Confessions of an Heiress

Chapter 21 - Drowning in Bathtubs

"I just. I just thought I'd have more time..." Robi sobbed once we got inside.

"You didn't know. You couldn't have known." I didn't know either, but I was trying not to let on.

It was killing me to see him like this. I've never seen Robi so upset. Ever. I was scared. I thought I knew what happened, but then he said "the service will be in town" What was that supposed to mean? Did someone die? Oh God. Is that it? Who would die? No one was even sick.... He couldn't know I left, I was only gone a few hours, I've been shopping for longer than that. Right? Did someone see me at George's and call him? Why couldn't he just yell at me? Oh please just stop crying.

"Robi, just sit down. It's ok. We can talk about it when you're ready"

"I'm sorry Cali. I don't know what to tell you. I'll leave if you want me to. In a million years I never thought this would happen. Just tell me the word and I'll go."

Robi. Go? No. I didn't know what was going on, but even if I did, I didn't want Robi to go. "No one is going anywhere." I tried to sound reassuring. "Why don't you tell me how it started?"

"Well, you heard my message right?"

"Yeah, but uh, there was a bad connection, it was hard to hear. You sounded upset, so I came home." It sounded plausible...

"My dad died."

"Your dad died???"

"Yeah, and"

"There's an AND?"

Robi took a deep breath. "And I've lost the business. My mom's going to lose her home and there's a good chance they're going to come after us too Cali."

Robi resumed crying and I sat frozen. What just happened? His dad is dead? He lost what? He can't lose the business. We were doing so well. His dad gave him the business, didn't he? Someone's coming after us? No. No. He's just grief stricken.

I didn't think it could be that bad. I mean. What's ever really gone wrong in my life? When I was a little girl my grandparents died, but they were old and it was kind of expected. And yeah, I've had problems, or what I thought were problems. But nothing like this had ever happened. Robi's dad died very unexpectedly. He choked on his breakfast, and he had a bad heart, and that was enough. The choking sent him into a heart attack. He went quick, just like that, with a box of breakfast cereal. Robi was on his way to a meeting when he got the call. He rushed to his mom's house. The lawyers got there before the coroner. There were problems. Big problems. Legal ones. Problems with Ugg Bugg that Robi's dad had never told anyone about.

"Ugg Bugg was in debt? How could you not know about that? Doesn't it belong to you now anyway?"

"Pretty much, my dad and I were joint partners, and on his death it all gets transferred to me. Or it was supposed to. I really don't know how this happened or if what they're doing is legal. We're going to have to get a lawyer Cali, probably more than one."

"It's ok Robi. We can fix this."

"I don't know Cali. It's pretty bad. They were showing me paperwork, back when my dad set up the business, a contract with our pesticide distributor. I don't think he knew what he was signing. They're saying he owes millions to them."

"That's not possible. How can they even think that? Millions?"

"They're saying there was some clause in the contract - between my dad and the pesticide company - it was an exclusive deal, they were supposed to have a percentage of every customer contract he signed in exchange for discounted rates on their products."

"But that has to be thousands of contracts"

"Several hundred thousand. Ugg Bugg has been in business for over 35 years. They claim they're entitled to their share of the contracts."

Now I was really getting angry "Did your Dad know about this? Why is this just coming out now? We're going to sue them Robi. We'll sue them for everything they're worth. You and your dad have worked too hard to build Ugg Bugg."

"I don't think my dad knew. I mean why wouldn't he honor the contract if he knew? The pesticide company has new owners. I think they're using this to take over family operations like ours so they can put a big corporation in place and reap all the profits."

"Well, we'll just open up a new company. They can't run you out of business like this."

"Cali, you don't understand. They are THE pesticide manufacturer. They are our supplier for everything. Ugg Bugg doesn't exist without Polypetrol Pesticide, they know it, and they are trying to take advantage of it.

"But Robi. All that stuff you went to college for. You can compound your own pesticides. You do it all the time."

"Where do you think the ingredients come from Cali? I can't do it without Polypetrol and they know it."

"Go natural, organic, fight bugs with bugs, all that stuff you always talk about."

"That's good for some things, but it's not enough to run a business like Ugg Bugg. There's still years of research to be done. They've got us Cali. This is really bad. We could lose it all."

"So we'll get lawyers. My dad knows lots of them. I think."

"We'll need lawyers just to keep what we have. I'm sorry Cali. I'm so sorry. I just. I just can't belive Dad's gone."

And then we both cried. Robi Sr. was gone. Ugg Bugg was gone. For the first time I can remember, I felt someone else's pain. I knew how much all of this meant to Robi, and to lose it all, well, it crushed me.

I guess that's when things stopped being about "me" and started being about "us" I never told Robi I'd left. How could I? It was probably the worst day of his life, of our life. All that mattered was staying together and surviving. Things are a little better now. I mean we've got Atlas and everything. We lost Ugg Bugg to Polypetrol Pesticide and his mom had to sell her house and moved into an apartment. She died a year later, just before Atlas was born. We managed to keep Shanley Manor, for now, but it cost most of the Legalos fortune. It's not what it used to be. It turns out Lawyers are really expensive. Robi has gone back to school, and I had to keep my job. I mean I know it's a pretty good job. I used to just do it for fun, but now, we kinda really need the money. This house is really expensive to run. Mom works part time and dad still speaks at his Tree Hugger conventions, but I hate to depend on my parents. They should be retired and enjoying their grandchildren. It's been pretty bad for Robi. Ugg Bugg was his identity. He's been kind of lost without it. He tries to hide it with his apple pie good nature, but losing Ugg Bugg was a deep wound. For awhile, I didn't know if we were going to make it.

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