Last Word (a short story)
In 1932, the Ides of March fell on a Tuesday, but to Turner Dixon everyday might as well have been a Friday or a Saturday. Hundreds of millions by age 28 meant you didn’t need to work. Even though it was the height of the Depression, he held parties every night. His father, J.W. Dixon, made hundreds of millions through his company, J.W. Dixon Tobacco, Inc. based in Moravia, North Carolina. J.W. Dixon died a few years before, and he had two sons. Dixon set up a trust that provided his assets would be split equally, half to Turner Dixon and half to J.W. Dixon, Jr. at 28. Technically Turner Snipes Dixon didn’t own any of the money or the Dixon Mansion, the columned white house on acres of rolling green fields on the edge of Moravia. Most of the Art Deco furniture was too beautiful and too uncomfortable to sit in. The colorful Tiffany lamps gave off faint light. Art Deco met Art Nouveau. Champagne continued to flow despite Prohibition. He acted like all of it already belonged to him. He di...
