I broke the seal with hands that would not stay still. Inside were a single page and a small brass key. \u201cCaleb,\u201d Walter had written, \u201cyou kept my secret, so here is the rest. Your father believes a boy is worth only what can be spent on him. I spent thirteen years watching you prove otherwise. Everything I built goes to you, with one request: keep the crew employed, and keep the door open.\u201d Gerald\u2019s chair scraped back. Diane said the word \u201cmanipulated\u201d twice, and Stanley answered calmly that Walter had recorded every conversation with his doctors, his bank, and his son.<\/p>\n
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Stanley read the rest. Hannah and my parents would each receive fifteen thousand dollars and the family photograph albums. Gerald stared at the figure as if it had insulted him. I thought of the three hundred dollars he once slid across the counter, folded once, the price he had put on a son. I did not feel victory. I felt the weight of thirteen years: the pill organizer filled every Sunday, the baseball games played with the volume low, the stairs Walter climbed one at a time while I pretended not to count.<\/p>\n
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