The Hunt Chronicles: Volume 1 (14 page)

“Actually, the reply
wasn’t mine at all,” I said, and I saw a brief look of disappointment wipe over
his face.  “I borrowed it from Oscar Wilde.  It just seemed
appropriate.”  His look of disappointment left his face just as soon as it
had arrived.  He smiled again and pointed at me.

“
The
Picture of Dorian Gray
!”
He
shouted, and a small sound escaped me in the excitement.  Indeed he was
right about the title, and everything else.

“Good taste in art,
quoting famous literary works; you are a fascinating person, Professor.” 
He looked at me then, tilting his head to one side and leaning back in his
chair.  Then he leaned forward and pointed at me again.

“
Knowledge is
power!”
  He shouted.

“Francis
Bacon!”  I retorted.  He slapped his hands together and rocked back
in his chair once more.  My own heart raced with excitement, though anyone
overhearing us would have thought we were just two old men going deaf, senile
and crazy all at the same time. 

“Well done,” Arnold
said, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose.  “I
suggest you remember that one, Mr. Hunt.  Truer words were never spoken.”

“You can pick it up
if you like,” he said.

“Excuse me?”  I
said, startled.  I hadn’t realized my mind had wondered.

“You’re obviously
admiring it.  Take a closer look.”  I leaned forward and picked up
the small statue from his desk.  As I did, its full weight became very
apparent, and I had to get some help from my other hand just to get the golden
rhino into my lap.  I held it up to eye level admiring the
craftsmanship.  “It’s African.  Not real gold, of course. 
Something not unlike fool’s gold.”  It was clear the rhino was not real
gold upon closer inspection.  The metal from which it was crafted was
wrong, duller somehow than actual gold.  It was a fair sized piece though
with amazing detail in its carvings.

“The same there too,
I suppose?” I asked, pointing to the golden giraffe still on the desk. 
The giraffe was slightly larger, again made with impeccable detail.  I
placed the rhino back on Arnold’s desk, behind the giraffe, facing a lamp off
to the left.  I had just let go of the Rhino when Arnold leaned forward
and turned him around, now facing him to my right along with the giraffe. 
That rhino has a better view of the giraffe’s ass than the homeland
Little Reevan said, and I smiled.

“They prefer to look
at the homeland,” he said with a chuckle.  I looked to my right and saw a
picture frame on the far end of Arnold’s desk.  I leaned forward and saw
the picture it held; a young man on the back of an elephant in full safari
regalia.  The photo looked aged, and I could only assume it was Arnold
himself.  I wanted to ask about it, but before I could, Arnold was out of
his chair and around his desk.  “Let’s get on with the tour, shall we?”

We headed for his
door when he stopped, backed up, and closed it slightly.  A needlessly
elegant coat rack stood regally in the corner behind the door.  It was
then that I noticed the only ugly thing in the entire room.  It was a
painting; a very old, dying tree with black roots sprouting out of the ground
and dangling over the bank of a dried up stream.  The other trees in the
distance were dead; burdened with broken branches and splintered trunks. 
Dead birds and piles of ash and dirt littered the landscape.  The one tree
though, the focus of the whole picture, was clearly not dead but dying. 
It too had dead birds at its base and several broken and splintered branches,
but on the highest branch remained a very shiny red apple with two green leaves
sprouting from its stem; the last bit of life in a dead world.  I leaned
in closer and saw a scribble in the corner of the painting.  The
artists
signature was illegible to me, which didn’t bother
me since I had no intention of buying any of his ghastly work, but the title of
the piece was quite clear.  It was
The End of Eden.

A black overcoat
hung from the rack’s highest arm.  Arnold shoved it aside and pulled a
blue sweater off one of the lower arms.  He pulled open the office door as
he put it on.  “The botanical area gets chilly some nights.  Dennis
insists on leaving one of the windows open a crack. 
Says
the stale air of the building can harm his plants.”

“Funny,” I said, “I
would have thought your man Dennis would prefer to let out his
hot
air.”

“There aren’t enough
windows in the building,” he replied, and we laughed as we walked.

We veered to the
right.  We stood in front of the doors to the botanical area when Arnold
reached for his keys again.  “It’s open,” I blurted out.  Arnold
looked at me and smiled, then tried the doorknob, and pushed open the
door.  He then pulled it closed again and locked it.

“Since you’ve
already seen this room, I guess we can move on.”

“Sorry if I stepped
out of line with the orchid,” I said as we walked on towards the Mechanical
Sciences area, passing the large fountain on our left.

“Not to worry,”
Arnold said, then waved his hand at me.  “I don’t care about plant life
the way Dennis does.  What he lacks in personality and social graces he
makes up for in knowledge of root systems and photosynthesis.  He wouldn’t
have lasted this long if not for his skill with the flora and his obvious
ass-kissing.”  I burst into laughter.  The man’s candor was awesome.

“I was wondering if
you noticed that,” I said.

“It’s hard to
miss.  Dennis has been eyeing my job for years.  He fully expects me
to recommend him to Mayor Ruskin before I leave.”

“And you’re not?”

“The people of this
town don’t donate their hard-earned money to this building to have it pissed
away by some political brown-
noser
.  The
donations have been slim enough as it is with the recent success of the
Boyhan
Science Center.” 

We arrived at the
next set of doors and the ring of keys made another appearance.  Arnold
looked up at me and slid his bifocals down to the end of his nose, peering over
them at me.  “Did you also steal her some batteries?”

“Didn’t need any,
the orchid is solar powered,” I said with a chuckle.  Arnold smiled and
turned his attention back to the door.  He fiddled with the keys, selected
one, and unlocked the door.  We both took a step forward, and then he
stopped suddenly and turned back to me.

“A
tip for you before I forget.”

“I’m all ears,” I
said.

“The orchid is a
parasitic plant, did you know that?”

“No,” I nodded and
listened intently.

“It grows while
attached to another piece of plant life.  It drains its host of nutrients
as it the orchid grows, draining it of sustenance.  When wooing a woman,
any
woman, it’s probably wise to avoid any gifts that encourage that kind of
behavior…just a thought.”

I could see why
Leon’s department was so popular with children.  It was very hands
on.  Buttons and switches and levers decorated the room, turning on lamps,
fountains, and even small electronics, like a drain whose tracks ran around the
entire room. 
“Teaches the kids about electricity,”
Arnold said aloud, “closed circuits, open circuits, conduction, and so on.”

Other displays lay
about the room as well.  A pulley was rigged up in one corner, as was a
seesaw-like structure I assume was a fulcrum demonstration; both intended teach
children that minimal force can get you great results.

Drawings and
diagrams covered the walls; everything from
Electricity and You
to
Atom
Anatomy
.  The room was filled with color and interest.  “Leon has
done a great job in here,” Arnold admitted.  “I only wish he could do
more.”

“What’s stopping
him?” I asked.

“Politics, as
usual,” Arnold explained.  “This museum is owned by the Town of Pendleton,
Reevan.  As such, we’re supported solely on tax dollars and
donations.  Mayor Ruskin is up for re-election this year.”  I
shrugged.  “The public cares about education and art, but it cares more
about police cars and fire trucks.   This town is no different than
any other.  Its officials are judged by the number of cop cars on the
streets, not the number of orchids in our garden.

“I had planned to
give Leon more funding to expand his department, but Mayor Ruskin slashed my
budget.  No surprise, the fire department will be getting two new trucks
and a gym in the north fire station next year.”

“That’s a damn
shame,” I said.  “This town isn’t that big…how many trucks do we need?”

“Just
enough, Mr. Hunt.
 
Just enough to secure a re-election.
  Maybe Leon will
fare better next year, but I’ll be gone by then.  I only hope my
replacement notices his efforts as I do.”

We left the
Mechanical Sciences area with the customary jingle of the keys and click of a
deadbolt.  We crossed the great room, the main entrance now at my
right.  Two men in white tops came in as we passed, carrying trays of
food.  A third came in pushing a metal trolley.  My mouth began to
water. 

My eye caught that
massive fountain again, and the chandelier that loomed over it.  Again,
both were stunning, yet
wrong
somehow.  My mind went back to the
golden rhino and giraffe on Arnold’s desk.  The gold was
wrong
,
somehow askew, just as Arnold had said.  Unfortunately, the secrets behind
the fountain and chandelier were not so obvious.

“Human Sciences is
next up!” Arnold said with a spring in his step.  He turned to me after
the door was opened, and his eyebrows slid up on his forehead.  “Emily has
done an excellent job in here, too.”  Indeed she had.

The room was the
same as Leon’s as far as display.  The content of course was totally
different.  Instead of batteries and buttons, there were skeletons and
dummies.  A life-size male model stood in the center of the room. 
Aside from his plastic see-through stomach and rubber skin, he was very
authentic.  Other dummies were scattered throughout the room, displaying
various sections of human anatomy.  A poster of the food pyramid hung on
the far wall, and my mouth began to water again when I noticed it.  A
television sat on a wheeled stand in the far right corner.  I hoped the
videos the visitors watched were better than the uneducated dribble with which
I grew up.

“It’s funny,” I said
to the open room.  “I never knew Emily, I mean Dr.
Sellars
,
worked here.  She’s been my doctor for quite some time.”

“Well, she’s here as
a part-time volunteer.”

“You mean she did
all of this for free? 
All on her own time?”
 
Arnold nodded and smiled.  “How benevolent…” I said, trailing off.

“I try my best,” a
new voice said from behind me.  I turned and saw Dr.
Sellars
in the doorway, wearing that stunning dress and a smile.

“I had no idea you
volunteered here,” I said as Arnold locked the door and we moved on towards the
Animal Science exhibits.

“I enjoy it,” Emily
replied.  “I’ve always been a big advocate of community service.  I‘m
sure I mentioned it before, but you‘re always so pre-occupied when I have you
on the table.” 
She’s had you on her table, you dirty old man.

“We have to get
together one evening and discuss our charitable exploits.”  There was an
awkward silence then, and I saw Emily and Arnold share an uncomfortable
glance.  “Of course, with this place and your practice, I’m sure you’re
busy.  So, is this Animal Sciences?” I asked and quickly shoved my way
past Arnold and into the room.

I took a deep breath
in an attempt to stifle my embarrassment, and began to walk deeper into the
large room.  At the center stood a large circular fish tank with a great
assortment of aquatic life.  Creatures of all colors and shapes danced in
the clear water, seemingly excited by the late-night visitors.

The rest of the room
was semi-circular in shape, and filled with animal replications.  To my
right was a display of the animals of the sky.  Mock seagulls and eagles
and hawks were frozen in the painted blue sky of their display case. 
Above them all was a large pterodactyl.  To my left were animals of the
sea.  Fish, crabs, eels and octopi littered the exhibit, again with colors
as vibrant as their living counterparts in the center tank.  Directly in
front of me beyond the center tank, spread across the far arched wall, were the
land animals.  Three perfect environments were spread across the wall in
seamless unison.  A tropical rainforest housed frogs, lizards, and snakes.
 
A frozen
tundra homed a polar bear, a family of
seals, an arctic fox, and a wooly mammoth that was beautifully painted on the
back wall of the display.  An outstretched Sahara boasted
  a
lion and antelopes, and vultures in a large dead
tree.

Various other
exhibits were scattered throughout the room, which seemed larger than the rest,
no doubt due to the size of the massive stuffed animals.  I turned around
after I noticed I was still alone in the room to see Arnold and Emily having a
heated discussion.  I couldn’t hear it all; they had stepped out beyond
the doorframe.  I saw Emily’s finger come out and waggle in front of
Arnold’s nose.  He grabbed it and pushed it out of his face.  “Well
would you look at that!”  I screamed, a little louder than I had
intended.  I rushed towards the door and slowly crouched to one
knee.  The two turned slowly towards me, Emily biting her lower lip.