by C T Cassana
Lisa examined her, trying to detect a hint of suspicion in her eyes. But Miss Rotherwick was as calm and obliging as always, although her expression and tone of voice seemed rather more friendly than usual.
“Where were we?” said the woman, adjusting her spectacles. “Ah, yes! Sir Horatio Conwell. He was a great man; the symbol of a great era, which, I’m afraid, is now long gone.”
Lisa and Charlie listened to her while dipping the cakes in the hot chocolate that she had served them.
“Horatio was born into a family of very high standing. His father was a wealthy Welsh businessman, a very warm and affectionate man who tried to ensure his family’s happiness. And from early childhood, Horatio stood out for his intellectual faculties, although he never showed as much interest in his father’s business. His true passion was ancient history, so he went to Oxford and, thanks to his remarkable talent and brilliant academic record, he was admitted to Merton College, one of Oxford’s most prestigious colleges.”
The woman rose from the table and picked up a book with a black binding on one of the bookshelves. “Colleges of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh,” Charlie read on the cover. Miss Rotherwick opened it up on the table and turned the pages slowly, as if she wanted to illustrate her story with images of all she was telling them.
“It is Oxford’s oldest college and is still an absolute jewel of a place today,” she went on, while she showed them pictures of the college in the book. “Although they have built several extensions over the years, it still has many of the original medieval buildings.”
The children listened attentively to the woman as she spoke. She was as good a storyteller as their mother, although Charlie couldn’t help but find fault with her frequent habit of veering off topic.
“This is the Mob Quad,” she said, pointing to a picture in the book, “the central courtyard that leads to the chapel and one of the jewels of the college. The other is without doubt the library, the oldest in all of Oxford, although many people mistakenly believe that it is the Bodleian.”
Lisa suddenly felt a rush of blood to her head. Miss Rotherwick was unraveling the life of Professor Conwell, but also the clues in the poem that she herself had translated the previous afternoon. She looked at Charlie out of the corner of her eye; her brother had also realized that the oldest of all libraries, the one alluded to in the poem, was the library at Merton College. But unlike Lisa, Charlie was perfectly calm, quite certain that Miss Rotherwick had no idea why this information was so important to them.
“Well, it does look like a nice college,” remarked the boy. “But I like the one in the Harry Potter films more.”
“That’s Christ Church College,” explained Miss Rotherwick.
“Maybe you could show me the pictures,” said Charlie, “when we’ve finished looking at this one.”
Lisa took a deep breath and tried to relax. Her brother was handling the situation very naturally, and their conversation sounded like a simple chat about colleges in Oxford.
Miss Rotherwick went on turning the pages as she explained the history and architecture of Merton. An aerial view, another showing the whole complex from some nearby gardens, a sundial on the wall, the main entrance... Lisa felt her brother give her a kick under the table. In the entrance was a large stone arch, and above it was a sculptural relief with a bishop kneeling down and praying next to a tree, a lion and a unicorn. Lisa took another deep breath.
Miss Rotherwick went on with her story.
“They say that the library is one of the oldest and most beautiful in the whole of the United Kingdom. It dates back to the fourteenth century and still has much of the original woodwork, like the panels, screens and shelves.”
A huge picture of the library showed two rows of wooden bookcases filled with old books. On the aisle-side of the shelves were egg-sized plates with the letters of the alphabet in capitals, and on the lateral side was what appeared to be a sign with the subject of the books found in each row. Lisa felt another kick in the shin, this time stronger than the last.
“Maybe we’ll end up studying there one day. But I don’t know, because our parents went to Cambridge, and you know...” said Charlie, raising his eyebrows in allusion to the historical rivalry between the two universities.
Miss Rotherwick smiled at him and Lisa relaxed once again.
“And what did you say the college in the Harry Potter films is called?” the boy asked.
“Christ Church College,” responded the woman. “In addition to Harry Potter, a number of very important real people studied there as well, such as Lewis Carroll, and thirteen prime ministers.”
Miss Rotherwick began turning the pages in search of the pictures of Christ Church College, but she stopped before she reached them.
“Look, here’s a curiosity,” she said. “At Oxford there is a copy of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Curiously, in Cambridge there’s another, although it is not as close a copy as this one. The bridge connects the old building to the new one at Hertford College. In Venice it was used by prisoners on their way to the Doge’s Palace, and here it is used by students. Quite a paradox, don’t you think?”
This time it was Lisa who gave her brother a kick. It was exactly what the first line of the poem referred to. However, Miss Rotherwick hadn’t appeared to make the connection and went on through the book until she found Christ Church College.
“One has to admit, it is magnificent,” she said, admiring the picture of the dining hall, famous since its appearance in the film about the young student wizard. “But it has other far more noteworthy elements, like the Cathedral, the tower and the Tom Quad.”
“I think I see Harry flying on his broom,” said Charlie.
At that moment, a familiar voice interrupted the conversation. It was Maggie, who had come to ask Miss Rotherwick some questions.
“Children! What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Hi, Mum,” said Charlie, jumping up to give her a hug. “We’re trying to decide which university we’re going to go to. Right now we’re looking at Oxford, and it’s pretty cool. I’m not so sure anymore that I want to go to Cambridge.”
Maggie smiled at her son, whom she still found it difficult to imagine donning a cap and gown.
“I hope they haven’t been bothering you, Helen,” she said.
“Not at all, my dear,” replied Miss Rotherwick. “They are charming children. I hope you’ll come back to visit me so we can continue our story.”
“Alright!” said Charlie. “But don’t forget the tea.”
Lisa blushed at her brother’s words; she would have been quite incapable of saying such a thing, but the little runt blurted out things like that without a second thought.
“Of course, my dear,” replied Miss Rotherwick kindly.
Charlie kept his gaze on her for a few moments. Perhaps she wasn’t such an old prune after all, although it was true that the poor woman didn’t have very good taste in music or clothes.
“Tonight I’m going home with you,” said Maggie, saying good-bye to Miss Rotherwick with a big smile. “I think I’ve earned it.”
CHAPTER VIII: 51° 45′ 3.82″ N, 1° 15′ 7.59″ W
After dinner, Lisa slipped into Charlie’s room. Her parents were generally quite strict about bedtime, but it was worth running the risk of receiving a mild reprimand.
“We have to go to the library at Merton College,” she said as soon as she entered.
“So, we’ll tell Mum and Dad we were so impressed by Oxford that we want to go there to choose a college,” suggested Charlie, who was already tucked into bed. “I’ve still got a few years to go, but it won’t be long for you.”
“They won’t buy it, Charlie. Besides, you need a student pass to get into the libraries, and we don’t have one.”
“So then, what do we do? Mum and Dad’s passes would be for Cambridge and I doubt Oxford would accept them.”
“Ahh, but have you forgotten already? We can use the cape and the bracelet to tran
sport us there,” said Lisa, sitting down on his bed. “You said yourself that there had to be a reason why the professor arranged it so we’d find the place annulus first.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. And how do we do it?”
“We have to find the coordinates of the Merton library and its opening hours. I think Friday night would be a good time to go, when Mrs. Davis is here.”
“And how do we get them?”
“Wow, Charlie! For handling face-to-face situations you’re amazing, but as a strategist you’re a disaster. Tomorrow I’ll go online and show Merton College to Dad, and hopefully we can go on Google Earth to get the library’s coordinates. I have a strong feeling you’re going to need his help again to make sure you don’t drop any more books... But don’t get too carried away. You know it drives him crazy.”
Lisa gave her brother a wink by way of goodnight and left the room. She was anxious and excited about the idea of using the cape for the first time, although she couldn’t help but feel a mild sense of panic as well. As the elder sister, she was the more mature of the two, and if anything went wrong she would have to bear the burden of guilt for the rest of her life.
. . .
The paleontologist Oswald Butler was writing some notes down in his field book. The dig had been going more slowly than expected, and both the number and the significance of the findings had been disappointing. In the last few months their luck had left them, and the pieces they had dug up would be deemed valuable only by an amateur enthusiast.
Further north, however, other colleagues (whom Doctor Butler considered his rivals) had made amazing discoveries, adding further to his anger and frustration.
If he didn’t make a major discovery soon, the foundation that was sponsoring them might cut them off. Furthermore, he would be turning fifty-eight in June, and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he would have to retire from field work. The chance of making a discovery was becoming increasingly remote, and if things went on this way his only legacy would be a brief footnote in a few bibliographies, thanks to a couple of boring paleontology manuals he had written many years ago.
He let out a long sigh to calm his anxiety. He needed a change of fortune. And he needed it urgently.
. . .
Marcus surrendered his seat at the computer to Lisa. He was used to all kinds of questions from his children, on every topic imaginable. Both he and Maggie had always tried to encourage their kids’ curiosity and thirst for knowledge, and judging by the questions and requests they’d been getting from them for some time now, their efforts had been successful. Perhaps too much so.
“I just want to show you one thing, Dad,” Lisa assured him. “Yesterday, Miss Rotherwick showed us some colleges at Oxford that were really cool. She had a beautiful book on them, but I wanted to see what comes up in Google Earth when you fly over Oxford and see the buildings.”
Marcus stared resignedly at the screen. He had a couple of speeches to finish writing and his editor was constantly pressuring him to complete the book he was working on.
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Charlie interjected, in an effort to cheer him up. “Miss Rotherwick is going to show us the colleges at Cambridge too so we can see what they look like inside. Then we can do a virtual tour there as well and you can show us the places where you studied again.”
“I’m relieved to hear it,” said Marcus with a smile.
Lisa swept over rooftops, towers and terraces in the university town as she headed for Merton College. She remembered that Miss Rotherwick had shown them a picture of a big courtyard called the Mob Quad, where the library building was located. She kept her eyes on the counter where the numbers of latitude and longitude changed at a lightning pace with the slightest movement of the mouse. She enlarged the image more and more until the building was too pixelated to see clearly.
“Gosh, darling,” said Marcus. “At that range you could see a fly on the head of some poor balding professor.”
Lisa calculated the location of the library and gave the agreed signal.
“I think I’m getting a headache!” she exclaimed.
At that moment, Charlie got up and went straight over to the encyclopedias.
“Dad, do you think there’d be a picture of the college in here somewhere?” he asked as he tried to pull out one of the books.
“No, Charlie, I’m sure there wouldn’t,” replied Marcus, leaping over to the bookcase and pushing the book that Charlie had grabbed hold of back into its place on the shelf. “It isn’t an illustrated encyclopedia.”
Lisa winked at Charlie; she had taken down the coordinates. She then continued to navigate a little longer through the streets of Oxford. Charlie gave it a try as well, taking a couple of swoops and dives over the Christ Church College tower, as if he were Harry Potter himself, chasing after the golden snitch on the back of his Nimbus 2000.
. . .
Lisa went over the detailed instructions in the Book of Time carefully to ensure that the explanations given in English and in the drawings were sufficient to understand how to make the trip. As she and her brother had agreed, if everything was clear enough they would dispense with translating the parts in Latin, but she couldn’t help but think of the professor’s warning that the most important thing was to be sure of the return journey.
The girl fitted the annulus onto the bracelet and set the coordinates for the Merton College library. She then turned the little dials until she had lined up all the stars engraved on each one, which would serve to transport them back to where they had started from. When she went to the Merton library with Charlie, there could be no mistakes.
First of all, however, she had to make sure that they both could make the journey together, just as the drawings in the Book of Time appeared to indicate. Their trial destination would be a place close to their house, so that they could get back quickly if anything went wrong. Finally, the place Lisa chose was the roundabout just outside in the street. To find out the coordinates, the children took the GPS that their grandfather Henry had given their father last Christmas, in a moment of excessive generosity and scant common sense.
After their afternoon tea, the kids met in their headquarters. Lisa also wrote down the coordinates that the GPS showed for their current location in the attic, just in case they might need them at some point. She then looked over the Book of Time once more to make sure that everything was clear.
“Alright,” she said nervously. “We have to go down to the roundabout to take the exact coordinates. We’ll do a test tonight so we can make sure that nobody sees us appear out of thin air in the middle of the street. We’ll get the cape out and come up to the attic so that Mum doesn’t catch us by surprise again. If everything goes well, tomorrow night when Merton Library is closed, we’ll go in search of the second annulus.”
Charlie nodded. His sister had everything planned perfectly.
“We’ll watch the dance competition for a while and then go to bed early,” she went on. “We’ll tell Mrs. Davis that we have to get up early on Saturday. Then we’ll meet here and take our first trip.”
The children went out together into the street and stopped under the chestnut trees in the middle of the roundabout.
“Here,” said Lisa, taking a piece of chalk out of one of her pockets and marking a small cross on the ground with it.
She took out the GPS and wrote down the exact position in her notebook. The device had a margin for error of less than one yard, so she made sure she was far enough away from the trees, fearing the possibility of reappearing inside one of the trunks and ending up trapped there next to her brother for all eternity.
Lisa was only too aware that all her conclusions about the cape were no more than suspicions and conjectures. She didn’t know for sure how it worked, and although she was extremely keen to begin traveling with it, she couldn’t keep the doubts and fears that something might go wrong from plaguing her constantly.
At dinner that night, Marcus asked his daughter a few
times if she was alright. She assured him that everything was fine and that she was just a bit tired. But she looked very serious and barely spoke a word the whole meal.
. . .
Lisa woke up Charlie at exactly three o’clock, certain that by this time of night they wouldn’t bump into anyone in the street.
Her brother got up with a swiftness that surprised her. He was evidently as nervous as she was, and had been just as unable to sleep properly.
Once in the attic, she entered the coordinates on the bracelet and placed it on her brother’s wrist. From what she could make out in the Book of Time, the traveler had to have the ring, cape and bracelet all on at the same time. To begin the journey, they only had to give a small clasp on the lock of the bracelet a 180º turn.
Lisa took the cape out of the wardrobe where she had hidden it and began draping it around Charlie’s shoulders. It was quite long, suggesting that the professor must have been a tall man. The velvet appeared to change color depending on how it reflected the light, going from black to dark blue and even to a bright cobalt. Lisa spread it out before doing it up, taking care that her brother wouldn’t be tripped up by it. However, after fastening the three buttons at the neck, she was surprised to find that the garment had shrunk to the boy’s size. It looked as if it had been custom made.
Charlie noticed the perplexed look on his sister’s face.
“What did you expect, Lisa?” he said. “It’s magic. It’s all magic: the cape, time travel... and the same thing happened with the ring, remember?”
Lisa looked at Charlie and her expression changed. He was right.
“Well, the reason for doing this test is to confirm two things,” she explained. “That the cape works, and that we can travel together. If I can’t go with you, I’m afraid you won’t be able to travel until you’re at least fourteen. And only if by then you’re as mature as I am.”
Charlie was tempted to respond to this last remark, but thought better of it. If the cape worked (and he certainly hoped that it would), certain questions would be rendered academic.