Chps. 1 & 2 of Glory, Gold, & Greed

Alicia is lying on her bed in her family’s vacation home in Bermuda. They own the house and come to Bermuda each summer for a week or two in August, usually just before school starts. As Alicia has been to Bermuda every year since she can remember, it has no special standing. She can still appreciate its natural beauty but beyond that, it holds no unique allure. In recent years, she has found it boring. She misses her friends and spends most of her time texting and checking her social media accounts.

Her mother passes by her room and is surprised to see her still in bed. Her mother asks, “Are you feeling alright?”

In a slightly whining voice, Alicia responds, “I feel fine. I am just bored.”

“Bored? Really, Alicia?  You’re in paradise and can’t find something to do? Go to the beach, go kayaking, or read a book. But, don’t lay around in your bed all morning.” 

Alicia says, “I am getting up. See?” She slowly rises to a sitting position at the end of the bed.

Her mother says, “If you have nothing to do then come with me this morning to the Bermudan History Museum in St. George’s. I am dropping off the three letters your dad found jammed between the cubbies in the old roller desk. I still cannot believe the letters survived some 250 years sandwiched in between the cubbies. I guess the wood protected them. Anyway, I told the curator I would bring them by this morning. Come with me. You can see all the old family letters that I have told you about. You have been drawn to Captain Randolph’s story in the past, so I think you will find it interesting. We also can have lunch in St. George’s afterward,” her mother says.  “I am willing to wait for you to get ready.”

Alicia knows that her mother’s last comment means that she will wait for her to fix her near waist-long blonde hair, a ritual that by itself takes at least 20 minutes.  As Alicia has gotten older, her thin frame filled in and she is now quite a head turner.  The appeal of her curves is complemented by her light blue eyes, full lips, and long blonde hair that ends in soft curls just above her waist.

  Alicia says, “Ok, I will go to the museum with you.” She smiles and adds, “Going out for lunch has made the invitation more attractive.”

Alicia is highly doubtful that she will find looking at old letters, even if her ancestors wrote them, to be as interesting as her mother says. However, as she has nothing else to do, she is amenable to going. St. George’s is a short 10-minute drive from their house.

The Bermudan History Museum

The Bermudan History Museum is in a converted old house located on a quaint side street several blocks from the center of St. George’s. A patron bequeathed their house to the museum back in the 1920s and had it remodeled and made into a museum.

At the ticket window, her mother explains, “Hi, I am Suzanne Randolph and this is my daughter, Alicia. We are here to see Mr. Willis, the curator. We have a donation to make. I have spoken to him over the phone previously and he is expecting us.”

The person behind the counter calls him and lets him know Mrs. Randolph is downstairs. As she hangs up the phone, she says, “He will be down shortly.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Willis is walking down the stairs. He is wearing a tan, lightweight, summer suit. Alicia guesses that he is about 40 years old. His brown hair is just beginning to show some flecks of grey. Alicia thinks he looks like a history professor—which to Alicia is equivalent to looking slightly nerdy. He warmly greets Alicia’s mother.

 “Good morning, Mrs. Randolph.” He seems quite excited and says, “I am so glad you decided to donate the new letters you found.”  

“Mr. Willis, this is my daughter Alicia.”

They exchange hellos and then Mrs. Randolph continues to tell Mr. Willis, “Alicia is going to be a junior at the University of Virginia and she just declared history as her major.” 

Alicia feels oddly embarrassed by her mother sharing this information. Her mother is making it sound like an accomplishment when she chose history more by default than a deep love of the subject.

Mr. Willis gives an upbeat response and says, “That is great. As you may have guessed, I am a history major as well. I love doing research and finding out new things about the past that we previously did not know.”

As they walk up the stairs to his office, he asks Alicia, “Have you ever done research with original sources?”  

“No.”

“Most undergraduates haven’t. They don’t get the opportunity. I think these letters could support several different research projects that would be prime for an independent study and would be very interesting. Do students do independent studies in history at UVA?

“A few do.”

“You should think about it. It would look good on your resume and afterward, you’d know if you like doing primary research or not.”

They arrive at his office and Mrs. Randolph hands him the letters that are each in their own plastic slide cover. Mr. Willis puts on a pair of gloves.  He opens letters very carefully, gently sliding them out of their plastic cover and places them on the worktable in the center of the room.

He says, “Please sit. Let us see what we have here.” He unfolds them with great care and anticipation. He says, “They look rather fragile but that is to be expected after 250 years.”

“My husband found them in the antique roller desk. The desk was made around 1773. The letters are from Captain Randolph to his wife, Kate, in 1776,” says Mrs. Randolph.

Mr. Willis says, “That was a busy year for Captain Randolph.”

Mrs. Randolph tells him, “They are faded and hard to read. There are sections I am unable to make out. But, from what I can read, the most interesting part is in the second letter to his wife. He writes two paragraphs telling her what is going on with his employer, John Hancock, who is being harassed by customs officials. The exciting part is he writes one sentence that refers to his plans for retrieving the money he hid near the house in St. George’s.”

Mr. Willis questions, “He writes the phrase ‘near the house’?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that is exciting as it confirms that the treasure was never in the cellar of your house as so many people thought!” He continues, “Everyone focuses on the treasure but personally I think the letters are most interesting for what they tell us about smuggling in that time period.” He turns to Alicia and asks, “Did you know he was a smuggler?”

She says, “Yes, I have been told that and many of the stories about him cast him as a pirate.  But he never stole cargo from another ship, right?”

Mr. Willis says, “No, there is no evidence suggesting he was a pirate. But the letters do show he was a big-time smuggler for John Hancock and he was getting fairly rich from it.”

Mrs. Randolph says, “That is part of what makes his story so juicy.”

Mr. Willis continues, “Our plan is to restore the letters to the extent possible and then create digital text copies of them. We are currently doing this for the entire collection of Randolph letters. He turns to Alicia and asks, “Have you ever seen our display of Captain Randolph’s letters?  We only finished it this past year.”

Mrs. Randolph responds, “Neither of us have seen it. The last time I was here, you were in the middle of transferring everything to the new display cases and Alicia has never been here.”

“After we complete a bit of paperwork, I can take you down and show it to you. I think it came out very nice and is a far more compelling way of displaying his letters and telling his story than we previously had.”

The paperwork associated with the donation takes only about 10 minutes to complete as the Randolphs have donated letters previously. Mr. Willis treats the new letters as an update to the original donation made back in 1921 when the museum first opened.

Mr. Willis takes Alicia and her mother back to the first floor and into the Founding of Bermuda exhibit. The exhibit is organized chronologically. They pass through two rooms that are dedicated to the discovery and settling of Bermuda to get to the room that covers the time period of the American Revolution. The room contains a series of glass display cases with various artifacts, documents, and letters from the late 1700s. This part of the exhibit discusses Bermuda’s history of smuggling and working with American smugglers to avoid paying taxes.

At one end of the room are three display cases that cover nearly the entire wall. The display cases contain the letters that Captain Robert Randolph wrote during the wartime period. They are difficult to read because they have greatly faded over time and the handwriting is highly stylized. However, for the oldest letters, there is a text version next to the original.

Mr. Willis explains, “The plan is to have text versions for all the letters but we are in the middle of that project.”

As Alicia reads the first letters, she slowly is lured into the story of her great-grandfather, 13 generations back. She finds herself wanting to read each letter in full.

Mr. Willis says, “I have some other business to attend to but please stay as long as you’d like. It takes about 45 minutes to read all of his letters but I personally think it is well worth the time. The Captain is a very flamboyant writer and he undertook some unusual missions that are indicative of the resourcefulness of the American patriots.”

Mr. Willis starts to leave and then he remembers to tell them, “The text versions of the letters as well as his ship’s log will be on our website eventually as searchable pdfs that you can download, I believe the ship’s log may be the first thing that gets posted.”

He also scribbles the names of two books on the back of his business card and hands it to Alicia.  He says, “If you want to know more about smuggling in that time period, I recommend these two books.”

Alicia and her mother spend the next hour reading the Captain’s letter. It turns out her mother was right and they are interesting.

After lunch, they stop in a bookstore and Alicia buys one of the books Mr. Willis recommended. They don’t have the second book so she orders it from Amazon when she gets home and it arrives in a few days. She finds the books very interesting.

For the upcoming fall semester at the University of Virginia, she is currently signed up to take a class on the French Revolution. She knows they offer a history course on Colonial British America but it is very popular and hard to get into. Her mother suggests she write an email to the professor explaining her story and interest in the course and ask if there is any way to get into the class. The professor puts her on the wait list initially but then, right before the semester starts, she gets an email from the registrar saying she has gotten into the class.

Chapter 2:  Junior Year (Late Aug., 2023)

Alicia arrives back to school the day before classes are to begin.  She knows this makes for a tight schedule but her parents could not drive her to school until the weekend.  She is living in an apartment with her friend Melanie. 

Melanie Richards

Alicia has known Melanie Richards since they were freshmen and she is her closest friend. Alicia is excited about the prospect of having an apartment as dorm living was beginning to wear thin.   With Melanie’s help, as well as the assistance of two young men who live down the hall and volunteer to help carry her boxes, it takes about an hour to move in.  There is still a lot to do when she says goodbye to her parents who have to drive three hours to get back home.

Melanie looks at the jumble of boxes and suitcases and says, “Why don’t we take a break and get some dinner.” 

Alicia agrees, “Great idea, I am hungry.”  They look for the two students who helped them unload the car to see if they are interested in joining them, but can’t find them, so they head out together. 

Although Melanie and Alicia have much in common, they are also very different. Melanie is attractive but in a different way than Alicia.  While Alicia is curvy and soft, Melanie is muscular and fit.  She has straight, shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes.  Her complexion is pale and the contrast to her hair and eye coloring gives her an ethereal beauty.  However, she attracts attention when she enters a room mostly because she exudes confidence rather than her looks.

Melanie, like Alicia, lives in Northern Virginia, although her community, Alexandria, is more urban and diverse than Alicia’s neighborhood in McLean.  While Alicia’s parents are both managers at separate information technology firms, Melanie’s parents are both lawyers. As such, the families earn enough to live very comfortably. 

Melanie’s father is a criminal defense lawyer and her mother is a constitutional lawyer.  Her parents are also involved in political activism, which has shaped their daughter’s thinking.  Following her parent’s example, Melanie plans to be a labor lawyer, handling cases involving workplace discrimination, harassment, wage and hours regulations, and benefits.  She also is politically active on campus.  Most recently, she has been involved in making sure that abortion remains legal in the state of Virginia. Melanie is very committed to the causes she takes on and spends a great deal of her time on them.

Melanie asks, “How was Bermuda?  From your last text, you sounded quite bored.” 

Alicia answers, “Bermuda was fine.  I have been there so many times that is not particularly special anymore.  The one interesting thing we did was go see the letters my ancestor, Robert Randolph, wrote to his family during the American Revolution. My mom initially had to drag me to the museum that maintains the letters but they turned out to be more interesting than I expected.  After reading them, I switched history classes to take the Colonial British American class with Dr. Miller.”

Melanie says, “So are you warming up to being a history major or is it still just a default pick?”

“I am slowly becoming more interested.  But we shall see how this class goes.”

In contrast to Alicia, Melanie knew her major, political science, and career plans, to become a lawyer, the day she started college and has not waivered since.  Although her initial interest in law was due to her parent’s jobs, she has confirmed this interest by researching the profession and working two summers in law practices. 

Alicia continues, “I am still a long way away from knowing what I want to do career-wise.  The museum curator is a history major and suggested that there were several ways one could utilize the letters as part of an independent study.”

Melanie’s face lights up reflecting her strong support for the idea. “You could do a senior thesis.  Using your family’s letters in your thesis would certainly be different from what most students do.”

Alicia smiled at Melanie and said, “You always are thinking of a strategy.  If I had to pick the person I know that is most likely to succeed, I’d pick you, hands down.” 

Melanie answers, “I am taking that as a compliment.”

Somewhat surprised by her response, Alicia says, “I meant it as a compliment.”

“Well, some people see my strategizing as being too pushy.  I know I have strong opinions on many topics.”

“It is not pushy.  Don’t doubt yourself, even for a minute. You are outspoken, have clarity of thinking, and advocate for what you believe in.  These are good qualities and I wish I were more like you. You push me to think through what I believe in and why I embrace these beliefs.”

Meeting Jayden Tucker

The Colonial British America class meets on the first-day classes begin. Alicia arrives early to the history class and takes a seat in the front of the room. Within a few minutes, a young man asks, “Is this seat open?” as he points to the one next to her. She looks up at him and freezes for a moment as she is mesmerized by the good looks of this tall Black man. It is an awkward pause.

He repeats the question and she says, “Yes, it is open. I am sorry, I spaced out for a moment.” She is instantly attracted to him. She thinks, “Oh my God, he is drop-dead gorgeous.  His hair is neatly braided in cornrows that lead to a ponytail of braids, which hang down in the back to his shoulders. He is clearly athletic and has a muscular body capped by broad shoulders. He has smooth brown skin and incredibly sultry green eyes.” She then says. “Hi, I am Alicia,”

He says, “I’m Jayden.”

Despite trying very hard, she can’t think of anything else to say.

The silence is soon broken as Professor Miller starts to talk and the class begins. He begins his lecture by explaining the status of the New World in the late 1500s when the British began colonizing North America.  He asks the class provocative questions such as, “Why did people risk their lives to settle here?” and “How did slavery begin in the New World?”

Alicia struggles to pay attention as she finds Jayden a huge distraction.  She does not raise her hand to contribute to the class discussion.

When Professor Miller asks, “How did Britain bring settlers here?” Jayden raises his hand and says, “Britain set up a series of companies that basically managed the settlement process, such as the Virginia Company.  These companies had investors and they recruited settlers and controlled production and trade in their colony.”

Professor Miller says, “Yes, they use companies to oversee the settlement and building of the colonies and to be successful, they have to make a profit. Colonization is a money-making endeavor from the beginning.  Given the colonization experience of Spain and others, the British were hoping to find gold and silver when they founded Jamestown. Initially, they were quite disappointed, but North America soon revealed that it was well suited to agriculture and rich in natural resources.

“So, relative to European countries, how well off do you think the colonies were by the eve of the American Revolution?” 

He calls on a girl wearing a yellow shirt who raises her hand.  She says, “I believe they were doing almost as well as people in Britain.”

Professor Miller responds, “Actually, they were doing better than their British peers.  They thrived operating in a largely unregulated, free market.  Although the crown maintained government control, there really was not much of a local government in the colonies.”

Professor Miller continues, “But something changes by the mid-1700s.  Do you know what changed?

Someone in the back row blurts out, “Britain went into debt to pay for the French and Indian War.”

Professor Miller says, “Yes, Britain finds itself under significant financial pressure and begins to enforce the existing trade laws and regulations as well as introduce new ones to raise money.  Having taxes and regulations levied against them without having representation in Parliament angers the colonists.”

Jayden glances back over to Alicia more than once during the class. Alicia is unsure how to interpret his glances. She thinks, “Is he looking at me because he finds me attractive or is he simply taking note of the awkward girl who seemed tongue-tied so he can avoid me in the future?” She tries to squelch her negative thoughts by reminding herself that as her body has filled out over the last two years, she has gotten many compliments on her looks.

Professor Miller continues with his provocative questions and asks the class, “What role did slavery play in the Thirteen Colonies’ economic successes?  

At first, no one in the class raises a hand. After a pause, Jayden raises his hand and says, “I think there is a body of research that says slavery was critical to the growth of the Thirteen Colonies and another set of research that argues it was unnecessary and even stunted growth.”

Professor Miller says, “We will be spending quite a bit of time on this question, as it is highly controversial.  Researchers agree that to support economic growth, the colonies needed agricultural workers. Initially, they depended on European indentured servants but within a few decades, the Thirteen Colonies switched to chattel slavery of Africans and used racism to justify it.”

“Chattel slavery is extremely cruel as it treats the enslaved people as property. Despite being in direct opposition to the stated goals of the American Revolution, this cruelest form of slavery continued for another 82 years after the country’s founding. Chattel slavery left deep multi-generational wounds—such as poverty, wealth inequity, illiteracy, and racism—from which we have not fully recovered.”

Alicia continues to find it difficult to concentrate on the lecture as she keeps running different scenarios through her mind for starting a conversation with Jayden. She settles on her opening line; she will ask Jayden if he is a history major. Not very exciting, but she is unable to think of anything better.

Class ends somewhat abruptly with Professor Miller telling the class, “Be prepared to discuss how slavery got started in the New World on Wednesday.”

Alicia leans over to pick up her backpack and, by the time she turns back around, two girls have come up to Jayden and are talking with him as he walks away.  As they walk outside, Alicia finds herself about 30 feet behind Jayden and his two female friends. After a few minutes of walking, the two girls break off from Jayden and take another pathway. Jayden looks back at Alicia and she believes he makes a hand gesture acknowledging her.

They are now near the edge of the campus where there is mostly student housing and not much else.  He turns right and heads down the path that leads to her apartment complex.  She thinks he may live there.  Her guess is correct and Jayden gets to the apartment building door about 20 seconds before she does. He waits for her, holding the door open. He says to Alicia, “Didn’t I just sit next to you in the Colonial British America class?”

“Yes,” she answers. I live on the 3^rd floor, in 3a.”

He laughs and says, “I live across the hall in 3b. So, you are Melanie Richards’s roommate.

“Yes. How do you know her?”

“I don’t know her very well but we were in the same Psychology class last semester. I ran into her last Thursday when she was moving in.”

As they walk up the stairs to the third floor, Alicia says,” Well, I guess I will see you in class on Wednesday” and she turns to open her apartment door.

 Jayden asks, “Do you have plans for dinner?  Would you be up for getting a pizza?” 

“Sure.”

“Would Melanie want to join us?” 

Alicia checks her apartment but Melanie is not at home. Alicia says, “She is not home.  I got here yesterday so our apartment is still a mess.” They go inside Jayden’s apartment. She surveys the apartment and asks, “Is this a single”?

“Yes, it is.  Finally, as a senior, I had a high enough room-pick number to get my own apartment.  Not that I didn’t enjoy living with my roommates, but it was starting to get old. I am ready to have my own place.”  He grabs the pizza flyer on the kitchen counter and asks her, “What do you like on your pizza,”

“Anything but pineapple.”

“Are mushrooms and olives, ok?”

“Yes.”

After placing the order, he joins her on the couch. He says, “A quick summary of my bio is I am Jayden Tucker, I am a senior, I am commerce major, which is UVA’s name for a business major, and I am from St. George’s, Bermuda.”

Surprised by his being from Bermuda, she asks, “You were born in Bermuda? Do you live there throughout the year?”

He thinks the questions are odd and it shows in his expression as he answers, “Yes.”

She explains, “I ask this because I know so many people live in Bermuda part-time. My family does. We have a house outside of St. George’s. We go there every summer for a few weeks. I was just there in mid-August.”

Jayden asks, “It is hard for non-Bermudans to buy homes there. How long has your family had the home?

She smiles and says “250 years”.

Jayden is quite surprised and asks “Really, no joke?”

Alicia explains, “My ancestor transported cargo for John Hancock from Boston to the Caribbean, with Bermuda being a stopping point along the way. He made this trip so many times he eventually built a house there.”  

Jayden asks, “Where is the house located?”

Just above Tobacco Bay Beach, about 10 minutes north of St. George’s.

Jayden laughs and says, “I live on the south side of St. George’s. I bet our houses are no more than 15 minutes apart.”

Jayden then asks, “So what is your mini-bio?” 

“I am Alicia Randolph, I am from McLean, Virginia, I am a history major, and I am a junior.”  Alicia then says, “So you’re a senior, do you know what you want to do after graduating?” 

“As surprising as this may be, I do. I know most people don’t know what they want to do yet and feel a lot pressure as a result. But, I have had my plan since high school. I have tweaked it a bit as I have learned things along the way but it has not changed dramatically in five or six years.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense any longer. Drum roll please.”

He rolls his eyes at her comment and says, “I want to live in Bermuda. That fact affects my choices significantly. I also want ultimately to be my own boss. My goal is to own and operate a boutique hotel.”

Alicia says, “That sounds like fun but also a lot of work.”

“It is a lot of work to run a hotel. I have had summer jobs at several of the major resorts in Bermuda, which allowed me to observe how they operate. I am currently seeking a job on the financial side of hotel management.”

  “Oh my God, you really do have a plan. Alicia says,” I have no idea what I want to do. I just declared my major, history, at the end of last semester because it is a requirement to declare a major. I picked history because I have liked the classes but I have no idea what I would do with it. I don’t really have a career goal other than perhaps doing something that helps people.” 

She continues, “Taking history classes has taught me one skill; how to tackle courses with huge reading lists.  It took me a year and half to figure out that you can’t read everything assigned, so you have to prioritize and be organized.  Cover less material and, for the reading you do, take notes and absorb the information.”

Jayden responds, “I think employers see history majors as people who tend to be very organized, can conduct investigative research, and write well. Being able to write is a greatly valued skill on the job.” He pauses and then says, “Don’t worry; you have time to figure it out.” 

After spending a couple of hours talking, Alicia says, “Even though the semester has just begun, I already have a lot of work to do.  I have to go do some work to prepare for a class tomorrow. Thank you for the pizza. I really enjoyed talking with you.”

  Alicia crosses the hall and enters her apartment. Melanie is sitting on the couch eating a salad she bought at the cafeteria nearby and is reading a book for a class. Melanie looks up and says, “Where have you been?  I was going to wait to get dinner with you but hunger won out.”

“I was across the hall. I just met Jayden Tucker in history class and it turns out he lives across the hall. He says he knows you.”

Melanie says, “We had a class together last semester and were in the same project group.   We did not get to pick our group but rather were assigned to one.  We had one very difficult student in the group that was not pulling his weight.  The group selected Jayden as the leader.  He was very good in that role and he dealt with the difficult student   He got the guy to contribute good work to the final project. 

She continues, “Jayden is a great guy and super hot.  But, beware, he is taken.  ‘He is in a long-term relationship.”

“He was just being friendly.”

Melanie says, “He is a natural charmer.  I think half of the women in the class had a thing for him.   He handles it very well.  He does not let it go to his head.  He is very confident but not at all obnoxious.”

Alicia says. “He seems to know what he wants and has a plan to get there.  Like you, Melanie.”