After a tense moment of carefully studying the bone, Dr. Barnabus finally cleared his throat and declared, “Nope.”
“Nope what?” Elle asked, looking confused.
“Nope as in, ‘No, I don’t think it’s a fossil,’” he said.
“What?” Elle was crestfallen. “That can’t be right! Have another look.”
Elle swallowed a lump in her throat as the bald man blinked at her from behind an inch-thick magnifying lens. She had finally got a moment alone with Dr. Barnabus in his book-strewn office, but his news was not what she had been expecting. She had been dreaming of this moment all day long—she could still picture it all--the bone would turn out to be from some amazing creature never before discovered (later to be christened the “Ellesaurus”) and would replace the Dead Sea Scrolls in fame and fortune, and she, as its discoverer, would be declared an honorary paleontologist and probably be knighted by the Queen of England.
Now it turned out that it wasn’t even a bone after all. Great—watch—this was turning out to be like the Feline Excrement Incident all over again.
“I don’t think it’s even an actual bone,” he said matter-of-factly, studying the little bone in front of him.
“But—but it looks like a bone!” she stammered, master of stating the obvious. “You aren’t looking at it closely enough!” She was too distraught to realize that she was getting desperate. It was dim in here, maybe he hadn’t got a good enough look at it —besides, who did this guy think he was?! He probably wasn’t even a real paleontologist!! She had entered the denial stage (after passing quickly through the overly-confident stage, the terrible truth stage, and right before the angrily crying stage).
Just when she was just about to demand to see his credentials, he said, “I know--it’s very interesting. It looks just like a bone-- I can see why you made the mistake. But it’s not -- it’s made out of some other material,” he peered again at the bone. “Maybe plastic? No that’s not quite right…silicone, maybe…?” he drifted off.
But Elle wasn’t listening. She was descending into a dark mood, stuffed with all the emotions that she’d been pushing away for the last day as she dreamed about the bone and all its potential possibilities. Her less-than-stellar grades, her daily struggle to survive gym and of course—her mother—all of it came crashing back on her like a tsunami of anxiety and depression.
“Of course, I’d have to run some tests to be sure, but it really wouldn’t be worth it—seems like its plastic to me, Elle,” he said and put the bone back into her hands.
Elle looked at the tiny, delicate object cupped in the palm of her hand. So it had been a fake all along--a plastic toy that had probably dropped out of someone’s Happy Meal. Her hands began to tremble.
“I could throw it away for you,” he offered, reaching out for it.
“No—I want to keep it,” Elle said, reflexively pulling her hand back. His offer was probably totally benign, but some impulse made her recoil from his outstretched hand. She shoved the bone in her pocket.
There was something special about the thing; she couldn’t get the thought out of her head. Even if the so-called “expert” paleontologist (she still had her doubts) had said that it was just some penny’s worth of junk, Elle still felt that it was important.
She somberly thanked Dr. Barnabus and trudged slowly back up the old staircase with such solemnity to make a funeral procession seem like a romp in the park. She tried to remind herself to Think Positive!:
-It might not be a real bone, but maybe she had just discovered a new species of plastic dinosaurs!
Oh just give it up, Elle, she thought, exasperated at herself as she found her way back to the entrance.
Back in the museum’s main entrance, a frazzled Mr. Johnson was doing his best to round up a crowd of rowdy children. His comb-over was now standing up at an odd angle and his large glasses were askew. He was frantically consulting his clipboard with a nervous tick.
Juan materialized out of the blue at her elbow. “Oh, there you are---where did you go?” he asked. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
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“Bathroom,” she said automatically, staring at the floor, running through the conversation she had just had.
“For an hour?” He asked. “Wow. And I thought my sister took a long time in the bathroom in the morning.”
“I…uh… got lost,” Elle mumbled.
“How could you get lost in the bathroom?” He asked incredulously.
“Look, it’s bigger than you would think, OK?” Elle said defensively, as his dubious expression melted into a smile. He had a huge grin, and incredibly white teeth. She scowled, “I don’t ask you what you do in the bathroom.”
“That’s because I usually don’t spend all afternoon in there,” Juan shot back.
“…Look--just because we’re Field Trip Buddies doesn’t mean we’re best friends or anything. You’re getting a little too personal with these questions.”
“ Ok, ok,-sorry for being personal. It’s none of my business how you spend your time.”
“That’s right. Totally uncalled for. In fact, I don’t think we can be Buddies anymore,” Elle sniffed, superiorly. Then, suddenly suspicious as she thought back to the weird incidence in the Egyptian section, she asked, “Hey—by the way, have you been following me around?”
“You mean in the girls’ bathroom?” Juan asked, the grin resurfacing.
“No—I mean…oh, never mind…” Elle trailed off. Just then, somebody in the lobby caught her attention. He seemed to be catching the attention of most of the museum staff in the lobby, as well, especially the women. One woman stared at him so intently, she walked right into a glass door. Even Mr. Johnson noticed him, and it looked like he was taking mental notes on fashion tips.
His face was stunning. Elle thought the man looked like a model or movie star. He was nonchalantly leaning against a marble pillar with hands in the pockets of tight black jeans. He was wearing a biker outfit, black boots, black jacket and chaps with black leather fringe. Dark sunglasses were perched on top of shoulder-length, dark hair. His eyes scanned the hordes of kids wandering in the lobby.
“Who is that guy?” Elle asked, nodding at the man.
At that moment, Ms. Schmidt sauntered up to the strange character and started speaking, but they were too far away for Elle to hear what she was saying.
“You mean, you don’t know him?” Juan said, following her gaze. A troubled look replaced the goofy grin.
“No, of course not,” Elle said. “Why would I know him? He didn’t come here with the class—How’d he get in? I thought the museum was supposed to be closed to the public today.”
“I don’t know. He just turned up a while ago. Hmm. That’s weird…” Juan trailed off.
“What’s weird?” Elle asked keeping her eyes on the man. “You mean, about him?”
“Well…” he hesitated, “I don’t know if I should tell you… since we aren’t Buddies anymore…” Juan said slowly, faking consternation.
“That’s not funny,” Elle said, focusing her scowl back on Juan.
“Well, it’s the sort of thing I would only tell a Buddy…” Juan said, shrugging. “Too bad we aren’t Buddies.”
“Fine, fine, we’re Buddies” Elle said quickly, rolling her eyes as Juan flashed a smile, “Happy now? Now what was so strange?”
“Well, he asked where you went,” Juan said, suddenly serious, glancing slide-long at Elle.
“He asked for me?” Elle asked, perplexed. “That’s crazy…why was he asking about me?”
“I dunno. He just showed up, stood around and watched us for a while and then after you disappeared…I mean, “went to the bathroom,” or whatever,” he said with finger quotes. “He came over and asked where you went. I just assumed you guys knew each other.”
“What did you tell him?” Elle asked quickly, ignoring the jibe.
“I just said I didn’t know,” Juan said, looking at Elle with a mixture of concern and annoyance.
Elle was totally confused. Why did that strange man want to know where she was? And how did he even know her?
“You could have told me where you were going, you know…I wouldn’t have said anything,” Juan finished. He looked slightly hurt. Elle glanced at him, feeling slightly ashamed of Operation: Lose the New Kid.
When she glanced back, the strange man was gone. Ms. Schmidt walked back towards Mr. Johnson. Elle scanned the crowds of students, but there was no trace of the stranger anywhere.
At that moment, Mr. Johnson started ineffectually clapping his hands and calling for the class to line up. Elle dejectedly followed the line of boisterous youth as they were ushered onto the waiting buses. Once the bus was jammed to overflowing, Mr. Johnson gave the nod and they finally started the raucous journey back to school.
The spit wads were flying with extra gusto, as the class released their pent-up energy. Being forced to remain quiet at the museum had unleashed a tidal wave of energy. One child, however, was very quiet on the ride back. Elle didn’t even join in taunting Mr. Johnson behind his back.
When she got home, she walked dejectedly up the driveway and stomped up the porch stairs. She yanked the front door open so hard, it ricocheted off the wall and hit her on the backside as she entered. But she didn’t even notice.
In the living room she deftly side-stepped a very excited grandfather who awaited her return.
“How was it? How was it? Did you see the astronomy section? Oh! Oh! Did you see the piece of rock that I brought back from the ’69 Moon Landing?” he asked, bouncing on his toes and swinging his cane.
“No, Grandpa. That was Neil Armstrong. You never went to the moon.”
“Well, that was the official landing….You know, there was another landing…” he began, raising an eyebrow conspiratorially.
“No! Just stop, Grandpa! STOP IT! It’s not funny,” Elle snapped angrily, as she grabbed the stairway railing and glared at her grandfather. A switch had flipped in her brain, propelled by all the tiredness and disappointment. She could feel her anger quickening, ready to lash out.
“Ok, Elle. I’m sorry,” her grandfather said quietly.
She was instantly sorry she had yelled. She turned away and trudged upstairs, but couldn’t stop seeing her grandpa’s confused and hurt expression every time she blinked.
Locking her bedroom door, Elle plopped face down onto her bed. After a moment, she stood up, reached into her backpack and pulled out the piece of tissue with the bone carefully wrapped inside.
Elle was unable to put a name to the overwhelming emotion she was feeling. She had wasted too much time and energy on this piece of trash. How could she have let herself think that she had found something important? For the last 24 hours, she had put all of her hopes into the bone and ignored the problems and hurt in her life. As a result, when the truth came out about the bone, her other fears were unmasked and she was left holding only…junk.
She walked over to her trashcan and held the bone above it, ready to toss it in. Looking at the bone…or plastic…or whatever….she moved it back and forth, watching the light gently dance along its slim, delicate surface.
For a moment, the light reminded her of her mother’s flashing green eyes, and she could almost hear her mother’s voice, “It’s special because you found it.” For just a moment, she felt warm all over.
Elle stepped away from the garbage can and let the lid close. She carefully set the bone on her desk. The voice was gone. The feeling of warmth was gone. She found a black ribbon, and securely tied the bone in the middle, then tied the two ends together. She put the loosely tied ribbon around her neck and tucked the small bone under her shirt, then she somberly pulled out her math homework.