XXIV.
(April 1907)
There were secrets cankering at Grimm's.
One of Hosea's strictest rules was that no one — not Odd, not Rebekah, not any visitor— enter his offices on the second floor of the apothecary without his accompanying them. He kept the doors locked and carried the keys on a chain that hung from his belt loop. As a young boy Odd had been given the strap for merely testing the glass doorknob. He'd never been much curious about what was in those rooms, but something had gotten hold of him that spring. So Odd played sleuth.
Late one Saturday night, after he figured Hosea had left for the Shivering Timber, Odd crept out of his bedroom and went down to the second floor. He felt pure of heart but still his pulse quickened. At the bottom of the staircase he paused, tried to stay his quivering sight, and realized that one of the office doors was open. A swath of bright light fell on the hallway floor. Odd could hear voices.
He sat on the bottom step and looked again down the hallway. On his hands and knees he crawled halfway to the light.
"Good, now," he heard Hosea say. "Yes. Very good."
"As if there's a good or a bad," Rebekah said.
A flash of light came from the doorway, followed by the chemical smell of magnesium and potassium chlorate.
"Why are you such a contrary girl?" Hosea said.
"Why, indeed."
They were silent for a moment. Odd pushed himself against the wall, the light from the open door not ten feet down the hallway.
"Will you remind me to order more castor oil tomorrow? The Johnsons have near run us dry of it," Hosea said.
"Of course."
"Pull the peignoir off your shoulder. There, good."
"The Johnson kids have been near to death all winter long. Are they going to be all right?"
"The Missus Johnson prefers quackery to doctoring. I've given up on her."
There was another pause in their conversation. More flashing came through the doorway. Odd inched closer to the light on the floor.
"If you're going to keep me awake all night, you might consider uncorking a bottle of champagne. Anything to hurry this along."
"You're difficult enough sober. Inebriated you'd be impossible."
"Nonsense. If you gave me something bubbly to drink you might actually get a smile out of me."
There was another flash, then the sound of a match being lit, then a moment later Odd could smell Hosea's pipe smoke.
Now Odd was only an arm's length from the doorway. He felt unnaturally calm given the intrigue, but still he was not quite ready to show his face. He knew instinctively that the goings-on in that bright room were none of his business.
"Odd sure is turning wise, isn't he?" This was Rebekah speaking, and whatever edge had gotten hold of her voice was gone when she spoke of Odd.
"He's a fine boy."
"Do you want me to take this off ?"
"Yes, take it off. And put the boa around your neck. Straddle the arm of the divan."
Now there was more quiet, only the faint sound of Rebekah moving around the room. Odd slid so that his left shoulder was only a few inches from the doorjamb. If he'd extended his leg, his foot would have rested on the edge of the light on the floor.
Two or three full minutes passed without a word from either of them. All of the powers of his imagination failed Odd now. He'd never heard the word peignoir nor boa. He could not dream up what was happening in all that flashing light. He had always supposed that Hosea's medical equipment was stored in the rooms along this hallway, knew that one of the rooms two doors down was his surgery, the room in which Odd himself had been born. But even to his ten-year-old mind there was no logic that might explain a medical procedure of any sort that needed be conducted now, some hours after midnight.
"That'll get a rise from the perverts," Hosea said. He clucked his tongue, then added, "Hold your bubs. Push them together."
"Are we almost finished?"
"We'll be finished when I say so."
"Just hurry."
All Odd heard for the next five minutes was the click and snap of Hosea's camera and flash. When Hosea said, "That's enough for now," Odd jumped to his stockinged feet. He ran to the dark end of the hallway and crept quietly back upstairs. He slid into his bed, the flashing lights from Hosea's office stayed with him until he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Hosea was stirring the hash when Odd came down for breakfast the next morning.
"It's Sunday, right?" Odd said.
Hosea startled at the sound of Odd's voice, turned from the stovetop to see the lad. "There's tea in the kettle, boy-o. Grab a cup. Eggs and hash in a jiffy."