"There he is! Hey, Green Bean!"
Louie walked up to the pool. As soon as he stepped out of the shade and onto the patio, the blazing sun hit his eyes. He hissed and pulled his hood over his head. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he headed for Gladstone Gander, their Uncle Donald's cousin and, thus, their cousin? Uncle? Who knew anymore, honestly.
Gladstone laid out in a sun chair tanning with a foil reflector in his lap. He tipped his sunglasses and smiled at him. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!"
"Ew, more like prince of the vampires," Dewey commented from where he floated on a giant inflatable flamingo. "The night was not kind to you. Go back to your dungeon of darkness! We don't need you sucking up our fun with your fangs!" He shooed him with a big, cheesy grin on his face.
While, yes, Louie could feel the massive bags under his eyes weighing his face down and he felt like tipping over, it was not the time. He glared and pointed at Dewey. "I'm not taking any criticism from you today. Go jump in a lake."
Dewey rolled over on the floaty. "Ugh, still mad at me about last night? Fine, maybe I will." With that, he dove off the floaty, into the pool.
"What happened between you two last night?" Huey sat on the edge with his legs in the water and his shirt off.
Gladstone smiled, laying back in the sun. "Take a dip in the water, it'll wake you up a bit, Mr. Grumpy McGrumpton."
Louie pulled a chair into the one shady spot on the patio by Gladstone and plopped down. "You guys do realize it's like 8 in the morning, right?"
Dewey backstroked across the massive pool. "I know! How many people can go swimming this early?! It's a heated pool! Isn't that the coolest? When I'm famous, I'll have a heated pool and a hot tub with disco lights. How overkill is that?!"
Gladstone chuckled. "You haven't been inside yet, have you?"
Dewey gasped and scrambled out of the pool to peek inside the glass windows. He made some unintelligible noises before searching for the door. "I have to get in there! This is my dream!"
Huey rolled his eyes and walked over to him. "It's a glass door, dude." He found the latch and opened it for him. Dewey practically fell inside. "I'll just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Yeah, that's it." Huey smiled at Gladstone before slipping in after him, clearly wanting to see the hot tub as much as his brother.
Gladstone chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Man, I miss being young and adventurous like that."
Louie sank into the patio chair. "Eh, it's kinda overrated." Now, how do I ask… ugh, come on stupid tired brain, work!
Gladstone handed him a pair of sunglasses. "Here. Your Uncle Donald used to struggle with insomnia when he was your age too."
"Really?" Louie lifted his head and took the glasses, putting them on. His headache began to recede. "He's never said anything about it." But, come to think of it, he's always good about reminding me when to take my medicine and he's never once complained about me napping during the day like Mom and Uncle Scrooge do.
"Yeah, when we were roommates, he would be up all night. For all the complaining Don does about inconveniences or alterations in his routine, he never once complains about burdens like that. He takes what he's given and he makes it work like a true champ, even when all of the chips are down and his luck is at an all time low."
Louie stared at his feet. Like us. He never once complained about having to raise us and he struggled to sleep that whole time? "How does he do it?"
"Who knows? I've always been a little envious of how little the big things like that phase him."
Sometimes he can be so hard to talk to. Like, literally, his voice is impossible to decipher sometimes. But I do wish we could actually listen and talk to each other more. Maybe then we could understand what he went through when we were little. And if he listened more to us we wouldn't have to be on this trip to find answers about our dad. Louie pulled his hood down and stuck his feet into the sun.
"It's great that you boys came to see me. I hear Dewey is going off to flight school. He was talking about it so much I didn't get to hear what Huey had planned, but I have no doubt Uncle McMoneybags has that figured out for him. What about you?" Gladstone swung one leg over the other.
Louie heaved a sigh. Alright, here we go. Ride the angle and stick to it. He rubbed his temple to think past his headache. "That's just it, Uncle G." He picked up his chair and forced himself into the sun so he could face his lucky uncle. "After the whole prison fiasco, Uncle D, Mom, and Uncle Scrooge all got together and practically planned my future for me. Ugh. They're sending me to intern at the bin next month." Once he had him roped in, he headed straight for the heart strings.
"You know what's worse? They haven't even told me I'm going. Both of my brothers know, but I had to figure it out myself. So, their plan is to ship me off to sit at a desk in Scrooge McDuck's prison of lectures and life lessons. Blergh. I mean, give me a break! I'm an adult now. I should be able to do my own thing." He tipped his sunglasses down right at the end so Gladstone could get a quick glimpse of the sad eyes.
Uncle G pulled his sunglasses off and filtered sigh through his nostrils. "You're serious? They won't even tell you or give you a choice? That's ridiculous! A kid like you needs to be able to figure life out on his own. You have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. Believe you me, brilliant, naturally lucky guys like you and me don't gain anything from Scroogie McBillion's life lectures." He chuckled. "And boy have I gotten a few of those in my time."
Louie smiled and sat straighter. "Exactly! We can take care of ourselves with just a little wit and our striking good looks." He bounced his eyebrows. "I knew you would understand!"
"Buuuut…"
"What? But-no, no buts. Buts are bad."
"I can't say too much. You went to prison for… what was it again? Oh yeah.. fraud. I can understand why they're being so careful. They care about you, Green Bean. If you slip into another get-rich-quick scheme, you might get caught and the punishment for that wouldn't be a simple slap on the wrist."
Okaaaay, I wouldn't call my time in prison a slap on the wrist. I was 15 and spent over half of the year trying to survive the kids that wanted to rip the head off of the nephew of the richest duck in the world. "Uncle G, I'm smarter than that. I want to revive Louie Incorporated and make it square. I want to find investors and build the company the right way. Please… I just need someone to believe in me." He pulled the glasses completely off this time.
Gladstone scanned his face and sighed. "I totally get where you're coming from, kid, I really do. But as much as I relate to you… I can't step on your family's toes by giving you money. I got where I am now by pure luck and chance, not schemes, cons, or business dealings. I can't help you." He folded his tanning foil and got up, climbing onto the diving board. He took a few hops, warming up his legs.
"But that can't be true. What about those investments and dealings you made with my dad?"
Gladstone heard him just as he dove into the pool. He broke form and landed flat on his stomach. He sank to the bottom like a rock.
Louie cringed and inched towards the pool. "Oof, ouch. Where was your luck there?"
His uncle dragged himself to the surface and crawled up onto the flamingo floaty. Gasping for air, he glared at him. "Where did you hear that?"
Louie smirked and rested his chin in his hands with his elbows on his knees. "We got an old statement in the mail for your shared account. Now spill it."
"There's not much to tell." Gladstone groaned and rolled onto his back. "Your dad just got it into his head that getting into business with me would make us millions. With my luck and his organization skills and planning, he was convinced we'd be the perfect team."
"Go on."
The lucky duck stared up at the sky. "It was his idea and I had never tried getting into the business world before. It sounded smart. I was lucky at everything else so why not give it a try, right? So, with my lottery winnings and most of his savings, we bought a baseball team."
Louie blinked. "Come again?"
"A baseball team. Sam loved baseball and knew everything about the game, the teams, players, the works. He was convinced he could build us a team and that my luck would win us every game. Together it would make us money for years to come."
Okay, baseball. At least it's nice to know he had a hobby.
"There was only one problem." Gladstone covered his face. "Neither of us could have guessed that my luck was useless in the business world. And while most teams I cheer for win, combined with my name on the team contracts, our team lost every single game that season. Our players got injured, our field flooded… the whole thing was a dumpster fire. Sam closed the team and I vowed to never bring my good luck into the business industry ever again. And so far you can see how that has worked out for me." He gestured to the pool and mansion.
Louie sat back and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "And what about Sam?"
Gladstone shrugged. "We didn't really speak much after that. We were both pretty ashamed of it and he was frustrated with himself. It was better left alone."
"Do you know where he is now?" He held his breath. Please. At least give us something.
"That all happened before your mom and dad really hit things off. I do think that the business idea was his way of trying to get her to notice him. I can't say for sure if that hairbrain plan worked or if it was something else. I was out of the picture by then."
Louie watched as the water rippled under the flamingo floaty. Gladstone had just told him more about his dad than he and his brothers had ever heard. It's like he's a real person now. Not just a name. He smiled to himself. He likes baseball and came up with plans to try to impress mom. Knowing her, that would have been nearly impossible.
Gladstone's voice brought him back to his present issue… the money. "I'm sorry, Lou-Crew. What I did with Sam was a bad idea and it hurt the both of us. I can't invest in your company, no matter how much I believe in you. In fact, let's just say that me not giving you money is my investment in you." He sat up, smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh yeah, like that's what I need." Louie heaved a sigh and groaned. How am I going to get that kind of cash now? Uncle G was my contingency plan. I'm running out time and Gus could be anywhere.
"Hey, 20 dollars!" Gladstone plucked a soggy bill from the pool.
"Where did you-nevermind." Who am I even talking to? It's Gladstone. He could find 20 dollars in a hobo fire.
Gladstone paddled his floaty to the edge of the pool and handed him the soggy dough. "Here, kid. Just to show you what happens when I try to invest my luck in someone else."
"It's just 20 dollars, what could happen?" As soon as he took the wet bill in his hands, a hawk came and snatched it out of his hands. "Ahhhg!" Louie fell back in his chair onto the patio. "Oh come on!"
"What'd I tell you? Your lucky duck of an uncle is forced to hold back his fortune. Fate demands it. Now come on, let's go see what your brothers are up to." He helped him up and together they walked into the house.
Louie glanced back over his shoulder to see the hawk circling the skies. His stomach twisted into knots. What am I going to do now?