Page 39 - the NOISE March 2015

Miss Ida said nothing, but her eyes flicked back and forth, as she watched the window.
After a particularly frustrating day of silence, Mary decid- ed she wouldn’t wait anymore. every Thursday, Dot spent a night away from the mansion visiting relatives. It was the only time Mary was left completely in charge.
“Miss Ida, you need to go to bed early tonight. You need your rest,” she said pulling the elderly woman out of her chair. “It’s not time,” Miss Ida protested. “Jack hasn’t said good-
night yet.”
“He can say goodnight upstairs. You’re going to bed,”
Mary insisted.
Unable to resist the much younger woman, Miss Ida did
as she was told. Once her patient was securely in bed, Mary raced upstairs to her own room. she hurriedly changed into dark clothing then made her way to the kitchen. she found a workable flashlight in one of the drawers. next, she took a shovel from the shed. Complete with all the tools she needed, Mary headed to the ground in view of the parlor window.
The garden was as forlorn as the mansion. The untended rows were choked with thistles and weeds. An overgrown rose arbor split the half acre in two. On the far side was a stone mausoleum; the Montgomery family crypt.
“Jack’s resting place,” Miss Ida had informed her once.
Mary scanned the unruly patch with her flashlight. she walked
in a zigzag manner to avoid the multiple holes already dug. “where do I start?” she waved her flashlight over the ground. when she did, a bit of yellow caught her eye. Mary bent down and picked up a small coin. she brushed the dirt
off and gasped. It was a one-dollar gold piece minted in 1851. “what do you know?” The coin was just like the others she
stole from her last patient, Mr. Moore. He hid gold coins in his garden, too.
“stupid old man,” she scoffed. Like Miss Ida, he made the mistake of telling Mary about the treasure he had buried in his garden. From then on, she made a point of wheeling him outside every day to “weed” his flowerbeds for him. It wasn’t long before she found the small metal box full of old coins. Mr. Moore had been furious. He threatened to call the police.
she smiled at the memory. It was so easy putting him out of his misery. An overdose of insulin is rarely detected in an autopsy.
“This will make a fine addition to my collection,” she slipped the coin into her pocket.
The night wore on. Mary’s search took her through the garden right up to the old mausoleum. when she paused to consider her next move, she noticed a light had been turned on in the house. It shown through Miss Ida’s parlor window.
“she’s back in that chair.” Mary charged towards the house. The parlor doors were shut when she arrived. Mary shoved
them open.
“Miss Ida, didn’t I tell you...”
The room was empty. The lamp next to Miss Ida’s chair however was lit.
Mary walked to the grand staircase and listened. The house was silent.
“I must have left the light on.” It was the only plausible ex- planation. Mary returned to the parlor. she was about to turn the light off when an unusual noise distracted her. It was the sound of distant gunfire. Her eyes were drawn to the parlor window. she froze.
“It can’t be. It’s impossible.”
The window was alive.
People were running past. some carrying their posses-
sions, others small children. Men on horseback with sabers drawn shouted orders. A bright flickering light shown behind the old mausoleum.
“Fire.” Mary felt her legs weaken. she fell back into Miss Ida’s chair. she watched the scene unfolding in the stained glass window too terrified to move.
“I must be losing my mind.” she felt the room closing in. Then she saw her — a lone woman dressed in a long black gown running against the mayhem. she was carrying a cloth
bundle in her arms.
Mary sat up in the chair. “Great Grandmother elizabeth.” she watched elizabeth run through the garden to the left
side of the mausoleum. she stopped and turned to face the Montgomery crypt. Her silhouette against the light of the fire allowed Mary to see her movement. elizabeth reached into her pocket and pulled something out.
“she has a key.” Greed overcame Mary’s fear.
Then elizabeth’s arm extended towards the mausoleum.
A large door swung open. elizabeth disappeared inside the
crypt. It was several moments before she emerged. she no longer carried the bundle. she walked to the corner of the old stone building and knelt down.
“she’s burying the key.” Mary knew where to find the miss- ing treasure.
she bolted from the chair. After grabbing the shovel she left in the garden, she raced to the spot where elizabeth had knelt down. each shovel full of dirt was inspected before she dug another one. The hole grew wider.
“Come on. I know you’re here.” Mary pleaded. Then her wish came true. A small cloth bundle appeared.
“All right.” Mary quickly unwrapped it. “now we’re talking.” she held in her hand a large brass key. Thrilled with her
find, she proceeded to the mausoleum door. The key fit per- fectly and turned quite easily, much to her surprise. The door however, was extremely heavy. At first, Mary wasn’t sure if she could move it at all but thoughts of the treasure hidden within gave her the strength she needed. she pulled it open just enough to squeeze through. Five stone sarcophagus and two small ones were clustered together inside the dank room. Mary shown her light on the carved names of the deceased.
“Hello, Mr. Jack,” she said when she recognized his.
“now if I was elizabeth, where would I put the jewels?” Mary’s flashlight illuminated the smallest sarcophagus.
“Bingo,” she announced with glee.
soon the long lost treasure was in her hands. Diamond
necklaces, a ruby brooch, an emerald bracelet and more gold coins than she could count. Mary could hardly contain her- self. A quick glance at her watch however, shocked her. Dot would be home soon. If she hurried, she could collect all her belongings and be gone before that happened.
Mary tied the fortune back up into the cloth. when she got to the metal door, she tried to walk through holding the bundle up against her chest. There wasn’t enough room. Un- daunted, she shoved the bundle through the opening, and placed it on the ground outside. Then she tried squeezing through the opening again.
Door must have moved, she thought. she stepped back, put both hands on the door and pushed. Instead of moving away from her, she felt the door move towards her.
“who’s out there?” she screamed.
Frantically, she pushed back but the door kept closing.
“stop, I’m in here.” she pounded on the door.
“so am I!” a man’s voice declared from the depths of the crypt.
Mary whirled around allowing the door to slam shut. The sound of a turning key finished its journey.
several days later, the town’s sheriff called on Miss Ida Mae Montgomery.
“so let me make sure I have all the information down right,” the sheriff nodded towards Miss Dot. “Mary Thompson was hired as a nurse for Miss Ida Mae?”
“Yes, sir,” Dot concurred.
“You didn’t know Miss Thompson was the same nurse the police were looking for in connection with the death of John Moore, Miss Ida’s brother.”
“That’s right,” Dot said.
“You went upstairs and found her room empty.”
“Yes, sir,” she nodded.
“she just left? Didn’t tell you why she was leaving? Until
you checked her room, you didn’t even know she was gone. Is that right?”
“Oh no,” Miss Ida Mae interrupted. “Jack told me she was gone. He said she was never coming back. He even gave me a lovely bouquet of roses and Great Grandmother elizabeth’s brooch.” she gently touched the petals on the flowers in her lap.
The sheriff looked at Dot with the most bemused expres- sion. “Jack Montgomery? Didn’t he die several years ago?”
Dot laughed. “You will have to forgive Miss Ida Mae, sheriff. she has the worst case of dementia.”
Then she leaned forward and whispered, “wait until she tells you what she sees in the parlor window.”
| nathalie goldston is a prescott author whose critically acclaimed novel, Valley of Sorrows, is available for free download on amazon. njgols1959@gmail.com
>> “city water” continued from 13 >>
der the newly adopted water policy to administratively renew snowbowl’s reclaimed wastewater contract for the next 20 years.
Ms. Brewster was visibly frustrated by citizen con- cerns over water, stopping mid-sentence to say, “I think this whole push toward redoing this is due to snowbowl, and you can’t convince me otherwise,” she said. Vice Mayor Barotz and councilmember evans re- ject this argument though.
“I believe this perspective demonstrates a real lack of leadership and vision,” said Ms. Barotz. “I question whether this majority is really saying it believes the City Council shouldn’t talk about reclaimed water con- tracts for as long as the City sells reclaimed water to snowbowl,” she said. “Twenty years is a long time to refuse to talk about reclaimed water contracts.”
Ms. evans was also quick to point out that, though snowbowl might have been the “catalyst” for conversa- tions about water, “Right now the contract that snow- bowl has is in place, so anything we’re talking about now ... truly does not affect what we’re doing with snowbowl. It affects what we’re going to do in the fu- ture with our water supplies.”
so said Ms. Barotz,“The fact that four members of the council seem afraid to talk about issues that are critical to the survival of this community because they think we’re going do something we don’t even have the legal authority to do, is very disturbing,” she said. “It’s really unfair to suggest if you want to talk about reclaimed water in Flagstaff, looking ahead, that suddenly you’re against snowbowl,” she said.
Mr. Preston, the Flagstaff citizen who originally pe- titioned the city to have this conversation, believes it will continue. “Despite the fact that the majority of the council did not want the answers to the questions they asked to be heard in a public meeting, the questions I wanted most will get answers,” he said. “And then we will be back to hit them with their own documented proof. I feel like the petition was a success,” he said.
City Staff has between 8-12 weeks to provide their an- swers to the questions posed by council members Barotz, Evans, and Putzova. The answers will be posted on the City’s website. Ms. Barotz also said she plans to hold a public meeting where she will explain the City’s responses. Below are some of the more salient questions currently un- der consideration.
What is the difference between an amended contract and a new contract? When changes are made to an old contract, at which point does it actually become a new contract?
What is the legal difference between a request for a connection and a reclaimed water agreement?
What provisions of the City Code and the water policy govern and/or relate to who makes the decisions about in-City and out-of-City reclaimed water contracts?
There are two categories of in-city reclaimed water contracts: a. projects that will require a rezoning as part of the land planning process; and b. those that have the required zoning. Can the public provide comment on water resource allocations during the rezoning process? If so, at what point is that comment welcome? When a project has the required zoning and doesn’t require the Council approve a rezoning, does the public have an opportunity to comment on a proposed reclaimed water contract when the staff reviews the plans and is- sues the building permit?
Define what ‘the City” means in the three documents. (For example, does it mean the City Council or the City staff or both? Does it mean the City Council only or City staff only?)
Can we ensure the governing documents are all consistent with one another and there are no internal conflicts?
| Kyle Boggs could be writing the book on reclaimed wastewater in the southwest. kyleboggs@email.arizona.edu
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • MARCH 2015 • 39