Emerald and Amber
Starlight
Nighttime Colors
Sunset
12 Days (pt. 8/12)
Lila and Ian drove over to the mid-Wilshire area where Ian managed to find street parking some distance away from the museum.
“Saved ten bucks,” he remarked with satisfaction.
“Yeah, but if we have to make a quick escape that could cost us,” Lila remarked.
They briskly walked over to museum, paid their admission, and identified the building in which they were to meet the mystery person or persons.
Lila glanced at her watch. “Fifteen minutes. Let’s get set up.”
They walked into the main exhibit area and casually moved apart as they studied the artifacts that included footage from the 1920 silent film, Der Golem [The Golem], something that captured Lila’s attention immediately. She stood entranced in front of the screen, forgetting momentarily to pay attention to those around her.
“Interesting movie,” a man’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
She swung around nearly braining the guy with her handbag.
A thin, dark haired man in his late 50s stood slightly behind her. At her startled reaction he held up his hands in a gesture to indicate that he meant no harm.
“Yes, it is,” she replied cautiously.
“I find the golem to be a physical representation of the creative process. We create something without knowing how it will change once it is released to the world.” The dark haired man smiled grimly. “Unfortunately this can have,” he paused, “unintended consequences.”
Lila smiled. “That matches perfectly with my motto: expect the unexpected.”
Mitchell inclined his head, acknowledging her riposte.
He held out his hand. “Mitchell Harvard.”
Lila decided to play along to see where this was going. “Lila.”
Ian wended his way over to where they were standing. “I haven’t had the pleasure,” he said pleasantly.
“Mitchell,” the man held out his hand to Ian, who shook it briefly.
“I take it you’re also an admirer of silent film?” Ian queried.
“I find the subject matter particularly intriguing.” Mitchell’s gesture encompassed both Ian and Lila. “Are you early film aficionados?”
Lila laughed. “I’ve attended a couple of UCLA sponsored silent film showings, but that’s the extent of my knowledge.”
“I guess you could say we’re here to learn more about it,” Ian said carefully.
“Certainly this is a fine example of German Expressionism. Also, I think the message that one’s creation often outgrows one’s ability to control it is particularly poignant.”
Ian quirked his eyebrow at Mitchell, “And yet it can be combated by a single person, as in the film. Was the golem evil or merely misunderstood?”
“Can’t it be both?” Mitchell posed the question.
Lila mused, “First the golem saves many people, but later kills someone. Does the second action negate the first?”
Mitchell smiled politely. “Perhaps we come at this from different perspectives. I find that evil may often hide behind the face of good.” He looked around the room, noting that they were currently the only ones at the exhibit.
Lila pressed him. “Do you have a specific instance in mind?”
“Suppose a group knows that someone has created a weapon with the intent to use it for an evil purpose. The group members decide that they are willing to do anything to stop that plan. What is your responsibility if you find out about this situation?” Mitchell asked tensely.
The lights went out in the room and Mitchell pulled Ian and Lila closer to him. “Mohave Desert. The three towers. 3 p.m. tomorrow. If you are the sort who would indeed do something.”
The lights came back on suddenly, and Ian and Lila blinked to clear their vision. Mitchell had disappeared.
12 Days (pt. 7/12)
Stopping off at their place first, Lila determined to do some research before they left.
“It looks like LACMA is running an exhibit on the Golem legend.” Lila paused. “This makes me think about our trip to Krakow. I really loved those bread circles covered in poppy or sesame seeds. Mmm…” She fell silent with a blissful look on her face.
Ian waved his hand near her face. “Earth to Lila. Time for another trip to Europe.”
“Yes!” Lila’s eyes brightened. “Let’s go in July. Don’t you have some time off coming up?”
“Okay, back to the subject,” Ian said gently. “Golems. What do we know about ‘em?”
Lila turned determinedly back to the computer. “Let’s turn to our favorite source, Wikipedia.” She pulled up the site and read silently for a moment. “Okay, so it’s a lump of clay that is essentially magically made alive. A relative of the rabbi who originally made a golem way back in the 1500s said that when the rabbi saw the golem growing too huge, he ended up getting injured while trying to put the kibosh on it. Sounds like at first the golem was pretty useful, but after awhile it got out of control.”
“What does a golem have to do with a drone?” Ian asked quizzically
“Maybe,” Lila said slowly, “it has something to do with this larger legend about Rabbi Loew making a golem to protect the Jewish community in Prague during the late 1500s. There’s even a World War II era legend about a Nazi going up to the attic where this original golem is supposedly stored to try to stick a knife in it, but then the Nazi operative mysteriously ends up dead.”
Lila took a breath. “Wasn’t the company that produced the drone called Magen?” She quickly typed in the word and searched. “That means protector in Hebrew. The company has an office here in Los Angeles that we should probably visit.” She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking. “Todd Regelmeister, the defense guy who was killed, he could have been a threat to someone. We need to find out more about him.”
12 Days (pt. 6/12)
Ian and Lila parked in front of their place and made their way to the front door.
“Pearson is going to be thrilled to see us,” Lila pointed out.
“I’m sure,” Ian replied dryly, carefully opening the front door to block any attempt by the cat to escape. As expected, Pearson greeted them meowing vociferously, and demanding an explanation for their absence.
Walking in, instead of almost tripping over Pearson as she usually did, Lila managed to skid across the bamboo floor on an envelope pushed under their door by someone. After catching her balance, she reached down and picked up the envelope.
Pearson nearly crawled up her pant leg in his excitement at their return, so she stumbled over to the kitchen table and took a seat. He promptly climbed into her lap, kneading it, before settling in with a loud purr. Ian sat beside her at the table.
Lila thoroughly examined the unmarked envelope before slitting it open with her fingernail. Pulling out a single sheet of heavy cream-colored paper, she placed it on the table where they could both see.
GOLEMS. 2ND FLOOR AHMANSON BLDG. 15:00.
Lila looked quickly at her watch.
“We only have a couple of hours. Let’s grab some tacos and head over.”
“Sounds good,” Ian agreed.
They walked up the street to their favorite taco place where they got their usual orders of fish and shrimp tacos with drinks.
Appetites satiated, they prepared to drive over to LACMA.
12 Days (pt. 2/12)
Lila sat there for several minutes thinking about this new information. Pearson continued to purr and knead his claws on her leg.
“Ouch,” she exclaimed as his claws cut through the material in her pants to the skin underneath. Carefully dislodging the cat, she set him gently on the floor.
The time until Ian arrived home passed quickly. Lila settled into the couch to read a research article that she was co-writing with a friend of hers to boost their academic street cred. Hearing the door creak open, she set aside her laptop and petted Pearson, who had nestled in next to her leg.
“Hey,” Ian greeted her tiredly.
“Hey, yourself,” Lila replied. She hoisted herself up off the couch and followed him into the bedroom, where she sprawled on the bed to watch him change out of his work clothes and into his workout gear.
“So how did your day go?” Lila asked casually.
“It was okay,” Ian said dismissively. “Nothing special. How about yours? Did you get your paper proofread?”
“Not quite. Still working on it.” Plucking at the quilt cover, Lila inquired nonchalantly, “When did you see that drone demo last month? Was it the 23rd?”
“I think so,” he said sitting on the bed beside to lace up his running shoes. “Why?” He turned to look at her.
Lila announced bluntly, “Someone got murdered that day.”
That got Ian’s full attention. “What do you mean?” His eyes sharpened on her.
“The guy visiting from HQ, Todd Regelmeister. There was an explosion during the exhibition that apparently killed him.”
“It’s tragic,” Ian paused. “But that doesn’t mean it was murder.”
“I got this in the mail.” Lila passed over the paper that she had brought in with her.
Ian studied it carefully and handed it back to her. “Who do you think sent it?”
“I don’t know, but it seems to have something to do with that project you were working at the time.”
“You know I can’t talk about that,” Ian remonstrated.
She held up her hand in a stop gesture. “I know, I know. I’m just saying, maybe you can think of someone who may have wanted to stop that project or keep that company from moving forward with its design.”
“There are lots of people who would fit that bill,” Ian said looking pensive. “Every competitor they had would’ve killed…” His voiced trailed off. “I see what you mean. I’ll give it some thought.”
The doorbell rang at that moment and Ian rose up to answer it. The FedEx employee handed him a standard paperboard express envelope and pushed the signature pad at Ian. Before signing his name, Ian examined the address on the envelope.
He closed the door and walked back into the bedroom where he sat beside Lila. Opening the envelope quickly, he fished out a single sheet of paper and read aloud the writing on it:
San Jose. Computer History Museum. Hour of Code.
Ian looked at his watch. “That’s tomorrow.” He quickly pulled up the details on his Smartphone. “How about a trip to San Jose this weekend?”
“Sweet.” Lila perked up. “I’ll bring my article and edit on the way.”
“Looks like we’re in for a December surprise,” Ian said, smiling slightly.
Lila leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Always an adventure.”
“Pack your bag and catch a few hours of sleep before we head out,” he suggested.
Lila reached for her mobile phone, which sat on the bedside table. “I’ll call Josie,” she said referring to the cat sitter, “ since I’m figuring we’ll be gone at least through Sunday.”
Ian took Lila’s hand in his. “How about making an early anniversary weekend of it? We can stop in Monterey on the way back.”
“Nice idea.” Lila returned his smile. “Never a dull moment with you.”
12 Days (pt. 1/12)
Lila trudged her way up the stairs toward her front door where she nudged aside the usual conglomeration of fliers and other useless items thrown onto the doormat. Reaching into her large handbag, she scrabbled around finding nothing but a bunch of old wrappers, receipts and packets of instant coffee mix.
Rolling her eyes and muttering epithets under her breath, she glanced around to see if anyone was watching before reaching up to run her hand along the piping that ran next to the door and up to the roof. She pulled loose a magnetic key holder from behind it, quickly removed the key, and unlocked the door, hurriedly replacing the holder to its former position.
Sighing, she pushed open the door, and deftly sidestepped her cat Pearson, who as usual was waiting at the door to greet her. Lila dropped the mail she had tucked into her elbow onto the table and plopped down into a chair. Pearson stared fixedly at her lap, waiting patiently for her to notice. She leaned back to make a place for him, and he leaped up to walk in a circle, kneading and purring before settling onto her lap.
One of the letters on the table caught Lila’s eye. It had her name written in wide black letters in black marker, with Ian’s name scrawled underneath in blue ink. Hesitantly Lila reached for the letter, examining it carefully before ripping the flap open with the tip of her finger.
She drew out a piece of paper with a series of numbers printed on it. On the left side of the paper was the column title “Expenses,” while on the right appeared the word “Contractor.”
The figures were astounding; it was more money than she would see in her lifetime she was sure. Some of the names looked familiar to her – she had worked on projects for a couple of the organizations. As she scanned the list, she noticed a phrase written with a bold flourish at the bottom of the paper:
WHO PUSHED
THE BUTTON?
She wrinkled her forehead confusedly. What did that mean?
Pulling off the top sheet of paper, she found a printout of a news article beneath. The main gist of which was that a minor contracting firm had gone out of business due to putting all its money in a project to develop small drones for deployment in hostile environments to gain atmospherics before troops or civilian groups moved into the area.
Apparently there had been a fatal accident with one of the drones exploding directly over the seat of a senior official during a product demonstration. Lila pulled out her Smartphone and keyed in the official’s name. Immediately she pulled up a list of conspiracy theory sites from which she randomly selected an entry.
A few minutes later, Lila gazed into the distance and scribbled a name beneath the phrase:
Ian?
Colors
I love the flower colors!