Now, what do you want to know?"
"How much money do we have?" Debbie promptly asked.
Ramona sighed.
"That money, the money that is in the bank, came from the death of my parents. They were murdered for that money. And we don't need it. We have everything we need already. I had thought a little about using some of it to send you two to college, but I have never wanted that money. It is blood money."
Debbie started to say something but her mother held up her hand.
"And, if you suddenly have a lot of money, it changes things. People treat you differently. They want some of your money. There are some who want all of your money. They don't care about you ... just the money. Even your friends will act differently toward you. They say things like, 'Well you have more than you need, so give me some.' And even if it is your money, to do with what you wish, if you do not give them some they feel like you have taken something from them. Money is not a bad thing, but the lust for money has caused more pain than all the wars in history. I don't want you two to have to face that pain."
Debbie thought about that for a minute. "Okay" she said finally. "So ... if we said we didn't want any of that money ... would you tell us how much there is?"
Robert laughed, a long, loud belly laugh. Debbie frowned at him, but he held up his hand.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that it is very hard to 'not want' money when you know it is there. But there are ways. Let me ask you this. Are you thirsty?"
Debbie looked confused. "Thirsty?"
"Yes" said her uncle. "Are you thirsty for a drink of water right now?"
"No," said Debbie, still confused.
"But you will be thirsty some time in the future, yes?"
"Well of course," said Debbie. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Money is like that," said Robert. "At some point you become very thirsty. If water is scarce, then thirst is a horrible thing. But if you can just turn on the tap any time you wish then water means very little, yes?"
"It still means a lot if you're really thirsty," said Robby.
"True" said Robert. "But, most of the time, you don't think about the water in the faucet, yes? Only when you are thirsty."
Both kids nodded.
"Then, you must look at your money like it is water. When you have great thirst, it is good to have. But one must not think of it all the time and give it inflated importance. Do you understand this?"
Again both kids nodded. Debbie shook her head then. "But money isn't water. There's water everywhere. There's so much water that you couldn't drink it all. That's why you don't think about it all the time."
"And this money that you are so interested in," said Robert. "What if there were more of it than you could ever spend? Would you then lose some of your interest in it?"
Debbie blinked. "That would have to be a lot of money," she said.
"How much is a lot?" asked her uncle. "Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?"
Debbie looked uncomfortable. "I don't know. Millions I guess."
"And how many millions?" he pressed. "Just millions? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions?"
Debbie looked shocked. "I think a million or two would be more than anybody could spend," she said. "I mean unless they bought stupid expensive things that they don't really need."
"Then, my beautiful niece, let me assure you that your mother has more money than you, and your brother, and any additional brothers and sisters that may come along could ever spend. Just think of it as if it were water."
The first thing Debbie thought of was what her uncle had said in the woods ... that her mother had more money than he did, because he had spent some of his and she had never touched hers. She looked at her Uncle.
"And you?" she asked again.
"The same," he said softly. "More than all of us could ever spend."
Debbie licked her lips and looked around.
"More than four million?" she asked.
"More than forty million," said her uncle.
Debbie's mouth hung open. "How?" she gasped.
Robert waved his hand. "The banks. They have kept our money, and used it and made money with it, paying us interest. The interest was added to what our parents left us and then they paid us interest on the interest. It is the way of banks. And it has been some thirty years they have done this."
Debbie couldn't breathe. "We're millionaires?" she squeaked.
"Many times over, my dear," said Robert.
"Wow," said a stunned Robby.
Ramona had to speak. "But we don't need millions to live. I like our life the way it is now." She darted a look at her brother. "And now that Robert is back in my life I love our life. We mustn't let money change things! It could ruin everything!"
"One can drown in very little water," said Robert, nodding.
"Bobby," said Ramona. "I thought you couldn't receive your trust unless you graduated from college."
He nodded. "When I was in East Africa there was a need for both expertise and money in the tribes I was working with. They were just establishing the Royal College in Nairobi, and I managed to get a degree in engineering through them. Officially it was awarded by the University of London, but it satisfied the prerequisites for obtaining access to my trust. It made a huge difference in the good I was able to do in the following years."
His bland statement led to questions from both teens about where he'd been, and what he'd done, and that led to questions about the people he'd met and what they'd been like.
Ramona sat and listened to her brother with a warm feeling. Just looking at him and hearing his voice made her feel good. The mantle clock chimed and she listened with half an ear until it reached ten melodious clangs.
"It's late" she announced suddenly, interrupting her brother's account of working with the Masai. He was talking about Kali, a Swahili word for the hot, spicy food he loved.
"We don't have anything to do tomorrow," objected Debbie. She and Robby both were completely enthralled by the stories their uncle had been telling them.
"Ah, hurul-ayni," he said to Debbie, "but I have much to do on the morrow, and need my rest," said their uncle.
"What does that mean?" asked Debbie, smiling.
"It is Swahili for 'beautiful maiden'" he said, bowing to her.
Debbie blushed, but grinned hugely too. Perhaps this strange man wasn't so bad after all.
"Okay" said Debbie, her face slightly flushed. "But you have to promise to tell us more stories later."
"You are, of course, welcome in my home ..." he looked at Ramona "Our home, as far as I am concerned, any time. Any time at all." Again he bowed to the children. He saw their look of amusement and added, "It is a habit I acquired in foreign lands. It soothes people. They are more willing to hear you when you bow."
"So," said Debbie cheekily, "You're trying to sooth us?"
"You have made your dislike for me clear," said Robert.
"Well ... yes," admitted Debbie. "But that was before we knew who you really were. I guess you're not so bad," she finished, unable to meet the eyes of the man she'd screamed her hate at.
"You have taken a huge weight from my shoulders," he said. "Perhaps some day I'll even be worth a hug."
The first thing Debbie thought of when he said the word "hug" was the hugs she'd seen her naked mother giving him, while he made passionate love to her. Debbie felt a rush of emotion that she wasn't able to categorize as being either good or bad.
"Yeah ... well, some day," she said carefully.
"Until then," he said, turning.
Something startling occured to Debbie suddenly and she turned to her mother. "Mom? Robert ... Robby? Is Robby named after ... him?"
Ramona nodded, her eyes turning to her brother, who finally looked startled.
"It was the only way I could have him near me at the time," she said. "Now, come. I'll take you home Bobby," said Ramona. "So you don't have to walk."
Robby barked a laugh, and when the adults looked at him he blushed. "Sorry" he said. "I was thinking of ... never mind," he finished, also unable to meet his mother's and uncle's eyes. He had been thinking that every time his mother went to the manor she ended up naked with a stiff prick buried in her.
Robert smiled. "Perhaps you want to come with us?" he offered in a gracious voice. "You can watch without having to hide behind the walls if that is what you were thinking."
"Bobby!" squealed Ramona. She reached out and slapped his arm.
Robby was so unnerved by his uncle's bland invitation to watch them have sex that he was momentarily lost for words. Finally he blurted out, "Maybe later." Then he turned even redder and lay his head on the table with a moan.
Robert laughed. "Yes, I imagine you would like to be alone too, eh?" he said with a chuckle.
Ramona turned around and pointed at her children. "You two don't do anything until I get home. We still have some things to talk about!"
Both kids just nodded, looking pale all of a sudden.
Ramona pushed her brother toward the door, still looking at her children.
"And I'll be right back!" she said firmly. She then berated her brother as they went through the door, telling him he was shameless and crude and ... The conversation, if it could be called that, was cut off by the door as it closed.