Jay:Maybe. But I’m half-white. A fact that my cousin reminds me of often.
It only takes about a minute of googling to know exactly what Manal meant. These people are wealthy. They all come from prominent Toronto families. They are not people raised in a Scarborough basement apartment by their single mother. I tell Jay.
Jay:If they’re wealthy, why did they need the scholarship?
Aleeza:That’s a great question. You said your mom’s boss sponsored you?
Jay:Yeah, she’s affiliated with the scholarship somehow.
Aleeza:What’s her name? Have you met her? What’s she like?
Jay:Helen Grant. I’ve met her many times. She’s awesome. Mom’s worked for her for years. She’s a lawyer.
I google Helen Grant. She’s actually a pretty influential lawyer who’s been practicing corporate law for decades. She sits on a bunch of boards and does a lot of mentoring for women in law. I remember Jay telling me they stayed in her cottage once. It’s clear Jay and Salma’s connection to this woman has given them a small amount of privilege normally reserved for old money.
But I can’t see how this is a motive for someone to hurt Jay or Salma. Some rich person was jealous that a half-Bangladeshi kid got the old-money scholarship they wanted?
Aleeza:How much was the scholarship anyway?
I realize this is a personal question, but at this point, hopefully we’re close enough to answer personal questions.
Jay:20K a year. 80 total if I finish my four-year degree.
That’s probably a lot of money for Jay’s family. Hell, it would be a lot of money formyfamily. But it’s a drop in the bucket for these rich people. Despite what Manal thinks, I doubt this scholarship is our motive.
Aleeza:I really don’t think this is enough of a reason for some rich person to hurt you. This wouldn’t be much money for them. What about this trust from the lawyer’s office? Who do you think set it up?
Jay:Honestly, no idea at all. The only thing I can think of is
He doesn’t finish his sentence again. I wonder if this is how he talks in real life. With sentences trailing as his mind wanders.
Could the trust have been set up by his father? I’m not going to mention that to Jay, because he doesn’t want to talk about him, but it’s the only explanation I can think of.
Aleeza:Finish your thought, Jay.
Jay:I think my mother has been secretly stashing away money for me for a while. I don’t know where she gets it. She mentioned once that what’s mine and hers is only mine and hers. I think she’s worried my aunt and uncle would try to take the money from me or her.
Aleeza:Would they do that?
Jay:I doubt it. They’re a little strict but not bad people. But honestly, why would my own mother set up a trust for me? Can I think on this for a bit? I don’t want to talk about this stuff all night.
Aleeza:Jay, we’re days away. We need to figure this out.
Jay:Exactly. We’re days away. I don’t want to spend what could be my last few days dwelling on the messy bits of my life. Let’s talk about you, instead. What did you think of my neighborhood?
I sigh. Maybe he’s right. It feels like we’re still so far from figuring this out. Which means that I may not be able to save him, and we only have a few days left together.
I tell him more about my trip to Scarborough. About seeing his house, about the playground he played in, and about my impression of the beef shawarma at Shawarma Delight. He makes me describe the sandwich in detail, then tells me he’s determined to get one on the weekend. At that I laugh. Of course he’s getting one. He talks to Ausma about me in four days.
Eventually we talk more about his family, about my family, about how we grew up in such different places but how similar our mothers are.
But there’s one thing we don’t talk about—the future. Mine, his, or the possibility of having a future together. Because we know we don’t have one. We have the past and the present, but nothing else.
In the morning, after breakfast, Gracie calls that law office pretending to be Jay’s mother. She gets nowhere. Then she pretends to be Jay, and they say that even with ID, they would tell him nothing. With a little prodding, Gracie finds out that if it’s unclaimed, it will pass to the next beneficiary, but they won’t tell us who that beneficiary is, or how much money is in the trust.
The law office is located in one of those tall towers downtown. I google every combination ofChoi, Patel, and AssociateswithJayesh Hoque,Salma Hoque, and evenHelen Grant, and come up with nothing.
“I don’t get it,” I say to Gracie in her room that evening. I’m sitting on her unmade bed, and she’s on her desk chair. “It says the trust is intended to offset education costs, so it’s probably about the same amount as the scholarship, right? Maybe $80,000 to $100,000. Not a huge amount for rich people.”
