The First Book of Samuel - SAREJESS (chrysanthemum read aloud TXT) 📗

Now he cooked for the love of cooking. He was a great chef. Whenever Samuel asked him if he could cook a new dish or something out of the ordinary the old man would smile and say “No problem, can do.” and more often than not the dish would be a superb creation. For the Christmas Eve bash Samuel wanted every thing to be perfect. A number of townspeople from Knob hill were expected. Samuel did not take to the rich folks as a rule but business was business and clientele from Knob Hill were a good customer returning if the food and service was good.

The two men who had arrived the previous day worried Samuel; they seemed to be up to some thing not quite right. Samuel found it strange that they would be traveling to Boston over the Christmas holiday on business when it was the time of year that most people would want to be with their families. Of course there were those who could not be with their families but these two men did not fall into that category. Samuel knew he had but to wait before their intent became clear. In the mean time he would keep a weather eye on them.

Joel opened the oven and drew out a great pot that he gently placed on the kitchen table. When one of the other servants moved forward to open the pot Joel scowled and shushed them away this was the cook’s privilege and if the cook wanted the dish to cool he certainly did not want a fellow worker opening the pot before the pudding had cooled.


The railroad had brought great prosperity to Boston and lots of out of town travelers. This had a direct effect on Samuel's inn it bringing in lots of guests. There had been a bit of a boom since the war had ended, lots of war veterans frequented the inn. This some times lead to trouble between groups who had fought for the confederacy and those who had fought for the Union, Samuel tried very hard not to get involved after all war was just another confrontation of which Samuel had seen many in his long life. However Samuel had one simple rule if the inn had a high number of visitors from the union then any potential guest from the confederacy states was politely told that the inn was full, and if the opposite number was high then ex members from the Union were told the same thing. The result was that he did not have situations in which these two groups faced each other with hostility in his establishment.

Joel removed the lid from the large pot and removed a smaller pot which was sealed tightly from within the large pot and placed it on the table. He then carefully broke the seal to expose a beautifully made Christmas fruit pudding, the aroma of this newly exposed delicacy filled the kitchen with its fragrance. The other kitchen staff approached and looked into the pot making comments on how well the dish had turned out. Joel looked at Samuel expectantly. “Wonderful Joel simply wonderful” said Samuel before leaving the kitchen. In the dining room there were a number of guests sitting around talking & drinking coffee at the bar, there were a few people including Arthur Fits-Patrick and Charles Richardson nursing their brandy glasses. It was snowing outside; a guest had just come in and was removing his coat and hat shaking the offending snow from the garments. Rubbing his hands the guest moved towards the fire to warm himself, this was going to be a cold Christmas in Boston. Samuel thought of some of the cold winters he had spent in the past this was going to be the best Christmas Eve bash he had ever had and he was looking forward to it. His mind was taken back to a Christmas morning 75 years earlier when he had owned a small inn in France. That had to have been one of the worst Christmases ever, supplies were short and it had been a bad time under the revolution. He thought of those who had spent that Christmas at the inn, now very old or long dead. He was glad to be alive to experience once again a Christmas celebration.

The tall guest who had entered and had been standing before the fire for some time turned and approached the bar; there was some thing familiar about the man. Before Samuel was able to recollect who he was, the man said softly “Good day Samuel Ben Ezra. It has been awhile since I last saw you. Life seems to be treating you well. Is this your inn or do you run it for another?” asked the man in a deep southern accent Samuel took a moment to reflect. It had been a long time since he had been called by his proper name. “Why can it be my old friend William Longmont?” asked Samuel “Ah Sam it has been too long since we last saw each other. Do you remember the day in Rome when we got so roaring drunk and spent the night in jail?” he asked. “Why yes I believe it was 1675 or 6 if I remember correctly” said Samuel speaking softly. There had been a daylong celebration over some or other war victory and the whole city had taken a holiday.

“It has been some time William. So what brings you to Boston, business or pleasure?” asked Samuel, knowing in all likelihood the answer would be pleasure. “No not pleasure” said William “a business of a serious nature. I am now a marshal of these United States and I must always be aware of potential problems, like the rise of crime since the late wars fought in this wonderful country” said William. “Oh I see” said Samuel not really understanding what it could be that brought William to the city of Boston. There was no significant crime in the city. Maybe later William would let Samuel in on the secret.

When there was a break later in the day Samuel went to the room that William had taken, knocked and waited for William to open the door. William opened the door and admitted him to the room “I hope that is a bottle of whiskey you are hiding in your coat sleeve” said William setting two glasses on the bedside table while Samuel produced a Kentucky Whiskey from his coat pocket. Once the drinks had been poured and both men had taken long deep sips from the glasses they settled down to talk. They had a lot of catching up to do; it had been about a hundred and ninety odd years since they had seen each other last. William had taken a ship to the Far East and made a fortune in the China trade. Returning he had settled in the New World and built up a fine plantation which had until the late 1700s brought him quite a fortune. Before having to move on he had spent some time in Europe between 1800 and the 1850s. Growing tired of the Old World he had longed to return to the New World and thus in about 1850 he had returned to the Southern United States.

Being a man of honor by nature he had signed up with the confederacy and had fought in the civil war. After the war, once again having no property left and a dwindling fortune he had offered his services to the United States Marshall services and had been accepted, which brought him to the present. The marshal service had received word on two notorious swindlers and banks robbers who it appeared who had arrived in Boston a few days earlier. William would have been here sooner but he had been delayed by the vast number of people using the railway to get home for Christmas. Now he had arrived and he was pretty sure he would be able to pick up the trail of the two men. The mention of two men brought to Samuel’s mind the problem of his two guests. He mentioned their presence and their activities to William who seemed interested, once Samuel had finished telling the story. William said it is most probably nothing but a case of two business men wanting to protect their interests from others but he would keep his eyes open and see if these two were in any way related to his current case. They spoke some more, the level of the bottle of whiskey sinking lower and lower as the afternoon grew on.

Later as Samuel was dressing for the evening’s events a smile came to his lips as he tied his bow tie, remembering some of the antics that he and William had got up to in the past. Tonight he was in a very happy mood. Every thing was going well. It was going to be a success. He descended the stairs to the restaurant. The place was already filling up. he moved among his guests, a word here, a joke there. The musicians he had hired for the evening were playing a selection of Christmas carols and other Yule tide songs. A young lady sat at the piano and played a selection of Christmas carols before playing something by Beethoven Samuel thought he recognized the music but he was not sure. The servants were bringing in the food. There was the aroma of Christmas in the large room. Men sat at the bar drinking and enjoying the festive atmosphere. William joined the crowd moving easily from place to place until he found a table and seated himself facing the front door. “Old habits die hard” thought Samuel when he saw this. William was seated near the table at which Richardson and Fits-Patrick were sitting they seemed to have forgone their regular brandies in favor of more traditional Christmas fare. The first dish which the servants had brought out was roasted cod with a white wine sauce which the guests were eagerly tucking into. Charles Richardson was deeply engrossed by the dish, eating while his companion Arthur Fits-Patrick was in a more talkative mood. If any one had been watching William Longmont they would have seen that his attention was locked on the two men at the table, listening intently to the one sided conversation which Fits-Patrick was having.

As the evening continued, more delicious dishes were brought out for the guests, the tables at which guests from Knob Hill sat getting preference by having their dishes brought out first. At one stage Samuel had to go through to the kitchen. Old Joel the ex slave was cooking up a storm. He stopped what he was doing and came over to where Samuel was checking on the next course. “Master there are a few of those unfortunate people who lost every thing in the fire a ways back at the kitchen door can we give them some thing?” Joel asked. “Sure Joel, give them some of the dishes that have already been served” said Samuel. There had been a fire a few months previously which had decimated a large portion of the city. Many people had been left homeless and battling to find food and a place to sleep. Samuel, like a number of other Bostonians had taken it upon themselves to feed these poor people if the need arose.

Samuel returned to the front of the inn. The party was in full swing, some of the tables had been moved to one side and people were beginning to dance. This was exactly what Samuel wanted. There would be reports in the broad sheets. Samuel had even noticed a reporter in the crowd. This would bring more business to the inn. Samuel was standing at the bar