Copyright © All rights reserved. Made by James Martin Sandbrook.

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Home

Dr Jones's eyes widened as he took in the room, it was huge and had a long stairway running across the back of the room, in a curve, to the next floor. Many paintings were on the wall and statues were here and there. The floor was made of marble squares that shone in the light that came from the huge double windows.

"I'll bet you have never worked in a house like this" sniffed Toffee Nose still looking at Dr Jones like he was some sort of pest that should be removed immediately.

Dr Jones didn’t answer,instead he looked at the butler waiting to see what would happen next.

"Follow me" said the butler and he led Dr Jones off to the room that he would be staying in.

It was on the bottom floor and at the back of the large house. It was obvious that the servants did not mingle with the rest of the household.

Dr Jones was told by the butler to have a bath and then be ready for tonight's dinner. The butler sniffed once again and left the room still with that disgusted look on his pompus face. After his bath Dr Jones dressed in the white chefs clothes that were folded on his bed, they were a reasonably good fit. He then put on the large chefs hat and stepped out of his room to see Toffee Nose and some of the other staff staring at him.

Dr Jones was then shown the kitchen and introduced to the rest of the servants, then he was left there to make supper as he was the only cook in the house as dinnertime was approaching.  While preparing dinner Dr Jones got a surprise visit from the mistress of the house, Miss Sheza.

"Ah our new cook has arrived" Sheza exclaimed loudly, giving Dr Jones a fright as she stepped into the room behind him. "My name is Sheza and I am the lady of the house, you may call me Madam. I hope you have a nice meal prepared for us tonight or your stay with us will be very short, indeed" smiled Sheza with a look of total contempt at the sight of Dr Jones.

"Every meal must be perfect, if there is even a slight error in your cooking you will be sacked, is that clear"?

"Yes Madam" said Dr Jones politely, "I will do my best".

"You're best is not good enough, you will do better that your best in this house, understood"! demanded a woman who was used to getting what she wanted no matter how much she hurt other people.

"Yes Madam" said a polite Dr Jones who was feeling anger building up inside him and fighting to control it as he smiled pleasantly at Sheza. He was going to enjoy taking this all away from her and giving it to its rightful owners. Dr Jones was now even more determined to do a good job at being the spy.

With that Sheza whirled around in a twirl of material and floated from of the room, Dr Jones stared and was glad that his job wasn't permanent and he wondered what happened to the old cook, and that thought sent a shiver up his spine.

Dinner went well and Toffee Nose reported that the master and mistress were pleased with the result.

Dr Jones went to his room he spent a few hours watching the back of the house to see what the guards did at nighttime and to check if they guarded the barn at the back of the house. It appeared that they didn't seem interested in guarding the barn, they preferred to keep a watch on the house by walking around it every now and then.

The next morning after breakfast was served Dr Jones went back to his room and watched the guards again and they walked around the house in two's, they ignored the old barn.

Dr Jones noticed that the doors to the barn looked locked, he hoped that they weren't because that would cause additional problems. Timing the guards with his fob watch Dr Jones noticed that they went around the house every ten minutes, which seemed plenty of time to get into the barn.

After looking out the window for a while Dr Jones went outside and tried to walk around the house, the guards looked at him suspiciously but never said anything. He managed to walk around the entire house and that was no easy task.

He noticed an old gardener weeding one of the magnificent front gardens, he walked over to him and said "Hello"!

The gardener was crouched down and he looked up as Dr Jones approached him and said "Hello, you must be the new cook, I am the gardener, names Fred Wilkens" and he stood up to shake Dr Jones's hand. Fred Wilkens was about sixty years old and had a kind looking face.

"My names Robert Jones, my friends call be Bob" said Dr Jones. "What's it like working here, there are not to many friendly faces it seems?"

"Ah, you shouldn't be asking those types of questions here Bob, you will get sacked or worse" said Fred Wilkens looking around to see if anyone had heard them, he looked a little worried.

Dr Jones changed his tactics "You're gardens are beautiful, probably the best I have ever seen, it must be hard work to keep them like this".

"Thank you Bob, I do enjoy seeing the fruits of my labour spread out in front of me, its hard work but its what I love doing the most" said a relieved looking gardener who was pleased that the subject had been changed and now they were talking about his work. They chatted for a while and then Dr Jones had to go back inside to prepare lunch.

After lunch Dr Jones went for another walk around the house just after the guards had passed, when he was sure that nobody was watching he walked over to the big doors to the old barn, he grabbed one door and pulled. The door moved and then stopped, he wiggled it and saw a small handle was built into the door, he looked around and seeing nobody around he quickly turned the handle, swung the door open and stepped inside.

The barn was dark and damp and it took a short while for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. The barn had a couple of windows but they were high up in the walls.

It was obvious to Dr Jones that nobody had been in here for a long time, it smelled musty and undisturbed. He saw a long work table in front of him, the rest of the place was full of junk, bits and pieces of old wagons, horse harnesses, saddles, tools, wagon wheels, and spiders webs had taken over everywhere.

Dr Jones listened to see if anyone was near, he heard nothing but the birds singing outside and the wind sifting in through a few small cracks in the barns walls.

He walked up to the old work bench and started lifting things up to see if he could find what he came for, he found some old pieces of paper but nothing of interest, most were design plans drawn on paper obviously for work that Mr Worthington was doing at the time of his death. He spent a half an hour going through all the tools, junk and sheets of paper on the work table.

Dr Jones noticed a large shelf attached to the left wall of the barn, it had many books on its shelves. He could see that they were all covered in dust, he stepped towards it and started pulling out books to see if any were hiding the Will.

He had to try hard to suppress a cough from time to time, everytime he pulled a book out lots of dust rose into the air and slowly floated down in a foggy mist. He pulled out his handkerchief and coughed into it. He waited to see if anyone had heard, all he heard was silence so he got back to his search.

Another five minutes went past and then he heard voices outside, two men were talking and leaning against the side of the barn enjoying the sunlight. Dr Jones hoped that they wouldn't stay long because he still had to get out without being seen. Dr Jones listened and the men laughed at some joke and then walked away happily.

Dr Jones decided that he had pushed his luck today and he went to the door and opened it and peered carefully outside, nobody was in sight so he stepped outside and blinked as the bright sunshine hit his face.

He walked around to the stables and saddled his horse then mounted it.

To be continued…

The Tucker Twins

Written by James Martin Sandbrook - 2005

Abrev. Advice. Camera. Character. Children. Computing. Crosswords. Driving. Education. Electronics.  Fitness/Self Defence.

Garden. Health. House Ideas. How To. Jokes. Kitchen/Cooking. Measure. Mechanics/Machines. Motivation.

Movies. Music. NZ. OOS/RSI. People.  Personal Care. Poetry. Projects. Proverbs. Religion. Reviews. Sewing.

Skills/Hobbies. Slang. Stories. Tips. Tools. Whats It Mean? Words.  Woodwork.