The Spirit of Giving: A Caskett Christmas Story
Chapter 5 - Finding Ways
Rick was at his office doing a review of an edit by their senior editor. As a Junior Assistant Editor, Rick did the job of checking reviews and catching anything the senior editor might have missed. Rick had found several such significant findings in past reviews and the senior editor was always pleased when Rick brought them out. Rick had kept his editor accurate and on point. For such good work, Rick was promised an associate editor position once he got his degree. So Rick was at his desk, marking up his current review, using his mom's gift pen. A pen that is a constant reminder to Rick of his deceased mother and one that he valued among his few mementos of her.
Phil Crosby, an associate editor, was coming out of their senior editor's office when he saw Rick using that pen.
"If you ever wanted to sell that pen there is a Stationary & Pen Shop I know of that would give you a good price for that one."
"And why would I do that, Phil, this was a remembrance of my now passed mother."
"Just saying. A couple years ago I was in need of quick cash, and sold them this pen", Phil says pulling out a Cross Fountain Pen, "Like yours, it is solid gold, but minus the elaborate etchings and emblazoned emblements on yours."
"So, you have it now, how did you get it back?"
"They give you up to 60% of their appraised value, but also, you can negotiate for them to hold your pen in storage for a month. Then when it is placed for sale, they notify you for a first to buy back opportunity. Of course, the resale price is aways higher than what their buy price was, but consider it as interest paid."
"I see. Well thank you for that info Phil. It could come in handy."
"De Nada Rick, this info is shared by code of GEPO, Guild of Expensive Pen Owners", Phil jokes.
They both laugh at his joke, but Rick has now found a way to get some quick and needed money.
Decorating for the Season
Kate was in the laundry room of their brownstone. They had just finished Thanksgiving the week before and Christmas was around the corner. She had unlocked a storage cabinet in the laundry room that contained their Christmas decorations. There was a small fake Christmas tree stored there that was about three feet high. They had used this in the past and put it on their one and only end stand. She also pulled out a Christmas Wreath for the door of their studio, some small Christmas figurines of Santa, his sled, reindeers, and paper candy canes and a 'Merry Christmas' pin ups for the walls of their studio. She had a small snow globe of Frosty the Snowman that she placed by the tree. They did not have much, but it was enough to make the studio ready for Christmas and create the Holiday ambience of the season. Kate had no work today, as today was her afternoon class day. So finished with decorating the studio, she headed for that afternoon class.
Kate got to class early, as was her custom. As she took her class notebook and pens for her bag, she also sees the little beanie cap she had knitted for Lanie as a Christmas gift. She had placed it in a small gift bag to hand to Lanie after class. As she put away her bag, Lanie enters, looking a bit hurried.
"Hey Lanie, you look rushed, anything up?"
"Roommate problems."
"How so?"
"I woke up to find my roomie's BF putting on his pants."
"You didn't know he was there?"
"No, they came in after I had fallen asleep, late."
"I see."
"My roomie is gotten get us in trouble and I couldn't talk to her about it with her BF there. So I left, but we are going to have a talk later."
"Well, maybe this will help", Kate says pulling out her gift for Lanie, "I was gonna give you this after class, but now seems a better time. Merry Christmas Lanie!"
Lane pulls out the beanie from its gift bag, "Kate, thank you. You made this?"
"Knitted it."
"When did you have time to do it?"
"I made time Lanie as you deserve it for being my BFF."
"I will cherish it Kate as this is a labor of love you made for me, thank you. Merry Christmas Kate."
"Merry Christmas Lanie."
Rick had finished teaching his 'English As A Second Language' Class. He dismissed his class and they exited the room with several of his students passing by his desk. As they passed, many of them placed Christmas envelops on his desk addressed to 'Professor Castle'. Rick did not open them but put them in his backpack. Those cards he would place under their small Christmas tree in the studio. Yes, Christmas season was well in hand and Rick was happy about it. Of all the seasons, this was his favorite, next ot Halloween, when he got to dress up in costume. Rick Castle was a big kid at heart and celebrated all the holidays with great enthusiasm, but particularly Christmas. Rick headed to his class that late afternoon.
On the other side of town, Kate Beckett went by her work restaurant after spending some time after class with Lanie in the college cafeteria. She was not on shift that day, it was her off day, and she knew the Sandovals were to decorate the restaurant that day. She always provided a helping hand with that ever since she started waitressing there. It had become a Christmas practice for them.
"Kate, thanks for coming on your off day, come, help decorate the tree", says Rita Sandoval.
There was an open package of Christmas bulbs and Kate grab some to hang on the tree. The Sandovals always bought a live tree for the restaurant and this one was over eight feet tall. For an hour or so, they spend decorating the tree. Rita had prepared a bowl of egg nog and had filled three cups for them. As they finished their cups, they went back to the bowl to refill. Soon there was a knock on the restaurant door. They had closed a few hours ago. It was a little early for closing, but previously there had been a private party that closed the restaurant to the general public. So the restaurant had been closed early and it allowed them an early start to deocrate for the season. All that was missing now was one member of the decorating party.
There is a knock at the restaurant door. From the knock they all guessed that their absent member, Rick, was at the door.
"Come on in Rick, grab some egg nog and help finish the tree", said Mel opening the door for Rick.
Rick was quick to follow Mel's order. There was much joy in the restaurant as they decorated the tree. The Sandoval's children had long since left the roost, leaving the couple as empty nesters. But the coming season would once again see the Sandoval family together in celebration of the season. In the meantime, Rick and Kate were their surrogate children. They finished the decorating and then had dinner. The dinner was happy and festive. It was a good way to usher in this Christmas. Afterwards, the Castles headed back home to their studio apartment.
Once at the studio, Rick saw the decorations Kate had put up.
"You did our tree and Christmas settings, thank you. I would have helped if you had waited."
"Rick I am so happy for this coming Christmas, particularly since we paid Dad's copay. I have the receipt here and wanted so much to put it in a Christmas Envelope and under out tree for his gift. When we finish our Holiday Christmas meal, we can give it to him".
"Did you make the order at the grocery?"
"Done and paid for. We had a little left over from the copay slush fund we set up, so I used that to buy the Christmas meal".
For their last few Christmas celebrations, the couple had taken to buying the prepared dinner from the local grocery store. It had all the fixings: turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry, grilled veggies, bread rolls, and desert. The only difference from a home cooked meal was the turkey was a roll and not a complete bird. But the turkey roll was both white and dark meat and was delicious. All that was needed was to heat the meal. It saved them the time of preparing the meal, especially since they did not need a big bird, as even a small one was too much for the three of them.
They would have dinner with Jim Beckett in the kitchen of the health facility, along with other patients and their families at the facility. Each family got a table for their meal, but it always turned into sharing some of the dishes with the other families, especially the deserts. After the meal, each family would retired with their member in their assigned rooms. There they would open the gifts privately. Last couple Holiday celebrations, Jim had been so mentally out of it that he did not have any sense of enjoyment about the event. He did not even have gifts for them, his mental state did not even allow him to think about that, let alone act on that thought. But this year his health, both mental and physical, despite his kidney problem, allowed him to participate in the season festivities. He was more cognitive of the season and the couple was expecting a better celebration.
The Health Facility
Across town, at the health facility of Jim Beckett, he was at one of the phone stations that patients could use. He knew of his up coming treatment and knew of the copay charged. Jim had agonized on how it would be paid. He knew that this created a financial burden for his daughter and son-in-law. He wanted to off-set that burden by coming up with cash of his own. Jim hears the phone ring on the other side.
"Walter Bergen, Pilgrim Asset Management, how may I help you?"
"Walter, you're still there after all these decades!"
"Excuse me, who am I speaking to?"
"Jim Beckett."
"Jim, it must be,... what? Twenty years since we last spoke."
"Darn near, I did not expect you to answer."
"Well you're lucky, I have my retirement papers in for this summer. You just caught me in time. What can I do for you?"
"It's about my account."
"You mean the account you haven't touched in some 25 years?"
"That would be the one."
Years back, as a just blessed father, Jim Beckett wanted to secure the financial security of his wife and newly born daughter, Kate, if he were to have an untimely death. Becoming a father does that to a man's thinking. He looked into life insurance, but did not like the fact that Term Insurance, although relatively inexpensive, was a sunk cost if not used. He then looked into Whole Life Insurance, which offered a Face Value, that could be cashed when it matured. This insurance provided adequate protection but used some of the monthly costs to create a Face Value that allowed for some residual value back for all the monthly payments. So this insurance did recoup a fraction of Jim's money spent for protection against a early demise and would go to his family as a lump sum.
A lawyer associate had given Jim the number for a good independent insurance firm, one Pilgrim Insurance, its name at the time. The Insurance offered Whole Life Insurance in a unique program, life insurance with mutual funds. The way the program worked was that a portion of monthly payments also went into a mutual fund. You needed to buy initial shares of the mutual fund to start it off, but it was a fairly reasonable cost for a start up to buy into. For Jim this was a double incentive as his money also created some revenue for the future thru a Face Value and Mutual Funds. Jim bought the insurance and after his insurance expired many years later and the face value of the insurance matured, Jim had his agent, Walter Bergen, move that amount into his mutual fund account. There it had sat for almost twenty-five years accruing dividends.
When Walter told Jim what the accrued amount of his mutual fund was, Jim was elated! It was a substantial amount.
"So what do you want to do Jim?"
"Walter take out a third of the accrued amount and send it to me in a check with the 'Pay To' being Mr. and Mrs. Richard Castle. Also, change my beneficiary on the account to them, plus future Grand Children. Can that be done?"
"I'll make it happen Jim."
"Thank you."
"Well then, we are done, Merry Christmas to you Jim."
"Likewise, Merry Christmas to you Walter."
Jim Beckett wanted this Christmas season to be one that would be remembered in the years to come. Jim prayed to the universe for better health and for the promise of many more such Christmas seasons ahead for him and his family.