Chapter Thirty-Six
Thirty-Six
The inside of the Legion of Honor was just as impressive as its outside.
Each exhibition room differed from one another in size, wall color, lighting and, sometimes, its ceiling design.
The floors were all varnished wood, with some rooms sporting heavy mahogany benches so that visitors could take their time as they appreciated some of the larger pieces.
The Dark America exhibition itself was comprised of over two hundred works of art, occupying five of the museum’s twenty exhibition halls. The remaining fifteen rooms were closed to the public at that time.
‘Wow, this place is simply amazing,’ Mary said, as she allowed her eyes to take in the hall as a whole.
‘Is this your first time at The Legion?’ Thomas asked, as they paused by a large oil painting on the west wall. It depicted a band of Mohawk Indians brutally attacking a group of US soldiers.
‘It is,’ Mary replied.
‘Well,’ Thomas turned to face her. ‘Prepare to be overwhelmed then. It’s a beautiful museum…
inside and out… and you’ve got to come back some other time and have a proper look around – when all the rooms are open to the public, I mean.
The rooms alone are worth it, but some of the art pieces in here will blow your mind. ’
‘Well, this room is truly beautiful,’ Mary said, looking around before bringing her attention back to the Indians and soldiers painting. ‘And this is just as realistic and as brutal as it gets, isn’t it? If we step any closer, we’ll probably get arterial spray.’
Thomas laughed. ‘You’re probably right.’
They slowly began moving from piece to piece, but Mary would be lying if she said that her full attention was focused on the exhibition.
She was truly enjoying Thomas’ company. Yes, he was attractive, very charming, incredibly charismatic, and terribly funny at times, but the more they chatted, the more Mary saw hints of a man who was as witty as he was intelligent and to her, that was the biggest aphrodisiac of all.
They moved from room one to room two, and from room two to room three, which, at least until then, became Mary’s favorite room in the exhibition.
The room was named ‘The Witches Room’, and rightly so.
Every piece in room three, and there were at least thirty of them, including three bronze sculptures, had witches as their main theme.
Some were light-hearted, in a lower-school Halloween way, some were a little more serious, some were downright scary, and some were terribly sad, but all of them were incredibly vivid.
Mary’s favorite piece in that room was also the saddest one of them all – a very large six-foot wide by five-foot tall, oil painting of the five most famous American witches burning at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts.
The piece was titled Injustice and the details that the artist had managed to convey with her brushstrokes gave Mary the chills.
Thomas seemed to look just as sad, as he studied the painting. ‘You know what?’ he said, searching the room for one of the waiters. ‘I wouldn’t mind another drink after looking at this one.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ Mary agreed, adjusting her shawl over her shoulders to help with the goosebumps.
A waiter with a tray full of Champagne flutes was standing just a couple of steps behind Thomas. He reached for two glasses before passing one to Mary.
Exhibition room number four was titled ‘Scary’ and it was by far the busiest one of them all.
At the center of the room there was a life-size waxwork of a witch stirring something inside her smoking, copper caldron.
Mary was sure that the smoke coming from inside the caldron was being created by a smoke machine, but it smelled like real food – meat and potato stew, actually – and the realism of the witch itself was mindboggling.
Mary looked back at Thomas. ‘Is it only me or does this smell delicious?’ She nodded at the caldron before leaning over slightly to get a better noseful.
‘I was just about to say exactly that.’
Right then, catching both of them off guard, the witch, who in truth was a human statue performer, turned her head to look at Mary and Thomas before lifting her wooden spoon from the caldron.
‘Would you like to taste it?’ Her voice sounded exactly like what most people would expect a witch to sound like – gritty and squeaky.
‘Jesus!’ Mary jumped back, eyes wide, almost dropping her Champagne flute.
‘Whoa! What the hell?’ Thomas didn’t drop his glass either, but he did spill most of his Champagne onto the floor.
Everyone else who was in the room started applauding and laughing. A museum employee, who was standing on the corner armed with a wheeled bucket and a mop quickly made his way towards them. The museum clearly was expecting a lot of drink spillage by that witch.
‘Sorry,’ the witch apologized before going back to her initial position, ready to prank someone else.
‘And now I understand why this is in the “scary” room,’ Mary said, her left hand resting on her chest. ‘Instead of in the “witches” one.’
‘Exactly,’ the witch whispered through the corner of her mouth.
‘I think I can actually taste my heart,’ Thomas said, pointing to his throat. ‘Because it’s beating right here.’ He finished what was left of his Champagne in one gulp.
Mary did the same.
They paused by the door to room five, the final exhibition room, and smiled at each other.
‘That was brilliantly done,’ Thomas admitted. ‘No one will be expecting that. I guess that that’s why this room is so busy.’
‘Yep,’ Mary agreed. ‘People are just hanging around, waiting for the next fool to be pranked.’
‘And the smell of food is the perfect bait,’ Thomas added. ‘It draws people to the witch because it’s simply impossible to ignore it.’
‘True,’ Mary agreed. ‘And to be honest, it really did make me feel a little hungry.’
‘Really?’ Thomas, once again, looked around for one of the waiters. ‘They have canapés and a whole bunch of finger food going around. Do you want to go get some?’
Mary shook her head. ‘Nah, I’ll be OK.’
Thomas hesitated for a split second, debating his next move. He chose to roll the dice. ‘Do you know what? I could do with some real food. How about we go get some dinner somewhere?’ He checked his watch. ‘It’s still early, everywhere will be open.’
It was Mary’s turn to hesitate for a second.
Back at her apartment, she had decided not to eat anything before getting to the museum.
She didn’t want to feel or look bloated, but the witch’s caldron fake smell had totally woken up her stomach, and it was hungry, so why not?
She was really enjoying Thomas’ company.
Mary half nodded, half wiggled her head from left to right. ‘I guess I could do with some food as well. Nothing heavy, though.’
‘Yeah, that’s perfectly fine. There are hundreds of healthy food places around town. Quite a few around this area. Any preference? Or any type of food that you’re not into?’
Mary shook her head. ‘Not really. I’m pretty muck OK with anything.’
‘Cool.’ The smile that half parted Thomas’ lips was somewhat intriguing, as if he had just thought of a place that would truly surprise Mary. ‘So, since you’re not from San Francisco, shall I pick?’
‘Yeah, that’s fine by…’ Mary paused as her expression went from smiling to dead serious in record time.
Hold on just a second here, the voice inside Mary’s head interrupted her thought. How the hell does he know that you’re not from San Francisco? You never told him that. And you don’t really have an accent that can place you somewhere else.
Right then, Mary could feel her palms starting to clam up from pure anxiety.
This date just went from ‘great’ to ‘suspicious’ in a nanosecond. We’ve got to get out of here. And I mean right now.
‘Umm…’ Mary pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. ‘Do you know what?’ She took a step back. ‘I just remembered something really important. I’m so sorry but I need to go.’
‘Wait… what?’ Thomas frowned at her, clearly trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.
‘I…’ She turned her head to look behind her. ‘Very stupidly forgot that I had somewhere else that I had to be tonight. I’m sorry but I really need to go.’
The confusion quickly spread from Thomas’ eyes to his entire demeanor. ‘Are you serious? What happened?’
Thomas took a step forward, but Mary took another step backwards. ‘I just really need to go.’
‘But…’ Thomas looked around to see if there was anyone looking at them… anyone who might’ve spooked Mary. He saw no one. ‘I thought that we’re just about to go get some food. Did I say something wrong?’
‘No.’ This time Mary completely avoided eye contact. ‘I just really need to go. Thank you again for the invite.’
Thomas watched in total disbelief as Mary quickly turned on the balls of her feet and practically ran out of the museum.