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Elizabeth, to her father's surprise, was already prepped and waiting by the foot of the stairs. He wondered if she somehow knew that James Norrington's daughter, Susan, was only a year older. He groaned and reached for his bottle of Midol, knocking back a tablet. Nine minutes later, a black BMW pulled into the driveway. The chauffeur opened the left door and the Norringtons stepped out. Elizabeth felt a massive grin spread over her face: Susan was about her age! "A pleasure to meet you Ambassador Norrington." "A pleasure too, Gov. Swann and this must be Elizabeth." She smiled and shook his hand but was interested in Susan, who was a bit shy, hiding slightly behind her parents. "Oh, don't be rude to your host's daughter," her mother responded. "Gov. Swann, Elizabeth, this is our daughter, Susan." She was gently pushed forwards. Susan had orangish blond hair cut short and large blue eyes with freckles on her face and wore a dress similar to Elizabeth's. She was about an inch taller but did possess that streak of curiosity that Elizabeth did. She knew they'd get along famously.
Everyone went inside. Dinner was, of course, excellent. Because his only major function left for the day was to host the ambassador's family, Elizabeth and Susan were forgotten. Gov. Swann had committed his second blunder of the day and didn't even realize it.
The two were upstairs in Elizabeth's room reading the book. "Wow, I can't believe this is all true," said Susan. "It has to be. The stuff can be found online. In fact, it was on the news. Last month, a cruise ship in the Bahamas was attacked. Fortunately, the coast guard scared them off but that proves that they still exist." Susan's eyes widened. "If they still exist, what is the chance there might still be buried treasure?" "I don't think so. I've read tons of books by David Cordingly. He doesn't make anything up. Even in the days of Blackbeard, they spent their money on drinking, whores and gambling so they never could hold onto the money for long." They felt adventurous and finally, Susan said: "Why not take a shovel or two and we'll see if there's any along the beach." "That'd be smashing!" she giggled. They got up and crept downstairs. Gov. Swann was enchanted by Norrington's stories of his days in the navy and his service in the Gulf War. Apparently, he had retired from the military several years ago and moved into embassy work because he was a bit of a workaholic. On the other hand, working at the embassy meant that he could spend more time with his family.
Because Elizabeth's father was distracted, the two girls were able to sneak out the back door. Michael, although sometimes a hawk, was too busy trying to fix the dishwasher for it had chosen today to act up. He figured it'd be easier to spend 45 minutes fixing it than spend two hours washing the dishes and 120 Pounds paying a repairman. This made it easier for the girls to slip by him.
Their excursion lasted only 12 minutes because Ambassador Norrington realized he'd left some papers in the car that he wanted to have her father sign and that's when he found out the two were missing. The Norringtons' visit was cut short and Elizabeth was dragged not to her room but her father's office, where, as punishment, she was to sit ramrod straight in the uncomfortable wooden guest chair while her father did his paperwork. If she squirmed, fidgeted or said even one word, he smacked her on the hand with a ruler. God, he could be almost as bad as her primary school teacher Mrs. Williams!
After tucking her in bed, Gov. Swann turned on the telly, hoping that he hadn't missed the latest episode of The Tudors. An ad caught his attention about a job search engine. What if there were governesses advertising their profession online? He booted up his laptop and searched furiously for a solid hour.
Uh oh. Now Elizabeth's wild ride is revving up! Let's see how hard she crashes! More to come! Please: feedback! Thank you!
