• Through the Door to Cagier En

    Ab Imo Pectore, My Dear

    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    I’m glad you came through the door
    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    Won’t you look around a little more?
    There’re many lovely things to see
    And so little time to explore
    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    I’m glad you came through the door

    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    You’ve seen many beautiful things
    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    Pretty watches and statues and rings
    You’ve gone on quite a long quest
    And saw what the adventure brings
    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear
    You’ve seen many beautiful things

    Alas my dear, the adventure is done
    But never you worry or fear
    For there will always be more adventures
    Wherever you are, they’ll be near
    Now it is time for you to go
    I’ll show you the way out of here
    But always, always remember
    Ab Imo Pectore, my dear


    Chapter 1 - Elf Door

    Bree’s favorite things were the dinosaurs. They weren’t real dinosaurs of course. They were just the bones. But Bree still loved them and thought that they were the biggest things in the entire world.

    The dinosaurs were in a room called the Dinosaur Room and this room was in a museum. The museum was really called “The Museum of Art and Natural History”, but everyone just called it “the museum” (it was easier).

    That day, Bree was also in the museum, along with the rest of her class and teacher. They were on a field trip, which really (as they all learned by now) had nothing to do with fields but was a day when they learned things in more interesting places. This wasn’t the first time Bree had been to the museum and she never got bored of it.

    Bree was in the museum, but right then and there she wasn’t in the Dinosaur Room. Where she was, was the Bird Hall, so named because it had a large number of fake or dead birds (“stuffed”, as her mother called them). Most of then were tied to a stick which kept them standing up, but there were also quite a few that did not have sticks, so they just lay on their sides like they quite suddenly fell asleep. Bree always wondered why they left so many birds out if they didn’t have enough sticks for them all.

    This was when Bree noticed the door.

    This was not the first door Bree had seen in the museum. Of course she had gone through many others. But those doors were all much taller, for a grown-up to go through. This door, on the other hand, very small. Only a child could fit through and Bree thought that she’d have to bend over to make it through herself. She wondered who would use such a door. Elves maybe, or fairies.

    This was an amusing thought for Bree, even though she really didn’t believe it. It was fun to think of elves running through the door when no one else is around. “I’ll bet,” she thought to herself, “that they search the museum whenever it’s dark and no one’s here. Then, when they want to go back home, they just knock on the little door, like this.”

    And she gave a gentle knock on the door.

    Bree turned and was about to catch up with her class (who had moved farther down the hall by this point), when she heard a noise. She froze. Yes, there was no mistaking it. After she knocked on that door someone had knocked back! It was too quiet for her to have mistaken the noise for anything else.

    Bree returned to the door, wondering what she should do. On one hand, she had knocked first and she was certain that the rules were that you knocked and someone else answered. But then whoever was on the other side of the door had also knocked, which meant that Bree should also be the one to answer. No one on that side seemed to want to answer for her, so she decided to answer for them.

    She grasped the doorknob and carefully turned it. With a click, it opened and easily swung inside. She bent down so that she could see better what was inside.

    From where she stood, it appeared to simply be more of the museum. It looked like no part of it that Bree had ever seen, but she supposed that it could just be a part that they never were able to visit. She wondered if she ought to find her class and ask her teacher if they could see this new part for a change.

    “Ticket please!” snapped a voice suddenly, pulling Bree from her thoughts. She was so shocked that she quickly took a step forward so that she was all the way through the door. Behind her, she felt the door swing shut with a bang. She looked around to try to see where the voice she heard came from.

    “Ticket please!” the voice sharply called again and this time, Bree found the speaker.

    He was a little man, only slightly taller than Bree. His head was nearly bald, except for several patches of feathery hair. His eyes were a cold grey, behind a tiny pair of bifocals. His nose was very large and hooked, so that it looked almost exactly like a bird’s beak. With his dusty grey jacket, he reminded Bree of something, but she couldn’t quite remember what.

    “I said,” the man repeated crossly, “give me your ticket please. I wish you would pay attention so I wouldn’t have to repeat myself so many times.”

    “You only repeated yourself twice,” Bree pointed out. “Three times if you count the first time.”

    “That’s not the point,” said the man. “Forty years I’ve worked here, my research helping to recover and restore artifacts long lost. Forty years! And now this is what my job is! Can you imagine the indignity, little girl? Can you -”

    “I know what you are!” Bree interrupted (she had still been thinking of what he reminded her of). “You’re a Dodo-bird! There’s a picture of one in a schoolbook I once read.”

    The man (or bird) ruffled at this. “Young lady,” he said with great dignity. “I assure you, I am not a bird. My name is Doctor Walgh Vogel and I am - or was - a scientist who worked here, studying -”

    “That’s a strange name,” Bree interrupted again. “How do you remember it?”

    “How do you remember your own name?” asked the doctor. “I wish you wouldn’t interrupt, it’s not polite at all. In any case, you must show me your ticket now.”

    “I don’t think I have a ticket,” said Bree. “I didn’t know I’d need one and I’m sure I didn’t buy it.”

    “Never mind that. Search your pockets.”

    Bree began to feel through the pocket on the left side of her coat. As she searched, she thought of the word “dodo” and a little poem ran through her mind. “Dodo, dodo, what do you use to see? My eyes of course, my eyes, what else would they be?” she murmured. There was nothing in the left pocket, so she began to feel through the right one, humming another verse. “Dodo, dodo, how do you hear? Certainly I can’t. I have no ears, I fear!”

    She stopped there, as she felt a piece of paper in her pocket. She carefully pulled it out and looked at it. This was what it read:

    Cagier En Museum
    Visitor Pass
    Admittance for 1


    “Is that the name of this place then?” Bree asked as she handed the ticket.

    Doctor Vogel carefully placed the ticket in his teeth and bit down with a crisp “chuk!” sound. He removed what remained and placed it in his jacket pocket. “Of course it is,” he said. “You didn’t know? One ought to know what a place is called before going there. It helps a great deal.”

    “Well I didn’t know I was coming,” said Bree irritably. “It wasn’t my fault.”

    “You didn’t know?” huffed the doctor. “Hmph. A girl your age could do with a good lesson.”

    And with that, he marched off.

    Bree wondered whether she ought to follow after him, but decided not to. He didn’t seem much to be in the mood to talk and anyway the cabinets that lined the hallway seemed much more interesting to examine.

    The first cabinet appears to hold a large display of shells. They all were different shapes and colors and several even looked as if they had designs painted on them. They were pretty, but Bree got tired of them quickly. She walked along to the second cabinet. This one had a display of a garden, complete with a side of a house and potted plants. What interested Bree the most about it however was a rather large hedgehog that was wandering around the herbs. Bree had never seen a real animal in a museum exhibit before and cried with delight.

    “Hello hedgehog!” she said, tapping on the glass to get its attention. “How did you get in there?”

    The hedgehog chose to ignore her however, and wandered off into a patch of ferns. Bree tapped a few more times, but quickly stopped at the sound of Doctor Vogel shouting at her from the other end of the hall.

    “It’s bad enough they have to wash the windows everyday without cracks to worry about!” he called.

    “I’m sorry!” Bree called back and hurried on to the next cabinet. This one appeared to be some sort of a swamp display. She leaned forward to get a better look (though she was careful not to tap this time). “I wonder what’s in here?” she mused. “Is there something that moves? Does every exhibit move or was it just - AH!” she cried, stepping back. The swamp scene appeared to house several snakes, one of which threw itself at the glass just where Bree was looking. She quickly left that cabinet and went for another.

    The fourth cabinet had a large display of butterflies, pinned and mounted to a board.

    “Oh, that’s so sad!” sighed Bree.

    “I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” said a girl who was walking past Bree. “They don’t force any butterflies in there. Everyone’s a volunteer.”

    “But then they’re stuck in there forever, aren’t they?” asked Bree.

    “Of course not! They take it in shifts!” the girl called over her shoulder as she continued on her way.

    Bree stared after her and the noticed that the corridor seemed much more crowded this far down. Before, she was the only person there. Now the hall was nearly crammed with people. They all seemed to be heading towards a similar place and Bree found herself being herded along with them. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to be dragged off like this, “But on the other hand,” she reasoned, “It’s not like I can push my way free of this crowd. Anyway, this is as good a way to go as any.”