Gold & Ivory

Robert Gold was doing well. His business had taken off, but quite where the money for investment had come from was anybody's guess. Some thought he worked outside the law, but his wife was confident that was not the case. She loved her mink coats, her time at the spa getting all sorts of beauty treatments, and her foreign holidays at Andorra, the Caribbean and Florida.

Their house in Lower Malory was truly a house of gold: money, money, money was simply a way of life. Robert loved his collection of cars; he had a BMW, a Ferrari and a gold Rolls Royce. His wife Samantha loved to goad the locals in pristine encasement in the luxury vehicles.

Only yesterday she had gone past that drudge from down the road, Harmony Ivory. Harmony had been badly splashed with mud, and been very distressed. She'd just bought a new outfit to attend a special concert; it was ruined. Miss Ivory was a composer of musical works and this concert was her first to be acknowledged as an up and coming composer. Her composition 'Seascape' was being premiered. Harrmony Ivory, however, was very poor and had not made any money from her efforts. Robert and Samantha Gold thought what a nerd she is; a frump that was wasting her time.

The Gold's attempts to make money was so much more reliable than Miss Ivory's attempts at it. They mocked her house, 'Ivory Towers'. It was falling down for chrissakes. 'Ivory Towers' had been built in Georgian times and was now forlorn and distressed. Its machicolated tower looked out over the green valley as did the House of Gold but that's where the similarity ended.

The House of Gold had eight bedrooms, three reception rooms and a games room. Ivory Towers had a single bedroom and one living room. It was tiny really despite its high faluting name. The local villagers often pointed to the disparity between the two houses which weren't that far from each other. They couldn't be more different.

Robert Gold was keen on doing business with Amery Brown, a local property developer. He knew he owned a site on the edge of town that was ripe for development. Robert Gold wanted first refusal. he also knew Amery was a keen music fan and with the Easter Day concert coming up next week he wanted to attend, see if he could do business.

Miss Ivory was of course going to the concert; she never missed. She looked forward to it every year. She had bought an outfit from the local charity shop and was eager to look good. She shampooed her rather lank hair and applied her make-up carefully. One thing for sure, she was no match for Samantha Gold.

The Golds got the Rolls out of the garage (mainly for the look of it, let these locals know we mean business) and motored to the concert. When they got there the atmosphere was bouyant and lots of bigwigs were in attendance, notably the Chief Commissioner of Police, Commissioner Gordon.

Robert Gold's face dropped when he saw the policeman; that was the last person he wanted to see. Chief Commissioner Gordon had had his eye on Robert and Samantha Gold for quite some time, they just hadn't been able to pin anything on them.

The Golds spotted Harmony Ivory so instead of avoiding her thought they might use the poor gull. After all what would be a more innocuous associate than the dull and hopeless Harmony Ivory. Samantha pulled out all the stops :

" Oh, Harmony, how nice to see you. What a charming little outfit you are wearing. It's quite an effort" she said to her almost laughing.

"Oh, Mrs. Gold, thank you for noticing. I try to do my best."

"We love music of all kinds, don't we Robert", she said lying through her teeth.

Meanwhile Chief Commissioner Gordon looked on askance, and when Harmony drifted over to his party said "Don;t bother with the Golds, Harmony, I think they are corrupt. We just haven't been able to get anything on them."

"I am not terribly keen," Harmony confided, "the other day they ruined a new outfit of mine."

"Oh don't bother with them. They'll get their comeuppance one day."

With that a calm settled on the audience and the first musical work began. It was another work by Harmony, 'Glass Stars'. It was a lovely percussive work and Harmony had great hopes for it.

The following day a letter arrived for Harmony; there had been a scout in the audience yesterday and the letter said they were interested in her as a composer. It was from the BBC. From being an unknown Harmony started to be played in concert halls all over the country and eventually the world. More and more commissions poured in and Harmony was busy every minute of the day. Soon her bank balance was building and unlike the Golds her money was exclusively kosher.

Chief Commissioner Gordon was doing a lot of work on the Golds He had discovered they spent a lot of time on their yacht going to and from Amsterdam. It soon became obvious they were drug running. Robert Gold was a drug baron. Soon he had enough on them to charge them. Their luxury lifestyle had been completely illegitimate. How unlike the poor Miss Ivory who had been the butt of their jokes for years. Things were set to change. More and more money came pouring in to 'Ivory Towers' and soon Ivory thought she might want a new house. But where could she go? She did not want to leave the area. She picked up the paper from the doormat and read the headlines - 'Drug Baron fingered in Lower Malory' It was all about the Golds and their fraudulent lifestyle. It outlined all the luxury they had enjoyed in the House of Gold.

This got Harmony thinking; wouldn't it be poetic justice to move into the House of Gold. She had noticed the 'For Sale' sign only yesterday. Robert and Samantha spent their first night alone in the cells, convicted of all kinds of offences.

Harmony had moved into the House of Gold as soon as she could. She stripped off and got into the beautiful jacuzzl; pampering herself like a queen. In the garage all the cars the Golds had had were now hers as they had been auctioned off. She couldn't wait to go out in the gold Rolls Royce and invite all her friends to ride with her. It had been a complete turnaround and instead of living in an Ivory Tower she now luxuriated in a House of Gold.