Page 16 of Charlie
We smiled and Eileen said, “No, I assure you that we’re serious.”
“Awk, aye, I’m sure ye are. But it’s a sad affair when women have to banter together to kill the dragon and save the prince. I do not like these modern times.”
I laughed low. “I assure you that this is no fairytale and Charles is no prince. He’s reserved and a little intimidating, to be honest, and he has Tourette’s.”
The old woman moved one of the dogs with her knee and came closer. “And yet when ye speak of him, yer face lights up.”
“That’s just because I haven’t seen him for five years, and tomorrow, I finally get to see him again.”
“Five years.” Her wrinkled face scrunched up. “Are ye certain he even remembers ye?”
My heart pumped faster and I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
CHAPTER 3
Trinity College
Charles
A group of tourists passed me as I walked from the old historical buildings of Trinity College where I’d just taught a lecture on International Law.
The male student leading the guided tour talked about Trinity College being Ireland’s oldest university and how it was once a monastery. The young guide was wearing the brown robe that used to be mandatory until the early seventies. He was charming and seemed very confident in his presentation.
“The Victorian buildings that you see now are not the original from when the daughter of Henry VIII founded Trinity College back in 1592. The oldest building that we have left is from 1699.” He turned and pointed. “This statue is of one of our previous headmasters, George Salmon, also known as Grumpy George. It is said that he was so adamant about never allowing women into his fine school that he said, ‘Women will enter Trinity College over my dead body.’ This turned out to be an accurate prediction since despite his veto, the board eventually forced him to sign the papers opening up enrollment for women, but true to his word, George died a few days before the first woman, Isabel Johnston, arrived to study here.
“Now, it’s become a tradition for the women who graduate here to climb up on his statue and have a photo taken with Grumpy George.”
The group moved as the tour guide waved a hand. “Follow me, and I’ll tell you about the time some students got fed up with a professor and shot him. It’s this way.”
I turned my head to the tour guide.What? No one has told me about a professor getting shot! Was it recently?
A quick look at my watch told me I had time, so I followed the large group to hear the rest of the story.
Some tourists were commenting to each other right in front of me. “Don’t you just love the old-world charm with the cobblestones and the Victorian atmosphere? It’s so adorable. We sure don’t have anything like this back in Texas.”
The guide stopped and waited for his audience to gather around him.
“The Rubrics building behind me is legendary because of several things. One, it’s the oldest, more than three hundred years old. Two, it’s the cheapest place to live on campus.”
“Why? It looks so cute,” a tourist asked.
“Oh, don’t let the red bricks, the charming windows, and the central location fool you. This place has twelve apartments with four students in each. Yet there are only two bathrooms and they’re outside. If you get here in the morning, you’ll see tenants coming out of this door and walking all the way to that door. If they’re lucky a bathroom is free. Otherwise they’ll have to line up, and if that weren’t bad enough, these buildings are freezing cold and drafty. But what makes these buildings truly legendary is the ghost that haunts them.”
I smiled a little, enjoying the showmanship of the student guide.
“In 1734 a Fellow named Edward Ford lived in this building. He was hated by the students and one night there was a confrontation between him and a group of the young men. When they threw rocks through his window, he shot at them, so some of them went back and got their own guns. Edward was shot when he came to the window to admonish them and it’s said that he haunts this place.”
“What about the men who shot him?” a man asked.
“Good question. An interesting twist to the story is that there were no witnesses. Despite fifty students living here, no one saw a thing. Do you think that’s possible?”
A man with a German accent spoke up. “No way. The other students were just covering up for their friends who shot him.”
“I think so too. The four men that the police named as the culprits were acquitted by the court, but the board still expelled them. Our next stop is the old library, which has been in a lot of movies.”
I’d been standing on the outskirts of the group and was just about to walk away when a woman turned her head and met my eyes.
Charlie.
