Chapter Five: The Irish Dungeon

Despite our brilliant idea to use only one flashlight at a time after the light bulb had burned out, darkness was coming. I could no longer walk the floor looking for a way to escape and now I knew the images would come to haunt me. Snakes, rats, zombies. "Brenda, sit back to back on this rack table with me." Her flashlight began to flicker and she climbed up and provided a warm but bony backrest. "You starting to get scared Gretch?" She said. We'd been been best friends for sixty years. She knew I was afraid of the dark, snakes, rats and zombies. Not to mention my claustrophobia. "Yeah, you know I am." Darkness. My breathing became labored as all my phobias kicked in. "How about a few show tunes Brenny? God knows when Molly will notice us missing, especially if she has a few drinks." Brenny started singing show tunes. She knew my childhood favorites and I was always amazed she could remember the words from Carousel, Sound of Music, Porgy and Bess plus all cheery Mary Poppins songs. After an hour she stopped singing and said, "Too bad you don't have your ham radio with you." My mind popped open. Why didn't I think of it sooner! "Oh my God Brenda! You're a genius! Now just hop down take a brick and pound out the Morse code. There has to be someone that will here it." I could feel her hop down and hear her rummaging for a brick. God she was brave. I could imagine the rats crawling over her feet in my mind. "Okay, now just walk to the outer wall where the sound will reverberate and whack it hard three times, then scrape it three times and then whack it three more times. She did as I asked over and over for a half hour. "My arms are tired Gretch, I need a break." She climbed back up and we rested back-to-back. We had been sound asleep for an hour when the loud creaking of the door woke us up. "What the hell?! There you are! I swear to God you two haven't changed in fifty years!" Molly was holding a huge flashlight and swaying a little and Brendan, her handsome sixty year old husband came over and gallantly helped us off the rack to the floor. "I thought you had gone into the village to shop but when you didn't come back I had all the staff looking for you. I fell asleep and Brendan said he heard a tapping noise and it occurred to me as nosy as you two are you might come look at the dungeon. Come on, it's five AM, you probably want a shower and some sleep." I followed the flashlight out the door where the blessed electric lights lit the staircase up like a tavern. "Thank God you heard us Brendan. I really appreciate you finding us. It wasn't as bad as hanging from the ski-lift in Telluride for four days in 2012, but it was getting close. After a nice shower and nap we joined Molly and Brendan for lunch back out on the patio. I looked at Molly's handsome young husband who at sixty still sported a full head of fluffy white hair. She always did know how to pick them. "Tell me about yourself Brendan,and don't leave anything out." He smiled and sipped his Chardonny and began, "I was born and raised in the village and went to Oxford business school for a degree in hotel management and came back to manage the castle. When Global Rest started buying up UNESCO historic sites in 2015, they bough the castle and when they found out I was a descendant of the original O'Briens, they wanted to keep me on as manager. It seemed odd that Global West wanted to keep one tower for use of ISLA members only, but they were adamant about it so only your members can get in. My wife died five years ago and when Molly came last month to work for me that was it. She is the most refreshing person I ever met. She is beautiful, funny, brutally honest and she sports that adorable American." Molly blushed as he leaned over and spoon-fed her a chocolate covered strawberry. Brenda winked at me and said, "Well, this is lovely place but we do need to get going. I want to show Gretch my new place in..."