Francis' Fortress

            Finch moving in meant that my small pod of a bedroom would no longer work. While he and Mom tried to figure out a space big enough for a double bed, I planned out a complete reconstruction. Our simple little house would never do. No, I needed an impressive estate to show off my wealth and power, even if they hadn’t quite been completely accumulated yet. I needed a fortress.

            I had to pull rank on Mom in order to get her to agree to my building project. She only conceded after I reminded her that I had officially been named heir and so was head of the household. While construction was under way, I took the family out to the fall festival.

            Finch got along with my siblings and accepted their invitation to a pie eating competition. I watched after the house was done. It ended with Aubrey as the winner and Finch being in second place due to Gloria and Freddie’s disqualifications.

            “I hadn’t expected to lose to a young lady,” Finch laughed to me. There always seemed to be some sort of amusement on his face. It went well with the pie filling smeared all over his cheeks.

I gave him a peck and was rewarded with the sweet taste of cherry. “Aubrey has a bottomless pit where her stomach should be.”

            As if to prove me right, my favorite sister celebrated her victory with a cinnamon doughnut.

            I brought Finch and Mom home with me first to show off my work. They both gaped when looking up at my masterpiece. It was wonderfully excessive.

            “Francis,” Mom was the first to comment. “Have you thought of how astronomical the bills will be?” I had not.

“It’s impressive,” Finch said in an unsure tone. “I hadn’t expected our money to go so far.”

Mom looked at the ranch across the street. “The neighbors are going to hate this.”

“They sure are!”

“Well, let’s have a look inside, shall we?”

            The first room I showed off was the pool and gym area. It was a bit smaller than I had wanted, but at least I could say I had an indoor pool. What would a fortress be without one?

            Next up was the eight car garage. Admittedly, it made up a tidy percentage of the house. “See, this is going to be filled with high-end cars one day.” Imagining it nearly made me drool.

“The ceiling is nice and tall.”

“Why would anyone need eight vehicles?”

            My five star kitchen was next to be displayed. Again, Mom touted that it was too much, but she conceded that the large table would be useful. Finch seemed to like it. Then he mentioned that one of his ex-wives had designed a similar kitchen for their second home. He added, “It was nothing as grand as this though,” when he noticed my scowl.

            So far, my palace only had two bathrooms. They both boasted top of the line appliances and tasteful décor. Surely they wouldn’t break down as often as Mom’s cheap stuff did.

            I made sure Mom had a private room. No one would be forced to witness the unspeakable acts that went down between her and her boyfriend. And so that her gaudy style wouldn’t burn my eyes. I wasn’t surprised that she liked it. “I don’t understand the window though, Francis.”

“It’s so that you don’t feel claustrophobic or whatever. See, you can see outside through the other windows.”

“Oh, I suppose that was thoughtful.”

            When the tour was pretty much over, Mom pointed out the bloated elephant in the room. “The rooms you’ve shown us are, arguably, impressive. However I believe you have a problem with wasted space.”

            It was completely true. I had expected Finch to bring in a lot more money than he did. When I found out that while he was rich, he wasn’t super rich, I decided not to reign in my dream home. And I wasn’t going to cut corners by buying cheap things. So, I’d run out of simoleons pretty fast. I didn’t have enough to furnish the second story. I was even lacking enough finances to construct walls for everyone.

            I’d have the simoleons one day though, and so I didn’t mind that our master bedroom only had a half wall for privacy. The bed was comfortable and the view of the woods hard to beat. And I had provided myself entertainment in the form of putting Dad’s urn next to our marital bed. If that ghost was so disappointed in me for marrying a man, then I’d make its afterlife a hell.

            “This was a large undertaking. I’m proud of you,” Finch dreamily commented while we relaxed in the new hot tub. “I’m sure it will be breathtaking when it’s finished.”

“I want the nothing but the best for us.”

            Freddie decided that it was a wise move to interrupt our soak. “Nice face paint,” I teased.

“What can I say? I lost a bet to Gloria.”

            After he was good and comfortable, I dropped my secret bomb on him. “Freddie, as you may have noticed, your bed isn’t here.”

“Yes. What’s happened to it?”

“I swapped it for a door.” He looked like he was about to become outraged, so I added in my last goodie. “This is my way of telling you that you need to move out. Can’t have moochers hanging around.”

            Some back and forths followed, but, at the end of the day, Freddie was taking a taxi to Milton’s new place.

            My sisters complained about the unfinished state of the house, but they’d be out soon too. Even with their disliking of my fortress, they settled in quickly.

            As did Mom.

            There was one final piece to my house that I had warned them all, including Finch, to stay away from. In the back, I had a little shed built.

            I was the only one with the key to the lock.

            My lair didn’t look like much, but it would grow and improve like the rest of the place.

            At that moment, it was doing a perfectly fine job of securing two of the keys to my future. Mom hadn’t even noticed that they were gone, that’s how little she knew of the lamps. I just had to wait for the right time to use them.