The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man_ A Norman De Ratour Mystery - Alfred Alcorn [18]
Berthe Schanke, larger than life, no-fault or otherwise, her head perfectly shaven, in studded black jacket over a T-shirt lettered with some slogan about the patriarchy, rootled as usual in the donuts that had been provided. She remains the guiding force behind BITCH, a coalition of groups comprising what Izzy Landes has called “the complaining classes.”
Izzy himself, academically respondent in bow tie, his nimbus of white hair swept dramatically back, took a plaudit from Father S.J. O’Gould, S.J., regarding the publication of his latest tome, The Evolution of Evolution, successor to The Nature of Nature and The Science of Science. And while not a best seller, it has been very well received in those quarters where it matters.
Understatedly dignified in Roman collar, Father O’Gould, now best known for Wonderful Strife: Natural Selection and the Inevitability of Intelligence, took me aside before the meeting to offer me his sympathy regarding Elsbeth’s situation. He said he would like to drop by as a friend to see her. I thanked him and said I was sure Elsbeth would be delighted. I told him I looked forward to hearing him give the first Fessing Lecture.
Corny Chard didn’t show up, of course, being down in the Amazon somewhere trying to document people eating other people. Standing in for Corny for the semester was John Murdleston, also a professor of anthropology and Curator of the Ethnocoprolite Collections in the MOM. He recently published an article, “Expressive Flatulence and Male Prerogative in an Evolutionary Context,” that created a small stir in those circles devoted to such things.
Professor Randall Athol of the Divinity School arrived late and a little breathless. He apologized and voiced the hope he hadn’t missed much. Even he has published recently, something on the nature of divine fairness titled, I believe, When Good Things Happen to Bad People.
Ariel Dearth, the Leona Von Beaut Professor of Situational Ethics and Litigation Development at the Law School, sat restlessly, as usual, looking around him as though for the press or for clients. He cranks out books pretty regularly, Sue Your Mother being his latest. I’m told there are cases now where children have sued their parents for wrongful birth, bad genes, and all that.
We have a couple of newcomers, chief among them one Luraleena Doveen, a very fetching young woman of color from the President’s Office of Outreach. I think she may be the only one not in the toils of publishing something.
A Professor J.J. McNull, who joined the committee last year, smiled on everyone. He strikes me as one of those academicians who, with a bottomless capacity for boredom, sit on committees trying to look sage and saying no. I’m not sure what he’s professor of. He glances around a lot, either smiling with approval or glowering with disapproval.
Ms. Brattle opened with a short statement about “what appear to be dark happenings in the Museum of Man again leading to concerns about the administration of that institution.” A large woman with the self-obliviousness of a professional professional, so to speak, Ms. Brattle looked over her glasses at me in a manner meant to level blame. She spoke darkly of the need for “a very active subcommittee to monitor the day-to-day operations of the museum, especially the part dealing with the very sensitive area of genetic research.” She concluded by reminding us that, as Chair, she reports directly to President Twill himself.
Remaining imperturbed, I responded that the museum’s Board of Governors was not likely to allow me to acquiesce in such a step even were I inclined to do so. I informed the committee that the museum is in strict compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and all other local, state, and federal regulations governing the research conducted at the lab. I told them that I was cooperating very closely with the Seaboard Police Department in their ongoing