Callahan: A Gothic Tale

A Pair of Pumpkins

15 A Pair of Pumpkins

"Where are you going/With your long face/Pullin' down/Don't hide away,/Like an ocean/That you can't see..." –"Where Are You Going" song by Dave Matthews Band

8 am, Several Days Later, Three-and-a-Half Weeks In, Autumn 1994, Biochemistry Lab

You replaced my daughter. But you seem like a lost soul.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

That last thought lingered in her mind as Dr. Cora Callahan gazed at Macy from the doorway, the latter at her workbench experimenting with aloe vera essence employed the afternoon before, in an effort to study their metabolic effects on the magical and/or otherwise human body.

Cora imagined, for a moment, the deafening screams of human torment. Macy's. The woman who had come between her sylph of a daughter, and her paramour, Harry Greenwood. Perhaps the bottled stinging nettle could have been more poisonous. Much more venomous. But Cora wasn't stupid; she had also seen her daughter's backhanded behavior. Whenever slighted, her golden child devolved into cougar vindictiveness in the name of what she termed 'justice'—her keenly-felt desire to mete out consequences, though unwilling to face her own. Cora knew this all too well, having kept a close eye on her daughter over many decades.

Are you evil?

8:15 am, Autumn 1994, Biochemistry Lab

Macy had the oddest sensation she was being stared at, but stubbornly continued pipetting various gelatinous substances into a series of substrate tubes, hoping she would be able to generate a means to defeat Scythe. Eventually.

She had compiled a list earlier, of common forms of gelatin. Isinglass. Carageen. Agar/Kanten. Pectin.

8:19 am, Autumn 1994, Biochemistry Lab

"I take it you've decided on your topic?" Cora called out from the doorway, discussing Macy's independent project mentioned in passing during the interview.

Removing her goggles and latex gloves, Macy turned to the woman and nodded. "Evaluation of the metabolic effects of gelatin capsules," she said quickly. "Basically, I'm studying how different types of gelatin affect a body." Without referencing, specifically, Scythe's body.

"Hm, alternate vehicles of medication management," Cora said with a tilt of her head. "Proceed."

8:25 am, Autumn 1994, Biochemistry Lab

Macy uttered a sigh of relief once Cora departed. Typically, she would have opted for her usual genetics experimentation as in Hilltowne, but given the human genome hadn't even been mapped yet, that was incredibly risky from a time traveler's perspective. It would attract too much attention. And even though she was a young talented expert, she knew she was no Stephen Hawking—yet—at least for now.

She took trace amounts of her experimental substances, sweeping them into tiny containers and stowing them in an enchanted hidden compartment within her purse, for her to work on in the evening. There wasn't enough though, she knew, which meant she needed to reach out to Mel.

Any Scythe ingredients? Macy texted. I need isinglass, carageen, agar (kanten), and pectin. And lab supplies. And...She tried not to make the list too long, knowing her sister was working late hours at the bar. Once she was satisfied with her writing, she sent off the request.

Noon, Autumn 1994, Biochemistry Lab

Macy made as though to go for a quick coffee run to obtain much-needed caffeine. Checking her phone, she sighed, realizing the only coffee shop she knew of was clear across campus, across from the cemetery.