Read Online The Secret Manuscript by Edward Mullen - Free Book Online Page A

boys.”
    “Your
hospitality was enough. Thank you for the tea,” Kyle politely
said.
    They rose from
the couch and headed toward the door. On their way out, Kyle
offered to be of future service. “We’re next door if you need
anything, just give us a call and we’ll be right over.”
    On their walk
back to their house, they discussed what Gladys had said.
    “So, did that
go how you had expected?” Ben asked.
    “Not really,”
Kyle replied. “Now I’m more confused than ever.”
    “What do you
make of her story about this so-called ‘new’ Charles Gringer?”
    “Who knows,
but I think the simplest explanation is that the money changed
him,” Kyle said. “I heard a saying once — money doesn’t change a
person, it just reveals who they naturally are when they are no
longer required to be nice to people. Perhaps that explains why
Gringer behaved so differently after he won the lottery.”
    “Perhaps, but
that still doesn’t explain why he played the lottery in the first
place, nor how he won on his first try.”
    “We don’t know
for sure that it was his first time, all we know is what Gladys
told us, and what he told her. For all we know he was playing the
lottery his entire life.”
    “Still, the
odds of winning are astronomically small – something like fourteen
million to one.”
    “True, but
despite the narrow odds, people still win it… especially old people
from quiet neighbourhoods.”
    “Then die the
next day?” Ben added.
    “It could just
be a stroke of bad luck. Who knows, the guy was old, right? Isn’t
it possible that there’s no grand mystery in it all, that all the
answers are really that simple?”
    “Alright, even
if I was willing to accept that, how do you explain the fact that
he left me his house, and died completely broke?”
    “We haven’t
ruled out the grandfather hypothesis just yet. Perhaps in his old
age, he felt guilty for not being a part of your life and wanted to
do one final gesture to make it up to you.”
    “Okay, but he
didn’t have any children, and where’d all the money go?”
    “Maybe he gave
it to charity, gambled it away, someone robbed him. There are a
million different complex scenarios that could explain all this,
and we would be foolish to think we could independently unravel the
complexity on our own. I say we forget about Mr. Gringer, his
mysterious alter ego, and count your blessings.”

Chapter
Fifteen
    Fall arrived
and with that came the start of a new school semester. Kyle had
earned a scholarship, enabling him to continue his studies. He was
pursing his Master’s degree at the University of Calgary, and spent
most of his time on campus either working in the lab, or attending
classes.
    Ben awoke to
an empty house, which was exactly what he needed to start the day
writing. He went downstairs, made a pot of coffee, and sat in front
of his computer. His writer’s block had ended. When his fingers hit
the keyboard, words emerged on the screen.
    The rough
concept of the story was to describe a character, similar in nature
to himself — a misanthropic orphan riddled with issues. He used the
name Ben as a placeholder, but vowed to change it to something else
later. Ben had not really outlined the plot, but decided to start
writing anyway and hope some bolt of creativity would continue to
come down from the muses and inspire him until the end.
    At one point
in the afternoon, Ben decided to walk around the house to increase
his blood flow. Now that the house had electricity, the basement
was not so dark and scary. Other than the first exploration down
there, he had yet to return. However, with the courage of a brave
soldier, Ben marched down into the cold and eerie basement once
again. Looking around from the midway point of the staircase, he
envisioned what the basement would look like if it were completely
renovated.
    He sauntered
around the basement without an agenda. He headed down the narrow
corridor and into each bedroom. The breadth of the