A SUDDEN PULL
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Gus and Eugene quickly made their way to the washroom to their left. They had to, of course, excuse themselves from the rest of the class and teacher so that they could not make it obvious that they were hiding something.
But they were.
They quickly got inside, checked the stalls for feet, and Gus once again tried to get his thumb to stop glowing.
"What's going on with this stupid thing?" he said, snapping his fingers.
Eugene, who was still new at the concept of real magic, tried to think rationally.
"Maybe," he said. "it's got to do with something in the museum, Gus."
Gus looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Gus, think about it," said Eugene. "your thumb didn't glow until after we got inside this place. Somethin' in here is causin' your thumb to glow."
Gus raised a brow. And then looked down at his thumb. It sort of made sense.
Stanley did say that magic thumbs responded to other sources of magic.
Did that mean that there was something magic inside the museum?
"Let's get back to the others," said Gus as he turned to leave. "maybe if we check the exhibits my thumb might glow brighter."
Eugene nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
They left the washroom and rejoined the class just as they were about to start the tour. A woman wearing a gray uniform was leading the school group of the day, her voice sharp. The teacher kept the kids close as they followed her through the halls. The class were going to three different halls, break for lunch, and then to four other halls after that, before they would have to leave.
Gus and Eugene stayed a little ways away from their class as they moved through the museum. During pauses Gus would check his thumb for any change. Surprisingly, the glow was faint and had dimmed on the second floors. But on the ground floor the glow would come back.
Lunchtime had come but Gus didn't eat much. He sat with Eugene at a separate table, munching absentmindedly at his sandwich. The other kids hadn't noticed the glow and he wanted to keep it that way. Right now, as he ate, he wanted to get to the bottom of why his thumb was glowing. He could talk to Stanley after school and ask him, but going to Central Park was only reserved for weekends.
The group finally started the last bit of the tour. They went to four halls and chambers and as the kids stared and pointed at the display cases full lions and chimps, Gus and Eugene walked past a new wing that was going to be on display.
The last hall they went to next was the dinosaur hall. The kids spread out and looked at the display cases. Gus didn't pay much attention to the skeletons of Brontosaurs or Tyrannosaurs Rex. He didn't really much care about dinosaurs because he thought they were dumb. He never owned any of the toys, despite seeing the toy commercials of that movie by that Spielberg guy that released a year ago, and never much picked up a book to read about them either. He just wasn't interested in dinosaurs.
But all that was soon going to change.
Gus felt his thumb twitch. It was so fast that he hardly noticed and passed it off as a sudden spasm. But when it twitched a second time he did notice. It like he was being pulled. He took hand out of his pocket and his thumb suddenly glowed brighter. It pulled him nearer and nearer toward the sealed off section of the new hall. Eugene followed after him, careful to keep a watch out for anyone who might see them. Thankfully, and by dumb luck, nobody was watching them. Not even their teacher or the museum guards looked their way.
"It's pointing toward that," Eugene said, nodding toward the curtain with the two poles.
"Or what's behind it," said Gus. "I'm gonna' go check it out."
"Are you nuts?" Eugene hissed. "What if you get caught, Gus, and we both get in trouble?"
Gus rolled his eyes. "That is why you're gonna' do look-out duty, Eugene. Keep watch and I'll be right back."
Eugene didn't look so sure. They only had five minutes before the group moved on to the entrance hall to leave. If they were left behind...
Gus was already slipping through the curtain before Eugene could say anything.
"Hurry back!" he whispered, but the only answer he got was Gus's retreating footsteps.
Gus found himself in a darkened hall. It was longer than the dinosaur hall and crowded with exhibits which were covered in sheets, to keep the dust away. Dotty, dim patterns of light and shadows played across the ceiling.
He went deeper into the gloom, hearing nothing but his own footsteps padding on the thin carpet. The glow from his green thumb was getting brighter now. That sort of helped as a flashlight since he couldn't see that well.
The exhibits that weren't covered by sheets displayed prehistoric beasts from another age. Gus knew of the Mastodon, the Sabre-tooth tiger and all that. But the main exhibit housed something else.
It was at the far end of the gallery that Gus saw it. It was an enormous skeleton of a Tyrannosaurs Rex. It was so big that it nearly took the young boy's breath away. He moved forward to read the label on the railing of the display, feeling a bit a chill as the skeleton loomed above him with its jaws open. He started to read.
'Newly discovered Tyrannosaurs skeleton. This specimen was found in 1988 in a deep, dried pool on the forested outskirts of New York city. Over time, the fossilized remains were slowly excavated from the pool and are in almost perfect condition. Except for the caved-in ribcage, the dinosaur is still an impressive sight.'
Gus felt another chill creep over him. He looked closer, intimidated by the size of the teeth and jaws.
"Jeez," he breathed.
Suddenly, Gus felt his thumb pull him again. He was more then obliging to do so, just to get away from the skeleton.
The glowing intensified as he was led to an alcove containing a display on prehistoric plants. A single unsealed case was inside and holding what appeared to be a large fossilized leaf. Taking a closer look, Gus could see that it was shaped sort of like a star. Even fossilized, and like the T-Rex, it looked like it was in perfect condition.
The glow from his thumb, very bright now, made him move forward.
Gus felt like he should press his thumb to it. Which he did. What would it hurt? But as soon as he did that, as soon as he had touched it, he knew that an adventure was just about to begin.
At first, nothing happened. Then, when he was about to leave, Gus felt water drip down upon his cheek. Odd. He looked at the star shaped leaf and saw that water was beginning to appear out of nowhere, right in the center of it. It sparkled and swirled until it transformed into a whirlpool. And from a whirlpool it then turned into a vortex.
Mesmerized and a little scared, Gus stood back. He didn't stop to wonder what it all meant. That's when he felt the pull.
It was an unmistakable tug. Gus didn't realize it at first, but it soon dawned on him that he was about to be pulled into the tunnel! Some giant, invisible hand had gotten hold of his wrist and was pulling him in!
"No!" he cried, wrenching his hand away.
Gus turned and ran, leaving the alcove and exhibit hall as fast as his legs would take him. He ran headlong through the darkness, past the loathsome displays of early man and leering stuffed animals that seemed to leap out of the blackness at him, down the chamber, trying not to look back.
At last, he made it to the curtain. He could see Eugene's shadow behind it. That meant that the group had not left the gallery.
He slipped through, startling Eugene so badly that he almost dropped his glasses, and the both of them rejoined the class as they were just about to head out.
On the bus the two boys discussed in hushed whispers about what had happened.
"This is so unbelievable," said Eugene, sitting back in his seat.
"I know what you mean," agreed Gus. "I thought I was gonna' get sucked right in. It was scary too."
They both looked at each other.
"I don't think you should go back in there again, Gus," said Eugene seriously, adjusting his glasses back onto his nose. "You could get hurt. Or worse."
"Nah, I'll be okay," said Gus. "Besides, my parents have to take me and my sister with them later this week."
Eugene jabbed a thumb back to the museum. "You mean back there?"
Gus nodded. "I think I better talk to Stanley," he said quietly. "he'll know what to do."
Friday evening was Alan and Hilary's night to go out to dinner. Maria, the nanny, would look after the children while also cooking and cleaning or
relaxing on the couch for a well deserved break.
But sometimes, when Gus put up his 'keep out' sign on the door, Stanley would come visit them in the night with his magic, flying sailboat.
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