Pearl Henderson is an American tourist visiting Marib, Syria. She is married to Duane and helps him run a Greetings Cards Company by writing the poems that go in them. The business is located in little place called Akron in Ohio.
Personality[]
Pearl is very outgoing and friendly. She adores collecting rare antiquities and travel the world with her husband. She has maternal instinct that makes her help those who need a hand. She's also a devouted Catholic and knows plenty of information about the Bible.
George first meets Pearl while visiting Marib, She’s come all the way here looking for bargains.
Her interest in purchasing a local artifact leads George to sell the cheap, broken statue that he polished with the face paint used by Khan (the clown) to Duane for $50 USD, which George in turn uses to pay the cab drive for the ride to Bull's Head Hill.
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror[]
This time around, George finds Pearl in Quaramonte in front of the Policia. She is very happy to see him again and tells him that she is a little upset with Duane because he doesn’t want to join her to visit the Pyramid. Why would she go alone if there is no one to take the pictures? Later, Pearl helps George by distracting Renaldo and gives him the chance to visit Miguel that is locked up in jail.
Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse[]
After learning in Castell dels Sants, thanks to a map found within Gehnen’s belongings, a connection between some relevant places of Catalonia and “La Maledicció” that in a specific order show the location of the “Tabula Veritatis”, George and Nico discover that the clues of this interesting map point to Montserrat, a very touristic place in Catalonia.
Once near the Montserrat cable car station, George sees one of the cable cars hanging midway across the valley. Not only Langham's men made the Station close but also stopped the mechanism of the cable car from working. There’s something glinting from inside the car, but he cannot make out what it is. George proceeds to look through the peephole to see things more clear and detailed. By looking closely, he distinguish there are a couple of people stuck in the cable car. They looked kind of familiar, then George realizes that it is his old friends Duane and Pearl Henderson. Pearl is seen trying to get someone’s attention by using an object to reflect sunlight to where George and Nico are. He signals them back using the old car’s mirror found in Castells dels Sants. George isn’t sure if they've seen it until Pearl starts writing something on the car’s window. From what he can read (See in Trivia), George learns the door code from the station’s main door.
Already inside the station, George has to fix the console which handles the cable cars’ mechanism because Langham’s men have sabotaged it so that no one is able to go down the hill. Meanwhile, an unknown man asks for help from inside a locked metal box on the floor. With no key George is going to have to find a way to break into it. He grabs the lunch box and places it inside one of the large cogs part of the cable car mechanism. The box is now wedged in the cogs - or rather, the giant can opener. By operating the lever located on the console in the corner, the cogs start turning and they are able to break the metal box. The container is mangled beyond repair, but inside there is a two-way radio. When George tries to speak to the man, he realizes that is Duane in the other side. George suggests him not to panic because he is going to rescue them soon. While speaking to Duane Henderson, Pearl recommends George to ask Kat for help because she knows everything about the place. He tells Pearl that the girl is locked in the closet and doesn’t want to come out. Pearl delicately asks George to let her talk with Kat through the radio. At first Kat doesn’t believe Pearl is really Pearl. When she asks for a proof, Pearl starts singing with her part of a musical (See in Trivia).
Thanks to Trevor’s help, George is able to fix the cable cars’ mechanism and meet Pearl and Duane down the hill in the Santa Cova chapel. Unfortunately, the Hendersons aren’t having a great vacation. Pearl isn’t her cheery self because nothing is going like she planned. The monastery was closed, they got stuck in the cable car and now the old chapel is a building site. This was supposed to be the spiritual highlight of their trip. George tries to talk to Duane as Pearl isn’t in the mood to talk for now. Duane tells him that since the accident back home (See in Trivia) she has been planning and researching this trip for years, their little pilgrimage. And Santa Cova chapel here was the cherry on the cake. There is not a thing she doesn't know about this place. Pearl can be a mine of information about the chapel if George can just cheer her up. According to Duane, she expects a “spiritual experience”. As Nico says: “smells, bells and heavenly lights”.
By taking a look at the place, a statue of the Madonna and Child watched over the chapel. She's the little lady the Hendersons came to see. Though Pearl's in too much of a state to even look at her. George needs to find a way for Pearl to notice the statue and that will surely make her feel much happier. After searching the place, George finds some items that will be useful for this task. First by handling an old crank, he lowers the candelabra to light the candles and place an old mirror to maximize brightness. The light from the candelabra then spills over the Black Madonna like waves of spiritual goodness in candle form. Second, by putting some wood shavings covered with Henri’s perfume in a mug left by the altar and lighting it up, George creates a hand-made Potpourri. A sweet aroma then starts to fill the room. Third, by hearing Duane’s humming (See in Trivia), George figures out a way to recreate that same tune but gracefully played by Nico with her special mop. With all this spiritual gifts in the air, Pearl instantly recovers from her melancholy and notices the Black Madonna in all its glory. She takes a time to say a little prayer and all is well. Pearl is back to her cheery self. After bringing the cheery Pearl back, she kindly tells George everything she knows about the chapel. Duane and her are happy again, and decide to continue their spiritual journey.
- Pearl: “I consider myself the artiste of the family.”
- Nejo: "It's a funny thing but I get the impression she's a lot cleverer than she's letting on."
- Pearl: "He's just so cute I could die! I'd love to bundle him up and take him back to Ohio!" (Referring to Nejo)
- In Broken Sword and The Smoking Mirror:
- George: “Sometimes I got the feeling that communication with Pearl was like sending signals out into space. Maybe if you waited long enough you'd get an intelligent answer back, but it was a long shot.”
- In Broken Sword and The Serpent's Curse:
- Pearl: “The sound of angels. The lights of heaven. The smell of piety. The Madonna. i do believe tears! She's crying, Duane! The Madonna's crying!”
- Pearl: “The road of Enlightenment waits for no woman.”
- Pearl: “Take care of him, poor little lost lamb.” (Talking about George)
- Nico: “Don't worry. This little lamb's in safe hands.”
Trivia[]
- The name "Pearl" is an American name meaning "precious".
- "Henderson" may come from the Scottish origin meaning "Son of Henry" or "Son of Hendry".
- Duane and Pearl were suppose to appear in Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon but they were cut out due to time constraints in making the game.
- This is one of her most selling poems: "Our sympathy upon this time, when your heart doth break, we know the grief that must entail, when your Schnauzer gets bitten by a snake".
- Pearl and Duane moved away from Cleveland five years ago.
- In The Serpent's Curse:
- Pearl Henderson writes “Help! Stuck. Door code 0797” on the cable car window with her red lipstick. George wonders how she came to know that.
- The Henderson have an uncanny way of showing up wherever George goes.
- It looks like both Kat and Pearl Henderson love musicals as they know each word of the “Major General’s song” from Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance.
- The tune Duane is whistling is Schubert’s “Ave Maria”. In their courting days Duane and Pearl used to hang out with the Campanology Society. It happens to be Pearl's favorite.
- The last time Pearl was in a mood like this, Duane tried the old hug routine. He still has the scars. Not Just the mental ones.