Old Mrs. Hunt’s rhetorical question silenced some of the families with sons.

“It’s an unwritten rule that the family fortune goes to the sons in this town, and the sons will handle the final days of the parents. I know that, but my parents didn’t have a son. They only had me and my sister. My parents’ inheritance should be passed down to me and my sister.

“Grandmom, can you tell me when my parents adopted a son? Did the adoption go through while they were alive? Can we see the papers?

“We h