Dee Dee and Larry

Dee Dee put down her glass of wine and smiled at her son. "I think Milt's changed, well, a little. He seemed calmer. Happier than I've seen him in a long time."

"And you think it's because of this McCormick character?" Larry said in astonishment.

"Well, it's hard to say. But it was easy to see that he likes him. When I mentioned that he seemed nice, Milt said, "he's okay" in that tough voice of his. And you know he's never said anything that positive about... well, just about anybody since Nancy died. Nothing's ever seemed to be good enough since then."

"I just can't picture Uncle Milt being taken in by some ex con," Larry told her shaking his head.

"I didn't get the impression Mark was trying to fool him. As a matter of fact, he seemed rather sweet. Well, if my opinion is worth anything, I'd say Milt likes him. They've captured a lot of criminals together over the past year and Milt is very proud of that. Anyway, what did you want to ask me?"

Larry put his glass down and looked seriously at his mother. "I wanted to ask for another loan. Before you say anything, it'll just be short term, three months, just until the new store gets up and running."

Dee Dee frowned as she answered him, "I'm not sure I can do that Larry."

"I've been making payments on the other one every month, like clockwork, I've never missed a payment, you know that."

"I know, and it's not because I don't want to loan you the money, but I don't really have all that much available at the moment. In order to get it, I'd have to cash in one of my CDs and I'd take a penalty."

"You can add the penalty to what I'll owe you mom," the voice reached a higher pitch.

Dee Dee squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. Larry was her only son. Since her husband had died, he'd become closer to her than they had ever been. She didn't want to alienate him, nor did she want to be taken advantage of.

"All right, we can go to the bank tomorrow and I'll cash in the CD. It'll all be yours anyway after I'm gone."

"And Uncle Milt's too," Larry whispered.

"Now Larry, you know Milton has never said that you were his heir. I don't think he's ever said anything about who is named in his will at all. For all we know, he's planning on leaving all his money to the Police Benevolent Fund, or the Legal Aid Society, or California Bar, maybe he'd even leave some to Mark, we have no idea."

Larry froze. "He wouldn't give an ex con part of his estate mom, would he? He's spent his life fighting against law breakers."

"It doesn't concern you Larry, it never did. Please stop dwelling on it, and don't drop any more hints about it to Milton, every time you see him you say something related to his will. It's embarrassing!" Dee Dee chastised him.

Larry sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. Maybe it was time to pay his Uncle Milt a visit. After all, it had been several years since he'd seen him. It wouldn't hurt to find out what was going on with this ex con that everyone seemed to like.