The Underground Adventures of Panda Girl E 4
Episode 4 The Pillsbury Mill
Being alone crawling through the labyrinth of tunnels isn’t just physically exhausting but also mentally dangerous. Many people loose their bearings under there. There’s something about being in an enclosed environment that’s disorienting, takes some adjustment. Beyond disorientation, the audible hallucinations can also drive one mad.
The tunnels echo motion and carried from various places mainly the streets above and water trickling all around. Without the free flow of air the sound waves bounce off every acoustic cavern, every catch basin , every tunnel, wall and hole.
This creates the audio illusion of laughter coming from a near by tunnel system. If you spend too much time down there risk going bonkers because eventually you’ll be chasing the reverb sounds of gnawing illusion of reality. One of the 14 rules , never fail to mentally prepare. Always physically prepare. Protocol.
6 hours 17 minutes sub level and Andi swore she heard scratching rustling sounds of those moving in the tunnels parallel. “ get ahold of yourself Andi! It’s only 6 hours you’re not going to lose it this quick. “ she coached herself. The noise of course repeated and Andi reasoned she’d shout out once and if no one responded than she’d continue to avoid ignore it. “ hey whose there is anyone exploring down here? Announce your self or keep quiet!” A perceived thud then quiet nothing.
Protocol ! “ headphones and asmr is what I’ll do “ noise problem cancelled Andi went on climbing down the rickety steel ladder to where the tunnel stopped.
There was a rope hidden behind a pile of bricks in the space between the deep structure of rebar for the foundation and the insanely deep grain elevator. The 502 foot drop to a place where very few explore. she shimmied over the one by one brick that lined the ledge. The opposite end of the rope was tied to the rebar so she reached and grabbed it for safety. She carefully squeezed and wedged herself in the corner to use her feet to kick down that huge rope. With an almost invisible slip the long rope spiraled down while staying tied one end to the rebar. The stopper knot landed on the floor with a thud.
While watching the rope dance down spiraling into the darkness Andi could hear her uncle Bricks voice like it was yesterday.
“Why the pillsbury mill? Uncle Bric ” Asked tiny Andi.
“Well before pillsbury did the merger with General Mills it was one of the first most profitable businesses on the Mississippi. Would you guess who may have been involved in the shadier side of the business? That’s right the mob families and coppers involved in the 1940’s gangs that left this city in the ruins and wreckage today. Especially with the tunnel system that they had. One fun fact is they had a series of tunnels that ran from this grain mill building all the way down to Henry Ford’s factory, in the silica mines where at the time 82% of the entire United states’s glass came from. But why connect the places? So the coppers and mob bosses could travel back and forth micro managing business with out nay sayers or the public eye or any hero’s with too much nerve being any the wiser. Yup the pillsbury mill had the personal office of mob boss’s Clyde the Canary and his little lover Bonnie. . “
“There’s plenty of photos documenting the very true reality of this. The couple was not shy about their love. But boy was Clyde the Canary protective of his lover. There’s an obituary report , Agnes wrote from 1941 Clyde gunned down a man for looking at his wife. It reads “ man shot dead over erection, 6 shots delivered to man’s skull during regular to do with mob boss Clyde , for getting wise ideas of his wife” replied uncle Bric.
Andi hadn’t blinked her big young eyes staring right up at here she inquired “ an errections like what happened to that Jesus guy from the Christian stories? Everyone knows those are bed time stories Uncle Bric , what are you trying to pull here?”
Trying to keep his. beloved Andi innocent he chuckled briefly and said “ I’ll tell you when your older.”
When little Andi was obviously not convinced by the story uncle Bric got real low to Andi. He got real quiet and took the little girls hands in his . “ miss Ananda Pan do you really want to know? I suppose you are almost old enough but I’m not sure you are just yet..”
Miss Andi pan. Attorney at law argued her case “ Uncle Bric II’ll have you know I’m plenty old enough. I’m almost a grown woman.
“ How ya figure that Shrimp puff?” Chuckled the man, ruffling the girls hair.
“ I’m narrowly 10 years old. Double digits makes me a grown woman!” She said matter of factly.
Uncle Brick questioned , “ Annanda pan you are 7 years old that’s not close to ten”
With a heavy sigh the little girl put up her fingers and explained “ yes I’m 7 but that’s 3 years away from 10. When I was 5 that’s 5 years away from ten so I’m closer to ten than I would’ve been making me almost a grown woman!”
Well there was no denying that adorable logic. “ ok miss math logic pants. Do you want to see it? With your own eyes? You have to promise you mussent ever use this information for bad only for good brownie scouts swear?” 3 fingers over her heart she swore.
Uncle BricI got up slowly straighten himself out and headed off towards his bedroom, disappearing in the dark hallway.
Now Andi wasn’t a patient kid not by any means. Uncle Bric was only able to get her to stay still by telling her stories. When that failed he’d ask Agnes over with her picture books. Andi would sit patiently for hours listening to her beloved uncle talk about the tunnels and city history. But every time she was skeptical she would ask for proof or “ it didn’t happen” .
When he disappeared that day it took forever for him to come back, so Andi snuck down the Corredor to see what was going on. From underneath the floorboards popped up Uncle Brick carrying a black box with a lock.
Andi jumped. As soon as he stepped away she went to examine the floor to make sense of what she had just seen. She couldn’t find a door or a handle. A thud and a creek caught her fleeting attention. Uncle Brick set down the black wood box. He had a key stored away in his dresser. He took the key out of the small drawer of the dresser and unlocked the lock on the box. It open with a creaking sound. Andi remember it smelled like dust and mold. He took out a large old book. they went to the living room to go take a look.
As it turns out, uncle Bric was telling the truth. Inside that old book were hundreds of dozens of newspaper articles, some that were even redacted from public records. How did Bric. acquire these? Simple, he was a student geologist who was best friends with the cities top news reporter.
That day forever made an impression on the little Andi. . That counterfeit machine was down there. Others looked for it and the loot but it was never recovered. Andi knew she would one day infiltrate the tunnels and find the loot . She’d find the machine and then finally stop the corruption that plagued this city. Most importantly she was going to tarnish the name of that wretched railway tycoon responsible for the corruption, Andi was going to take out Ames Billionaire Bill Mill.