A Story...
Adalberto sneezed as the dust from his work got into his nasal passages again. This exhalation led to even more dust rising into the air which led to even more bouts of sneezing. To whit Adalberto had to retreat blowing his nose noisily into his expensive silken laced monogrammed handkerchief.
“Damn it Berti, you make more noise than those geese outside!” exclaimed Niles as he dumped another batch of scrolls onto the work table. He lent over the table and opened the window which allowed some fresh air in, but with it came the strong gust of wind, which sent a number of papers to scatter across the room.
Adalberto glared with watery eyes at Niles Starling, and drew his puny frame up into an erect state before a coughing fit hit him again. Once it was over he said in a breathless voice.
“Mister Niles I must again remind you I am Adalberto de Franangelo, not this Berti you have anglicised. I insist that you must address me by my correct name if you want my help in deciphering these texts.”
“Oh, all right Berti, if you insist!”
“It is Adalberto, Mister Niles!” At this Adalberto voice started to rise, his face flushed red and he was on the verge of one of those famous Italian outburst, when... yes you guessed it, an interruption occurred!
The door to the room opened and into the room stepped the hero of these stories, none other than Lord Ackerley Wishart, accompanied by Sir Garfield Talbot and Barrington Mallory.
Adalberto had the wind taken out of his sails and he turned his complaint instead to Lord Wishart.
“Lord Wishart, I am glad you are here. I cannot work under these appalling conditions.”
Ackerley looked around at the mess on the floor, and of course jumped to the wrong the conclusion.
“I pay you a fraction of a minute fortune to decipher these texts Berti...”
“I am Adalberto de Franangelo!” shouted Adalberto in depesperation and hope that someone in this room of idiots would listen to him.
“Yes, yes, Berti was it...”
Adalberto dropped to his knees wheezing and coughing into his handkichief, “I am Adalberto de Franangelo...” he kept repeating to no one but himself. Sir Garfield came over and clapped him on the shoulder sympathically and whispered in his ear.
“Don’t fret old boy, yes they are mad as hatters. Try not to let it get to you. I know your name, that’s all you need to know Adalberto. Just ignore them, it helps, otherwise you will go mad.”
“Why are these papers all on the floor for? I’m not paying you for a sedimentary filing system am I?”
At this Ackerley picked up one of the pages and peered at it. He then did a double take, clutched the page with both hands and paled visibly to all present.
“Good God, I don’t believe it. After all these years, I may be finally rid of the hag.”
Looking at the other wondering occupants in the room he smiled and said.
“Right, pick up the rest of the pages on the floor and let’s put this manuscript back together. We have an adventure of epic proportions to conquer and an evil to put to eternal rest.”
Things have been rather unsettled at home these past few weeks. I'd been involved in a neighbours home invasion and had a knife pulled on me. My daughters long term relationship broke up and I've had to change all the locks on the house, and a number of other things that prey on your mind when you have to worry about the baser nature of humanity and how they may affect you and your family and home. Once things have returned to some sort of normality and I can find my sanity (not that there was any there to start with) I'll share some more adventures in due course. So enjoy the precursor story I had worked on before the unpleasantness hit my life.
