The Peacock 595

 "Is that all?" says Carl.

"I don't know", Adam replies.  "There was more, I think, but that is all I can remember right now.  Thing is, we seemed to be communicating telepathically, the Angel and I, as though in a series of dreams, and I haven't unscrambled half of it."

"Did you know beforehand about the silver mine", Carl says.  "I can't remember having told anyone in the community about it.  In fact, only in the last few days have I revealed any of this to our guests here.  How could you have otherwise known?"

"Only what the man in white told me last week.  I was quite taken by surprise."

"As I am right now", says Carl.  "Well, yes, my great grandfather did own a silver mine on Sumatra.  I never learned a lot of details.  But he also had a nephew who partnered with him there, who married one of the native girls, then later brought her back to the Netherlands.  I don't know anything else about them, but I think they had a son.

"Carl", says Adam, suddenly.  "Check your phone."

"Why?"

"I don't know why yet, but just check it."  Suddenly there is a signal on Carl's smartphone that he has a message.  He picks it up.

"Who is it?" asks Melissa.

"Wait a minute.  It's a text from the public health nurse.  She is just confirming her visit here tomorrow morning at ten."

"What is her name?" asks Adam.

"Naomi."

"Nothing else?"

"No.  Just Naomi..."

"Shall we adjourn this part of the meeting?" says Carl in a business as usual sort of voice.

"Curiouser and curiouser", says Michael.

"What do you make of all this", says Sarah.

"I really don't know what to make of any of it", says Carl.  "The human rights abuses from my great grandfather come as no surprise.  That is how they conducted business back in the day, and he has a certain infamy for being ruthless,"

"We should follow up with Naomi, the nurse who's coming tomorrow", says Melissa.  "She might know something."

"That would make for an awfully small world, if she did", says her brother.

"But Carl", says Melissa.  "The world is an awfully small place.  Shouldn't we know this by now?"

"No worse", says Carl, "Than we should know our place in the world, and Mel, I have to tell you, we don't.  We don't know our place in the world."

"And tomorrow", says Adam, "We are all going to find out.  Or should I say, we will begin to find out."

"That rather fills me with hope", says Carol.

"It fills me with dread", says Carl.

"My brother, the drama queen", says Melissa.

"Drama king", says Carl.

"Whatever", says Melissa. "Aaron, weren't you going to read to us today?"