CHAPTER 11 (PART - A)


Tintin could feel the anticipation building up in his mind, something in him knew that there was a strong connection with this young man, could they be related? Alyssa parked the car in the driveway. The guy lived in a small stately home. There were a couple of bigger houses not too far away so Tintin surmised that they lived not too far from the landlord. There were wheat fields in the distance as well as tractors and a small pasture not too far away with a couple of cows grazing peacefully.

The scenery was relaxing, but this was a bit much for Tintin with all the excitement and yet the peaceful setting. They all got out of the car as Benton stood with his grey bowler on leading them to his front door.

“Welcome to my home friends, it’s not much…” he welcomed. He opened the door and led them into a small den with two sofas and a small television by the front window. The furnishings were simple as an old rocking chair also sat near the window. The floor was littered with wooden blocks. The windows had long violet drapes as the walls were a lavender color. High up on a mantel above the fire place sat various glass jars that were all of a purple hue. The floors were made of hardwood and quite clean despite the mess of toys on the floor. Benton took off his coat and hat putting them on a coat rack behind the door.

“Someone must like the color purple” Alyssa commented.
“Yea, that’s my wife, she loves purple” Benton laughed.

That moment Alyssa and Enzo could not stop comparing the uncanny resemblances of Tintin and Benton. The nose curves were exactly the same, the few freckles they had were almost in the same places on his face, and the green color for their eyes matched perfectly. They couldn’t believe it.

“Please, sit down,” Benton motioned as he disappeared down a small hallway.

“He’s married with little ones!” Tintin thought amazed as they sat on the sofa finally noticing that in one corner a small castle like structure was built with the wooden blocks. The fire burned low by the fire place with a strong iron cage to keep curious children safe. A small wooden chest lay in the corner with more toys. More vague memories began flooding back to him; and in a distant past he remembered building a small town with another boy, possibly his brother, making a shop, a fire, police, and train station using wooden blocks. He could hear lots of laughter in this memory. He remembered lots of smiling and his mom and dad helping them even though he couldn’t remember their faces as a single tear began to roll down his cheek.

“Tintin, are you ok?” Alyssa asked with concern noticing it almost looked like he was about to cry.
Enzo glanced at him in confusion trying to make sense of what was happening.
“Yes…” Tintin sniffled lightly rubbing his eyes returning back to the present.
Alyssa could see that this was an important moment for him and did not want ruin it.
“What time is it?” Enzo asked nervously.
“What did we tell you back in town Enzo?” Alyssa said a little annoyed.
“I’m sorry…” Enzo shifted uncomfortably.

They sat for a couple of minutes and could hear more footsteps and a woman’s voice as Benton returned back to the main room. Tintin looked up eagerly to see who this young man’s wife was. Benton came back out slowly leading two beautiful children, a boy and a girl almost identical in look. They both had blond hair while the girl had her father’s green eyes and the boy had a greenish hazel color.

“Behave now, we have guests” Benton spoke to his children.
“Who’s here dad?” the little boy asked curiously.
“Someone who helped daddy” Benton smiled as the children entered the living den waving. Suddenly a loud scratching was heard at the door.
“Oh Snowy, we forgot poor Snowy outside, do you mind if I let my dog in?” Tintin frowned.
“Of course!” Benton opened the door and Snowy came running in. The kids came over to pet him for a couple of minutes then returned back to their toys as Snowy lied next to Tintin.

Alyssa and Enzo smiled at the beautiful children as they quickly returned back to playing with their toys on the floor.

A woman walked in wearing a long green dress with a small brown house coat. She didn’t appear to be a model of beauty, but more of a ‘Plane Jane’ kind of look. She had long golden brown hair braided all the way to her lower back. Her face was delicate looking and she stood only a few inches shorter than her husband. She had light amber colored brown eyes. One could tell by looking at her she was an active woman. She looked very lean and athletic.

“Hello everyone! My husband tells me how you stood up for him against those nasty scoundrels who strong arm folk around here,” she replied in a sonorous tone.
“It was nothing, I wasn’t going to stand there and let an innocent man get robbed” Tintin nodded.
“Lucille, this is Tintin, at least that’s what he says…” he smiled jokingly introducing them.
“I’m sorry, but could the both of you tell me your names again?” Benton asked politely.
“I’m Alyssa, pleasure to meet you” she smiled.
“I am called Enzo” he bowed politely.
“No need to bow here, no royalty in this family” Lucille laughed.

“These are my children Matthew and Heidi” Benton finished. The two children looked up momentarily to acknowledge their father’s introduction and quickly went back to playing with their toys. Heidi retrieved an old doll from the toy box that was made of rags.
Lucille suddenly became affixed to Tintin’s face and kept looking back at her husband.
“Holy mackerel! You two look like you could be the same person!” Lucille exclaimed the more she stared at them both.
“Yes, the resemblance is amazing isn’t?” Benton said as he too began to look at Tintin.
Alyssa and Enzo too could definitely see it the more they looked between the both of them.
“The facial structure, everything about them, the color hair, the eyes, even the stature…” Lucille pointed out.
“Dear could you fix us some tea?” Benton asked politely.
“Certainly” she dashed off to the kitchen.

“So Mr. Tintin, what is your last name?” Benton asked a bit more seriously.
“Truthfully, I don’t know… I really don’t have any birth records other than what I’ve been told--I've never really used a 'real' last name” he replied sadly.
“Horrible,” Benton couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Enzo began playing with the kids on the floor making small blocked structures. Matthew began to watch Enzo carefully stack the blocks as Enzo was building a tower. Heidi remained content whispering to her doll near the toy box.

“So what do you remember of your past?” Benton sighed taking a deep breath.
“My earliest memory was maybe about nine maybe ten?” Tintin confessed.
“An orphanage?” Benton asked curiously.
“Yes, that’s correct…” Tintin nodded.
“Outside Brussels?” Benton continued.
“Yes!” Tintin nodded liking where this was leading.

“That’s where I was too!” Benton said in amazement. He quickly dashed back down the hall for a moment and returned with a really old photograph. It was black and white and a dingy manila color on all of the edges. The picture was of a young woman wearing a long white gown with her hair up holding a little boy’s hand wearing similar Sunday clothing that Tintin remembered, while a young man with a thin mustache and goatee held another boy’s hand dressed in the same outfit. Both boys were identical in appearance. The presumed father was dressed in a pair of trousers with dress shoes, dress shirt covered by a stately vest with a chain hooked to his right side. He also wore an old puffy hat.


Tintin stared at the photo and could not take his eyes off of it. Could this be his mother and father? He felt warmth from the photograph as it looked that the background was at a train station, but because the photograph was a full picture of the family, not much was revealed other than some train tracks and a field.
Tintin turned the photograph over and there was writing on it. It looked like the photo had been exposed to some water on the back because a lot of the ink had smeared and was no longer legible except for the a few words.

‘Pierre L------ & Elizabeth Hadley & Benton & Fenton at age 7…’ and that was all that was written.
“So they were never married?! Pierre’s last name looks different from Elizabeth’s” Tintin pointed out.
“Yes, I know… the whole family is shrouded in mystery” Benton said darkly.
“Ok, I gave you my account, now you tell me your story” Tintin questioned.
“Maybe you are my long lost brother Fenton” Benton said clasping a firm hand on Tintin’s shoulder drawing a small tear from his eyes.

A flood of emotions were beginning to overtake Tintin. Too much at once it seemed so overwhelming; but, Tintin had to listen, he had to know the truth or as much as it that he could get from Benton. Enzo and Alyssa sat quietly both amazed at what was unfolding before them.

“Tea time!” Lucille came in holding a large silver tray with a tea pot and numerous tea cup and saucers.
“Thanks!” Enzo and Alyssa said as Lucille poured them tea.
“Come Fenton, I mean Tintin…” Benton said leading Tintin back down the hallway he came from earlier.
“Don’t you want any tea?” Lucille asked.
“We will. We’re in the middle of something very important right now dear, we will return shortly,” Benton nodded. Snowy got up and trotted behind them with a keen ear.

“So are they learning anything?” Lucille asked looking to Alyssa and Enzo.
Enzo shook his head, “I am trying not to listen as it is none of my business” he said busy showing Matthew how to build a high tower without all the blocks falling down.
“It sounds pretty serious” Alyssa admitted.
“So are you two just friends of his or what?” Lucille sat down in the rocking chair as they began to drink their tea.
“Yes, we are just friends” Alyssa nodded not really wanting to go into too much detail without Tintin being present.


Tintin and Benton went back to his bedroom, it was decked out in purple wall paper, drapes, and even the furniture was all painted purple, even an old antique dresser. The bed sheets and quilts were purple too.

“Lucille really likes purple doesn’t she?” Tintin grinned.
“Oh yes, purple is definitely her color” Benton nodded as he began to look through his closet. Finally he took out an old shoe box.

“These are the only mementos I have left of mom and dad” Benton said taking out two silvery lockets on silver chains handing them to Tintin. Tintin opened the lockets to see one more picture of his presumed father and the other of his presumed mother. Each locket had initials engraved on it. One locket had P.L. engraved while the other locket had E.H.

“So tell me your story” Tintin urged him.
“Just as you were I was put in the same orphanage but for some reason they kept us apart” Benton explained. “Do you not remember when you arrived at the orphanage?” Benton asked curiously.

“No, that’s about as far back as my memory goes…it’s all foggy somehow, but I’ve been having dreams as of late about our childhood perhaps?” Tintin paused for a second.

“You know, I think I do remember seeing you but I was told you weren’t my brother and they called me ‘Tin’ thus how I came up with my pen name Tintin,” Tintin continued.

“They had only half of a birth certificate on me with my original name Benton. They couldn’t figure out father’s last name so I got mother’s last name instead which you know is Hadley. Oddly enough, I only remember seeing you a few more times and shortly thereafter I was adopted by an old widow in Manchester England by the name of Wendy Hadley,” Benton paused for a moment to show Tintin his old crumpled and half burnt birth certificate. The date of birth was missing, his parents’ name except Hadley was missing, so his last name was listed as Hadley.

“Do you remember before being at the orphanage?” Tintin asked eagerly.

“Like you, my past is a mystery as well. There are only bits and pieces of my younger childhood I can remember. I also have a family tree of the Hadley’s. Continuing on, two weeks after I moved in with Ms. Hadley in her estate, which was only a two story home with a couple acres of land, it mysteriously caught fire one night and burned to the ground. Ms. Hadley died in the fire,” Benton paused again pulling up his shirt showing Tintin where had been burned.

“How did you survive?” Tintin couldn’t wait to hear the next part.

“Her cat woke me up, and I tried to save Ms. Hadley, but at the time I called her grandmother because for the first time I felt I was with someone I could trust then I lost her...but you saw my wounds. My wife’s parents were in Manchester during the tragedy, I only had the clothes on my back and this shoe box of memories. They took me in their home and I have lived with them ever since. I of course ended up marrying their only daughter Lucille. They own this property and it was given to us as a wedding gift. They aren’t extremely wealthy but they are fairly well off,” Benton paused again.

“So you went to school and worked in this area all of this time?” Tintin asked in disbelief.
“Yes, I worked in banking for some time, but it was too boring, so I became a fisherman because…” Benton stopped.
“You like adventure!” Tintin finished.
“Exactly!” Benton nodded. “So how long were you in the orphanage?”

“I do remember seeing you as your hair was always unkempt. It wasn’t too much longer after the last time I saw you that a middle aged widow by the name of Mrs. Finch came and adopted me. I was about eleven I want to say. She owns an apartment building down just downtown in Brussels. She kept me busy always doing chores for her and made me go to school which I am glad for her discipline she taught me. She was very strict with me and I had curfews I absolutely had to abide by or she would have tossed me out,” Tintin sighed.

“It was hard work, but Mrs. Finch showed me love in her own way. I got a break when I turned fifteen at school when my writing talents in journalism were discovered by a news agency. I started writing about the locale and the happenings and next thing you know I had a job. When I turned sixteen I became a full time reporter selling my stories to agencies who would buy them. Mrs. Finch was really proud of me and gave me my own apartment and charged me nothing for the first few months. Next thing you know I ended up traveling the world! Even traveling as far as the moon!” Tintin recounted. Benton gave him a skeptical look when he mentioned the moon.

Both brothers were enthralled by each others' tales of growing up.
“Benton? Mr. Tintin?” Lucille’s voice could be heard.
“One more second dear,” Benton cried out.
“One more thing before we stop” Benton said taking out a small stone that was perfectly carved on the edges as if it was a piece of a puzzle. The etching was yellow and had a foreign looking type of hieroglyphics on it.
“Wow, what is it?” Tintin was intrigued.
“I don’t know, but Ms. Hadley told me to protect it with my life the night before that awful fire” Benton explained putting it back in the box.
“Wow, I would really like to study that” Tintin replied.
“I would lend it to you, but just not yet” Benton smiled returning the shoe box back in the closet.
“Let’s join the others, we’ll talk more in private later” Benton promised as they returned back to the living den.


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“You do realize it’s almost three O’clock?” Alyssa mentioned as they entered the living den.
“Oh no, didn’t think it was that late!” Tintin stressed.
“Is there a problem?” Lucille asked with concern.
“I’m afraid we are staying with friends and family and we were supposed to be back before lunch” Tintin explained.
“Well we just had tea and biscuits” Lucille explained.
“They’re going to have us for lunch if we don’t hurry back” Alyssa agreed with Tintin.
“I’m too scared to see Captain Chester when we return” Enzo said nervously.
“Here’s my phone number, ring us later and the two of you can talk some more” Alyssa said handing Benton their phone number on a piece of paper.
"Call the house tomorrow if you can" Tintin beamed.

“We know the way back if mom doesn’t take away the car privileges. They’re staying at 778 Boxted Road toward Colchester” Alyssa mentioned.
Benton wrote down the address, “I think I may know where that is, maybe we can meet up tomorrow again?” Benton finished.
“I’m sure it won’t be an issue,” Tintin said as they walked out the door to the car. Snowy dashed out the door and jumped in the car unable to believe everything he saw or heard.

“Talk to you soon…Fenton, my brother,” Benton said whispered as he watched them drive away.

Tintin had butterflies in his stomach full of excitement. He could not wait to share with Captain Haddock and Chester everything that had just transpired. "So my real name is Fenton...Fenton Hadley?" he thought to himself and liked how it sounded. Could this all be really happening or was it all just a dream he kept thinking expecting to wake up in his bed.

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