Chapter 13
CHAPTER
Fireflies blinked above the grass and against the shadows gathering among the trees.
As Luke and Elsa began walking through The Ramble, she pointed out more birds.
When she did, three of the people who had gathered to watch Zeus asked to walk with them so Elsa could be their guide.
By the time they reached the park’s edge, they’d collected more, until their little group had grown to eight people.
“Do you do this often?” asked the older woman who smelled of citronella.
Elsa smiled. “This is the first time I’ve led a group, but I come here quite a bit for my own pleasure.”
“You’re kidding.” The man in the straw hat snapped another photograph. “What luck! Junior and I are in town visiting today before we head back to Indiana tomorrow. Thanks for making our romp through Central Park special.”
The older woman tapped her binoculars. “Well, I’m local. I’d love to do this again if you would consider it. I’ve tried bird-watching here a dozen times and never saw half so much as I did with you. And what I did see, I had no idea what I was looking at.”
What a shame that was! “My colleague Mr. Griscom wrote an excellent article this summer about bird-watching in Central Park,” Elsa told her. “I’m sure you could find a copy at the library if you’re interested. That might help you in the future.”
“Maybe. But there’s nothing like a personal guide, is there?”
Elsa warmed to the compliment, happy that she’d been of some service to her. “I’ll tell you what. If you ever see me here again, please get my attention. I’m happy to bird-watch together.”
The group disbanded, and the smile Luke gave her reflected the joy inside her.
“You were pretty great at that,” he said. “Have fun?”
“And how! What a great way to end this day. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, but I feel good right now. Physically. I wonder if . . .”
Luke watched the traffic, preparing to usher her across the street. “Don’t leave me in suspense. I’m all ears.”
“Well, the park officials and menagerie staff thought Zeus was too weak to fly because he hadn’t had the space to spread his wings and try for so many years, right?
So I wonder if I’ve led such a sedentary lifestyle that I’ve actually made myself weaker than I have to be.
Don’t get me wrong—I don’t believe for one second that a secret jealousy of my cousin either made or kept me sick.
But have I caged myself, as Zeus had been caged, thereby clipping my own wings, so to speak? ”
He looked down at her with a tenderness that far outshone his scars. “I don’t know.”
“I mean, chasing Barney was too much for me, but no one could expect to run a marathon without training, and I hadn’t run like that in years. Maybe what I need isn’t less activity but more—just not all at once. Could a gradual conditioning be the answer? There can’t be any harm in trying.”
Luke placed a hand on hers as she rested it on his arm. They crossed Central Park West and headed toward the Beresford. “Very gradual, Elsa. I don’t want you to overdo it in your eagerness, okay?”
“Yes, okay,” she agreed, even as her mind leapt to bright possibilities. Zeus was surprising everyone with his quick adaptation to freedom. No one believed he could survive, except perhaps Zeus himself.
What could happen if Elsa believed in herself, too?
“By the way, I saw Tatiana this morning at Elmhurst,” Luke said. “She told me she finally heard back from the executor of Mrs. Van Tessel’s will.”
Elsa nearly stopped walking, so abrupt was the change of subject and the shift from hope to dread. “And?”
“She showed me the letter. He said that since the land will go to the county, it’s up to the county whether to allow the Petrovics to stay in their cottage or not.”
“Even though the will clearly stipulates Birdie’s wish for them to stay?”
“That’s what he said. Tatiana took it on the chin, though.”
Elsa swallowed a groan. This was not the news they’d been hoping for. “Do you know if she’s told Danielle yet?”
“She’s waiting for word from the county on what they’ll decide to do.”
Elsa sighed, dismay settling heavily on her shoulders. “I hope they don’t make her wait too long. If they have to move, they need time to find a new situation, and Danielle will need time to adjust to the idea. The change will be enormous.”
Luke agreed. “I know a little something about real estate from working with clients decorating their homes with our salvage. It takes about thirty days to close on a house sale. I’m not sure how different that timeline would be for transferring ownership of an estate as a donation.
But Mr. Spalding set the wheels in motion two weeks ago, so it could be another two weeks. ”
“Two weeks!” Elsa gasped. “That’s practically no time at all!
It might take longer than that, though, right?
Wouldn’t the county officials need to convene and vote after evaluating whether they want to take on such an estate?
If it’s so beneficial for Mr. Spalding to get Elmhurst off his hands, surely there will be considerable cost to the county to accept responsibility.
They’ll need to do some kind of analysis first . . . won’t they?”
“That would be prudent,” Luke said. “The Petrovics really matter to you, don’t they?”
“Yes, they really do.” They reached the Beresford, but she wasn’t ready for Luke to leave quite yet.
She sat in the middle of a bench outside the revolving doors, and Luke joined her, choosing the left side of her again.
“My job at Elmhurst involves reading notebooks and files from the Van Tessels,” she went on.
“I was only looking for expedition details. But I learned how close Birdie had been with the Petrovics and how they looked out for each other over the years. Linus considered Danielle defective, and even said his own wife had proven defects in her family history, hinting that she shouldn’t have more children. ”
Luke’s brow rippled. “More children?”
Briefly, Elsa explained the cards she’d found in Linus’s eugenics files.
“As an ‘imperfect human product’ myself—according to those standards—I’m so sad for how Linus made his wife feel.
And ensuring she never bore children again—whether through neglect or sterilization—was monstrous enough without Birdie’s added grief at Sarah’s loss.
” She paused, aware she was talking too fast.
Luke pressed his lips together, the lines of his face turning sharp in the light of passing headlamps.
“Eugenics.” He spoke the word as if it were a curse—and maybe it was.
“What does eugenics call the soldiers returned from war with tremors, nightmares, overactive nerves, or scars inside and out? I suppose Tom and I are defects, too.”
Elsa’s gaze softened on the man beside her. “Applesauce. You’re heroes, the both of you, and if you don’t already know that, shame on the rest of us for not saying so. And please don’t ever let me catch you trying to hide any part of your face from me again.”
In response, he angled so he sat sideways on the bench, turning to face her straight on. A taxi pulled up to the curb, its headlamps shining on him while the rider paid the fare. The homburg brim cast only a thin crescent shadow. “Better?”
“Much.” With a firm nod, she steered the conversation back to the Petrovics.
“I can’t do anything about Birdie’s suffering now, but I can try to carry out her final wishes for the Petrovics, if at all possible.
Knowing about Mr. Spalding’s career at the ERO makes me feel protective of Danielle and her mother.
Their champion is gone, and they’re in trouble.
If we can at least help them find the aviary, they’ll be okay. ”
“That’s a big if. Tom and I moved on from the library yesterday and have been working in other rooms. Still no dice. But we’ll keep looking.”
Elsa thanked him for that and rose to go. “It was good to see you this evening,” she told him. “Thanks for listening, and for caring. See you tomorrow?”
He stood as well. “You bet. Is seven too early?”
“Not at all. By the way, I’ll be bringing some storage trays for the purpose of ferrying back some birds.”
“That must mean you’re finished going through the field notes?”
“At last. Tonight’s task is to cut up my own chart with what I gleaned from their expedition logs, rearrange the rows in alphabetical order, and copy all of that into a fresh ledger.
” Not every bird in the house had data for it, but she’d managed to collect information for three hundred of the specimens.
“Sounds like you have a long night ahead of you. I’ll leave you to it.” He bade her goodnight.
“See you soon.”
Once Elsa was inside the Beresford’s lobby, she turned and waved at him through the glass revolving door. He tipped his hat, then put his hands in his trouser pockets and walked away with his head held high.
She thought she heard him whistling.
TARRYTOWN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1926
Morning arrived all too early, but it came with a surge of adrenaline.
Now that all the Van Tessel field notes were alphabetized by taxonomy in her own perfect chart, Elsa could finally assign catalog numbers to the birds, tag them, and bring them back to the museum.
It felt like she’d been coming here for much longer than the two weeks it had actually taken her to reach this point.
And yet, now that her progress could begin taking flight, she didn’t relish the thought of leaving here for the last time. Of leaving Tatiana and Danielle.
Neither did she like the idea of parting ways with Luke and Tom when all this was over. The shared lunches and rides to and from Tarrytown had brought them all closer.
But the Petrovics were the ones who stood to lose the most. Elsa was anxious to check on Tatiana after hearing her news from Luke last night.