Dead Past

exhibits. Fortunately, there were only a few people in the room.
    “I’m not giving you my package, young man. I don’t even know you.”
    Diane recognized her voice.
    “Ma’am. I just need to look at it.”
    “Mrs. Torkel?” said Diane. “Are you Ruby Torkel?”
    The woman and the guard turned around at Diane’s voice. The guard looked relieved.
    “Yes. And who are you? How do you know my name?” she said.
    “I’m Diane Fallon. We talked on the phone yesterday. Did you come all the way from Florida?”
    “I’m here, am I not? You said you wanted to see the doll.”
    Diane motioned for the guard to leave. “Is that the doll?” asked Diane.
    “It’s not my lunch,” she said.
    “I didn’t mean for you to have to bring it,” said Diane.
    “If I sent it, there’s no telling how long it would take, and I thought, I haven’t seen Juliet in a while, so I’ll just bring it. But this building is so big.”
    “Yes, it is. I was on my way to see Juliet myself. She’s probably in the lab.”
    “Gramma, is that you?” Juliet had just come out of the shell room into the fish room. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’ve come to see you. This woman—Diane Fallon—wants to see that doll.”
    “The doll?” said Juliet, looking confused.
    “You know, when you were a little girl. The one I took away from you,” said her grandmother.
    “You brought it all the way from Florida?” said Juliet. She guided her grandmother out of the way of tourists and toward a corner.
    “Of course, from Florida. I didn’t come from Europe. Aren’t you glad to see me?” Juliet’s grandmother said.
    “Of course, I am, Gramma.” Juliet gave her grandmother a hug. “I’m just surprised, that’s all. How did you get here?”
    “I took a bus. It wasn’t that bad. I slept most of the way. Changing in Atlanta wasn’t fun.”
    “Well, I’m glad to see you,” said Juliet. “Have you had anything to eat?”
    “Nothing to speak of,” she said.
    “Why don’t you take your grandmother to the restaurant?” said Diane.
    Juliet nodded. “I’ll do that.”
    “First,” said Diane, “I wanted to ask you something. Actually, I came to tell you that I talked with your grandmother and asked her to send the doll. But there is something else I’ve been meaning to ask. When we had dinner the other day you said you are afraid of certain things like new dolls and certain words. What words?”
    “It’s silly, really. One of them that absolutely fills me with anxiety is a word I ran into quite by accident in my museum work. It’s the word palim . . . palim . . . I’m sorry, it’s very difficult for me to even say it. It is the word . . . palimpsests. How strange is that?” Juliet laughed nervously.
    “Palimpsests? That’s the second time I’ve heard that word lately—where?” said Diane. Then she remembered, that’s why the alliteration of p ’s kept tickling her brain. “I remember. The making of palimpsests was possible even with papyri. ”
    Juliet’s eyes grew round in a look of sheer terror; her face drained of color, she backed up against the wall and screamed before she slid down and held her knees, sobbing.

Chapter 40

    “What in the world did you say to her?” said Mrs. Torkel as she hurried over to her granddaughter.
    “I’m not sure,” said Diane. She knelt beside the stricken girl, who now seemed to have fallen into a trance or a seizure. “Juliet, can you hear me?” No response. Juliet was breathing very fast.
    “My husband, God rest his soul, did this sometimes. It was after the war and I’d find him out in a field hiding from the enemy, he said. He’d pull me down with him and we’d both hide there in the weeds,” said Mrs. Torkel. “She’s having a flashback. That’s what it looks like to me. God in heaven, we thought she’d just forget and it would be all right.”
    “Can we help?”
    Diane glanced up briefly and several of the tourists were gathered around. She didn’t know which one had spoken.
    “Thank you, but no. Please go ahead and enjoy your tour of the museum.”
    Juliet sat there for several minutes with no change. Diane and Mrs. Torkel said nothing. Juliet’s breathing slowed and Diane thought she was coming around from wherever it was she had gone. After another couple of minutes, she tried to stand. Diane and Mrs. Torkel got on each side of her and helped her up and into the lab, away from the tourists. Mrs. Torkel, Diane noticed, elbowed a few of them