Quite a long speech for Victor. I understood why he had only let two staff members in on the secret. "What do you want me to do?" I asked.
"Work with Susie to coordinate the unpacking and storing of the Celtic artifacts when they arrive. I would like a separate database to start with, just until we are familiar with everything; later, it can be merged with the main one. In the meantime, I am planning to hire a computer security person to help us close some of the loopholes that made Ginny's operation so easy."
"Is it okay if I get a little help from Carl?" I asked. "He has more experience with the database categories."
"Certainly," answered Victor. Then, reverting to his usual hands-off manner, he added, "The three of you can work it out."
I was dying to ask him about the curatorial position, but something made me hesitate. Victor would choose his own timing. Instead, spotting Ellen's name on a stack of pre-prints on the corner of his desk, I said "Hey, what's this?"
Victor looked pleased. "Ellen got her article on fresco conservation accepted for publication in the Journal of International Conservation. Go ahead, take one."
I picked one up, thinking as I did so that this was probably what Ellen had been hiding. Unlike Carl, Ellen didn't like to boast about her achievements until they were accomplished facts.
I walked through the Egyptian galley, stopping to check the mummy in its new case. Next to the mummy case was the Campbell head, standing on its box and waiting for final installation. The haunting, reconstructed face would shine under its own spotlight. Everything seemed to be in place, at least for the moment.
Ruefully, I remembered how Marion used to complain that the artifacts got up and walked around at night. Maybe they did, but this time, they had had help from an unscrupulous registrar with expensive habits.
? ? ? ?
Later that evening, the staff made a discovery that threatened to halt my exhibit installation.
The Campbell head was too large for its case.
"How did that happen?" Ellen was bewildered. I tried again to adjust the Plexi-glass cover so that it would fit the base.
"I don't know!" I groaned. I leaned wearily against the wall.
"I think that wall's still tacky," said Ellen apprehensively.
I peeled myself off and turned around for inspection.
"Yup-you look like an Egyptian tomb painting," she said with a hint of a laugh.
I looked down. My ancient gray sweatshirt was now decorated with splotches of Egyptian blue.
"Thanks to you, Lisa, that wall needs a touch-up." Ellen signaled to the student paint crew at the other end of the gallery.
"I'm thrilled," I was sarcastic. "Susie! Can we swap cases with you?" I'd just noticed that the case next to Nefertiti looked a bit too large for the famous bust.
Susie trotted over with a tape measure. Quickly she took the dimensions and turned to me triumphantly. "You're in luck!" she announced. At my beckoning, two assistants carried the other base and plastic cover over to us.
"What next?" said Ellen who looked tempted to lean against the same wall that had marked me.
"The sarcophagus." I motioned them over to the corner where the large coffin was leaning. "We have to mount it over there," I pointed to a long case that was open in front. Carefully the three of us lifted the beautifully decorated coffin and maneuvered it into place.
"Well! At least nothing fell off this time," Ellen said with a smile, reminding me of the Khafre disaster.
I tugged at my Walgreen's hair clip as I looked around. Susie said, "What about the labels for the burial customs section?"
"Labels," I repeated, like a sleepwalker. I picked up the stack on a nearby chair and started placing them on the floor near each case where they belonged. "What the..."
I was staring in horror at one of the printed cards. Quickly I checked two more. Susie and Ellen crowded up behind me. The headers were out of alignment with the explanatory text, making every label look peculiar-and very unprofessional.
Susie took over. "I'll take them back to Stuart and we'll fix them. I bet it will take only twenty minutes." She looked at her watch, which showed quarter to eleven. "You two take a break." Susie bustled away, red-gold curls bobbing over her tasteful Gap sweatshirt.
I had never been so grateful for Susie's efficiency. I sank down onto the hard floor and Ellen joined me. We ignored the students painting the wall, needlessly supervised by Carl. Carl, who had bagged the only chair and was slumped in it, looked like he needed a cigarette.
Ellen gave me one of her old impish grins. "Hey, it's not even midnight yet! We have scads of time."
I smiled in spite of myself. "Just like old times in Philly, right? Up all night, labels hot off the press..."
"Walls still wet when the guests arrive in their tuxes and backless dresses..."
"Champagne flowing, served by zombie-like staff waiters who haven't slept in three days..."
"And who all want to throttle each other." Ellen stretched out flat on the floor.
Sitting cross-legged, I thought about the events of the past week. "Ellen, I don't think I thanked you for coming with me to the hospital-or calling James."
"Yes, you did-twice." Ellen stretched like a cat.
I looked at her seriously. "You were wonderful."
Ellen looked smug. "Hey, look, here comes your savior bearing new labels." She poked me. "Get up, girl. We have miles to go before we sleep."
CHAPTER 41
"LOOK UPON THIS BODY AS YOU DRINK AND ENJOY YOURSELF, FOR YOU WILL BE JUST LIKE IT WHEN YOU DIE." (HERODOTUS)
Bronze, green, gold-my new silk dress shimmered and swayed with me when I walked. It made me feel like royalty. I picked up a champagne flute and moved over to the buffet, enjoying the soft swish of silk. The catering company had really outdone themselves with a whole smoked salmon, a cornucopia of little rolls and delectable fruit kebabs. Flowers carved out of carrots and radishes decorated the spread, and the effect was one of sinful abundance.
James appeared at my elbow. He looked edible in a borrowed tuxedo with a silver vest.
"Happy?"
"Relieved is more like it. I can hardly believe this exhibit opened at all."
"Hey, do you know what I just saw?"
"No, what?"
"A purple balloon tied to the penis of one of those big Greek statues."
I giggled. I was sure Mrs. Powell's ladies hadn't done that, but the students were certainly capable of having a little fun.
"Any time you want to decorate me that way..." James whispered in my ear, causing me to push him in the chest.
"Down, boy! At least until after this reception."
James pretended to get serious. "Well Ms. Donahue, what's next on the agenda?"
"You mean after the weekend? Well, I guess we'll go right back to cataloguing artifacts and packing boxes. Until we hire a new registrar. But I'm going to take a few days off and..."
"Lisa!" Susie glided over, wearing a strapless black gown that clung to all the right places. "You look stunning. And how did you get your hair to stay up?" This was an old joke, since whenever I tried to twist my long locks out of the way, half of it fell in my face.
"Lacquered in place. By the hairdresser who does all the high school prom 'dos.'" We shared a giggle and Susie turned to James.
"Well, Doctor Barber," she said with a seductive smile, "We certainly owe you one for looking after Lisa."
"You must be Susie." He bowed. "Rescuing damsels in distress is always a pleasure," he added with a suggestive lift of one eyebrow. Susie laughed and I rolled my eyes at both of them. Then Susie, spotting an unattached male, moved on.
James and I drifted over to the tomb entrance where Victor was holding court with some of the museum's major donors and the Dean. To my surprise, he turned at our approach and extended a hand.
"Here's the lady who's responsible for the mummy exhibit and that great story in the Globe. Lisa Donahue, meet Edward Currier and Harry Elliot."
; I introduced James, and we all exchanged pleasant inanities about the exhibit while avoiding any mention of last Sunday's events.
Victor drew me aside, and James moved discreetly out of earshot.
"You have done the museum great service this semester, Lisa, bringing the mummy research into the limelight, not to mention solving this mess with the database. I think it's time you were made a real curator-with a raise. We'll settle the details when you get back from your break."
I was floored. "Thank you! I, um, I mean...that's very welcome news," I stammered.
Victor smiled at me-an anemic smile, but the best he could do. He nodded dismissal to me and beamed his attention on another donor, leaning slightly inwards like a fishing heron.
I could hardly believe it. I had the job! We had all felt sure Victor would make his decision soon, but I certainly hadn't expected it tonight. A sweet and unfamiliar giddiness took over. My face felt flushed, but it didn't matter. My whole body felt light. I wanted to shout, dance around, and spin my dress wildly in a huge circle.
Instead, I looked for James, but someone tapped me on the shoulder before I spotted him.
It was Ellen. She was gloriously attired in a short emerald green dress and killer high heels. Her eyes sparkling with mischief, she waited for me to comment.
"You look...drop dead gorgeous."
"So do you. And James looks divine in his tux." Ellen was clearly curious. "Did Victor just give you some good news or something?"
I whispered in her ear.
"Fantastic!" Ellen cried. She hugged me. "You deserve it. Now, I have to check the champagne supply. Victor doesn't trust the caterer to keep the booze flowing fast enough. Catch you later."
Ellen was almost at the caterer's table when Carl stopped her. Carl was looking pretty spiffy tonight, too, I noticed. And I knew he had inhaled a fair amount of champagne. I grinned as I watched Carl caper around, imitating something or someone, and Ellen laughing at his antics. He would be okay. He'd been hinting that he was about to accept a job at the museum in Flagstaff, a bigger job with more money that anything he could get here. With such an offer in hand, he'd be less likely to resent my good fortune-I hoped.
Where was James? I spied him halfway down the gallery, near the mummy. I hurried to his side.
Together we gazed at the diminutive figure in its brand new case. The mummy glittered as light from the single fixture overhead bounced off the gold lozenges framing its painted face.
Our eyes moved to the painted designs on the body. Nut, the sky goddess, spread her wings over the torso, protecting the child inside from evil forces. Over the mummy's feet stood the underworld king Osiris, saved from extinction by his sister-wife Isis who had made him into the first mummy.
Just behind us was the pedestal with the reconstructed head and a bolded caption: "He was the son of G. Ateius, a Roman wine merchant..." I looked fondly at the face of the little boy, the one I'd met in a dream.
Thank you. You will live forever. At least in my lifetime.
"You know," said James. "I really like this little fellow. He's really quite attractive with all that gold and red paint. And that article we're writing is going to be really good."
"I owe him one," I began.
James turned to me. "What do you mean?" he asked, as a student waiter appeared at his elbow with a tray of full champagne and fizzy water.
We each took a flute of bubbly but I just held mine. The triumph running through my veins was better than any champagne.
James noticed I wasn't drinking anything. "Tell me," he said.
"It was the false mummy portrait that really tipped me off," I said. "That was the key to discovering the extra numbering system and the second database. And..." I paused for effect, enjoying the look of anticipation on his face.
James waited.
"Victor just told me I have a new job," I said.
James laughed aloud. "I knew it! Madame Curator!"
"Yes."
I raised my glass to his.
Notes and Acknowledgments:
The mummy investigation is based on actual research conducted at the University of Illinois and published in my non-fiction account, The Virtual Mummy (University of Illinois Press, 2003). Chapter headings are actual quotes from Egyptian sources and my own phrases based on ancient burial rituals.
Although the characters are all figments of my imagination, the fictional Boston Museum bears a suspicious resemblance to a former attic museum at the University of Illinois.
Resources:
For readers who would like to pursue the fascinating topic of mummies, I offer some of my favorite books and web sites below.
Books:
Sarah Wisseman The Virtual Mummy (University of Illinois Press 2003). Christine el Mahdy, Mummies, Myth, and Magic (Thames and Hudson 1989). Salima Ikram and Aidan Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity (Thames and Hudson 1998).
Bound For Eternity Page 24
