Chapter XX Fragile

Protest

That morning while Andrew was in the nursing home, a protest was brewing at the mayor's office against the mayor for having changed his management train in a bad way, those affected appeared there with some officials who were supporting them.

In the meantime, and as if everything were working smoothly, the mayor showed up at his office and began to dispatch.When he arrived, he was struck by the fact that most of the employees had greeted him in a distant tone, very different from previous days when everyone wanted to get his attention.

After thinking about what was happening, he sat down to write the letters to terminate his former collaborators and write the document of the appointment of Andrew, who since that day had been continuously informing him about the progress of his first assignment in your visit to the nursing home.

(end 5 minutes)

Sailor´confession

It seemed to Andrew that Charles was hiding something beyond trying to maintain a good image towards others, being a perceptive man, his sense of smell was indicating to him that he was not all the honorable and kindly that he appeared. However, despite what he was thinking at the time, he did not say anything to the manager of the nursing home, who at that time got up from the meeting since he had tasks to do.

So, Andrew took the opportunity to cordialize with Charles, he began to tell him about his adventures at sea and the dangers to which he was subjected, one of the things he commented is that no one knew his stories, everyone there thought that his life it went smoothly.

Andrew listened without interrupting since he knew that the man could begin to give him clues about the historical memory of the city.

So as Charles went through his memories, his feelings began to be affected until at that moment he began to cry. For the last few days his conscience had been playing a trick on him, after he met Angeline when he started working there, for that day he had met Mindy since they were both Thomas's daughters who had been his best friend.

Hearing hearing that, Andrew was still thinking that there was something else in those tears of an old man, so he asked mischievously:

"You should be glad you met your best friend's daughters, I don't understand why it affects you so much"

Charles feeling unarmed and thinking that at least that morning he had someone else to confess his guilt to:

"In all these years I had hidden the truth, that I was guilty of Thomas suffering the trial and the sentence on that island, at that time, I was very young and out of fear, I did not assume my crime"

Andrew, feeling sorry for him, said:

"Maybe fate allowed all of that to happen that way, maybe both Thomas and you had to go through purgatory for their lives to be corrected.

I think you should leave all that in the past, now the way to repair it is to offer your friendship to the daughters of Thomas, whoever rests in peace "

At that moment, with Charles released from the weight of his guilt, Angeline appeared, who brought them both a soda and announced that in a few minutes lunch would be served.

Discussion at the Mayor's Office

Andrew accepted Angeline's offer and stayed for lunch, everyone started asking her if the mayor was finally going to move the nursing home to a safer area. As his appointment was very recent, he was silent before their claims, he only told them that they must remain calm since the mayor kept keeping his promise.

When he finished eating, he said goodbye to everyone and rushed towards the city hall, he would have to take the subway to get there faster, before it was closing time. His return trip went smoothly, he thought about everything Charles had told him about his life and he promised himself that he would never comment it to the girls.

Upon arriving at the Mayor's office, he was found to be alone. Andrew informed him about all the claims that the elderly had, the most important being that he had to comply with the transfer to a safer location.

At that time the mayor's architect was present to present his technical report, as he read the report the mayor's face turned redder and redder. There came a point that he could no longer contain his rage, rebuked him:

"Architect, it could be that something as simple as a move cannot be possible, here it is not just about money, it is about the lives of old people, think that what we are planning can also benefit us when we will old"

Listening to that bitter discussion, Andrew realized that the mayor was a man of good intentions, good politician, only that he had the inconvenience of having collaborators without many skills.

Finally, the meeting was suspended and each one returned to their home, finishing the task.

New goal accomplished

Mindy, at the end of the afternoon that day she managed to obtain a new level in her sales career, the manager of the nursing home sent her an order with a high amount that exceeded everything she had billed during the course of the year. Also contributing to this achievement was that another client interested in distributing the company's products will associate with her as her direct referral.

Upon arriving at her house, she went directly to listen to the messages that she had stored in the answering machine, one of them was the voice of Angeline who, in addition to greeting her, told her that they must urgently plan the meeting with Andrew and to hear the information regarding the secret legacy that their father Thomas had left them.

After finishing listening to the message, she called her immediately. When Angeline answered the call, she told her that she was currently with Andrew having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Therefore, Mindy sarcastically said:

"Angeline, you must take care of him, it may be that you fall in love"

She told him. "None of that will happen, Andrew respects me, we are just friends"

Andrew, who was there, smiled at the thought that she might soon fall into his nets.

Angeline, then she heard what her sister was going to say:

"Angeline, tomorrow afternoon I will be unemployed. The three of us could meet on the terrace of the central park to listen to what Andrew has to inform us"

Angeline before finishing talking to her sister asked Andrew if he agreed so the meeting was set for the next day.

Surprise at the Bank

The next day at the meeting time, Mindy was the first to arrive, she immediately went to the terrace of the place located next to the swan lake, and soon before dark, the sky began to show reddish shades with the sun hiding behind the mountains. Her thoughts wandered to the memory of her father, when the first days he had returned from his exile on the island, they went there to watch the sunset.

Andrew thinking that he was delayed, when approaching where Mindy, was expressed to her:

"Mindy how thoughtful are you. Where's your sister?"

When he finished saying that, next to him was Angeline who said:

"Hello, here I am, excuse me for the delay, is that I was a little busier helping Charles who fell ill in bed, he is very old and asked me to accompany him for a while"

When they finished talking, they agreed to call the waiter to order some vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips. The waiter gave them the service and while they were consuming it, Andrew was narrating what Thomas had written in his personal diary.

From there, the most important information he had obtained up to that moment is that he had kept some very important documents in a safe deposit box at the main bank of the city and there he left an authorization naming his two daughters to be present to open its content.

They excited by the news, without more to say, what caught Thomas's attention since inadvertently his hand stumbled over the fragile cup in which he still had some ice cream spilling part of its content.

When they saw the disaster it had caused, they told him that it gave them the impression that Thomas was present with them at the time. Now after the evening ended, they agreed to set up an appointment with the official in charge of the bank.

(the story continues)

© 2020, Felix Garcia P. All rights reserved