White Ivory from the Museum

WHITE IVORY FROM THE MUSEUM BY: Roy Carl Weiler Sr. The snake moved slowly, silently across the floor. The girl watched its slow progress toward where she stood. She wanted to scream, but the duct tape over her mouth made that impossible. She had to stand very quiet, very still. The man, sitting in the rocking chair outside the concrete wall that kept the snakes confined, continued talking to her as he read the newspaper. “Says here they are still looking for you. It's been a week and they haven't got a clue.” He smirked. “Some people think you ran away. This reporter, interviewed your mom; she says you had no reason to run off. You were happy at home and looking forward to going away to college next year. Is that true? Were you happy at home?” The girl turned her head slightly so that she was looking directly at the man. Her eyes widened as she saw the biggest rattler moving toward the wooden block on which she stood. The man had tied her hands behind her and taped her mouth, then made her step up on the block in the center of the snake pit. He had told her the block was 18 inches high and 8 inches square. He'd had to help her step up or she wouldn't have been able to. As it was, she needed to stand very straight and very still because the tiny tips of her 4 inch heels were right at the back edge of the block, and their pointed toes were just past the front edge. Her feet hurt. She had always worn flats or tennis shoes, except for the senior prom last spring when she had worn little two inch pumps. Now she wore the clothes he had given her. A tight short black skirt with a wide belt, a white silk blouse, and of course the four inch black velvet pumps. The toes were so pointy, the heels so very high and they hurt her feet so badly, she could hardly stand or walk in them at first. He had told her to practice as she would soon need to be able to stand straight and still in them for a long time. Then today he had brought her to the snake pit for the first time. She didn't know what it was, then, but after he had her standing on the block at its center and he was safely outside the concrete ring, he let the snakes free, telling her they were diamond back rattlers, very poisonous, and the only thing that would keep her safe was staying up on the block and standing very still. Movement would disturb them, and the biggest ones could strike up high enough to reach her, bite her. She didn't know how long she had been standing up there, but it seemed like hours. She was terrified. She knew that if she fell off the block at least one of the snakes would surely bite her. As she watched him, the man smiled and pointed at her feet. Looking down carefully she saw the first snake had reached the block and was moving up against it. Up to where its head was just below the tips of her shoes, with its tongue flicking in and out, sensing, tasting... TWO Marion was sitting at the kitchen table in the Roundhouse Museum reading an article in the newspaper about the girl who had disappeared from a nearby town, when the sleigh bells on the front door of the museum clanged as someone came in. Her heels made a tap, tapping sound as she crossed the kitchen tile, but were silent when she stepped onto the carpeted floor of the museum proper. A very handsome man was standing just inside the front door. “Hi, I'm Marion. Welcome to the Egg Harbor City Historical Society's Roundhouse Museum. Please sign our visitors book.” The man had dark hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled when he saw her and said, “Hi yourself. I'm Robert James and I've been doing some research about some things to do with Egg Harbor City. Linda...the lady at the library told me about your museum. So here I am.” He turned to sign the book. Standing next to him waiting for him to finish, Marion couldn't keep herself from smiling. She felt almost a little giddy, like a school girl. 'Stop it', she thought. But her face kept right on smiling. She said. “So Mr. James, what can I do for you?” He turned, smiling right back at her. “I read an article about an old doctor from the early 1900's and his secret cures and the gold coins he supposedly had hidden here abouts. Do you have any information about any of that?” “You must mean Dr. Smith. He was real. This museum is in one of the buildings from his Cedar Water Health Resort. But the secret cures and gold coins are only a myth. If you'll look in this display case we have lots of old photos and things from him and the sanitarium he built. It used to stand across the street and was the main building of the Health Resort.”Pointing to a photo in the case he asked. “Is that the old doctor? He sure looks like he was a feisty old guy. Look at that beard, it's down to his waist. Did he really cure people with the waters from around this area?” “That's him. He was quite a character. It's said that people came from around the world to be treated by him. So I guess he must have cured some of them. We have lots of other things in the museum about Egg Harbor City and stuff that happened here. Are you from the area?” “Actually, I'm from Cape May. But I've been to Egg Harbor a number of times over the years. I used to come stay with my aunt and her husband when I was a kid. I always loved to go swimming in the lake when I was here on my summer visits.” “They lived in Egg Harbor City? I don't remember hearing of a James family living here.” “She was my dad's sister. She married David Maxwell.” “Oh. Now Maxwell, that’s a name I know. We had a mayor who was a Maxwell, and as a matter of fact we had a president of the Historical Society who was a Maxwell. Are you any relation, do you know?” “I do, and I'm sure I'm not related to them. Because... I remember my uncle Dave always said he was the stray dog in this town because he was from a different Maxwell family than all the ones in Egg Harbor City .” “That's a shame, because we have a lot of family history information about the Maxwell's here at the museum, in the genealogy files up stairs. For such a small town, Egg Harbor is lucky to have a strong historical society and this museum. So you're just here for the day?” “No. As a matter of fact I'm staying at the Tuscany House. My aunt died at my home in Cape May just last month. She had congestive heart failure, and I had taken care of her the last few years. She left me her house here in Egg Harbor City. It's been boarded up ever since she moved in with me. It was in bad shape when I moved her to my place, so I just let it sit. Now it's mine and I hope to get it open and in a livable condition. Maybe sell it, I don't know yet. Besides, it has given me a chance to be here and look into the mysteries about Dr. Smith's gold coins and his cedar water cures. I've wanted to do this ever since I read that article, but taking care of Audrey prevented me from getting here, until now.” “I told you that's just a myth, an old wives tale.”......