Soul Searching: Chapter 9
Florence Lovelock was the most talented, beautiful and popular girl in the graduating class. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, she was not immune to the charms of the attractive and accomplished Marvin Ridgeway. One day she found a note in her school bag. It read:
My goddess Florence!
Each waking moment I yearn for you! Your lovely image sweetens my lonely dreams!
Meet me in the old biology room tomorrow after the classes are over.
Yours longingly,
Marvin
It was, of course, Cedric who had composed the note, and, since it was his first ever attempt to allure a lady, he might be forgiven for the peculiar tone. Nonetheless, the smitten Florence was ecstatic when she found the note. She couldn’t sleep that night, and her thoughts were drifting on pink little clouds during her classes.
When the last class finally ended she had to force herself not to throw her books and bag on the floor and run to the old biology room. Instead she stayed in the classroom and slowly counted to a thousand before getting up on shaky legs and heading toward her rendezvous. It was the evening when, cradled by Marvin Ridgeway’s strong yet tender embrace and touched by his sensuous lips, she would finally get to confess her feelings to him.
Her amorous mood quickly evaporated when she entered the old biology room. Marvin was there, for sure, but next to him stood that strange little boy, Bobby Fulton. In his hands he held an empty baby-food jar with a smiling infant face and the text “mashed peas” on the label.
Marvin, usually so debonair and confident, seemed anxious and fidgety and kept looking in Bobby’s direction, as if waiting for instructions what to do.
“What is the meaning of this?” Florence demanded. “Is this some sort of joke? If so, know that I am not amused.”
She turned around to leave, but Marvin placed a grip around her torso and made some intricate maneuvers with his hands. When Florence collapsed lifeless in his arms, Bobby rushed forth with the baby-food jar.
“Is she dead?” Marvin gasped. “You made me kill Florence! We will both hang for this!”
“She’s not dead,” Bobby said, calm as an anaesthetized cucumber. “She’s in a state of hibernation from the shock of losing her soul. I have it here safely in the jar, and we’re only borrowing it for a couple of days. She should come to in a day or so, or at the very least when we return her soul to her.”
“But what do we do with her in the meantime? We can’t just leave her here.”
“Why do you think I chose the old biology room?” Bobby said. “Look at the sign by the mantle, Marvin. The Fire Marshall has condemned this fireplace. Nobody will build a fire here. We will just tuck Florence up the chimney for safekeeping.”
“What if we’re not here when she wakes up?” Marvin worried. “What then?”
“All the better,” Bobby said. “Florence won’t remember what happened. She’ll blame you for getting her in trouble, and she will assume that she suffered a blackout from too much to drink. Since she’s a smart girl, she will go to the School Nurse and get an excuse note for some feminine problem, and the matter will be out of the world. Much later she will remember everything that happened, but by then all of us will be long gone from Allerton. Now get busy, and start shoving her up the chimney.”
Bobby then turned to Cedric.
“Let’s see, who is next on the list? Looks like we’re meeting Madeleine von Zaffhausen in the defunct observatory. What should we write to her? How does ‘Empress of my heart’ sound?”