No one had much of an appetite at dinner, and even Petra couldn\u2019t bring herself to push more food onto the glum crew brooding around the table.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI suppose,\u201d said Michael-Dan, poking his peas into a neat line, \u201cthat I can get a job cutting hair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re too young to get a job,\u201d Bea pointed out. \u201cWe all are. We just have to figure out a way to keep you in college.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAnd in a house,\u201d added Nola.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSurely there\u2019s something,\u201d said Mr. Professor Flannery, reassuringly. \u201cThere are other scholarship funds, and other grants. We\u2019ll just need to explore the options!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Mrs. Professor Flannery. \u201cNew Stirling University was practically built by the Mervin Frostly Foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGordy took a swig of iced tea, landed his glass back on the table with a bit too much force, and said, in a completely new and lackluster tone, \u201cThanks Mervin Frostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
—–<\/p>\n
\tBea had scarcely made a dent in her waffles the next morning, when the doorbell rang again.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOh, yes yes yes!\u201d huffed Petra, rushing to the door, past Michael-Dan making tea, and Nola putting her plate in the sink.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHello!\u201d said a perky female reporter. \u201cI\u2019m here from the New Stirling Divulge and Dispatch News, reporting on Alumni Weekend! Am I correct that this building provides housing for a special group of \u2018Smart Kids?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou there Miss!\u201d said the reporter, not waiting for an answer to her first question. She barged into the house, past Petra, and into the dining room, waving a recording device in Bea\u2019s general direction. \u201cJust how<\/em> smart are you? Do you feel this \u2018Smart Kid\u2019 group house concept should be reproducible in universities nation-wide?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe reporter hovered expectantly, waving the recorder toward Bea with her left hand, while fumbling to unwrap a koo-bar with her right.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cActually, I\u2019m not a particularly smart kid,\u201d replied Bea, as she critically eyed the reporter\u2019s koo-bar, \u201cbut I know better than to eat those.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNonsense,\u201d rebutted the reporter. \u201cThese are totally nutritious.\u201d She took a large bite, then continued to question Bea, completely unconcerned that her mouth was otherwise occupied.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMish,\u201d she said, \u201cHow jid\u2019ju ged admidded<\/em> to da shkool? You mush be aboud…ten?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThirteen,\u201d replied Bea. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOh,\u201d said the reporter, pausing to swallow before turning rapidly to Odin, who was fiddling with the connections between his computer and his smartphone.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHow about you? Are you smart?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf I succeed in tweaking this phone,\u201d Odin replied, \u201cto manage my music composing software, I shall consider myself at least adequate.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBea pointed through the doorway, to the living room, where Gordy was coming down the stairs. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you ask the kid with the flaming red hair? He can invent things that fly, and he\u2019s addicted to koo-bars.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThen she noticed Kitty, coming out of the powder room with her hair doubled over her hand so she wouldn\u2019t step on it. \u201cOr Kitty over there,\u201d Bea continued. \u201cShe won a prize in organic chemistry last year, and she\u2019s totally addicted to koo-bars too! You\u2019ll have so much to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith the reporter thus distracted, Bea hurried into the kitchen, deposited her plate in the sink, and headed out the front door. So many things were going wrong all at once\u2014her family and friends losing their house, Scalmo trying to sabotage Hortensia\u2019s research, koohoo being illegally exported by Prince Nerl, and half of New Stirling completely hooked on koo-bars. It was getting weirder and weirder.<\/p>\n \n\tBea vaulted over Sherlock the cat, and ran down the marble steps thinking the one thought which had suddenly pushed its way to the forefront of her mind\u2014find Mervin Frostly.<\/em> If he valued Hort\u2019s research enough to send Dierdre Fidelius to check up on it, why would he cut the money off now? If he cared so much about New Stirling University that he\u2019d build a whole new science building, then why would he suddenly deny scholarship funding to some of the brightest kids in the school?<\/p>\n \n\tIt made no sense at all. Was Frostly off his rocker? Utterly senile? Was he even a real person?<\/p>\n \n\tBill was leading Bob and a cart full of items chosen especially for Alumni Weekend down Crotchett Street. Bouquets of flowers, fruit for snacking, and…a basket full of koo-bars.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBill!\u201d exclaimed Bea, catching sight of what appeared to be full-sized wings folded beneath Bob\u2019s leather harness. \u201cCan you please stop feeding him koo-bars? Look at him!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBill shrugged. \u201cI know. I had to move him to the biggest stall in the stable. Room to stretch out and all after being harnessed all day.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOh geesh,\u201d said Bea. \u201cNevermind for now.\u201d She had to focus on finding Frostly. Where would such a person even be? With Dierdre who works for him,<\/em> she reminded herself, pulling a slightly crumpled business card out of her jacket pocket.<\/p>\n \n\tFrostly Enterprises,<\/em> it read, Timely Tower, 5th Floor.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tOf course!<\/em> thought Bea. Frostly lives or works…or maybe both, in the clocktower!<\/em> She\u2019d never heard of its being used for anything else. And someone like Mervin Frostly could probably see the entire campus of New Stirling University from there.<\/p>\n \n\tBea ran across Crotchett Street in front of Tylo\u2019s, then cut through an alley that separated the University\u2019s art building from a grocery store next door. Behind the art building was a small park, furnished with play equipment for children and decorated with a colorful mural created by University art students. On the swingset, a little boy with two fresh and pearly horns on his head was out-pumping a little girl, whose striped tail was zipping back and forth behind her as she swung.<\/p>\n \n\tBea paused, for only a few seconds, to take it in. Children with horns and tails? Well, why not? Bean-Tek had obviously made some very hasty assumptions about koohoo.<\/p>\n \n\tThe trash can at the edge of the park was nearly full, mostly with bright green koo-bar wrappers, and nearby on a bench, a mom was splitting her attention between the children on the swing, a take-out cup from Tylo\u2019s, and a half-eaten koo-bar.<\/p>\n \n\tBea veered, for a split-second, in the direction of the mom on the bench, thinking to ask her if she was completely out of her mind to keep feeding her children koo-bars now that they were turning into worse freaks than Kitty and Gordy. But then she glanced ahead and caught sight of Timely Tower looming over the buildings across the street. No time to stop now. Frostly had to be confronted.<\/p>\n \n\tBea crossed Heinz Street, then hurried through a brick archway into a mid-campus green where the clock tower\u2014Timely Tower\u2014stood squarely in the center of the University district of New Stirling.<\/p>\n \n\tOne solitary door provided the entrance to the tower\u2019s square brick base, and above the squat lowest level, the narrower tower rose precariously high, until it was topped with two wider levels, fully surrounded by windows. Finally, an enormous clock sat under a pinnacle, which resembled an upside-down ice cream cone.<\/p>\n \n\tThe clock struck ten with a deep rich chime. Bea trotted across the open green surrounding the tower, climbed three stairs, and pulled the door open.<\/p>\n \n\tShe blinked as she entered the dimly lit room. At first she thought she\u2019d walked into someone\u2019s stuffy living room, but soon she noticed that there was a desk, and the desk was topped by a telephone. A heavy, black, rotary dial telephone next to an old-fashioned table lamp, glowing red and gold through its stained-glass shade. Beside the lamp was a name-plate that read \u201cMrs. Quigg.\u201d<\/em> In the back of the room, behind the desk, a short, plump lady with feathery gray hair pulled into a top-knot on her head was fussing with an electric tea-kettle and a teacup on a silver tray.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHello,\u201d said the lady to Bea. \u201cDid you bring today\u2019s paper? Our usual<\/em> paperboy comes so late most days.\u201d She heaved a quick sigh and poured hot water into the teacup.<\/p>\n \n\tBea thought quickly. She hadn\u2019t even considered the possibility of a receptionist or a plan for getting to Frostly\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYes…\u201d said Bea. \u201cI mean, no. Actually, that\u2019s exactly why I\u2019m here. To discuss Mr. Frostly\u2019s delivery preferences with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMrs. Quigg cocked her head and pursed her lips.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd to renew Mr. Frostly\u2019s subscription,\u201d added Bea. \u201cTo the newspaper. May I see Mr. Frostly?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWell,\u201d said Mrs. Quigg. \u201cI already know the answer to those questions. He prefers it in the morning, and yes, of course he\u2019ll renew.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBea was scrambling for a better reason to request seeing Frostly personally, when Mrs. Quigg supplied it for her.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut would you mind taking Mr. Frostly his tea?\u201d asked Mrs. Quigg. \u201cI\u2019m just in the middle of a cross-stitch row, and I don\u2019t want to lose count. It\u2019s for the office,\u201d she added in a sneaky whisper. \u201cA picture of the clock tower.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t“Sure,” replied Bea, afraid to appear too eager. “but then I’ve got to get going.”<\/p>\n \n\t“Thank you dear,” said Mrs. Quigg. “It’s just there, on the tray. You’ll probably want to use the elevator.”<\/p>\n \n\tMrs. Quigg gestured toward the middle of the reception room, where an impossibly narrow spiral staircase wound around an even more impossibly narrow column, at the bottom of which was positioned a skinny elevator door.<\/p>\n \n\t“That’s it dear,” she said, as Bea picked up the silver tray and approached the narrow door. “The black button.”<\/p>\n \n\tWith a push of the black button, the elevator door clanked open like an iron trap, and Bea stepped carefully into a space the size of a phone booth, which was encircled in horizontal metal bars. She felt like a canary in a cage. Beside the door, which now clanked shut with a shudder, was a panel containing three buttons. One labeled “emergency,” one labeled “executive,” and one with nothing but a star embossed above it.<\/p>\n \n\t“‘Executive’ then,” said Bea, and pushed the center button. The cage rattled, and chains\u2014visible above her head through the bars\u2014clink-clink-clinked<\/em> like an old roller coaster as the elevator rose through a long but empty stretch of tower. The spiral staircase was visible, winding around the bars, and you could have grabbed someone on the way up at great risk to your fingers, had there been someone on the stairs, but Bea kept her hands on the tray and waited for the elevator car to jolt to a stop in the center of what was clearly a very elegantly appointed office, outfitted with a sleek computer and a comfortable leather sofa.<\/p>\n \n\tBea stepped out uncertainly as the elevator door clanked open, but there was no one in the office. She took a step toward the desk and saw the name-plate: Dierdre Fidelius.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tNot Frostly’s office,<\/em> Bea said to herself. He must be one higher, at the star.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tShe stepped back into the elevator, hoping Dierdre was not hiding around any corners, and pushed the star button.<\/p>\n \n\tThe elevator repeated its clanging and clinking, and this time rose only a bit before opening again.<\/p>\n \n\tThis room, like the one below, was well lit by windows, but not even a little bit sleek or professional, like Dierdre’s level. But if this was Mervin Frostly’s office, then he sure as heck existed, because the room into which Bea now stepped was chock full of someone’s<\/em> stuff.<\/p>\n \n\tSomeone who really liked, among other things, dippy birds. Drinking birds, many of which looked homemade, were swinging perpetually on their axes on shelves which were equally cluttered with Newton’s cradles, assorted scales, and microscopes. In one quadrant of the room, overstuffed bookshelves squeezed between windows through which several telescopes were aimed. And on the floor in the opposite quadrant, scrutinizing a glass-walled ant farm on his hands and knees, was a man.<\/p>\n \n\tMervin Frostly turned so that he was seated on the floor, facing Bea.<\/p>\n \n\t“Why Mrs. Quigg,” he said with a grin, “you’re looking fresh today!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No one had much of an appetite at dinner, and even Petra couldn\u2019t bring herself to push more food onto the glum crew brooding around the table. \u201cI suppose,\u201d said Michael-Dan, poking his peas into a neat line, \u201cthat I can get a job cutting hair.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re too young to get a job,\u201d Bea pointed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}