Peter--The Incredible Journey of The Silver Darling

Chapter I (APPLES   FROM   EDEN)

A creeping mist hung over Dentry Hill and the crooked Tudor houses huddling there looked like ghosts from the past.  A hooded man bearing something awkward in his arms hastened along the deserted, cobbled street.   He paused in front of a tall shop window containing lamps of all shapes and sizes.  Casting a furtive glance from left to right, he pushed open  the narrow side door and made his way up the rickety, wooden staircase to a broad landing.

A dusty white lamp in the middle of the ceiling, cast a sour yellow light on piles of cardboard boxes, forcing him to weave his way through the maze to reach a battered desk, where he lay his burden down and pushed back his hood.  The face revealed was wrinkled; blue eyes restless and observant, the mouth thin and determined.  In his mid-sixties, tall and wiry, with determined shoulders.  Shaking the brass bell on the desk urgently, there was no response.  Impatiently, he tried again – the ringing sounds echoing around the empty shop.  Shifting boxes and slow, ascending steps were now heard: 

“All right, I’m coming, I’m coming” a sleepy voice called. A balding, bespectacled man wearing a grey dustcoat appeared. “Surprise, surprise!  Good evening, Stanley” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.  “So you have come out of your lair.  Must be something important”  he added teasingly, giving a searching glance at his visitor as he made his way behind the desk.

“I’ve come to say goodbye, Claus.”  “GOODBYE!” exclaimed the elderly Dane.  “You don’t mean to say you’ve actually finished your project – after all these years?”    “Aye, it’s done”  Stanley sighed.  “I canna hardly believe it myself.  I shall be leaving early tomorrow morning.  I’m not sure when I’ll be back.... if I get back” he added fatefully, “ but I wanna give you a present for all the help you gave me with ma project. I could'na hae completed it without your help and yon removal van of yours – not at all.” 

Claus studied his friend closely for a moment.   ‘The project’ as Stanley called it was an impractical venture, a pipe dream that had gone on for years.  Claus never thought it would ever see the light of day and he was a little alarmed at the announcement that ‘it was finished’.   Perhaps Stanley was really ‘losing it’ but Claus decided to humour him this evening, as he had done for many  years.  

His eyes fell on the mysterious object on the table wrapped in brown paper and, lifting up his glasses, began peeling the paper away.  Little by little something dark began to emerge, something curved, about a metre in length and half a metre high.

“A coffer, a mediaeval coffer.  Is this really for me Stanley?”  he said in delight, running his hand appreciatively over the round-topped, wooden box, reinforced by metal clasps. “Aye, it’s for you.  As the village’s archaeologist, I thought you’d like it.  I found it when I was digging a trench.”  Claus Ericsson’s eyes beamed with satisfaction.  He switched on the table lamp, put on white gloves and moved closer to the coffer.  “ Made in Germany.  Merchants used them to transport valuables.  Very interesting, very interesting.   Found in your garden you say?”

“Aye, near that old apple tree.  The one I gave you apples from last year to make your wine.  You haven’t opened it  Stanley,” he  said with surprise, fingering the lock on the coffer.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying.  But I couldn’t, and I did’na want to force it.”

“Could be something valuable inside, Stanley.  You might regret this!” said Claus with a laugh.

“I dinna think so, I did give it a good shake, I must admit, did’na hear a thing move.”

“Let’s see.  At least we have the initials of the owner – FOP”  he said almost to himself, pointing to the capital letters placed one above another on the main metal clasp.  He turned the coffer on its side and ran his hand over the base, tapping at it with his knuckles. “Ah!” he suddenly exclaimed with a note of triumph.   Taking a small  hammer from the drawer, he gave a short but decisive tap to a corner.  A  small rectangular piece automatically slid back, revealing a hidden mechanism.  Claus fiddled with its levers.  Suddenly the clasps on the coffer sprung open and he opened the lid.  Both men peered inside.  The interior was dark, damp  and smelt musty.

“I told you it was empty” said Stanley.  “Not quite,” said Claus, who took out a thin wooden tube that had been wedged at the bottom of the coffer, so dark-stained that it was not immediately obvious to the eye.  He opened the top and, holding it upside-down, shook it.  A roll of parchment, tied with a faded ribbon, slipped out onto the table. With great care, he began to unroll it; smoothing it with the palm of his hand, he brought  the lamp closer.  In the glow of the light before them, a score of lines in black Latin script, in places blurred by dampness.

“Ah, now we have the name of the owner” said Claus, bending forward with a magnifying glass and pointing to the signature at the end. “Brother Francis Octavius Peridictus.”

 “Do you speak Latin, Stanley?”  “No.....only my school Latin, I’m afraid”, he laughed and then, earnestly studying the faded parchment, his gaze became intense as he began to translate, slowly picking over the words.  “HEARKEN YE  WHO  READ  HEREIN,  FOR  I  DO   BEQUEATH  A  MANIFESTATION,  MADE  KNOWN  TO  US  BY  THE   GRACE  OF  GOD  IN  THE  INFIRMARY  CLOISTER  GARTH  OF  BIRCHILL  HOUSE.”

“Excuse me, Claus, but what is a cloister garth?” “An open space, Stanley, where the monks could relax.   Sometimes they were found adjacent to the infirmary.  Fruit trees and medicinal herbs were grown there to help the sick.”

Claus read on –  “BE  IT  KNOWN  THAT  IN  EACH  DECADE  SMALL  CLUSTERS OF  RARE  APPLES  APPEARETH  AT THE TOPMOST  BOUGHS OF  THE  TREES KNOWN AS ‘EDENS’.   BEWARE,  THESE   FRUITS  HAVE  STRANGE  POWERS.   PARTAKE OF  THE  BRIGHT  RED   APPLE IN  AN  ANTIQUE  PLACE  AND YE  WILL  MANIFESTLY  ADOPTETH…”

Claus hesitated.  “…THE  MIEN AND  MANNER OF THOSE TIMES.   BUT EAT OF THE  GOLDEN  APPLES  AND YE  RETURNETH   TO  THINE OWN DAYS.   OTHERWISE,  EAT     THESE   FRUITS  IN   CONTEMPORANEOUS  CIRCUMSTANCE  AND  NAUGHT WILL OCCUR.

 FRANCIS  OCTAVIUS  PERIDICTUS.  BIRCHILL HOUSE  1537.”

“How strange.   Like the famous apple in the Garden of Eden!”  exclaimed Claus.  “Did you know about these apples Stanley?”  Stanley, more perplexed than  astonished, didn’t answer at first.  “Well, aye and nae”.  “What do you mean?  Did you or didn’t you?” Claus asked impatiently.  “Aye.  Hold on. Well......  The old tree’s been in the garden for years and there have been  times when we did get clusters of brighter ones right at the top – it’s true. They tasted delicious.  Better than the others   But we did’na know about these strange effects.  Never affected us in any way.  Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me, to be honest, Claus.  Some kind of hoax.  You sure that box is as old as you think?”  

“Definitely” replied Claus, a little hurt that his judgement had been called into question.  “Do you have any of these apples  at the moment?”   “Strangely enough, I do”  said Stanley. “Aye, there were half a dozen – three of both colours – in the autumn  crop. I’ve kept them for my sister.   They’re the first I’ve had for, let me see....”  He stopped and thought and looked  up at the ceiling –  “That’s right.  It was the year Auntie Edna passed away.  Now, that must have been....”   He stopped.   Looked astonished.  “By God, it must hae been about ten years ago!”

“There you are, Stanley!  My advice is to take them with you”, Claus said emphatically, putting his hand on Stanley’s shoulder.  “ Who knows, my friend, if you get into trouble on your journey, you may find them useful.”

“But Claus, they’re only apples.  Don’t get carried away, man”  Stanley rejoined sarcastically. Claus was thoughtful. “No, I don’t think so, Stanley. This document is the real thing.”   He reached up for an empty box on the shelf and, taking a red marker pen from the drawer, wrote on it “VERY  IMPORTANT:  APPLES –  DO   NOT  FORGET” and handed it to Stanley.  “Now don’t say I’m not concerned for you, Stanley.   First thing you do when you go home tonight, take those apples from the fridge, put them in the box and put them somewhere you won’t forget them tomorrow morning.  Now promise me….” 

Stanley put the box under his arm.  “All right Claus.  Just for you” he said with a wry smile. “Good” said Claus – although he did wonder later what it was that had possessed him to urge his friend to take those apples with him.