Chapter 8: Friends, new and old.

The rest of the evening went swimmingly. At around eleven, I pleaded work tomorrow, and we headed back to our respective homes. Before I showered, brushed my teeth, and went to bed, I had some time to reflect on the evening. Morgan was a bit sharp-tongued, I thought, but she was pretty nice once you got to know her. Not much more thought than that, however.

I went into lab Monday morning around nine-thirty, my usual time. When I came in, Eric--my lab's senior grad student--waved hi and said, "You have a student waiting for you."

"In the summer?"

"That's what she said."

Morgan was waiting for me by my desk. Ellie wasn't around, since she and Sean were up in Michigan. When I approached, she was examining the song lyrics I had tacked up. "Interesting selection," she commented without turning. "I like the Kim Anderson print too."

"Any songs you like?"

"'That I would be good, ' and 'Utile'--that's by Julien Clair, right?"

"Right. Someone played it for me once, and I couldn't rest till I dug up the lyrics."

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

"Just a tad."

"I know that you probably have work to catch up on, but I wanted to look around Hopkins. Maddie didn't want to come, since she's been here a few thousand times, but she doesn't know all the ins and outs of the place."

"And you'd like someone to show you around... hmmm, how about this? I just need to culture a few samples and grow them up overnight. If you lend me a hand, we can be out of here in a hour."

"Your boss won't mind?"

"My advisor doesn't mind too much as long as I get the work done. A few experiments worked out successfully recently, and I'm now mostly in the 'analyze and decide what to do next' phase. Besides, he's the Dean. We see him two or three times a week if he's on campus, and he travels a lot."

"Oh, right, you work for Richard Graeff."

"Checking up on me?"

"Not exactly, but I had to track down where you worked, after all."

"Fair enough. So, have you ever used a pipet?"

With her help, we were done in fifty minutes. It would be a real loss to science if she went on to law, I thought. She understood procedures after one explanation, had excellent technique for a beginner, and anticipated down times by doing other necessary tasks in advance. I've known post-doctoral fellows with inferior technique, and I told her so. She blushed and demurred, saying that my instructions were very clear and straightforward.

Hopkins is a lovely place to tour, especially since the university had taken pains to maintain a similar architectural style throughout. No skyscrapers, minimalist concrete blocks, or glass and steel monstrosities--just a whisper of understated grace and elegance. We took our time strolling around the campus, occasionally wandering into a building or two when there was something I wanted to show her. From my tenure here, I had amassed a fair collection of keys and knowledge of underground passageways, so there were very few buildings I could not get into if required. We stopped for lunch at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and decided to go in for the afternoon. After a few hours admiring the new Renaissance exhibit, we left and walked up the left side of campus, along a winding, hilly road overlooking a verdant forest. We could see glimmers of the stream that ran through it, and went down to play in the water. A few minutes later, we (now somewhat damp) walked over to where she had parked.

"Maddie wanted to know if you wanted to go out tonight."

"If I go out for dinner again, I'll start looking like the Goodyear blimp."

"Oh, she's more creative than that."

"Should I be worried?"

"Terrified."

I stuck out my tongue, and she laughed. A deep, throaty laugh. "Will you be coming with us?" I asked.

She looked uncertain. "I wouldn't want to intrude again."

"Oh, nonsense. And Maddie would agree with me, too. Ask her yourself if you don't believe me."

She looked down, worrying her lower lip for a minute before looking up again and smiling. "Then I'd love to come."

"I'll see you two later, then."

Maddie came by around two hours later. When I got in the car, she said, "We have to swing by and pick up Morgan--she had to do something earlier. How was the campus tour?"