King's College
Chapter 10 - Here Comes Another One
Chris found his way home after his and Rosemary's sweet and mellow afternoon the day before. There was plenty of time to prepare for an overnight in the future. This morning was dedicated to finding Ellingham and making sure that he was ok. Rosemary joined him at 8 o'clock by Iris Brook student housing. "Do you think this is ok to do?" Rosemary questioned. "I don't know what else we can do," Chris replied. They held hands and walked towards Moonraker Point, where Ellingham had his apartment. They entered the building and told the attendant who they were visiting. Both of them were pretty sure that Ellingham would hate how easy it was to find him...he would want more security all around. They took the elevator to his floor and located his flat. There was bell to push outside the room. They pushed it.
Seconds passed...no one came to the door. "Martin, we want to see how you are," Rosemary said through the door. "Mart, please let us in, we want to see if you're ok," Chris added. They heard movement inside the room. The door cracked and Martin stuck his head out of the door. "It's only you then?" He questioned sticking a disheveled head out the door.
"Just us," Chris replied as the door opened to let them in. "I've had a number of unsavory visitors over the past few hours," Martin admitted. "I have to be sure to be safe."
"You mean you've been threatened?" Chris questioned. "Let's just say the visitors weren't friendly," Martin replied. Martin's studio apartment was pristine, smelling of lemon and cleaning solution. It was a stark difference between Chris's flat that smelled of stale pizza and Rosemary's that smelled of patchouli from her hippie roommate. "Come in," Martin finally said, allowing them into his room.
There was a complete microscope setup with an obviously large variety of slides. Textbooks were everywhere, littering the couches and counters, but stacked in neat piles. The sink had the endings of a single boiled egg and a few soldiers that were left over. Martin was refreshingly tousled in a tshirt and pajama bottoms. Rosemary couldn't help but notice this as she sat down inside his room. He was interestingly attractive, in his own way.
"Well, that was a bit of a mess yesterday in Biochemistry." Chris ventured to mention.
"Not really," said Martin. "The professor phoned me shortly after class and apologized for belittling my comment. He said there was no way I could have known that was a piece of dust and hoped I wasn't offended. In fact, he wants me to guest lecture some time in the near future."
"But Martin," said Rosemary. "He made you look like a prat in front of the whole class...a class that's already furious with you for raising the marking curve so high that a third of the students fail. What would have been a solid B is now just a C because you do so well."
"Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't help if I'm smarter than they are? You realize that study is my life. I have no one that loves me nor do I have anything to love. How well I can do is my reward. I don't know how I can change that. Without it I might as well be dead...which hasn't been far from my mind in certain parts of my life." Martin stared at Rosemary with the glare of an honest man.
"So mate, let's meet this afternoon, say 3 pm, and work on our dissection. These bloody things are getting more complicated. Next week we turn the blighters over and start on the real thing. I think that our ankle needs more work. What do you say?" Chris hoped Martin would acquiesce.
"Alright, I'll be there...three o'clock. See you then." Martin showed them out of his room and went back over to his desk. What they hadn't noticed was the antique clock and its parts spread all over. That was something that he really enjoyed.