Making It Right
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CHAPTER 6:
SARAH opens the front door to see VERONICA and a smartly dressed man standing there.
SARAH: Hello Veronica.
VERONICA: Hello Sarah. Are we early?
SARAH: No, not at all. Come in.
SARAH turns and leads them into the lounge.
SARAH: Please, make yourselves comfortable. I’ll just go and get Graham and John from outside.
SARAH walks through to the patio doors, and sees JOHN and GRAHAM carrying a large sheet of wood across the lawn.
SARAH: John, your mother’s here.
JOHN: Oh. Right.
GRAHAM and JOHN put down the wood and follow SARAH back into the lounge.
JOHN: Hi Mum.
VERONICA: Hi sweetheart. [Sees how sweaty he is] What have you been doing?
GRAHAM: My fault. I’ve put him to work on our second shed.
VERONICA: Glad to hear it. [Gestures towards the other man] John, you remember Bill Oakley, my accountant friend?
JOHN: [Shaking hands with BILL] Yeah, you used to advise me on what to do with my pocket money.
BILL: [Laughing] You never listened, if I remember correctly.
SARAH: Look, why don’t you all sit down, and I’ll get some tea and coffee.
SARAH leaves the room, and everyone else sits down.
VERONICA: John, how much have you been told about what we’re here for?
JOHN: Only that it’s about my future.
VERONICA: Right, well, yes. I’ll get to the point then. John, I am still trying to reason with your father, and I may succeed some day, some how, but until then I think we need to look at what you are planning to do, and how you’re going to pay for it. OK?
JOHN: Uh-huh.
VERONICA: You know that your father and I set up a trust for you when you were born?
JOHN: Yes.
VERONICA: Well, until I can convince your father to start allowing you to have some money again, we’re going to need to use that trust to pay for your time at Oxford.
JOHN: Uh-huh.
VERONICA: Now, you understand what that means?
JOHN: I think so.
VERONICA: Well, just in case, I shall let Bill explain it to you.
BILL: John, you weren’t supposed to gain access to the trust until you were 21, and not fully until 25. By then it should have grown to a sizeable quantity of money. However, your father has cancelled the standing order into the trust, and it’s now effectively frozen, barring the interest you’re gaining on what’s there already. OK?
JOHN nods, but seems to be getting a bit overwhelmed already.
BILL: Now, even though you don’t gain control of the trust for a few years, you can use the funds before that, assuming you get permission from the account’s organiser. Fortunately for you, your parents chose me for that task 18 years ago.
JOHN nods again.
BILL: I’m willing to open up the trust money to use towards University, assuming that’s what you want to use it for.
JOHN: Do I? I don’t know.
BILL: Well, this is what we need to decide, and preferably today.
JOHN: Oh. Right.
BILL: Now, to go to University you are going to need sufficient funds to pay for accommodation, food, books, nights out and the occasional trip for up to five years. You can undoubtedly earn some of that during holidays, and Veronica will switch the standing order she has with Sarah and Graham to your account.
At that point SARAH comes in with a tray of mugs, a pot of tea and a cafetiere of coffee, all of which she puts on the coffee table.
SARAH: I’ll just put this here and you can all serve yourself.
BILL: Thank you. [Leans over and starts to make himself a cup of coffee] Now John, what you have to decide is whether you want me to open up the trust to make more money available to you.
JOHN: Well, I, er, don’t know.
GRAHAM: Bill, do you have any figures that he could look at, just to get an idea of how much he’s going to have?
BILL: Well, let’s see. [He starts taking documents from his briefcase. He hands JOHN a sheet of paper] This is the total trust fund size, with expected gains from interest over the next few years. [He hands JOHN another sheet] This is the money I can access for you before your 21st and [hands JOHN another sheet] this is what you can have for the four years after that.
JOHN: [Studies the sheets] Wow.
BILL: This sort of money is probably meaningless to you.
SARAH: It is usually meaningless to all of us.
BILL: Well, exactly. John, this money was set aside for you so that you could use it as a downpayment on a flat, or for a car, or to travel the world. With some careful management of your finances for the next few years, something I will be more than happy to help you with, you will be able to keep it for those things.
JOHN: So…but if…no. So, if I choose not to use this money, can I change my mind.
BILL: Well, yes, but it gets more difficult. The reason we are in a hurry to sort this out is because I will need at least two months to arrange everything. I can always do it later, but if you find you are short of funds, it will be at least eight weeks before I can get any more for you.
JOHN: Right.
VERONICA: But John, I can help out in the interim periods. You know that your father and I have a joint account, with some of his wages going into it. I have just as much right to that money as he does, and I can use it to help you if I want. I’ve been holding back until now, because if a large chunk disappears, he may start reorganising his accounts. But if there was an emergency, or you wanted to book the trip of a lifetime at the last minute, I could help you out. But only once.
JOHN: [Puts his hands on his head] God, I need to think about this.
BILL: I can understand that. I think the best thing would be for me to leave you to mull it over, and I’ll make arrangements to extract an initial sum from the trust – say a thousand pounds. That will be more than enough to get you set up in Oxford, and pay for the rest of the summer for you.
VERONICA: You could also start thinking about working for the next few weeks.
JOHN: Yeah, I was anyway. Graham’s a slavedriver.
GRAHAM: [Laughing] I’m just not used to having someone else around who is any good at building things. [Notices a stern look on SARAH’s face] Though Sarah and Steven have many other strengths.
BILL: [Smiling] I’ll start making arrangements for the money on Monday. I’ll give you my card – call me at any time if you want some more advice about this.
JOHN: Yeah, thanks. I probably will.
VERONICA: I’m so sorry to have to burden you with all this when you’re so young. If I wasn’t so weak-willed, your father would be swinging from a tree by now.
JOHN: Mum, please. I don’t want you two to fall out over this. I can look after myself.
VERONICA: I know honey.
SARAH: And you’ll always have plenty of people around to help you.
JOHN: Yeah. I guess things are OK.
VERONICA: Now, where’s Steven? I wanted to talk to him.
SARAH: Oh, he’s gone to see some friends.
JOHN: Yeah, the little git wouldn’t stay and help with the shed. He ran away.
VERONICA: John!
GRAHAM: Oh don’t worry Veronica, right now I think he’s a little git as well.
VERONICA: Yes, well.
SARAH: Ignore them Veronica. They’re trying to be all macho because they’ve decided to be builders today. Just you wait until later, when I’m picking the splinters out of their fingers. There’ll be tears.
VERONICA: [Laughs] Well, I think we need to go. Raymond is expecting us for lunch at the tennis club.
JOHN: [To BILL] Does Dad know you’re helping out?
BILL: No, but I can handle him. After all, I know how much he’s really worth.
JOHN: Oh, right.
VERONICA: Anyway, I’ll speak to you soon love. [Kisses JOHN] Sarah and Graham, thank you again.
BILL: Yes, lovely coffee.
VERONICA and BILL leave the house, and SARAH and JOHN come back into the lounge, whilst GRAHAM heads upstairs.
SARAH: Are you OK?
JOHN: Yeah. Yeah, just a bit, you know, overwhelmed.
SARAH: I know.
JOHN: It’s like, one minute I’m kicking a ball around the field with my mates, the next I’m deciding on my whole future.
SARAH: Yes, growing up can be a bit of a slap in the face. But it’s not your whole future we were talking about, just the next few years.
JOHN: I know.
SARAH: And even then, we’re only thinking about the money.
JOHN: What else is there?
SARAH: Plenty more! A new town, new friends, new experiences. You’ve got a lot to look forward to, and your mother is just trying to make sure you get the same opportunities as everyone else.
JOHN: Yeah. It just all seems so…
SARAH: I know, love.
JOHN: It’s funny. A month ago, I was off to Oxford with my Dad’s money, to live my Dad’s life. Now…well, now I’m going off there to prove to him that I can still do it.
SARAH: You shouldn’t see it that way. Oxford is about you. What you are going to become. Who you want to be.
JOHN: Yeah, but Oxford will always be about Dad to me. He never shuts up about the stupid place.
SARAH: John, do you actually want to go to Oxford?
JOHN: I don’t know.
SARAH: Let me re-phrase that. Do you want to go to University?
JOHN: Yeah, definitely.
SARAH: This autumn?
JOHN: Yeah, I think so.
SARAH: But you’re not sure about Oxford?
JOHN: Well…it’s just, I never chose to go there. I just always was going there.
SARAH: Would you rather go somewhere else?
JOHN: I don’t know. I didn’t go on any of the open days to the other places. I just stayed in Basingstoke and trained.
SARAH: It’s not too late you know.
JOHN: To do what?
SARAH: Well, someone who has gotten into Oxford could probably get in anywhere. You could switch.
JOHN: I…I hadn’t thought of that.
SARAH: Well maybe you should. If your Dad has given up on you, maybe you should start changing some of his decisions.
JOHN: Mum would go mental.
SARAH: No she wouldn’t. She’d understand.
JOHN: Do you think I should?
SARAH: It doesn’t matter what I think. You should do whatever you want to – you’re pulling the strings in your life now.
JOHN nods, and seems to start getting lost in thought. SARAH pats him on the arm, and then leaves the room. JOHN continues to think.
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