Repetition

Kobo wasn't really a wanker. She liked the letter K, that was all. So she had chosen Kierkegaard. She knew nothing about him. She opened the book. It was called Repetition. That's amazing, said Kobo, given that I'm doomed to repeat the process of sending my friends to the museum on quests and losing them there. I wonder what Kierkegaard can teach us about that?

.....

Lavender caught the bus to the city. She took her quest seriously. She paid no attention to the man who was singing, and the two who were talking at cross purposes about Mad and Cracked magazines.

She got off the bus, raced across the road and burst into the museum, demanding to know where her friends were.

The information officer guessed at once who she meant.

They're downstairs in the lab with Mr Lee, she said.

Lavender charged downstairs and looked around for a laboratory. Down a dark corridor to the right she saw a door with a LABORATORY sign on it. She kicked it open.

Hah! she said. I'm here!

Who are you? asked Mr Lee.

I'm Lavender! said Lavender. Where's Ageless? Where's Baby Pierre?

We're here, said Ageless. What are you doing here?

Rescuing you! said Lavender. Or kicking you. Where's Baby Pierre?

I'm alright, said Ageless. Baby Pierre is in the cupboard.

Let him out! cried Lavender. He's not a SPECIMEN!

He is, said Mr Lee. And let me look at you! You're a pretty little augur, aren't you.

No way! said Lavender. I'm the space where an augur used to be. And I'm not going in your stinky cupboard. Let Baby Pierre out right now, or I'll.... I'll prick you!

I don't think so, said Mr Lee, given that you're just an empty space. But I take your point. And I apologise. I was acting in the interests of science. I don't know what came over me. I can only say in my defence that I haven't had any lunch.

He opened the cupboard.

Hello Lavender, said Baby Pierre. There are lots of interesting specimens in this cupboard. Want to see?

No, said Lavender. Get down. We're going home.

None of you are going home yet, said Mr Lee. It's nearly time for the Sprigg lecture.

A LECTURE! said Lavender How BORING!!!

Ice Wind and Waves

All sorted? asked Dr Suzanne Miller.

Yes, said Mr Lee. He's having the positive negative.

Good choice, said Dr Suzanne Miller. Would you like it in a bag, Mr Ageless?

No thank you, said Ageless. I have a backpack at the information desk.

Well goodbye then, Mr Ageless, said Dr Suzanne Miller. Perhaps we shall see you next week at the final Sprigg Lecture for the year?

Err...what is it about? asked Ageless.

Ice, Wind and Waves, said Dr Suzanne Miller.

Count me in, said Ageless. We lobsters don't like ice, but two out of three's not bad.

Mr Lee accompanied him to the information desk.

I need to pick its eyes out, said Ageless.

The trilobite's? said Mr Lee. Maybe I can help you. And if you're not pressed for time, perhaps you'd like to see my own collection of fossils in the lab downstairs. I have some trilobites, including several giant ones.

I would, said Ageless, little realising the counterfactual that was about to happen.

Chocolate Stream of Consciousness

Mmm I've just eaten a chocolate it was a Sorini chocolate Li Feng gave me a whole tin of them this morning. What's a Sorini chocolate I suppose you are wondering, I wondered that too especially as it was given me by Li Feng. Did she buy it in Chinatown and was it a Chinese chocolate or did she buy it in Newton which would make it more likely to be Italian. Of course I know Sorini sounds Italian but the Chinese make Italian chocolates I have no doubt. There is nothing written on the tin. What do the chocolates taste like, the answer is they taste like Bertie Beetles only round.

I just booked two places at the next Sprigg lecture which is on the 17th. I wonder if Pliny would like to go it is just up his alley. It's about a woodland rehabilitation initiative in the Mount Lofty region aimed at restoring habitat for a suite of birds. A suite of birds, Pliny would like that. And I think he would enjoy sitting in the Pacific Cultures gallery under a straw alligator suspended from the ceiling with the walls on both sides lined with primitive weapons, hearing all about the suite of birds. And if they didn't offer him a glass of wine at the beginning he wouldn't mind because he wouldn't be expecting it, just like he doesn't know I've got Sorini chocolates.