Chapter 10

Diana called me at nine the next morning.

"You're clean!"

"I had hoped so. I presume you are, too."

"Yes. When can I see you?"

"Dinner tomorrow?"

"Wonderful!"

"But not as expensive."

She laughed. "I know, you're a poor student."

"No, no. I'm an excellent student, just not a wealthy one."

"More bad jokes. Oh, by the way, do you like motion pictures?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Call me around 1600?"

"It's a deal. And thanks for the news."

I was still pleased when I got to the Museum. I had the books for Winnie with me. In seven hours I'd see her. I finished the Guyanese ants and began on the Brazilian ones. The introductory card was, I thought, funny. It pointed out that these were ants from the Amazon, not polyergus, which are called "Amazon ants," which come from North America and raid other species for workers – "slaves."

The first group in the case were dinoponera gigantea, which are both large (workers get to 4 cm. In length) and very poisonous, delivering a painful sting. Paraponera clavata workers are smaller, but quite aggressive and painful.

"'Mornin', Gordy."

"Welcome back. I hope you were successful."

"We'll see. Everything takes time. They don't just hand out bundles of dosh. I see you've hit the ponerines."

"Yes, sir."

"They're interesting. We ought to get a colony set up in here. Kids love looking at those. The zoo in Cincinnati in the States has a field-caught 500+-ant group, on public display, it's grown to over 1,200 workers and is producing both males and virgin queens. I wonder whether we could get something like that set up."

"It would really be interesting. These cases are great, but herpetology has a terrarium with several mulgas [pseudechis australis] in it. There are folks there whenever I pass. I don't think five blokes have been here the past two weeks."

"Maybe some publicity. Hmmm. You keep at it. I'm going to talk to one of the girls in Educational Services." And he was gone again.

I went for lunch around noon and wandered through several other areas within entomology. There were lots of butterflies and moths and spiders, scorpions and mites. Setting up terraria with the arachnids shouldn't be tough. And all these dead arthropods weren't as eye-catching as live ones would be. I realized that I hadn't seen any Mutillidae [wingless wasps]. Some of those were colorful. I went back to work. Around 1500, I went to the office and knocked.

"Yes, Gordy?"

"I've been thinking."

"Good, too few do so."

"This whole area full of arthropods is dull!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look, I love the ants, the bees, the wasps; the spiders and mites and scorpions; the moths and butterflies; the crickets, katydids, grasshoppers, and locusts. But just displaying them under glass with a tag won't get anyone excited. Why don't we have any amber? Why are there no fossils? Why aren't there posters telling folks what's dangerous, what's harmful, what's beneficial?" I stopped, out of breath.

"Do you want to know, Gordy? Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, sir."

"Because I've been waiting for ten years for a kid like you to kick my fat arse!" He roared. "I tell you what. You stop what you've been doing and tomorrow morning we'll start talking about what we might do. Thanks, Gordy. Thanks. Maybe we'll move forward."

"Yes, sir. Tomorrow."

"We'll change your title to 'Entomological Entrepreneur'!" He was still laughing.

I took my books and went to meet Winnie.

As I walked, I thought about locusts. We could put up a great display about the 1973-74 plague. I was sure that there were photos that could be used. And we could do one about bees and how much of our food is fertilized by them. The shop could sell jars of honeycomb, too. I hoped I could remember this stuff in the morning.

I was sitting on the steps, thinking, when a voice said: "Gordy are you here?"

"Oh, sorry Winnie. I was thinking."

"I could tell. Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later. First, these are for you." I handed her the sack with the books in it. She took it and looked inside. She held out a slip of paper.

"You're not supposed to include the receipt."

"I didn't wrap them either."

"I noticed." She rummaged in her shoulder bag. "These are for you."

I looked at the books: "Cherry Ripe and Letty Fox."

"Bird's a contemporary. She's from Tasmania."

"Hence the semi-map on the cover."