Dead End

Bindley Cooring Armingham

       Apollo has wandered, dejected and exhausted, away from the court yard to the outside gardens. Large trees shade the right corner of the gardens, with colorful roses and flowers in the rest of the gardens, creating a maze of color. Apollo finds a bench hidden beneath the trees. How is this going to work? He feels the hard surface of the bench beneath his hand and sits down carefully. Though he can't feel the texture or the temperature, he can still sit and not fall through. Tree leaves rustle in the wind and its been two hours since he yelled at the sky.

       What a strange dream.

       Apollo looks to the rising sun but feels no warmth or comfort. He finds himself missing home.

       The soft sound of footsteps on leaves. He looks down the trail and sees two ladies approaching, talking to each other casually. As they grown nearer, Apollo sees that it is a middle aged lady, brown, simple dress swaying as she walks, graying hair tied up into a bun. The other girl is about 16 and looks sort of like her. Probably her daughter. The girl is wearing a green flowing dress with long brown hair loose around her shoulders. They walk slowly. They both have simple, smooth features with large eyes; both with green eyes. Their faces maintain animation yet are relaxed. He recognized the same thing in the little boy in the hallway. Both have a queens English accent.

       They walk away and, with a moment of uncertainty and embarrassment, Apollo gets up and follows them. He doesn't really have anything to do anyway. They roam around the garden for about an hour, talking about clothes and school and family politics and a bunch of other stuff that are not very interesting to Apollo. Though the family politics are interesting, he doesn't understand much of it.

       "Mother?..." The daughter begins hesitantly.

       "Yes?" The mother answers with carefully pronunciated, queens English.

       "Can you tell me more about how Bindley Cooring Armingham died?"

       The mother thinks for a few moments and they continue to walk slowly through the gardens, the mother's hands behind her back. "They say he died under mysterious circumstances. Some speculate that he was killed and others say that he merely died of stress and worry."

       "What do you think happened, mother?"

        The mother thinks for a second, before responding, "My parents always said that he was murdered by a client that he had double crossed, which would explain what happened to all the gold that had been stashed in the tunnels."

       "So he took all the money, killed Bindley Cooring Armingham, and left, without anyone knowing?"

       "Our ancestors knew and passed it on from generation from generation. Remember what I just told you, in case you needed to tell anyone else."

       "But why would I need to tell anyone else?" Lilly inquires.

       The mother looks straight ahead. "These are difficult times within the Armingham family. You may need to select who to trust, and who not to trust with caution. Those who seem to hold you dear may not have your best interests in mind. You may need to choose friends within the family to carry the burden with you, in case another faction of the family may try to do the same thing that Bindley Armingham's client did."

       "I knew it! It's uncle Charles and his family isn't it? When they tried to take our jewelry and antique dresses they –"

       "It isn't them. They are one of the few people I would trust with this secret."