CHAPTER 16 (PART - A)



Benton and Tinin drove peacefully through the countryside as the skies began to slowly turn grey. Tintin felt guilty for not even leaving a personal letter for his captain, but realized that he really needed some time to discern a lot of the past with his own personal insight. This was a reality that Haddock could not shield him from. He was now ready for his personal quest to find out his true identity and begin to shed these shrouds of mystery that has plagued him for so many years. Tintin knew at any moment he could be assertive and revert back to his survival mode, but one link and one link alone kept him forever tied to his companion. The one thing that allowed him to tolerate all of his captain’s shortcomings, and it was love.

“Looks like rain clouds” Benton noticed.
“Rain isn’t going to ruin my day” Tintin smiled.
“That’s a good attitude to have Fenton” Benton nodded.
“So what’s your wife Lucille cooking for us?”
“She is fixing some nice sandwiches. I hope I’m not taking you away from your friends for too long…”
“Think nothing of it…but I am returning back to Belgium tomorrow I’m afraid” Tintin sighed.
“That’s unfortunate, my work keeps me busy so I don’t have much time to travel” Benton explained.
“Well perhaps you could stay a bit longer…” Benton suggested.
“Maybe…it’s amazing so you’re a father of two!” Tintin changed the subject as the rain began to pour.

“Bloody rain!” Benton complained rolling up his window turning on his windshield wipers. Tintin quickly rolled his up too before he got drenched.
“So yes, I am a father of two as you have met Matthew and Heidi, intelligent children. With each passing day the never stop amazing me with what they learn,” Benton bragged.
“Have you traveled with your children much?” Tintin asked curious about where they had been.

“A few places which Lucille’s father sent us to for holiday. He generously sent us to New York City for a short time where I worked as a banker briefly about a couple months. I became bored with it and missed being home back in England. We had some money and traveled to Brazil which was an interesting trip,” Benton nodded emphatically.
“Impressive, I was in Chicago and New York City too…” Tintin commented.
“What did you think of the States?” Benton asked.
“Different, but a nice place all the same, I was sad to leave after all of my exploits reporting on mobsters. Especially chasing after one by the name of Smiles” Tintin remembered the affair.
“You’re chasing after mobsters and you’re a reporter?!” Benton asked incredulously.

“Well, I became an investigator a few years back for a couple of gentlemen back in Brussels. I enjoyed writing articles, but my problem was my moral ethic would usually end up taking over as I became part of the story myself” Tintin explained.
“Nothing wrong with working to keep our neighborhoods safe,” Benton nodded thoughtfully as they made a few turns leading towards the road that led to Ipswich. “So what else did you do in the States?” Benton prompted Tintin.
“I had some close calls with some of the Native American Indian tribal folk and the ‘cowboys’, thankfully Snowy has been my most faithful companion while traveling the world,” Tintin finished.

“Wow you just seem to have an incredible streak of luck, when we get home I want details” Benton replied with interest.
“How was Brazil?” Tintin asked in turn.

“It was a fascinating place. Both Matthew and Heidi were only three at the time, so they probably remember little. I too had a couple of close calls as Lucille and I had left the children at the resort with babysitters so we could take a tour in the rainforest. We ended up getting caught up in a gun battle with drug smugglers. We were taken hostage for a few days, and we were both beginning to fear we would never see our children again…” Benton paused to slow down to let some pedestrians cross the road.

“So what happened?” Tintin asked with anticipation.
“I was determined we would survive, I would not leave my children father and motherless like you and I had been. Lucille and I tricked the guards thinking we had escaped…but I think I should wait until Lucille is present to correct me as I retell the events. She’s a brave woman and by looking at her, you would never know it,” Benton smiled.

“Wow, it sounds like you’ve had a couple adventures yourself” Tintin’s interest began to peak.

It wasn’t much longer until they arrived back at Benton’s home. The scene was tranquil as the pasture in distance could be seen as the rain began to taper off. Tintin noticed the curtains in the window shuffle around until a small face popped up with a huge smiled and the curtains quickly closed. As they got out of the car both of them could hear happy shouts, “Daddy’s home!”
“It appears we’re being expected” Tintin smiled.
“Indeed” Benton said taking a small sack out of the back seat.
“Welcome home love!” Lucille came to the door dressed in a white blouse and long grey skirt.

“Thanks!” Benton said giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
“Welcome back Fenton” she smiled. Lucille was wearing a purple bandana covering most of her hair except a few long bangs that hung to the side. The bandana also wrapped around most of her long ponytail that cascaded down to her lower back.
“Thanks Lucille” Tintin said kissing her hand.

“Daddy! Daddy! Did you bring us sweets?” both Matthew and Heidi said jumping around him curious what he had in the sack.
“Yes I did, but not until after you eat” he smiled.
“Matthew, Heidi, say hello to your Uncle Fenton” Lucille announced.
Matthew and Heidi seemed to know no strangers for they came running up to Tintin and began to hug his leg. “Hi Uncle Fenton!” they both shouted.
“Did you bring us sweets too?” Matthew asked hopefully.
“I want sweets too!” Heidi smiled.

“Your father says no sweets until after you eat” Tintin winked patting them both on the head.
“Come sit it’s time to eat!” Lucille shouted from the kitchen. Both of the children ran into the kitchen.
“Are you ready to eat Fenton?” Benton asked.
“Sure” Tintin nodded.
Benton sat the sack down on a table in the corner of the living den and led Tintin through the kitchen to a small dining area in the corner. The table had about five chairs with a purple table cloth over it. Even the wooden chairs were painted purple.
“Wow you really like purple” Tintin commented.
“I don’t know what it is about that color but I’m drawn to it” Lucille tried to explain.

“You saw the bedroom, I wanted green, but she insisted on purple” Benton laughed.
“We actually decided with a coin toss as to who was going to choose the color of the room when we moved here” Lucille explained with a bit of a smirk. She quickly moved by the stove where she had a tray of sandwiches already made with a large bowl of sliced apples.
“Sorry if this isn’t to your liking, I’m not the greatest cook” Lucille admitted.
“No please, don’t worry about it, having something to eat is good enough” Tintin shook his head.

“We had a ham for dinner yesterday, so I took the left over and made ham and cheese sandwiches. Benton is a much better cook than I am. If you’re still hungry afterwards, I got a box of biscuits for dessert,” Lucille went on.
“Please, eat up brother!” Benton urged Tintin.
Tintint took one of the stacked sandwiches made on the tray as Benton put half a sandwich and some sliced apples on a plate for Matthew and Heidi. Tintin took a bite and the sandwich was as Lucille said. It wasn’t the best, but it was far from the worst he had ever eaten. He noticed both Heidi and Matthew were quietly eating staring at him.

“Matthew, Heidi, it’s not polite to stare” Lucille scolded her children.
“He looks a lot like daddy!” Heidi smiled mischievously.
“Yea!” Matthew began whispering to his sister.
“Matthew, talking about people in front of them is especially impolite!” Lucille scolded him again.
“They’re my little munchkins!” Benton smiled.
“Let’s eat now, we’re going over to see your grandmother after we finish” Lucille told them.
“Is Uncle Fenton coming with us?” Matthew said still unable to stop staring at Tintin.
“No Matthew, your father would like to spend some time with his brother, so stop nagging him and eat,” Lucille scolded again.
“It’s ok…” Tintin shook his head not minding the attention from the kids.
“Mom, can Uncle Fenton play with us before we leave please!” Heidi pleaded.
“If you’re Uncle Fenton doesn’t mind…” Benton said looking to Tintin.
“Of course, I don’t mind taking a little time to get to know my niece and nephew” Tintin smiled brightly.
“Hurray!!” both the kids shouted.
“…but you have to finish eating, if you don’t then Uncle Fenton won’t play with you” Lucille added.

The kids became quiet and started to eat their sandwich and apples. Benton and Lucille seemed quite impressed on how quickly the children were already taking an interest in their uncle. It wasn’t long before they finished.
“Ok, now go wash your hands and wait for daddy in the living den if you want sweets too!” Benton said with much animation.
Both Heidi and Matthew ran to the bathroom.

“Walk! Don’t run please!” Lucille shouted behind them.
Matthew seemed like a spitting image of he and his brother at that age. Tintin wanted to ask a million questions at once but didn’t want to overwhelm his new family members too quickly.
“So they’re twins?” Tintin asked.
“Yes, Matthew is the older one as he was born first” Lucille explained.
“Before you go play with the kids I will finish what happened in Brazil” Benton said getting Lucille’s attention.

“Oh, we were lucky to escape with our lives!” Lucille said dreadfully.
“I know…good thing you’re a bit of a tomboy!” Benton teased.
“Benton!” Lucille laughed.

“Ok Fenton, we were able to hang from the ceiling beams where they had us locked up. As soon as the guard walked in, we both jumped down on top of him and was able to wrestle his gun away from him” Benton continued the story.
“The heat was unbearable!” Lucille commented. “It wasn’t long before that terrorist’s friends came running after us with guns. They fired in our direction several times. Luckily Benton had enough rounds to fire back as to discourage them some from following us,” Lucille paused taking the children’s plates off the table placing them in the sink.
“Lucille picked up that guard’s machete and that alone saved my life!” Benton added.
“How so?” Tintin asked with renewed interest.

“When we were running away we ended up using all of the bullets to discourage
our pursuers. We were lost for hours, sweaty, tired, hungry, and close to being delirious. I leaned on a tree and an anaconda bit my leg and began to wrap around me. I thought I had one bullet left but I had none. I struggled with the big snake. Lucille slashed it one good time with the machete, and then it sprang at her barely missing. I picked up a rock and hit it one good time distracting it while Lucille swung again scoring a more deepening cut on the monster…” Benton paused.
“It slithered away as fast as it could once I slashed it that time. We were slowed by Benton’s injury. An hour later we came upon a tribal village and they wrapped Benton’s leg and led us back to the resort. After hours of police reports they let us go and we were glad to be gone.” Lucille finished the tale.

“So what happened to those terrorists? Did they get caught?” Tintin asked curiously.
“We’re not sure, later we heard that some were caught, but not all of them” Benton replied unsure.
Matthew and Heidi came back in the kitchen and stood by their dad. “Dad can we have sweets now?” Heidi asked.
“Can Uncle Fenton play with us now?” Matthew asked tugging on his dad’s grey flannel shirt.
“Ok, let’s get us some sweets then shall we?” Benton said leading them back into the living room.
“So just how many adventures have all of you had?” Tintin asked curiously.

“There were a couple of other strange incidents that happened…but we’ll save those tales for another time. Better not keep the kids waiting” Lucille laughed.
Tintin nodded and walked in to see the kids’ eyes a glow as Benton opened a tin can filled with various colored hard rock candy.
“I want a blue one!” Heidi begged.
“I want a red one!” Matthew also begged.
“Ok kids hold on…” Benton said fishing out the colors they wanted.
“That’s all you get for now” Benton said replacing the lid back on the tin taking it back to the kitchen.
“Uncle Fenton, come help me build a castle!” Matthew said leading Tintin near the toy box.
“I want Uncle Fenton to come play with me and my dolly Suzie” Heidi said fishing out her rag doll. Tintin noticed on closer inspection it had purple yarn for hair and worse a long purple dress.
“I asked first Heidi” Matthew complained.

“Come on kids I’m right here! I can play with both of you! Why don’t you tell us how you want your castle to look for you and Suzie” Tintin smiled with a warm feeling that was completely new to him. Tintin got on the floor with Matthew as they moved blocks around and started to build a wall as Heidi and her doll handed them the blocks occasionally complaining the wall was too small for Suzie.

Benton and Lucille peeked out of the kitchen. “Amazing isn’t it?” Benton whispered.
“It’s like they’ve always known him…” Lucille smiled.

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