Lindsey was a career woman and didn’t care about anything except work. One day, she flipped through an album, remembering her childhood with her grandparents, and decided to visit them. But when she reached their neighborhood, it was demolished, and Lindsey saw something else shocking.
Lindsey pulled down the roof of her convertible and enjoyed the air flowing through her hair for the first time. She hadn’t enjoyed a day off in a while, but today was special. She was driving from New York to a suburb in New Jersey to visit her grandparents.
After years of building a career and her reputation in the corporate world, she was ready for a break. Moreover, she wanted to see her grandfather’s proud face when she got there with his favorite whiskey. She was also bringing flowers and the most expensive cake from the most prestigious bakery in the Big Apple. They would love it.
After some time driving, she finally approached their neighborhood, but she thought the GPS had to be wrong. For some reason, every single house around the area was demolished to the ground. She stopped in front of her grandparents’ address, and it was the same way.
After parking her car, Lindsey got out, took her sunglasses off, and looked around in confusion. This was the correct address. “What’s going on?” she asked herself and started walking around, her stilettos making a distinctive click on the gravel. Suddenly, she reached a sign in one corner, and her jaw dropped.
It was an announcement from her company. They were going to build a shopping mall in that area, and all the houses had been bought for that purpose.
Lindsey knew her company’s practices. She wasn’t the owner, but she was one of the main higher-ups, and she was aware of how their lawyers pestered people into selling them their homes. But she had never witnessed the aftermath. Now that her grandparents went through it, she realized how horrible it was and vowed to correct the company’s practices as soon as she could.
But still, she called her assistant immediately and yelled at her for a while.
“Ms. Banks. You signed off on the New Jersey building. I have all the papers right here. This must have been around six months ago. The company bought the last house two months ago, and as I understand it, we have already started to work on the site,” her secretary said, and Lindsey closed her eyes, her free hand going to her forehead in frustration.
“I’m sorry, Julie. Thank you,” she apologized to her secretary and hung up the phone. “But what happened to Grandma and Grandpa,” she wondered.
She called their cellphones, but neither answered. Lindsey had to call her mother.
“Lindsey, your grandparents moved into a nursing home three months ago,” she said when Lindsey asked what happened.
“What? Mom! How could you let that happen? I didn’t want this,” Lindsey said, almost scolding her mother.
“Honey, we thought that since your company was doing this, it was the right move for everyone. That’s why your grandparents didn’t protest when some of the other neighbors wanted to rebel,” her mother revealed.
“But you should’ve called me,” Lindsey whined.
“But shouldn’t you have known?”
“Yes, but I sign so many papers each day. I wasn’t paying attention to the address. But how could you let Grandpa and Grandma go to a nursing home?” she demanded to know.
“Lindsey, they wanted to. It’s actually pretty nice. They received a great deal of money from your company and said they preferred to go there,” the older woman explained.
“No! Mom, they told me years ago that going to a nursing home sounded horrible. That’s why they worked so hard to get that house. But don’t worry. I’m going to fix this!” Lindsey decided and hung up.
She raced back to her car, plotted the nursing home address into her GPS, and sped off. She couldn’t do anything about the construction. It was too late. Money had exchanged hands, and the houses were already destroyed, but her grandparents didn’t have to live in a nursing home.
They resisted at first, not wanting to be a burden on anyone else’s home. “Honey, we are fine here,” her grandmother said, but Lindsey was having none of it.
“No, Grandma. You guys were forced to sell your house because of my company. I can help you find something else, or you guys can come live with me in the city. My condo is huge! I’m insanely successful,” she rebuffed.
She knew that even if they were okay at the nursing home, they probably missed having a place all to themselves. Luckily, Lindsey lived in a quiet neighborhood, which would be perfect for them. There were many rooms, and they wouldn’t bump into each other.
It was the only way to make things right. Furthermore, she could spend more time with family — something she had been craving lately. Fortunately, her grandparents agreed, and they were delighted to be staying at her house.
Since then, Lindsey perused every contract more thoroughly and was more involved. This would never happen again as long as she was in their company. No one deserved to be displaced from their home, even if they received a decent amount of money.
She also found most of her grandparents’ original neighbors and helped them find housing in New Jersey, easing her conscience.