Mulch ado about nothing by Jill Churchill Read Free Book Online Page A

Jane to come to my house for dinner. I thought we’d have carryout Chinese.“
    “All that MSG!“ Ursula said with terror. “That stuff can kill you.“
    “It hasn’t yet,“ Shelley said calmly. “Jane and I thrive on it.“
    “I’m not really hungry,“ Jane said. “Why don’t you put this in the fridge for later? A midnight snack, perhaps?”
    By midnight she could probably hobble out to dump the stuff in the trash and pretend she’d polished it all off.
    “Excellent idea. Just don’t eat that Chinese stuff. Let’s just sit down and get to know each other.”
    Shelley, standing behind Ursula, rolled her eyes. Jane sighed.
    Ursula insisted on settling Jane on the couch in the living room and putting an afghan around her. “Ursula, it’s summer,“ Shelley mentioned.
    “But extra heat is good for almost every ailment. Take my word on this.”
    Shelley took a chair and so did Ursula. Then the three of them sat and stared at each other.
    Ursula was the first to break the silence. “You do know about the Denver airport, don’t you? The new one?“
    “What’s to know?“ Jane asked. “Except that’s a big place.”
    Ursula laughed bitterly. “Have you seen the murals?“
    “The bright-colored ones near the baggage pickup? Yes, I saw them a couple years ago,“ Jane said.
    “And they didn’t disturb you?“ Ursula asked.
    Jane shrugged. “I wouldn’t want them in my living room, but I wasn’t disturbed by them.“
    “You should have studied them. They’re all about Satanism. “ Ursula leaned forward and a paper clip fell off her from somewhere.
    Shelley lifted an eyebrow skeptically.
    “Yes, it’s a conspiracy that was started by the Dauphin when he escaped to America and set up the Virginia Company, which meant all the money made in America would eventually go to England.”
    Jane cleared her throat. “Uh... wasn’t the Dauphin French?“ She almost added, And wasn’t the Virginia Company set up several centuries earlier? But she was curious about where this was leading.
    “By birth, of course, but he’d been rescued by Englishmen and owed his allegiance to them. So this trust has operated with the consent and encouragement of the Windsor family ever since then. The Queen of England actually owns most of Colorado, you know. Under a false name, of course. And she owns the land the Denver airport is on.”
    Shelley mumbled through the hand she was holding to her mouth to keep from laughing, “What’s the false name?“
    “Nobody knows,“ Ursula said. “Probably there are many false names for her.”
    Jane was having trouble keeping a straight face as well. “Does the IRS know about this?“
    “Naturally. They’re part of the conspiracy. As is the CIA. And the Masons. They’ve been involved ever since the Templars were killed in France in the fifteenth century. But a few escaped and went to Ireland and started the Masonic order. The King of France wanted to kill them to get their fortune, and the fortune disappeared as well.“
    “I think you mean the fourteenth century,“ Jane said. “Thirteen oh nine or so?“
    “Fourteenth or fifteenth, whatever. The capstone at the airport is a Masonic symbol, just like that one that is on our money. I don’t know why people can’t see the connection. All our so-called Founding Fathers were Masons. On the original architectural drawings of the airport, it said it was a ‘control center for New World control.’ “
    “An awkward sentence to be sure. You’ve seen the plans?“ Jane said. This was spinning out of control and no longer funny.
    “Not personally,“ Ursula said, picking up a barrette that had worked its way out of her hair, “but I know people who know other people who have seen them. And then when you put this together with Cecil Rhodes—”
    Shelley made a choking noise and hurried into the kitchen.
    “Cecil Rhodes?“ Jane repeated dimly.
    “Yes, that was the whole idea of the Rhodes scholarships. To train Americans