A Matter of Pride by Jane Gill

Author:Jane Gill [Gill, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: florida, christian, family, flagler county, civil rights, racism, dirt farms, potato farming, poverty, turpentine, black history
Publisher: Double Edge Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

The weather had been unpredictably warm for early April, so Lu wasn’t surprised when the temperature dipped back down into the 60’s and the cold rain began as she left the office the next evening. The phone was ringing when she came in the door. She ran, dripping, to pick it up.

“Hi, Luella!” Lu cringed at the familiarity. “This is Rory, Rory Ashworth. You know from Florida? Is this a good time?” Lu looked at the puddle her umbrella was making on the tile. “Oh, sure, of course, it’s fine,” she lied.

“Well, I’d like to send you a new offer based on some of the information I was able to gather about your father’s property. And, frankly, you’ve got a couple of sticky little problems with this, Luella.” He sounded distracted. “But, that’s okay. I don’t want you to fret about it. It’s really nice property and, luckily, I’m in the business, so I know a little bit about how we can work around these little kinks. Like I said before, don’t you worry. We can handle everything through the mail.”

“You said there are problems?” Lu asked, anxious to know what was wrong. “What kind of problems?”

“Well, see, the courthouse has no record of that property being transferred into your father’s name. I mean, if he had a deed, you know,” Ashworth said. “Well, that is, if he had a deed, he never had it recorded, and that could be a problem.”

“You know, Mr. Ashworth, I was thinking about that,” she responded. “That property belonged to my grandfather, Nathanial Stovall, who lived there until he died. And he got it from his father. Maybe they didn’t have to do deeds, I mean, since it was passed down, you know?”

“Oh, well. See, then we’re going to have to do a little more research,” he continued. “Florida has what we call a Homestead Act, and property passes down to family almost automatically, like through inheritance, you know? So, I may need to know where any living relatives of his and yours are. We may have to go to court to get this straightened out.”

“Oh?” Lu queried.

Ashworth continued, “But, come to think of it, Luella, I’ve got a golfing buddy who’s a lawyer down here. I’m sure he could take this on for you. And, I’m willing to work with you through all of this, believe me. I’m not going to be scared off just because there are a couple of small hurdles.” He was making an obvious effort to be reassuring. “I’m going to give you this fellow’s name, and you give him a call tomorrow, or maybe the next day, and see if he’ll handle this for you. I’ll run this by him tomorrow so he’ll know what it’s about when you call. He’s a very busy man, and I want to be sure your call goes right through, okay?”

Court! Lu, dumbfounded, did not respond, but Mr. Ashworth continued, and quickly rattled off his friend’s name and telephone number.

“Okay, then, Luella, we’ll be in touch,” he said.

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