Page 14 of How Does It Feel?

He smiled back, the thin skin around his eyes wrinkling with the movement.

“Well, apparently, you really haven’t heard that much about me. Guess over time, the gossipers started to pity me. What microscope did you get? I’m shocked they finally broke down and bought one, tight as they are with their conservation funds. Usually, all the money goes to hunting and fishing. They’d rather spend money to kill nature than restore it.” He shook his head gently as he stared at the road ahead.

I twirled a frayed thread over my stiff khaki knee. I’d never really thought of it that way, but it was true. Cliff and his boys got so much money for the things they needed. Even if they “needed” new Ford trucks, while the conservation department was so severely lacking that I had been forced to buy seeds myself this year as it “wasn’t in the budget.”

“Well, actually, I got the ALMScope B/20c. I bought it myself thinking it would be an investment toward my move to Mexico, tracking the monarch butterflies.” I could feel my cheeks turn red.

There was no doubt he would know exactly how frivolous I had been spending that much money. I braced myself for a lecture on how stupid it had been to spend all my money on a microscope. Maybe I could send it back? The thought made me feel so sad I thought my skin might turn blue from the inside out. It was my only bit of hope left.

“The ALMScope B/20c!?” Earl slammed on the brakes.

The action sent us flying forward abruptly before I slammed back against the seat, flinching. I knew he might lecture me, but geez. Dramatic much? His face stared at me with the same expression I would have expected if the ghost of Abraham Lincoln walked past the window in a cowboy hat and tighty-whities.

“Yea, I know, it was stupid—”

“That’s the best compound field scope available! Do you know the things I . . . ugh . . . you could see with that!? It has a double-layered mechanical stage! Four objective lenses! I could finally test them!” He was close to screaming now. If he didn’t look so happy, it would have been incredibly frightening. “Would I be able to borrow it just once? Of course, if you’d like to come, that would be even better. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and I’m going to catch them this time.” He stared off absently.

Maybe he was still a little crazy. This was a way better reaction though. Why couldn’t everyone be so happy for me and my new microscope? And I was gaining a field buddy? This was quickly turning out to be one of the best days I’d had in a very, very long time.

“Of course you can use it!” I was screaming now too, apparently easily affected. I cleared my throat in an attempt to bring down my pitch as we stared at each other in the middle of the road. If he had been ten years younger, this would have been one heck of a meet-cute. “Come inside, and you can see it!” I was back to screaming.

Both of us sat excitedly in the car for precisely another seven minutes until we pulled into the center’s parking lot.

We both jumped out of the car like kids in front of a candy store. I took the lead, running up to the door and letting my new friend in. This felt very much like in the first grade when you found out your cubby buddy also likes rainbow unicorns, and you just had to show them your very best one. Maybe this was better than that.

“Hi, Cecelia!” I shouted as I ran through the doors into my office like an excited child.

“Hi, Cecelia!” Earl shouted excitedly, following close behind.

“What in the hell’s going on? Callie, why you runnin’? Earl? What in the hell are you doing here?” Cecelia shouted back, gawking at us as we ran in.

“Callie’s showing me her microscope! Why didn’t you tell me it was the ALMScope B/20c!?” Earl shouted back at his friend before entering my office doors.

“Tell you what now?” she shouted back, confused.

“Cece, do we have any more of those cookies in the front?” I shouted, turning back to Earl as I pulled out the sturdy black case and unlocked it on the table. “They’re really good. Sometimes she even adds chocolate chips. Here take a look!”

I stepped aside so he could take the seat nearest the microscope and handed him a few of the glass slides I had prepared earlier. The toilet water sample from the Piggly-Wiggly was still my favorite.

A hush fell over our excitement as he set up and dialed in the apparatus. I could tell by his practiced movements he was quite used to being around one, and my body began to hum with anticipation of his reaction. How amazing today was turning out to be!

“What scope do you have, Earl?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t accidentally shamed him if he had an older one.

“Don’t have one now. My salary at the gas station doesn’t really give me the means to buy such a fine microscope, and what I’m looking for, well, anything in my price range wouldn’t be of help,” he said, one eye pressed to the lens.

“So if you work at the gas station, what type of things are you working on that require such a microscope?” I asked.

There had been far too many books in his car for it to be just a hobby. Plus, microscopy as a hobby?

He gently moved his head away from the lens and sat back in his chair. He had a worn-out appearance, but I had no doubt he had likely been very popular with the ladies in his younger years. Even now, in his sixties, I could sort out a few strikingly handsome features. He had flipped his hat around backward to look in the eyepiece, and the position of the ball cap brought focus to his honey eyes. Eyes now bloodshot and cloudy, nestled in pale wrinkles of time covered in freckled sun spots. Though I’m sure he was incredibly handsome once, he now carried a disheveled, almost sickly appearance. His skin had a slight gray cast, even with the kiss of sun on his face and forearms. Unkept ash-gray hair clumped over his ears, pressed at odd angles from the still backward ball cap that only seemed to add to his disorderly appearance.

“Some odd years ago, the state sent me here to look into a new genus of fungi that has only ever been found here, in Willow Springs.” He caught his breath with a long pause as if deciding how much to say. “I saw some of the most peculiar things when collecting data for this odd mushroom. Over the years, we tried to cultivate it with no success. It has yet to turn up anywhere else but here.” Immediately, intrigue flooded my system. “I have seen things from the areas where they fruit that would make you fear the woods. It’s as if something inhuman floats around it.” He stood up from the chair and smoothed his wrinkly orange T-shirt as if he regretted letting out his last words. He stared at the microscope on my desk.

“Sounds like a really intense find. What did they discover about it?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the cold wall as fascination overtook me.

He was an odd fellow, but that’s what everyone had thought about me when I was a child and had insisted I saw fairies. Maybe there was more to this.

I wasn’t sure I believed anything he said, but something about it kept me wanting to know more. When he spoke, you felt his friendliness, could hear his articulation and intelligence. But just looking at him, he gave off an almost wild and “not all there” vibe. The whole thing was so peculiar I couldn’t help but unravel it a little more.