Chapter 16 - We Refused Forty Million Dollars
The offers came after the trial.
Ten million.
Eighteen.
Twenty-seven.
Then forty.
A multinational mining company wanted the mineral rights.
I brought the offer to Grandma.
She read the number.
Then pushed it back.
“No.”
“That's forty million dollars.”
“I can count.”
“We could secure everything.”
“We already have everything.”
I looked around the kitchen.
Old cabinets.
Clanking radiator.
Grandpa's scratched table.
She smiled.
“Money is useful, Daniel. But once you have enough to be safe, every extra dollar should answer one question.”
“What question?”
“What good can it do?”
So we created a plan.
No strip mining.
No sale.
Instead, environmental cleanup.
Conservation.
Agricultural research.
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And a trust to preserve the farm permanently.
For the first time, Parcel 17 became valuable for what we refused to do to it.
