20

It was the brother or the bar. Sean really came close to leaving Eddie in jail, but then Lily revealed what her boss was offering for the Red Boot. Eventually, Sean saw it like this; he could sell the bar and the charges relating to Eddie's burglary could be dropped, and then he could take the money from the purchase and invest in another separate business, one without Eddie that he could run on his own. It would be another bar in another neighborhood close to the house. He would call it Finnerty's and offer snacks and a big screen TV – everything he could not do at the other location. He'd even poll his buddies for ideas to make it successful. The only problem was that once Eddie was free, he was not happy to hear that they had lost the Red Boot.

"Twenty-five thousand dollars, Sean?" Eddie was incredulous. "Twenty five…. The bar was worth five times that!"

"I know!" Sean was still twisting in knots inside as he returned home with his idiot brother the felon. "It was the best we could get! I did it for to get your ass out of jail!"

"Uh-huh… Uh-huh…" Eddie was still looking at his half of the check. "Uh, another question, why is Lily's name on this check?"

"Because she's the assistant…" Claudia told him. "Lily talked to her boss about buying the Red Boot."

"Why would Lily as a mere assistant have her name on the check instead of her boss?" Eddie asked. "Why isn't her boss's name on this check?"

"Because…" Sean started realizing what his brother was getting at. He turned to his wife. "Why is Lily's name on this check?" Claudia looked at Sean then to his half for the sale of the pub. That was a very good question! Why would Lily's boss give the money to Lily to give to Sean and Eddie? Why not just give the check directly to them? Just what was going on here?

"Lily…" Claudia turned to her daughter sitting at the dining table and realized she wasn't doing homework. She was covering pay receipts and ledgers with vast amounts of money. She was doing much more than just a mere assistant.

"Mom, dad, please sit down…" She looked up to them. A little grin on her face, she closed her ledger and exhaled lightly as her parents looked at each other. "For the last few months, I've been getting these… premonitions… psychic visions of horse races and the stock market… and I've been making money like crazy!"

Sean and Claudia sat down at that moment. Eddie's jaw dropped a bit.

"You see…" Lily was shining proudly. "I'm… my own boss." She confessed. "I own the Moseby Street Warehouse and the Red Boot among several other properties, and I just turned over the Red Boot and the rest of the block it is on to a developer for a very cool two point five million dollars." She grinned ear to ear.

"I need a beer." Sean mumbled out of shock. He had been scammed by his own daughter? A wealthy business lady with psychic gifts! Lily reached to the floor and handed him a bottle of beer.

"I had a vision of that too." Lily continued.

"Oh my god…" Claudia was stunned. "Lily, you've been doing all this behind our backs?"

"Mom, don't worry…" Lily spoke frankly and coldly rehearsed. "Now, dad, since the Red Boot is going to be knocked down for a mall, I arraigned for you to start employment as the manager of the O' Flanagan's I own over on Decatur. It has medical benefits, paid vacations and you can make your own schedule."

Sean suddenly tipped back his bottle of beer and started gulping it down to get drunk. He suddenly found himself working for his own teenage daughter!

"Oh, don't bust my cover down there." Lily added. "They're not intimidated unless I have a fictional unseen boss behind me." She looked to her mother. "Mom, I've already arranged to attend UCLA after I graduate. I tried getting into Harvard Business School, but it was too late to get admitted." She briefly slipped off her mature tangent and back into a teenager. "I'm going to be majoring in theatre with a minor in business, but while I'm gone, you'll be acting manager of my accounts, signing and delivering checks, much like I pretended to do for my fictional boss. I'm going to arrange for a paycheck to go into your bank account for this work. Does five hundred a month sound okay? I mean… that's what I held back for myself."

"Oh…" Claudia was still very much stunned. "That sounds…" She looked to Sean. "Okay…"

"Lily…" Eddie came round the table and looked upon her, almost pledging his devotion to his as if she were a Mafia crime boss. "What about me?" He kind of chuckled. "You're taking care of me, right?" He looked to Sean and Claudia still deep in shock. "Who do you like in tomorrow's races?"

"Uncle Eddie," Lily slid her ledger away from his eyes. "I'm leaving you to dad as usual. If he wants, he can hire you as a bartender, because I trust him to keep you in line, but if you cross me, I know enough about your dealings to put you deep into prison."

Eddie's face went white.

"Lily…" Sean sat before his daughter, trying hard to hold himself back. "If you had a vision that the Red Boot could be sold at a big price, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because, dad…" Lily responded honestly. "I also had a vision of Uncle Eddie screwing it up and you not getting the best price for it. That's why I had him briefly arrested. I had to get him out of the way for a while."

"She's possessed!" Eddie pointed at her. "Because of her, I'm facing twenty to twenty-five years in prison because of Vince's business."

"Eddie, shut-up!"

"The case against you, Uncle Eddie, is circumstantial…" Lily predicted. "As long as you don't do anything stupid and just turn informant like they want, you can avoid prison." She stood and looked over at him. "Trust me on this. You would not do well in prison."

"Lily…" Claudia finally forced herself to talk. "Just how much have you made from these… visions?"

"I don't think you could handle it…"

"Lily…" Sean was trying to get drunk really fast. "Answer the question!"

"After the sale of the Red Boot?"

"After the sale of the Red Boot…"

"Four-million, two hundred and seventy-six thousand…" She heard her father wincing in shock at the wealth of her psychic acumen. "A hundred and forty-three dollars…" Her mother clenched her chest at the devious secret financing her daughter had pulled off behind their backs.

"And ninety-eight cents…." Lily added. She looked at her parents. They were speechless. Her father's jaw was hanging open, her mother was going into shock and her uncle was reacting as if he was in a dream.

"You're right…" Claudia gasped unprepared. "I can't handle it!"

"My daughter…." Sean was unsure if he should be happy or angry. "…has turned into Oprah…"

"Another thing…" Lily added. "I kind of created a nice home for myself on the top floor of the warehouse, kind of a nice loft-slash-penthouse, and I'm going to be living there for the rest of the school year. No disrespect, but I just need some privacy otherwise I'm going to explode. After all, I'm practically eighteen and should be on my own, and I definitely can afford it now."

"Uh… Sean?" Claudia looked to him for him to handle it.

"How can we stop her?" Sean was losing it. "She practically owns the house!"

"Well," Lily started pulling together her ledger, books and papers. She stood up straight in her vest, blouse and skirt combo. "I've got to start packing my things up for the move. There's a truck coming to take my things in the morning." She moved around the dining table for the stairway. She thought of something, hesitated and looked to her parents and Uncle Eddie.

"You know, guys…" She beamed to them. "From here on now, I bet things just keep getting easier!" She spun round with a childlike giggle and pranced up the stairs with a happy little smile on her lips. Downstairs, her parents were still at the table and still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Their daughter… with the oversexed figure… now had more money than the two of them put together.

"She did buy that new washer and dryer." Claudia realized the truth. "That sweet little darling… This more than makes up for the labor I went through when she was born." She suddenly jumped up and dashed over and around to the stairs to find her daughter. "Lilly, baby, mommy wants a new car!"

Sean meanwhile continued sitting at the table. Eddie pulled out the chair and creaked down to sit by him. They shared a look once, twice and then three times. So, this was how it all turned out. Supported by his daughter…

"You're right…" He remained confused as he talked to his brother. "She is possessed!"

END