Sophie's Night Life

  copyright 2014.

 

  Copyright Ann Michaels

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1. -Run free

  Chapter 2. -Among the Stars

  Chapter 3. -Sun and Darkness

  Chapter 4. -To the Park Again

  Chapter 5. -New Beginnings

 

  Sophie's Night Life

  Chapter 1.

  Run Free

  Since the day I was born - according to mum - I'd never wanted to sleep. I drove her mad when I was a baby, she said, often enough. Though, she did admit that, I was not a trouble maker. I was just very curious and showed great interest in everything about me. It seems I was just too scared to close my eyes, in case I missed something interesting.

  At thirteen, I am still the same. But the problem is that, I am still being sent to bed every night at eight o clock. 'The babies hour!', I often complained to mum in disgust. She generally ignored me. Dear old mum had decided that I must be forced into normality. Or her idea of it anyway.

  These days, I do go to sleep. Straight away in fact. I no sooner lie on my quilted, blue bedspread, on the dot of eight, and I am knocked out and dead to the world for five hours at a stretch. But then, about one in the morning, I'll be wide awake and wired, like volts of electricity are buzzing right through me.

  Most people would think this was great. Fantastic even. But I was bored. I had painted pictures, read lots and lots of books, meditated, done yoga, knitted socks, listened to a ton of music, and even, taught myself Chinese. I needed something new.

  So, it happened this one night, before I knew what I was doing, I found myself halfway out the window, skinning down the Eucalyptus tree and over the fence, and down the lane.

  The lanes in Darlinghurst can be as dark as the inside of a witches' hat at night. You can't be sure who, or what you may meet, but, I found that if I just kept steadily going along, creeping through the darkness, I would eventually get to the flood-lit road and then, it was just a hop and a skip to Hyde Park.

  Hyde Park was abuzz at night; you wouldn't believe some of the stuff going on in there! I probably have some type of post-traumatic stress disorder from the things I've seen. But, I will say, I've decided to stick to drinking apple juice for the rest of my life. Mum laughed when I told her that! She didn't believe me. She just did this kind of hooting laugh, like a sarcastic car horn and acted like certain types of liquid brain-warpers were irresistible or something. But no. I will work on my meditation and mind control instead. I've decided.

  After about two weeks of hanging about the park, I'd had more than enough of that scene. I was pretty friendly with some of the possums who lived there, at least. They made me laugh. Imagine those pop-eyed, bush animals living happily right in the very heart of the city! Hilarious!

  Right across the road from the park, seeming to beckon me, was the imposing bulk of the Sydney Museum. I loved the museum and I visit the place often in the daytime, when I can. One of my favourite fantasies, when I am day-dreaming in geography class, is that I get locked in there and I have the whole place to myself. Mum said that this was downright weird. Whatever!

  On this particular night, I could see a bright, door-sized glow coming from the side wall of the museum, in the dark street. And, like a moth to light, I had to get myself over there and see what was what.

  As I crept closer to the museum, it became colder and darker, with that wet feeling in the air that you can get around old buildings. And - because it was so quiet - sound seemed to be amplified. My breathing sounded to me like I was in the middle of some scary movie. But, sure enough, there was light coming from the gaping hole of a doorway, in that huge expansive stone wall.

  Inside the door, I could see Professor Fortunatus carrying a large box and coming my way. I had often listened to talks by the Professor at the museum, and he knew me pretty well. Although, he didn't call me by my actual name of Sophie, but by the 'honorary title': 'Professor Stickybeak', or just 'Professor S'. Because I was always asking him questions and trying to see what was inside his office, which sat near the dinosaur room. I realised now that, the name probably suited me.

  'Hello Professor', I called, as I waved my hand up and down, like a piece of machinery.

  The professor's mouth dropped open, making him look like one of those ventriloquist dummies. He also, looked as if he was about to drop the large, but fairly flat box in his hands. I couldn't see his eyes, though, because the florescent light from overhead was reflecting off his glasses like crazy, making it look like bolts of electricity were coming out of his eyes. Pretty scary when you thought about it!

  The Professor's must have recognised me, as his mouth closed up like a trap, and then turned upwards into a sort of smile.

  'Well, well, well, it's my esteemed colleague, Professor Stickybeak.'

  'What are you doing Professor?' I blurted.

  'Just moving some of the megafauna specimens into storage?..but don't just stand there, come in, or go out ?.you'll have me in trouble with that door open like that!'

  I opened my mouth to say that I hadn't left the door open, but Professor Fortunatus was one of those absent minded, clever people, who are always catching the wrong bus and putting their briefcase in the fridge. His thoughts were deep and interesting, but often elsewhere. I walked in and closed the heavy door behind me. From outside, you wouldn't even know that there was a door there, as it looked like part of the stone wall.

  As I said, the Professor was a bit absent minded and vague about the mundane, real world and so; he probably wouldn't think that it was strange for a thirteen year old girl to be mooching about the city and museum at two in the morning. I doubt that the good professor even knew much about the everyday lives and routines of most folks. He probably slept in his office and worked on his fossils and his research, all of his waking hours. Most likely, he didn't even know who The Spice Girls were! And, if he did know, it would be a complete mystery to him why people so avidly listened to them. It was a mystery to me.

  'So, what animal remains are in this box Professor?' I asked

  'Fossil remains of a giant wombat, which would have been the size of a hippo.' He paused for a moment and then continued, 'lots of the mega fauna are extinct now, but in North and South America, only about 10,000 years ago, you could have found the glyptodon, a species of armadillo, which was the size of a car."

  'Wow! Imagine coming face to face with that!'

  'Yes, it would have been wonderful', he replied misunderstanding me, and sighing with regret.

  We entered a type of storeroom and he deposited the box.

  'Come along and have a cup of tea with me Professor S.' he said, looking at me intently for a moment, 'I've got Earl Grey and fruit cake and I want to show you a dinosaur nest, which just came in today.'

  He turned around on his heel, not waiting for my response and began to walk up a staircase of polished wood, which smelt of bee's wax polish and lemon. As I followed, I ran my hands along the smooth, timber handrail, so different from the hard, cold metal and plastic that was more usual today. This was a thing of utility and beauty.

  We walked along the carpeted, dark walk-ways, lit only by small sconces of light, which threw strange shadows and orbs of glowing brilliance upon the walls. Great rooms opened out every now and again and I could see looming skeletons of creatures, dead long ago. Creatures: strange and colossal and extinct to this world. The Professor, as we walked past a room, mumbled, as was his habit, 'death writ large'. Another room contained lit-up cabinets, filled with taxidermised birds. Like the Dodo. My teacher at school had said that, so many animals were going extinct every s
ingle day. At a lightening rate, he said. We are in the midst of the sixth great extinction event, he said.

  As he pushed the door of his office open and turned on a small lamp, I walked over to the window and looked out over the huge entrance hall of the museum. All was quiet and still; locked in shadow and silence and waiting for the coming day.

  The Professor was fusing about with the tea kettle and shaking a small white teapot about like a maraca. He then popped a knitted tea cosy with a pom-pom on it, and began to cut the fruit cake, which sat in a red tin, with a horrifying picture of a dinosaur on the lid.

  I sat in an ancient, leather chair, which looked like it had been around when the Earth was being formed, and drank my tea and nibbled my cake. The professor disappeared into a large, heavy, timber cupboard, which resembled a tomb and brought out a brown box similar to the one that he had been carrying before. Inside, was a fossilized, rounded, shallow pit containing three large eggs.

  'Have a look at this. It's a Sauropod nest, which was found recently in India.' The professor waved a long, white finger at the nest. 'We have many similar nests of course and this is not an important find. But, what is interesting to think about, is how the female laying these eggs, would have dropped them into the nest from a height of about two and a half metres ?..think about that for a moment!'

  'Gosh!' I said in amazement, 'sounds like it might have been a rough ride down! They really needed some built in parachutes.'

  The professor chuckled, but looked thoughtful, as he closed the lid. We finished our tea and cake and then I said that I better get home before my mum and granny got worried about me.

  'Come along then', said the professor, rising creakily from his wing-back chair and we set off again, through the dark, shadowy walk-ways. But this time, we passed a room containing gemstones, which gleamed and glittered like Aladdin's Cave, before descending a spiral staircase which took us to the entrance foyer. The professor opened a small door off to the side of the main doors, bid me farewell and I found myself in the dark, empty road, across from Hyde Park. The park looked, like an unexplored jungle.

  Swiftly, I took off and ran like hard-blowing wind toward home. I scrambled back up the eucalyptus tree and lay down on my bed, to think about things, until daybreak.

  At breakfast, mum wondered why I wasn't hungry. I couldn't tell her that I had eaten two slices of cake down at the museum in the dead of night.