Chapter Four
Imminent Disaster
“I trust,” Evelyn Magellan said, her gaze fixed and unblinking upon the wobbling Maria, “that you have not the slightest thing resembling a reasonable explanation for your outlandish behavior.”
Maria smiled even wider, but she had quickly come to realize that this museum curator could not be bamboozled so easily. She scrambled for an explanation. If only she could describe how powerfully she had felt drawn to the Guardian Lion! “Well, it’s the darnedest thing, I tell ya…”
Evelyn’s hands had previously been placed upon her hips, in a manner that conveyed unquestionable authority as she barked her words of harsh reprimand. Now, with her striking green eyes unblinking and fixed upon Maria, she slowly shifted her posture. She folded her arms across her chest, and came to assume a stance that was somehow even more disapproving than the last.
As she continued to examine Maria, one of Evelyn’s eyebrows arched with incredulity. This, Maria decided, could not possibly be construed as a good sign, no matter how optimistic she might generally be.
“I was just standing here, minding my own business, you see, when-” Maria began.
But before she could try to further express the feelings that had compelled her to lay her hand upon the Guardian Lion, disaster struck. Maria felt her balance, which had previously been dubious at best, come undone. She felt her weight shift too far in one direction, and then back to the other, as she desperately overcompensated.
She began wobbling about at an accelerated pace, as her arms waved around in the fashion of a windmill. Disaster seemed imminent, and Maria felt powerless to undo her unfortunate course, which unraveled before her in the likeness of slow motion.
“Uh oh…” Maria muttered uneasily. “Whoa…”
At this alarming development, Evelyn lost her cold, impassive demeanor, and her face contorted with distress. She uncrossed her arms and took a half-step forward, one hand extended before her, as if prepared to pull Maria back from the unspeakable act she was about to commit.
But Evelyn remained frozen where she was, paralyzed by terror or indecision… or perhaps simply realizing that she could not possibly reach Maria in time.
The schoolchildren gasped in alarm, and at the great, collective intake of breath, Maria felt herself veering farther and farther over the barrier that was meant to separate museum patrons from the exhibit. Unfortunately, it had been designed with the intent to let visitors of all sizes view the statue – therefore, its low height made it relatively easy for Maria to tip over its edge, given her current predicament.
She summoned all of her effort, desperately trying to avoid crashing into the Guardian Lion. Yet, to her dismay, she realized there was nothing she could do. Her momentum had progressed too far in one direction, and she could not reverse it, no matter how desperately she flailed her arms.
Maria felt her waist collide with the barrier, and then her upper body began to lurch toward the looming statue. To her horror, she saw that she was about to smash into the Guardian Lion with all the grace of a bumbling, balance-impaired rhinoceros. It was true that the statue looked to be in remarkably good condition… but it was also true that it was incredibly old, and nothing good could come from crashing into its beautiful surface.
Time continued to slow for Maria, as she plummeted forward. It occurred to her that this would, in very short order, become the single most embarrassing (and almost certainly the most expensive) moment of her life.
Preparing for impact, she extended the arm that was closest to the statue. She opened her hand, fingers splayed apart, in a last ditch effort to brace herself and evenly distribute her weight.
Maria felt the tip of one finger brush against the surface of the statue. But then, before any more of her weight could come down against it, she felt her body being jerked backward with a great deal of force.
In an instant, she found herself with both of her feet firmly planted on the floor… and she was thankfully on the correct side of the exhibit’s barrier. There could be heard a great wave of giggles, chuckles, and murmurs from the sea of surrounding students, as the disaster was narrowly averted at the final moment.
Turning her head, Maria saw that her older sister, Sara, had come to her rescue. One of Sara’s hands was clenched upon Maria’s backpack, her knuckles white with the force of her grip.
“Whew,” Maria uttered quietly, as she released a shaky exhalation. “Thanks.”
Sara’s eyes were wide with alarm. “Get it together,” she whispered in a stern hiss. “You-know-who is just waiting for a chance to get us suspended from school!”
“I know, you’re right,” Maria agreed. She offered a sheepish grin. “Thanks for having my back… And I’ll try my best to avoid knocking into any more precious artifacts.”
“We would all greatly appreciate that,” Sara said, offering a reassuring wink to her sister.
By this time, Evelyn Magellan had stalked over to Maria and Sara, and she looked down upon the two of them with nothing short of unbridled disapproval. Though she was a petite woman of slight build, and barely taller than the sisters, she seemed to positively tower above them, such was the aura of her authority.
“I’m really sorry, Ms. Magellan,” Maria told the curator. “I shouldn’t have done that… it was really reckless of me. I can’t explain what got into me!”
Maria’s apology was sincere. Though she could not adequately describe the great compulsion she had felt to lay her hand upon the Guardian Lion, the last thing that she had wanted was to potentially damage a priceless, ancient artifact. It was a magnificent statue, and Maria would have felt absolutely terrible if she had harmed it in any way.
Evelyn’s clear, green eyes narrowed behind her glasses, and she peered into Maria with an intensity that was unnerving to the utmost. Maria was generally fearless, by any standards of ten-year-olds, but she found her pulse quickening beneath that steely gaze.
Once more, she felt like a bug beneath the lens of a microscope. The only thing that prevented her from taking a few steps backward was her newfound appreciation of the exhibit barrier that was behind her.
What would the curator say, Maria wondered? What manner of reprimand would this no-nonsense woman deliver? Evelyn inhaled sharply, her nostrils flaring, as if the rendering of her final judgment upon Maria required an extra large intake of oxygen.
But before she could speak, she was interrupted. A tall, towering figure lumbered forward, coming to stand beside Evelyn.
“Don’t you worry, Ms. Magellan,” the interloper roared. “You can’t even begin to imagine what you’re getting into with this meddlesome lot! I’ll take care of these troublemakers.”
Maria and Sara released a synchronized sigh at the sight of this bumbling, bellowing goon who had arrived to provide his own brand of “assistance”. The sisters were not quite sure if they should be amused or alarmed by the interruption… for it was none other than Jasper Cragglemeister: evildoer extraordinaire, school janitor, and nemesis to children everywhere.