Chapter Six: Brenda's Scottish Castle

The sound of dull thunder made me look up and I could see it was a sleek, black float plane making all that racket, not the weather. The sign on the side read VISIT Taymouth Castle! The smaller letters read: Kenmore Scotland Air. Brenda jumped up and shouted, "There's our ride!" Molly and Brendan rose and walked us up to the castle and waited in the foyer as we grabbed our backpacks. "Thanks for everything Molly." I said as I hugged my lifelong friend. I shook Brendan's hand and said, "See you again soon." Brenda said her good-byes and we walked down to the castle lake and were greeted by five giant uniformed Samoans, lined up shoulder to shoulder. They looked huge in their tight white polo shirts and navy shorts. Rippling muscles all over the place. "Hey Gretch, meet my private staff." My eyebrows receded into my scalp in surprise as she went on, "This is Nicky, Ricky, Micky, Tavita and Kimo." I shook hands with them and while they began loading our luggage below I admired their fine straight teeth and wavy black hair. Nicky and Ricky climbed into the cockpit of the ten seater and started the engine. Behind a bulkhead wall, Brenda and I sank into the buttery leather brown armchairs with Mikey, Tavita in the rows behind us. Kimo pulled the door shut and we taxied down the lake for lift-off. "What the heck?!" As I looked out the window I could see Molly in her white dress waving at us from the front steps of Dromoland Castle. Brenda just laughed, "The secret service told me I could hired whatever agents I wanted so I picked out Samoans. What, you don't like Samoans?" I peeked around the bulkhead at Nicky and Ricky. "Of course I like Samoans. Who doesn't? But why did they give you a staff and not me?" I said with a touch of puny jealousy in my voice. "Think about it Gretch, you are always getting into trouble, but the secret service wants to to travel solo to keep a low profile. As your back up team coordinator, they pretty much give me free reign along with my government VISA card. When they made me pick five team members out of a pool of one hundred agents, I decided that brothers would be fun. They are two years apart in age and Nicky is the oldest at thirty. They are smart, strong and loyal, plus they look good in the castle uniforms." I pinched my forearm to make sure I wasn't dreaming. This job kept getting better and better! "Wait, what castle?" I looked at her big smile. "You know how the service thought my cover of being a woo woo yogi leader in Sedona was a perfect cover? I got a registered letter last year that said I was the last living descendant of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy and I inherited Taymouth castle. Remember how my grandmother was adopted and we could never find out her history? Well, when the last Campbell died, they found me. You'll love it. I knew when the mail was postmarked Kenmore Scotland that it was a sign. After all those years of studying The Course in Miracles, I got one. A miracle." She turned to look at the green land below us. "Wait, what?! You inherited a castle?! Don't tell me you didn't tell me!" I felt outrage at this deception by my best friend. Plus I wondered how much a float plane cost and if her secret service credit line was higher than mine. "Oh calm down, Gretch. You're the one that taught me how to keep secrets. The secret service was thrilled because Brendan O'Brien has been charging them an arm and a leg for rent on our headquarters over in Ireland." I looked out the window and could see white rocks arranged on a green hillside saying, "Welcome to Kenmore." I said, "I'm sorry I'm such a pill Brenny. Thanks again for saving my life in Botswana." She chuckled at me and replied, "Castle smastle, let's head to Thailand for vacay."