Chapter 13: Iris Luna
This morning I walked to the lab at 5 a.m. with a plan in mind and a number of experiments lined up for the day. When I entered it I was immersed in my own thoughts about the work to do, and at first I didn’t notice Otto’s presence. As I was about to hang my coat I caught sight of him and started, because I hadn’t expected to find him there at such an early hour. Otto was not exactly an early bird, and I never began work that early myself. But for some reason I woke up with a zest that outshined the doubts and anguishes that had shaded my mind in the last days. Otto seemed startled too, and in his alarmed reaction there was more than just surprise…perhaps you might think I imagine too much, and yet he was crouching in front of the fridge, holding my samples while reading some notes I had scribbled on loose papers and then copied on my notebook. I don’t think he could make much out of those papers without the rest of my annotations and the lab book I had in my bag, but he seemed to be trying very hard.
“Good morning”, I said
Otto froze for a moment
“Good morning, you are early today!”, he exclaimed, recovering from his stupor
“So are you”, I replied dryly, “is there anything I can help you with?”
Otto Hermes looked at me with simulated surprise, and I felt a surge of anger dwell within me. How can you be so shameless? I asked him in my mind. I had seen him snooping in my lab book before and I hadn’t given the fact much importance, but now wasn’t it obvious that he was trying to intrude in my work in shady ways?
“The notes you are reading and the samples you are holding are mine…or am I mistaken?”, I insisted, trying to keep my voice from shivering with anger
And Otto grinned
“Oh yes, I was curious to know what you had discovered. You were so excited the other day, I thought I’d check to see if you had figured out the composition of your molecule at last. Have you?”, he said
I was stunned, either he was in good faith or he really had no shame!
“I was just curious…”, he iterated
“I am still working on it”, I said
“I hear you, answers never come easy, do they? Well, you’ll get there, I am sure”, Otto told me with the most supportive attitude he could feign
What game is he playing?
“By the way, how was the rest of the evening yesterday? I am sorry I left abruptly, there was something I had completely forgotten about…”, Otto said apologetically
“You are quite the mystery man”, I said ironically, my tone hard but my mind slipping in a direction I feared.
Cesare Mercurio, Cesar Mercury…who was the man? I was desperate to know and I was desperate to see him again. But why? Why? I was not the type of woman who lost her mind easily for someone, but this man…there was something more to this man than I could understand.
Otto Hermes laughed heartily, and, once again, his nonchalance confused me.
“I see you might want to start working, so I will leave you to your science”, he said, misinterpreting my expression
“Yes…”, I said, lowering my eyes, abstracted in my thoughts
Otto said something I cannot recall and left, wishing me good luck. Good luck…
I sat in the lab for a while, in a vain attempt to recollect myself and get to work. I opened the fridge to look at my samples, I read my lab book to regain my inspiration. But it was all vain. Try harder, I told myself. But no, it really was all vain.
Suddenly I stood and grabbed my lab coat from the hanger with crazed frenzy. I packed my bag and walked out with hasty steps. I didn’t know where I was heading. I wasn’t going anywhere specific, I just walked. I walked in the dusky streets and when the rain begun to fall I walked nonetheless, and I walked when the thin drops grew and turned into an outburst of water, pure sorrow pouring from the sky. I walked in the mad hope of seeing Cesar Mercury at some corner, and I walked to smoulder my indomitable passions, without success. I roamed the city drenched to the bones, till the dusk that had welcomed my early awakening dawned into my evening. Then I dragged myself back to my attic, my feet aching, my body battered, my spirit exhausted and yet still in prey of uncontrollable convulsions.
And now here I am, my ears tense to detect any sign from the phone, tormented by the inane wish of a sign from this man who is so close and yet so far, as a melody resonating from a long gone past.