Match of the Hearts

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Nailed in Place

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The vibrant grand halls were always bustling with a casino-like rush, hiding the rather sinister side of the competitive Sales family. The two young Sales brothers had grown to know nothing but business through their father’s favorite form of competition, chess. This game prevailed in teaching the siblings the value of putting oneself in a position of power. However, it did not alert the youngest, Jeffery, to the underlying pressure of upholding a reputable family name, an idea that ultimately proved more important to the parents than anything else. Even later, when their mother’s health declined, the eldest brother, Henry, and their father disregarded her for work, while Jeffery, the youngest, however, took responsibility for her until her final breath. After that point, Jeffery’s fear formed an inevitable sentence, for Jeffery apprehended nothing more than when this grave history would repeat with his father. So, when a housemaid handed a sixteen-year-old Jeffery the phone explaining his father’s bedridden condition, the world went dark, like a coffin nailed shut.

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but instead saw an opportunity in the rise of a new Sales family reign. Henry impatiently awaited the news of his inheritance money while the angel Jeffery rushed from one marbled staircase to another, searching for hospitals to deliver his father’s lifesaving heart medication. Jeffery began to feel overwhelmed by the lack of support from his boorish brother. He unsuccessfully pleaded with Henry to aid his father until seven weeks had gone by. All the while, Henry’s impatience turned into fervent despise for the delay of wealth. Henry’s refusal to help slowed Jeffery’s progress, but Jeffery persisted, for he knew losing his father would mean more than losing some time. 
Jeffery’s heart nearly collapsed in relief when he received the first call back from the Boston General Hospital, admitting his father under their care. Henry would not make an effort to drive to sign the papers, forcing Jeffery to employ his bumper-car driving skills. However, out of consideration for his brother, Jeffery dubiously informed Henry the night before about his excursion to retrieve their father’s medical papers, unbeknownst to Henry’s malicious intentions.

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New Air

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Henry, regardless, did not recede into such dreary feelings

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The sun parted the sky and awoke Jeffery with fresh hope as he eagerly dressed, preparing for his efforts to conquer his father’s disease. Jeffery crossed paths with his brother twice, more than usual for the repellent pair. Both times Henry could be seen swiftly carrying a set of crowbars and a screwdriver,

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but instead saw an opportunity in the rise of a new Sales family reign. Henry impatiently awaited the news of his inheritance money while the angel Jeffery rushed from one marbled staircase to another, searching for hospitals to deliver his father’s lifesaving heart medication. Jeffery began to feel overwhelmed by the lack of support from his boorish brother. He unsuccessfully pleaded with Henry to aid his father until seven weeks had gone by. All the while, Henry’s impatience turned into fervent despise for the delay of wealth. Henry’s refusal to help slowed Jeffery’s progress, but Jeffery persisted, for he knew losing his father would mean more than losing some time. 
Jeffery’s heart nearly collapsed in relief when he received the first call back from the Boston General Hospital, admitting his father under their care. Henry would not make an effort to drive to sign the papers, forcing Jeffery to employ his bumper-car driving skills. However, out of consideration for his brother, Jeffery dubiously informed Henry the night before about his excursion to retrieve their father’s medical papers, unbeknownst to Henry’s malicious intentions.

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Down the hill

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The sun parted the sky and awoke Jeffery with fresh hope as he eagerly dressed, preparing for his efforts to conquer his father’s disease. Jeffery crossed paths with his brother twice, more than usual for the repellent pair. Both times Henry could be seen swiftly carrying a set of crowbars and a screwdriver,

 an odd accessory choice for someone usually so snobby. Jeffery, nevertheless, spent little time questioning the motive of his peculiar brother, for he could only focus on his journey to retrieve a long-lost sense of security. Jeffery’s excitement twisted as he decided that leaving in advance was an astute thing to do. Henry, however, had been meticulously removing each cog to the family car to ensure Jeffery’s failure to arrive for the signing of his father’s medical papers. It wasn’t until after Jeffery had been disgustedly observing the ill-natured attempt at thwarting his plans that Henry finally took note of his presence. Henry possessed the pompous behavior of a poodle as he unremorsefully explained that he merely found a new interest in the dissection of car parts, a notion that Jeffery immediately repudiated. Jeffery found no other option than to search up and dart to the nearest bus stop before settling on riding the trashy runway of a bus to the hospital that had come to be an anchor for him.

One Door Open One Door Closed

The bus ride proved to be more of an epiphany than Jeffery had imagined. He spent the journey’s duration reflecting on the immoral actions of his brother that his father was fated to endure upon their arrival home, leading Jeffery to resent Henry for his dictator-like lack of empathy. His annoyance persisted with each stop as he questioned whether the opportunity to sign the papers had passed as far off as his brother’s will to

help. Upon his prolonged arrival, the air seemed to flow easier as Jeffery stepped into the gleaming office, where a nurse wearing a tidy set of scrubs was awaiting his entrance. Jeffery breathed a sigh audible miles away as he settled into the chair of his dream’s fulfillment. He read briskly, hands raised to the signature line before the steady rap of opposition announced the expiry of his expectations. The door slammed to the wall with a sense of retribution as a looming Henry stood, looking down on Jeffery with haughty disdain. His hands held a mountainous stack of papers, each delineating why one family member should not be allowed to admit a guardian to medical care. The spark in Jeffery’s eyes fizzled out as Henry explained that the ominous courtroom Jeffery had failed to learn about; would convene. 

Broken Game

Jeffery hastily hired a lawyer who advised Jeffery that Henry would most likely win because of his prior knowledge of business and law. Jeffery recognized it was imperative that he played his pieces right, and the courtroom commenced, leaving an apprehensive Jeffery to face Henry’s pawns. The courtroom faded in the brothers’ eyes, reminding the siblings of one of their childhood chess games, ready to be fought over who would prevail as the Sales family king. Henry held his stance, speaking of his young brother’s inability to determine the best course of action for their bedridden father.

 Jeffery’s eyes glowed with zeal as his fears faded to ash, and he doggedly explained his brother’s lack of involvement in their father’s recovery and potential ulterior motives. Heart and gavel were one as the bang echoed throughout the ears of all present. 
“Order in the court! The court has reached a conclusion.” Jeffery’s chest tightened as he questioned whether his counter would amount to his brother's preparation. Henry’s bitter plans were far beyond Jeffery’s expectations. “Jeffery’s motivation has proved more than qualified to care for your struggling father and will be permitted to determine your father’s hospital. Case closed.” The only match Henry had ever lost ended with a resounding “checkmate.”  

Final Podium

The brothers stiffly sat through the taxi ride, separated like oil and water. The air was burning with resentment as the two remained silent until they reached the home that was once enthusiastically filled with the family’s competitive nature. Thirty-two days passed before their father was permitted to return home. Jeffery spent most of that time uneasily sitting by his father’s bed and rushing to complete any herculean task hindering his father’s progress. When the door to the house opened, the uneasy look in Henry’s eyes was comparable to seasickness as he welcomed his father home with a baseless sincerity that fell from his faltering voice when his father finally publicized Henry’s concluding removal from the will.