An Equitable Distribution

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Here's a short-short that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. My friend, lawyer, and fellow writer Gary Delafield told me a true story about a colleague of his: an elderly client came into the lawyer's office almost every week, wanting to change her will as different children and grandchildren fell in and out of failure. The lawyer, exasperated, finally suggested the solution in this story. He was only joking, but the client left in a huff and got a new lawyer. Real life is like that. But this is fiction, folks.

Gary wasn't interested in writing the story, but I thought it was a great setup for a short-short. I wrote it in a night. The whole point of this kind of story, I thought, was to end exactly on the punch line.

It was my idea, so I guess in some way I’m to blame. But come on: it was a joke. I never thought she’d take me seriously, and no one could have guessed what it would lead to, or what would happen to that beautiful mansion.

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