’s treasure can be another person’s trinket.”

  Jason looked at him quizzically, but said nothing.

  Sara said, “But is that not the same thing?”

  “Not necessarily,” replied the Commodore.

  “You will understand, I am sure, someday,” Mrs. Erickson said gently.

  Candy was waiting near the entry.

  She looked at Jason and Sara.

  “Home, James,” Jason said.

  “Absolutely!” Candy replied. She was not sure what had happened, but it must have been good. Sara was neither crying, nor beating on Jason’s head.

  “Ah. But first…” Jason looked over at Sara. “Is it all right if I stop at Mr. Lawrence’s to get the papers signed?”

  Sara shrugged. “Sure. I do not have to go in, do I? I do not like him.”

  “No. You can if you want, but I would prefer you did not. It is going to be difficult to not do him harm, anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” Sara asked.

  Jason just shook his head. “Never mind. I will call ahead.”

  Having worded the call to get Lawrence’s interest in the money he thought he would be making in the near future, Jason had to endure only a few comments about Sara as Lawrence signed the contract. He eagerly signed his copies of the administrative control transfers for the Powerhouse Development and the Henderson Project.

  It was all Jason could do to not turn and hit Jack Lawrence when Lawrence, as Jason went through the door, said, “Money well spent, Jason. I would never have thought you would have it in you to arrange a live in chippie. I am actually impressed. And do not worry. For this kind of money, your mother will never hear about it from me.”

  Sara and Candy could tell from Jason’s expression that he was angry. Neither commented, thought they did exchange a glance.

  The entire staff was waiting.

  “Any word from Mrs. Lee?” were Jason’s first words when they entered the house and saw Mrs. MacDougal and the others.