Don't Mind | Cruxmont | Ep. 6

Hello, and thank you for joining us.

I'm K.A.

Stats, the writer and creator of Don't Mind Cruxmont.

And I'm Travis Vengroff, the producer and director.

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Previously on Don't Mind Cruxmont, confronted by Neil for forgetting who Colin is, Gwen revealed that she is in the early stages of inherited Alzheimer's and that her search for the miracle of Adelaide Birch is more personal than previously believed.

After Gwen left the Fox in Bloom to further her search, Neil's meal was interrupted by PC Gordon, who made it clear he not only wanted Neil and Gwen to leave the village, but that he knew more about Neil's brother Colin than he was willing to admit.

Gwen at the Cruxmont Records Hall discovered a strange pattern of deaths and learned that visitors to Cruxmont have two choices.

Don't stay long or stay forever.

Don't mind Craxmont

Hey, good morning.

Anything new today?

Yes, actually.

We may have something.

Really?

Show me.

We found a little sketchbook.

The name in the front is Adelaide.

There are not a lot of drawings, but they get worse the further into the book.

Loss of fine motor control.

I want to use it.

Show it to her.

See if it stirs anything.

I'll come see you in a bit and return the sketchbook.

Thank you.

Right.

Good luck.

Where

is this?

You're in a hospital.

A nice lady found you walking the King's Mile, and it seemed like you needed some help.

Do you remember what people usually call you?

Your name?

Does

Adelaide sound right?

Maybe Addie?

Adelaide.

All right, Adelaide.

Someone will be in with some breakfast for you shortly.

I'm rather hungry myself.

I'm always in such a rush, and this morning I completely forgot to eat.

It would be easier to remember if I had someone to eat with.

Adelaide, do you usually eat with someone?

A friend?

A family member?

Where am I?

Adelaide, you're at the hospital.

You have late-stage dementia, and your scans show advanced neurodegeneration.

It's okay if you don't know what that means.

Just know that we're here to take care of you.

We want you to be with your family, but we don't have any way to contact them.

No.

No.

How?

No.

Where am I?

I have to.

How?

Bring me back.

To the to the King's Mile?

Did you have family there?

I never.

Where?

Hello?

Who are you?

Hello, Adelaide.

I have your little paintings here.

In this book.

You're very talented.

This one is particularly nice.

Who's this old man?

That

it's Great Father Jacob.

Who are you?

Adelaide, I'm Dr.

Gwendolyn Kingston, and I'm going to make sure you get a lovely breakfast.

Okay,

so you just lay here, and the nurse will be in in just a moment.

How did it go?

Ugh, as well as one could hope.

She possibly confirmed her name as Adelaide and responded to the name when prompted.

And apparently, this picture is Great Father Jacob.

Maybe a family member or the priest.

Otherwise, nothing.

We had the same conversation as last time.

Where she was found, where she is now.

She's hungry, though.

Please send someone over with breakfast.

And you?

And I forgot breakfast this morning.

I'll pop down to the canteen for a bite before my next appointment.

You forgot again?

Just ran out of time, is all.

All right, all right.

Well, I'll order the breakfast for Miss Adelaide straight away.

Thank you.

Right, now go get your breakfast and more than just a coffee.

Will do.

But that almost supports your idea, yeah?

About genetic adaptation?

If the population stays so

close, so insular,

it could be true.

Hmm.

It would explain why adaptation like this hasn't spread and become more well-known.

Sometimes it's not even adaptation per se, but a genetic mutation that is circumstantially beneficial.

Even so, if it were a genetic adaptation, its benefits or trait exhibited by the mutation could be linked to a geographic location.

So it's environmental.

Perhaps both.

You know, I never saw any notices for property sales.

Not even when I was researching the village online.

Not a single estate agent listing for Crooksmont ever came up.

There's no evidence that anyone has ever sold their home or land.

It looks like if property ever did change hands, it was bought up by the orchard and only due to the death of the owner.

Here, 1943.

The old Warren Cottage and half acre, after the death of Miss Albina Warren, spinster and last of the Warren line, is to be transferred to the Allhill estate, whereupon the house will be preserved and become home to Catherine Aldhill and her future husband.

Nothing seems to be owned by a bank.

Did you even see an estate agent's office?

Like a realtor?

Mm-hmm.

No.

Not that I remember.

So we don't know why,

but it's all or nothing.

Stay for a single weekend or never leave.

But we still don't know why.

Nothing here states a reason aside from marriage.

What keeps people here or keeps them out?

Well, I know from experience that local law enforcement is very off-putting, but I'm more impressed, or maybe confused, by how an entire village just dodges the draft.

I mean, really, it's very suspicious.

The whole village would have to agree.

Think of it.

The lie of a highly contagious disease, if it was a lie, would need to be supported by every person in Crooksmont as proof of how contagious it was.

And sickness doesn't generally stick to a single gender.

So let's say they isolated all the sick men.

Then the women and children took over the orchard work, not uncommon during wartime.

This would have further supported the lie, or kept the men out of the public eye to avoid the mar of shame or white feathers.

Avoid attention to Crooksmont.

No.

Still not following.

So they all wanted to avoid the war?

Just think about it for a moment.

I'm trying.

I just don't see where you're going with this.

I don't see all the pieces you see, or I don't know enough to see it.

Not yet.

So if whatever helped Adelaide is an adaptation, it wouldn't prohibit her from leaving the village.

The genetic adaptation would be fully contained to the body.

If there is one, which at at this moment I will assume to be true.

For this little thought experiment.

Thought experiment?

You know, just working through possibilities one at a time.

Yes, yes, Rachel.

So if the men didn't go to war, not because of fear or moral objection, they did so to avoid not the war, but leaving Crooksmont.

Hmm.

So

they are afraid of being outside of the village.

No, no, no, no.

See, they are afraid being without something that is here.

They don't seem to fear what's outside because something changed that allowed locals to be able to leave for months at a time.

And they took the opportunity.

And Adelaide?

Not that she dodged the draft, but you think this is why she had that miracle cure you talked about?

If someone dependent on something local is removed from the location for more than a brief period, they suffer.

In the hypothetical.

of course.

I have no proof to substantiate any of this, and I know this all sounds a bit far-fetched.

And what about Adelaide's family, or the other woman, Edith?

Yes.

The name Adelaide's visitor used was Edith.

Edith Birch.

Here, I found a notice from August of 1900.

The Birch family asked to borrow a fellow villager's Moses basket for their new baby daughter, Edith.

In exchange, the Birch family would provide an item or so of knitted wear at request, and the Moses basket would be returned once Edith no longer had need of it.

So that's not the Edith you're looking for.

She'd be about

120 now.

Maybe she was Adelaide's mother or aunt.

Someone could have just used Edith's name for the check-in.

Or it might be a family name, but I haven't seen any other Ediths mentioned in the papers or notices.

What about that?

Hmm?

The big old wooden cabinet over there marked with genealogies?

You could look for the whole Birch family line.

It's part of a private collection.

I was told not to interfere with it.

Hmm.

And

it's locked.

I have a feeling that the librarian, no matter how kind, won't unlock it for us.

Well, that won't stop me.

Oh.

If you're about to tell me now that you can pick locks, it will confirm every stereotype I have about American men.

No, not the lock.

The old metal door pins.

They'll come out with a little push, and we can put them right back in.

No lock picking required.

Hand me that pin.

Thank you.

Did you see the librarian?

Why are we whispering?

We're not whispering.

We're being quiet.

It just feels right to at least attempt to be quiet while committing a crime.

This isn't a crime.

Feels a little like a crime.

And this is a library, right?

Grab it.

Grab the door so it doesn't fall.

Look at this.

Oh, and this one, parchment pressed in glass, could be hundreds of years old.

Oh, see all the generations?

I think it's the Allhill family.

The plum tree design is also used on their graves.

Hundreds?

Multiple?

Shit, I can't even trace my family back further than my grandfather.

There's a lot here, but if I can be so bold as to say, hurry up, we'll need to put the door back on before anyone comes in here.

Of course.

There are still no dates.

Oh, here, here, Birch, Birch, see, see here.

It looks like someone wrote a date at some point and covered it up.

This doesn't look as old as the others.

But from the writing style, this page may have been penned starting in the 18th century.

Some of the writing and names are far more modern as well.

It is still in use.

Hello?

I assume.

Oh, Neil, Neil, go!

Distractor!

Distractor!

What?

Me?

Why?

Will you?

What?

Yes, you go, go, go!

She's reading the volume rabbit to the kids.

Oscar Mattix.

The Robotine Rabbit.

Perfect.

Ask for that.

Go, go, go, go, go.

Take the pin.

Got it.

Put it back together.

When you're done, it'll be easier than taking it apart.

Okay.

Oh.

Hello.

Hi.

I didn't see you come in.

I'll help you in a moment.

I just need to check on a woman who came in a while ago.

Yeah, no worries.

She's fine.

She's just looking at those files.

Friend of mine.

Came to see what was going on.

Uh she seems happy with all of the uh papers.

Oh, okay.

That's nice.

Did she say she needed anything?

No, uh, but you said you were reading to uh kids the Velveteen Rabbit, right?

What's that about?

You've never read The Velveteen Rabbit?

It's an adorable heart-melton tale about a toy rabbit who wishes to become real through the love of its owner.

It's one of my favorites.

Wow.

So, like Pinocchio?

Well, I guess in that way, yes.

Is the book not popular in America?

The title seems vaguely familiar to me, but yeah, I guess it's not.

We have other popular children's books, though.

I've always liked the Giving Tree and, well, others.

Yeah, many of Shell Silverstein's poems are some of the children's favorites.

To read during our poultry sessions in the autumn.

Are you here to pick up your friend?

Or do you need something?

Just to pick her up.

Don't know when it should be done, though.

Cruxmont is such a great little place.

I just actually saw the church.

It's really nice.

And the trees in bloom like that?

Reminds me of those pictures of Japan.

Are you local?

Yeah, very much so.

Mr.

Oh, yeah.

Hi.

I'm Neil.

Hello, Neil.

I'm Winifred.

Cute.

I've never met a Winifred.

Not a popular name in the US.

Not a popular name here either, but it's a family name.

Oh, so there are a lot of those in Croxmont.

A lot of Winifreds?

Family names pass down from like mother to daughter or something.

Well, yes.

But more commonly among the men, like John, John II, John III.

They sound like kings.

I suppose they do.

Are you visiting the same friend that she is?

Um, actually, I'm here looking for someone.

He looks like you.

Is he your brother?

Yes.

He went missing in the area.

Have you seen him?

No, sorry, but I'm stuck in here almost every day, so I don't see much.

Not that I'm complaining.

I love my job.

You should ask around the shop or orchard if you haven't already.

We're a small village, though, so an outsider would stick out like a sore thumb, and someone would have noticed him if he was here.

I hope you find him.

Yeah.

Thanks.

I'll keep looking for him.

But please, keep the flyer.

Maybe you can put it up on your board.

I can do that.

This one's old now, anyway.

Hmm.

Uh, what was it for?

The Cruxmont Survey.

What's that?

It's a little local trip around the village that teenagers make this time of year before the festival.

They come here to learn about the records hall, then they spend time at the orchard, discuss the history of the village at the church, and so on.

So, in general, a survey of the village.

But it happened a few nights ago now, so I can take that flyer down, and I can put yours up.

Colin.

I'm sorry he's missing.

I do hope you find him.

Losing family hurts so very deeply.

Well,

I hope he's only lost in the physical sense and not

well

the alive sense.

Yes, of course.

Thanks for hanging in.

I've uh seen everything I wanted to.

Crooksman's Festival seems like a wonderful time.

I'm sorry I'll miss it.

Thank you so much for all your help, and I hope the children's reading went well.

Are they still here?

Yes, having a night snack break with with their teacher.

Oh, well.

Best of luck with your day.

Are you ready to go, Neil?

Yep.

Nice meeting you, Winifred.

You too.

Goodbye.

Safe travels.

I was in there for hours.

Sounds like they started building things for the festival.

Starts tomorrow evening.

What are your plans?

No, you first.

Did you get any information from the genealogy records?

I took photos of them on my phone.

I'll need to look them over.

I found some information on Adelaide and her family, and I think I found a date.

It was on the page I pointed out to you, the Birch family.

I brought the paper over to the window to illuminate it from behind.

Something showed up under the ink, but I didn't have time to look.

Well, look now.

Okay, um...

Well, do you see anything?

Can I see your phone?

Mm-hmm.

Here.

There's something there.

Mm-hmm.

If I mess with the photo attributes, it may be easier to see.

Um...

Where is it?

Contrast.

There.

Jacob Birch.

1789.

Jacob Birch?

Great-grandfather of Adelaide Birch.

I only see one Adelaide.

That

is 1789 the year he died, or the year he was born?

No way to know.

Greatfather Jacob.

Adelaide had paintings of him.

Little pocket paintings in her sketchbook.

They were all signed by her.

So that can't be the right Jacob.

Or or the right Adelaide.

There's an Edith, too, there.

It looks as though she's supposed to be Adelaide's sister, so

she could still be alive then.

But if Adelaide's great-grandfather was born in 1789, let's say, well, he died at 100 years of age, that's still 1889.

Adelaide, the Adelaide I know, is about 80.

So she was born around 1940.

There's still no way they would have known each other.

Not enough for Adelaide to have painted his likeness.

Maybe she painted him from a photo.

That's not uncommon.

And I think we may be overthinking this.

Look, here at the bottom,

it says that Adelaide, Edith, and Paul were siblings.

It says that Adelaide married Henry and had four children, Meredith, Eliza, Mark, and Olivia.

And they had kids.

And those kids had kids.

The rest of the page isn't in your picture.

Did you get a photo of the rest?

That was the end for that page.

But some of the lines trailed off, possibly to other pages, marriages, distant relatives, perhaps.

You said she was maybe 80?

80 is old enough to be a great-grandmother, right?

It's entirely possible.

I need to take a break.

Collect my thoughts and ideas.

So, what are your plans to find Colin?

I'm going to the orchard again and over to the church.

Church first, most likely.

Anywhere where that constable weirdo followed me feels suspicious.

So that's the plan.

He had a reason for keeping an eye on me, and maybe it was to keep me out of those places.

They locked the church up earlier.

You saw the Reverend do it.

What's a little more crime for today?

You're okay with that.

Breaking into a church.

No,

but I'm not about to let this town, village, hamlet, or whatever it is, take my brother away from me.

So, I'll go to the church.

What about you?

Uh, a bit of rest, then back to it.

I took a lot of photos and audio notes on the records and genealogies I saw.

I think I'll head back to my room and look at them on my tablet, have a copper,

and look everything over.

Okay.

At least to some extent, there seems to be evidence to support noticeably longer working lifespans in this place.

But still, nothing I can think of that explains Adelaide's recovery.

Well, when you get there, ask about about hotels in the nearby towns.

Why?

We were only able to get the rooms at the Fox and Bloom until tomorrow.

Then we have to leave because it's already fully booked for the Plum Festival.

But if we're both not done with this place, maybe

there's somewhere in the nearby town with space.

If you'll drive me to Cruxmont,

otherwise, I'll camp in the woods rather than walk that road again.

Yeah,

right.

I can do that.

I don't plan on leaving.

And as long as I'm looking, I'll give you a ride in.

So how long do you plan to keep looking for Colin?

As long as it takes.

I mean, legally I can't stay here forever,

but I'll lose my job before I go home without him.

Do you have any siblings?

No.

No siblings?

Kids?

Nope.

Well.

My brother means a lot to me.

We didn't exactly have the best childhood.

We weren't always the best of friends.

But we always helped each other when we could.

I'm sure you'll find him.

If he's anything like you, he's probably fine.

Thanks.

I'll see you later.

Be careful.

Right.

Nothing.

Let's go get a beer.

No, let's go raid the store for brandy.

Not funny, Amy.

You passed out, then vomited in my trainers and in your mum's handbag.

The vomit meant that I was getting better.

Getting out my system.

Yeah, you slept for 15 hours.

And now I feel great.

Fine.

Not beers.

Cooking some crisps?

Alright, sure.

Should we get Millie?

No.

She's been taking everything really hard after the survey.

I went looking for her when you were asleep.

The mum said she'd ran out this morning, wanted some time alone.

We're messed up about it too, Mike.

But I just drank it all away.

We can't do anything about it.

Well, she's not you, and she's not taking it well.

She's been holed up, crying for hours, and screamed at Jeff and at her ma'am.

We're all worried.

Well, Jeff was no help.

Never would be.

His life's got nowhere to go, regardless.

That's a shitty thing to say.

It's a shitty life.

Let's just go get those crisps.

Hey, it's the guy.

What guy?

From where you were out of it.

However, come on.

Hey, hey, you?

Yeah?

Thanks for your help with Amy last night.

And be sure to thank that lady doctor for us, too.

Yeah, thanks.

You're welcome.

But I didn't really do much.

Thankfully, the doc was there to help out.

You gotta be careful, though.

Not that I haven't been blackout drunk a few times.

It's not fun.

And sometimes it's worse on the people around you than the one that's doing the drinking.

My trainers agree.

I'll order you new ones, Mike.

Shut the hell up.

So, did you get what you you needed from Jeff?

Yeah.

Good.

Jeff's a dick.

What did you do with him anyway?

I'm looking for my brother Colin.

Um, that's him.

Keep the flyer.

If you've seen anything or.

Well, if you do, you can email me at that address.

And I have a question about the town.

Okay,

yeah?

I was told the survey was just a tour of the village.

What upset the other girl so much?

Millie?

You know how many people get out of this village?

Actually, leave?

Nearly no one.

You know how depressing it is to find out your life is literally going nowhere?

Really depressing.

How are we supposed to react when our parents and teachers are okay with it?

Oh, we should have been born in London.

Or even America, right?

Like you.

You're here, so you must have done something right with your life.

Flights aren't cheap.

What do you do?

Uh, I'm an IT, uh, infrastructural architect.

But don't put this weight on me.

I'm here looking for a missing family member, and my life hasn't been that easy.

Everyone's got their own shit to deal with.

So what?

Do you build like computer programs and stuff?

And stuff.

But we've really gone far off track.

So, the survey.

It's just a trip around town.

Yeah, and we learn about our family history and stuff.

You know how many generations of my family have been picking plums in these orchards?

Like all of them?

I don't want to do that.

What kind of future is that?

You already do that.

Every harvest.

For extra money.

I don't want to do this shit forever.

Look, I'm not a teacher or anything, but I learned a lot of programming and computer science online before I ever could afford college.

A bunch of online courses are free and really great quality.

And alright, let's say you never leave Cruxman.

It doesn't mean you have to work in the orchard.

I just met Wittifred.

She seems really happy working as a librarian, and a lot of work now is all all remote.

Designers, writers, marketers, programmers.

So much.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Barbara Hook is a sculptor, and she lives in town.

Makes cool stuff and good money.

Thanks.

I guess I have to figure out what I want before I start complaining about not getting it there.

You think?

Well, thanks for listening.

I know I'm not the most inspiring.

Good luck with the festival.

And I know you have internet out here, so try online courses or something.

Okay?

Bye.

See you later.

The least amount of crime.

This was easier.

As a teenager.

Oh, no, you don't.

You couldn't stop yourself, could you?

I don't see why people like living in the countryside

Millie

Millie,

is that you?

Millie

what

oh god, that's there's the pond from before

Millie

Millie

stop

me

stop

Don't Mind Cruxmont.

Written and created by K.A.

Stats.

Produced and directed with sound design by Travis Fengroff.

Edited with sound design mixing and mastering by Dane Leonardson.

Dialogue editing by Austin Beach.

And with script and casting consulting by Gemma Amore.

Starring Adjua Ando, Daniel Demeren, Heather McClellan, Erica Sanderson, Sinclair Bell, Susie Martin, Dan Pye, and Becky Lindsay.

With executive producers Dennis Greenhill, Michael Viegas, Carol Vengroff, and AJ Punkkin.

Additional dialogue editing by Serbacinsky of Polarity AudioWorks, and music by Stephen Malin.

This episode would not be possible without the support of our listeners on Patreon, so please consider supporting us there at patreon.com slash foolandscholar, or by sharing this show with a friend.

This episode is copyrighted 2022 by Fool and Scholar Productions.

Thank you for listening.

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