JIM IS HIM

CHAPTER 09

Bernard Williams.

Jim searched this name online and found out that Bernard was promoted to a lawyer in the supreme court about a year ago.

“Whoa, this guy is a big deal,” Jim thought. “He should be earning a lot of money with every case, so why does he want to talk to me? Just how much does my dad owe him?” His heart started beating faster.

[Until you go and talk to him, you will never know.] Anne stated.

“... You’re right.” Jim was required to pay seven dollars for using the internet in the cafe. He also needed to pay three more dollars for the coffee. However, he took the sim card out of his mobile, deleted all the information in it, factory-resetted the phone and gave it to the cafe owner in exchange for letting him use the cafe. The owner shamelessly took the mobile.

As Jim walked out of the cafe, Anne asked, [Are you sure you want to leave your mobile? You have a lot of online friends, don’t you?]

“Yeah, but they are a distraction now,” Jim said. After workout, chatting online and playing games with his online friends of different ages had been the time-killer and stress-buster for him while doing nothing but working in the Adams’ mansion for the past four years.

Jim took lift to the address that the lawyer had sent him. It was to Bernard’s simple duplex home.

“The house is small but beautiful,” Jim opined.

[Yeah, nobody would believe that a supreme court’s lawyer lives here. Maybe this is his second wife’s home or something?] Anne wondered.

“Can’t you think straight for once?” Jim could only shake his head before entering through the gate. “No guard outside means there’s likely a dog. I have to be careful.”

As expected, there was a German shepherd that came howling and running at him. Jim, however, didn't run away. He began to scream loudly, but the dog still jumped onto him anyway.

Jim moved away, thanks to his quick reflexes, and the dog ended up hitting the gate, and its head got stuck in between two metal rods. It couldn’t pull its head out, so it began to squeal.

“This is what you get when you attack everyone that enters through the gate, doggie,” Jim snorted and kicked the dog in the butt once. “You better stay there until I’m out,” he said and then ignored the dog and walked toward the building. To his shock, another german shepherd scuttled out through the door. “Shit,” Jim’s heart trembled for a second.

“Stop,” a deep, loud voice came from inside the house, and this second dog froze in its steps and sat on its butt.

A shirtless obese man in boxer shorts too small for him walked out and almost fell when climbing down the four-step staircase.

Jim kept looking at him not knowing what to say.

“What are ya staring at?” Bernard harrumphed. “Never seen a man with four boobs before?”

“Never even knew that men could have four boobs until now,” Jim looked intimidated by this man who was also the hairiest man Jim ever met. “W-Why’s there hair even on your shoulder?”

“I don’t know. It just grew,” Bernard was casual about it. “Anyway, let’s go inside, Jim. I’ve been waiting for this day for almost four years now.”

Four years?

Does that mean his father really owed Bernard some money? But then Jim had to pay the interest accumulated through these four years, too? Just thinking about it depressed Jim some more. Whatever the case maybe, Jim chose to enter the house.

“Don’t you want to free your dog first?” Jim asked.

“Let the dogs worry about the dogs,” Bernard casually said as he entered the house. “There’s no one else here, so feel free to open the fridge and take anything you want.” He heavily plopped down on the couch, and the noises the springs made were loud enough to hear.

“It’s okay, sir. Just tell me the reason you called me,” Jim didn’t want to waste his time here anymore.

“You don’t seem to have half the patience your dad has,” Bernard sighed as he picked up a bowl full of berries. “But if I put myself in your shoes, then I can understand where your words are coming from. So, I’ll not beat around the bush and come straight to the point, Mr. Jim.”

“I’ll appreciate that,” Jim said.

“Your father’s name is Henry, and his father’s name is Larry, and his father’s name is…”

“Jerry.”

Bernard smiled. “Not bad. You do know your predecessor’s names.”

“My dad always kept talking about them, so I wouldn’t be able to forget them even if I wanted to,” Jim replied. “He also told me that he wanted to name me Cherry, but that my mom was against it and gave me the name Jim. Still, my dad calls me Cherry as a nickname.”

 “Mm, Cherry, what I’m going to tell you is related to your family and is top secret,” Bernard said. “Your family, about 200 years ago, chose my family as their trustee so that the descendants of your family wouldn’t use their funds in a wrong way. When your father’s time came, he only took 100 grand from my father and used that to build up his career as a chef. He was pretty successful, so he never needed any of the money or the metals that were waiting for him in our vaults.”

“V-Vaults?”

“Yes, vaults built by your ancestors are spread throughout this country, and my family managed them over the last two centuries,” Bernard said, “and I currently manage them also. A total of 50 vaults. One vault is right underneath this building, too.”

“U-Underneath the building you say…” Jim’s eyes widened. “H-How big is it?”

“Exactly 1000 sq ft wide. Do you want to see?”

Jim ended up nodding before he even realized it.

“Alright. Let’s head to the basement then,” Bernard got off the couch with great effort. “I hate going there because it’s too congested for me. If not for you, I wouldn’t go there, really.” He kept talking as he took Jim to the basement which was decently clean. From the basement there was a secret door in the metallic floor, which led further down into a well like hole. At the bottom, there was a large circular metal door. “This thing isn’t automatic, so it’ll take some strength to open,” Bernard said and then took Jim’s help to push it open.

And once the door opened, Jim’s mouth stayed open, for there were gold biscuits stacked in rows upon rows in the vault. There were also diamonds bigger than the size of Jim’s fists. He picked up a large diamond. “This thing weighs at least two kilos. I-Is this real?”

“As real as reality,” Bernard snickered. “The cheapest diamond you’ll find here is 1000 carats. And there’s more than a thousand tons of gold in this vault alone.”

Jim looked at Bernard. “Pinch me. No. Slap me.”

“Sure,” Bernard gave Jim a good slap to the cheek, and then Jim rubbed his cheek and started laughing. Soon, Bernard also laughed. “I know you’re happy, but I can’t give all this to you.”

Jim’s laugh hit a sudden break. “Huh?”