Chapter 18: Hide and Seek

Dr. Walters and his men went off to find Eddie and Laura Dell headed to her office to print up some signs to put up with the nets. She typed up a quick “Sorry for the inconvenience. We have a live artifact in the building that we are trying to preserve” and selected a professional font. She wasn’t sure how many nets they would be putting up, but she guessed at 10. As she stood by the printer waiting for her signs, Dr. Walters knocked on her half open door.

“Herbert, the signs are almost done printing. I’ll be right there and we can get the nets in position.”

“Don’t worry, dear. The young men I brought with me are explaining the process to Eddie and trying to decide the best places to put the nets. Feinmen is back in his office so we have a few minutes.”

“Good. I’m glad you came up with this idea and forced him into accepting it. I would hate for anything bad to happen to the bird.”

“The bird should be fine. How are you this morning? You look lovely.”

Laura Dell relaxed into a smile. “I’m great. Thanks again for going to the theatre with me.”

“Of course. I’ve always enjoyed the theatre. Or at least the outfit I get to wear to the theatre. I saw that they are doing The Beauty and the Beast next month. Perhaps we can go again.”

Laura Dell continued to smile, but thought about what could be different one month from now. She wasn’t sure how Herbert’s disease would progress. Would he be able to go to the theatre with her in a month? What about the month after that? Would his last week’s be spent in his home or the hospital instead of visiting her and Sue at the museum?

“I would love to go again with you.”

* * *

Laura Dell and Herbert headed back out into the museum and found Eddie and the men trying to decide where to put up the nets.

“Well Ms.Dell, since the bird seems to be your friend, where do you think we should put up the nets?” Eddie asked.

“Well I usually see him on Sue, but we can’t put the nets up there. Dr.Feinmen may have agreed to let us put the nets up, but if he sees them near Sue, he will flip out for sure. There are a few other areas that the bird has been. Why don’t we start there?”

“Lead the way,” Eddie said.

Laura Dell led them over to the corner Dr. Feinmen had last found feces in and they began discussing putting the net up there.

“Do we want to put it up in the corner?” Eddie asked the other men.

“Well we really want to put it in the flight path of the bird, so we would actually want to put it up a few feet out from the corner. Is that going to be a problem?”

Eddie exchanged a skeptical look with Laura Dell. Feinmen was not going to like it being out away from the wall.

One of the men caught the looks and said, “It wouldn’t be that noticeable. Just the poles will be out in the open, but they are skinny enough not to be too in the way. And we hope to have the bird caught within a few hours.”

“We can give it a shot then. If Dr. Feinmen is unhappy with the situation, we will change it” Laura Dell decided.

“Let’s get started then.” Eddie said.

Eddie watched as Dr. Walters’ colleagues began pulling equipment out of their duffle bags. He glanced over at Dr. Walters and said, “Herbert, why don’t you let us handle this? We won’t need more than three of us to get it set up.”

“I wouldn’t mind going to sit with Sue for a few minutes while the museum is still empty.”

“I can come with you if you like,” Laura Dell said.

“That’s okay dear. I brought my notebook with me today and have a few things I would like to get down. Besides, we wouldn’t want Dr. Feinmen to think you weren’t on top of things this morning. If he does give you all trouble, please come find me.”

Dr. Walters gave Laura Dell a mischievous wink and headed off towards Sue.

* * *

Ten minutes into the setup, Laura Dell and Eddie were no longer pretending they were necessary to putting up the nets. The professionals had everything under control for the moment, so they stepped over to the nearest bench to sit and chat.

“How are you and our friend Herbert doing these days Ms. Dell?”

Laura Dell laughed in embarrassment. “We’re good. Last night we went to the theatre.”

“So I heard.”

Laura Dell watched the men work, waiting for Eddie’s next question. When it didn’t come, she glanced over at him.

“Eddie, is there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

“I’m a little concerned for you Ms. Dell. I know how much you and Herbert enjoy each other’s company, but I’m worried that you are not prepared. You know that I consider Herbert a friend, but he isn’t the one who could get hurt in this relationship.”

“Dr. Walters is not going to do anything to hurt me, Eddie. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I do though. I’m not sure you understand what could happen in the next three months. Do you know how his cancer will be affecting him?”

“Eddie. I don’t want to talk about this. Herbert and I are not talking about that right now.”

“Ms. Dell you need to know what’s going to happen. He only has a few months left. He will begin to deteriorate.”

Laura Dell stood up, “Eddie. Right now, Herbert is concentrating on living. I am concentrating on living with him. I will deal with that when it comes. There is no need to depress ourselves by thinking about it now.” She stalked over to the men to check on their progress, not letting Eddie respond. They told her that they were about to put the net up.

“I’ll go get Dr. Walters then.”

* * *


Laura Dell made the walk to Sue last much longer than it should have. She needed a few minutes before she found Herbert.

She rounded the corner and saw him sitting on the bench writing in his notebook. She watched him for a moment willing herself not to see his sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. Instead she focused on his smile.

Laura Dell walked over and sat down next to him.

“What are you writing in there?”

He slid it closed, but answered her. “I like most people to believe that I am writing down wise and insightful thoughts about Sue and the wonderful artifacts in this museum. But that’s not usually the case.”

“What do you write then?”

“Still my thoughts, but mostly the foolish ones.” He winked at Laura Dell. “I discovered some time ago, that you can write down insightful thoughts about the past and history all you want, but if you can’t tie them to the present, it’s not worth much.”

“Will I ever get to read these foolish thoughts?” Laura Dell asked.

“Yes. Someday I will share them with you, but I believe you came in here to tell me we have our first net up. Correct?”

“I did. We need to see how it looks and put a sign up on the poles and then decide how many more we want to put up.”

“Let’s have a look then.”
* * *

Laura Dell couldn’t ignore that the poles were more in the way than she thought they would be. They advised her to go ahead and let them set up 3 other nets in places the bird had been and then they would try to spook it into flying into one of them. Laura Dell told them to act quickly. She didn’t want Dr. Feinmen to intrude before they had the chance to get the other nets up. This time she and Eddie helped and 30 minutes later they had all the nets set up.

“So now we have to scare the bird into flying?” Laura Dell asked.

“That’s right. We can just spread out and try to find it and spook it.”

Laura Dell watched as Eddie and the other men began moving out through the museum. Dr. Walters hadn’t moved yet.

“Laura Dell, let’s be on a team together. You can spot the bird and I’ll scare it by dropping my cane, like team hide and seek. How does that sound?”

“That sounds lovely.” Laura Dell looped her arm through his and started walking.