The Ultimate Gift

At the second meeting, Jason jumps up to help Hastings bring in the box of videotapes. Red Stevens again appears onscreen. He kids Jason about the blisters he likely got from working at Gus’s ranch; Jason chuckles.

Red says Jason has always thrown money around. His ranch work, if paid, would have earned him $1,500. Red wants Jason to dispense $1,500 among five deserving people who really need the help, then describe the results to Hamilton. Jason doesn’t know how to go about this; Hamilton says he’s not permitted to offer advice but that Red “has given [him] everything [he] need[s] to succeed” (31).

At the end of the month, Jason returns to the law office and gives his report. Firstly, he noticed a charity car wash and learned it was to help a troop of Boy Scouts attend a jamboree. They were $200 short, and the day was nearly over. Jason had them wash his car and gave them $200.

The next case involved a young mother and infant at the mall whose car was being repossessed. The mother had some trouble and missed a few payments; losing the car would mean she could no longer get to her job. Jason paid the difference.

Inside the mall, Jason listened as a couple sadly informed their kids that Santa wouldn’t make it for Christmas because their dad lost his job. Jason quietly gave the wife $300 so that Santa could return. On the way out, he saw an elderly woman crying: She and her husband couldn’t afford his heart medicine. Jason bought three months’ worth of the pills for $200, then added $20 so they could have lunch.

The fifth incident was a young man whose car broke down. It required a new engine, costing $700. The man was in a panic: He needed the car for school and work. Jason provided the money.

Hastings says Jason spent $1,800 instead of $1,500. Jason said he added some of his own cash; he asks if that breaks the rules. Hastings says it doesn’t and glares at Hamilton, who heartily agrees. He adds that Jason learned a valuable lesson about money. Privately, he is deeply touched by Jason’s generosity. 

At the third meeting, Jason reverts to his old ways: He complains that his labors are ridiculous and that Hamilton should simply read out Jason’s inheritance and be done with it. Hamilton sternly warns Jason he’s perilously close to losing the “ultimate gift” that awaits him. Grouchy, Jason relents.

Red appears again onscreen. He tells Jason that, in his 30s, he contracted an incurable kidney disease; his only hope was a transplant. Hamilton launched a nationwide search and found a kidney that saved Red’s life. Red promised never to reveal, while alive, the donor of his kidney. He now can say it was Hamilton himself.

Red tasks Jason with finding an example of “true friendship.” Jason, puzzled, says he doesn’t understand what Red means. Hamilton assures Jason his confusion is expected and that he looks forward to Jason’s discoveries about friendship.

A month later, Jason reports he learned “that friendship involves loyalty, commitment, and a process that includes sharing another person’s life” (40). He senses that friendship is deeper even than those characteristics.

The example he found is a story Gus told about his friendship with Red. When they were starting out as neighboring ranchers, Gus worried Red wouldn’t make it; during a roundup, he branded a number of his own calves with Red’s brand. When the count was complete, though, Gus found he had many more calves than expected. Years later, Red explained he had worried about Gus’s future, and, not wishing to lose his favorite neighbor and friend, branded many of his own calves with Gus’s symbol.

Jason adds he became friends with the man whose new car engine he paid for, Brian. Jason hopes their friendship will grow like Red and Gus’s. Hamilton says that “any effort you put into a friendship is always returned manyfold” (41).

To begin the fourth month, Jason asks again what his efforts will lead to. He doesn’t want to waste a year on nothing. Hamilton points out that Jason so far already misused most of his years and that one more wasted year won't make much difference. Jason presses Hamilton for a hint, but the attorney declares sternly that he’s honor-bound to obey Red’s instructions to the letter, including those on secrecy. Jason, he adds, retains an option: He can quit at any time. Jason backs off.

In the next video, Red admits he never went to college but always was curious about the world and became self-taught. He admires colleges, though he senses Jason’s degree is for successfully enduring four years of idle fun. Jason bristles, but Red adds that even the most successful graduates simply have acquired the tools that help them begin the lifelong business of truly educating themselves. Red’s wealth prevented Jason from learning life’s lessons. The 12 assignments are an attempt at a remedy.

Jason’s next assignment is to accompany Hamilton and Hastings on a trip to “the greatest source of learning [Red] ever discovered” (45). On his return, Red explains, Jason must explain, to Hamilton’s satisfaction, the “fundamental key to all learning, education, and knowledge” (45). The destination is overseas; the plane leaves the next morning.

Jason arrives early: He confesses he doesn’t want yet again to do a mad dash for a departing plane. Hamilton informs him the destination is in South America.

Three flights and a jungle taxi ride later, they arrive at a dusty village and check into its hotel. The next morning, they walk to the edge of town, where stands a modern building with “Howard ‘Red’ Stevens Library” emblazoned on it in Spanish and English. Inside, the young woman librarian greets them enthusiastically, saying Red was a great help to the village.

Hamilton tells Jason to assist the librarian for the next month; in the process, Jason will learn the lesson meant for him. Jason looks around at the mostly empty shelves and wonders aloud whether the building has anything to teach him. The librarian says most of the books are checked out by locals.

During the month, Hamilton and Hastings enjoy touring the village and surrounding areas. They make friends easily: Red was popular. They collect some art pieces. Checking in on Jason, they notice he became an enthusiastic assistant, checking books in and out and chatting with lenders.

The trio returns to Boston, where Jason admits the only thing he learned was that people will walk for miles to read a book and that their hunger to educate themselves powers their learning. Hamilton congratulates him.

In the fifth of Red’s video installments for Jason, the late tycoon repeats his belief that trying to shelter his relatives from problems made them unable to navigate the trials of life. He thus wants Jason to find a troubled person in each stage of life—child, young adult, mature adult, and elderly person—and describe the lesson or benefit of their predicament. He sends Jason off with the observation, “When we can learn from our own problems, we begin to deal with life. When we can learn from other people’s problems, we begin to master life” (51).

A month later, Jason returns. He’s uncertain and worried. It took two weeks to find a child with a problem. He stumbled onto one while sitting in a park. A young girl was playing on a swing, and a woman remarked the girl was amazing. Jason dryly retorted she didn’t look amazing. The woman said the girl, Emily, has a rare form of cancer and suffered for years through painful operations and procedures. The woman, a volunteer from a hospital that grants special requests from terminal patients, said Emily simply wanted a happy day at the park.

Emily joined them and invited Jason to share her special day. He spent hours with her. When she left, tired and wheelchair-bound, she announced she would ask the hospital to grant Jason a special day of his own. Jason and Hamilton both have tears in their eyes. Hastings grabs a tissue and jokingly blames it on allergies.

Jason met a middle-aged man who offered to wash his car. He and his wife were laid off, and they worked at every job they could find. Though barely getting by, they and their children became closer as each did odd jobs and scrimped. They learned to do without and to appreciate what they had. The man washed Jason’s car, and Jason paid him. Jason tried to offer extra, but the man refused it, saying he’s “the luckiest man on earth” (55). Jason says he would like to trade places with the man.

Lastly, a large funeral at a cemetery caught Jason’s attention; hours later, he visited the place and found an old man standing at the fresh gravesite. Jason asked if the deceased was a celebrity. The man said it was his wife of 60 years, a beloved teacher for many decades, and that hundreds of her students showed up to say goodbye. His life with her was so happy he could never thereafter have a bad day. They walked out together: the man invited Jason to call him if ever he needed anything.

Hamilton approves of the three people Jason found but asks about the young man Jason was to find. Jason says it’s himself: He always believed that problems were for other people, but now he realizes that real joy “comes from overcoming a problem or simply learning to live with it while being joyful” (56). He asks if using himself as an example fulfills Red’s request. Hamilton says it definitely does.

Jason hurries out, saying he has an appointment to meet a “special friend” at the park swings.

The next task involves family. On video, Red tells Jason the strongest bond of love comes from family. Sometimes, though, the family exists only in name. This is true in Jason’s case, and Red accepts the blame. In this case, a person then must create a new family, Red explains.

To learn the value of family, Jason will go on another trip. All he’s told is that he, Hamilton, and Hastings will travel by car to a region with a climate similar to Boston’s.

The next morning, Hamilton and Hastings pick up Jason in a limo. The chauffeur, a very large man named Nathan, retrieves Jason’s luggage easily and escorts Jason to the car. Jason asks nervously about the intimidating driver. Hastings merely smiles.

The car drives north to a forest in Maine that contains the “Red Stevens Home for Boys” (61). Here, Hamilton explains, Jason will serve as a temporary “houseparent” to 36 boys ages six to 16. Jason doesn’t understand what this has to do with family; Hamilton says he’ll learn its relevance during the month. Meanwhile, Red’s will assigns management of the Home to Hamilton. He and Hastings will oversee the place, manage the budget, and talk to donors.

They arrive at the Home, where the resident boys rush out to greet Nathan, hugging him or high-fiving him. Nathan announces a new houseparent; the boys hurry to their dorm to tidy it up. The dorm contains bunks and lockers; Nathan gets a bunk. Hamilton and Hastings will stay in apartments attached to the administration building.

Twenty minutes later, everyone, boys included, meets in the dining hall for lunch. Nathan introduces the guests; the boys greet them respectfully. Nathan leads a brief prayer, then everyone eats. During the meal, Nathan explains to Jason that he grew up at the Home, and, when not playing tight end for the New England Patriots, works at the Home doing whatever’s needed.

Jason admits aloud that he has no idea what to do with kids. The boys laugh. Jason is at first awkward and, in Nathan’s words, “useless.” As the days roll by, though, he becomes more comfortable and enthusiastic, and he begins to fill the role of “father, brother, teacher, and friend” (64).

At month’s end, Jason gives tearful goodbye hugs to the boys, some of whom offer him gifts of small things—an arrowhead, a four-leaf clover—that mean a lot to them. On the way back to Boston, Jason says family is more about love than blood. Nathan honks the horn and cheers: “You finally got it” (64).