The Truth Berries

XVII

       Helen wasn’t sure if she got Dr. Curtis address right for this house’s lawn was no garden at all. Everything was total a mess. The carabao grass grew untamed, wild bushes sprouted everywhere and some creeping vine has made its way halfway to the roofs. If not for the two-storey Victorian house standing proudly in the midst of it all, she would say she was lost somewhere in the jungles of sss.

       “Hurry, Miss Sandoval. Dr. Curtis is expecting you right now. You must know he rarely accepts visitors”, the thin, aloof woman who opened the gates said coldly.

       She has not met Dr. Curtis at all. But if he was even half of what the people at the university say about him, he was more than enough of who she needed. According to the papers, he was the best botanist the university ever had. He pushed the board in upgrading the university’s botany department into what it is today- a shining beacon to any student out there wanting to pursue their study of plants. He pioneered numerous studies which earned recognition across the country and some even got as far as international level, thus giving the school a great boost in terms of students enrolling to a once-dying department. He retired a year ago after ten fruitful years of service, earning him the right of being called as ‘Washington’s Father of Botany’. One of his great legacies was the world-class botanical garden of the university. His very own garden, however, begs to differ.

       Once they got inside the house, she felt confused. The interior of the house set an unmistakable contrast to its exterior look. Though the house displayed lively and vibrant colors outside, inside was a dark and gloomy place, with all the curtains drawn and only a single 5-watt bulb turned on. It was still reasonably early for that day, though a light rain was still drizzling outside, but the entirety of the house gave the feeling of arriving dusk. A few hours more and it would be almost impossible to navigate your way inside it. Yet through the poor lighting inside, she could not help but stare at the bizarre glassed frames hanging on the wall. At first sight, they all looked like dried-out butterflies and insects, with all the soft parts decayed and gone. But when she inspected it closely, it turned out to be fossils of plants and all their leaves perfectly preserved like it were imprints on paper. One looked like a giant fern with all the leaves’ minutest details captured exactly as it was. Her prehistoric botanical tour was cut short when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

       “Dr. Curtis is in his room upstairs. Go up then second room to your left. You have about thirty-five minutes before his personal doctor comes for his medicines. I should warn you, he’s having his dark days more often nowadays. So if he starts yelling at you or anything, you should leave him alone at once. No buts, no ifs, just get out of there. He once tried to stab his nurse with a fork. Luckily, she was two steps quicker so he did not reach her. But he nurse never came back after that incident.”

       “I understand, ma’am.”

       “Whether you get what you came here for or not, do not overstay. Just a piece of advice: Do not push your luck too hard on something that might hurt you.”

       “I won’t, I promise, Miss-“

       “Curtis. It’s Mrs. Curtis”, she kindly said.

       Helen’s eyes widened. The papers said nothing about a wife, not even a dead one. Mrs. Curtis sensed her surprised but she just smiled at her. Helen felt awkward so she bowed her head and started climbing the stairs. After three steps, she looked back at her.

       “I’m sorry, Mrs. Curtis, but are you not going to accompany me?”

       “I’m afraid I can’t, even if I want to. Dr. Curtis hates it when I’m meddling with his works. Or whatever it is that I know I have no business with.”

       Helen did not fully understand. If she was indeed his wife, then why would she say something like that? Still confused, she started to climb. The stairs creaked in every step that she took. A few moments later, she was standing in front of his door. She summoned all her courage and then she knocked twice.

       “Come in.”

       It was the same ancient voice on the phone. She slowly opened the door and found him sitting at the edge of his bed. He really was not as ‘old’ as his voice sounded, but he was so thin that he could not breathe as easily as it should be. His oily hair was unkempt and he had a month-old beard. The room was filled with cigarette smoke mixed with the strong smell of alcohol, a scent so overpowering that Helen felt dizzy. She took a wooden chair and sat in front of the old man.

       “Hello Sir. You must be Dr. Curtis. I’m Helen Sandoval.”

        She offered him her hand but Dr. Curtis just stared at it. Instead, he balled his hand and coughed really hard, covering his mouth with his balled hand. Helen slowly withdrew hers. When he recovered, he started screaming at her.

       “What is it that you want from me? I told you everything already! I did not find it, and I have no idea where it is, if it really ever existed. I have given half of my life for you people and you took the other half from me. Isn’t that enough already?”

       She was petrified by his sudden outburst, but she tried to say something - anything that might loosen him up.

       “Who are ‘they’, Doctor?”

       “You are not fooling anybody here! I know who you are!”

       “No, Dr. Curtis. I am not one of them. I’m here to ask you about something. I really need your help.”

       “I’m done with you, people! You can’t force me anymore. Why can’t you let me live in peace? Or at least let me die in peace!?”

       Helen did not know what to do. He looked at the old man crying in front of her, then at her wristwatch and finally at the door. She went back at the pathetic old man and wondered, could this man really help her? Maybe it was time to stand up and head back home. What the hell, she muttered. She took out the seed from her bag and reached for his hand. She left it there in his hand for him to see and his eyes squinted.

       “What’s this?”

       “It’s a seed, Doctor.”

       “f**k you, lady. I know it’s a seed. But what seed is it?”

       “That’s the reason I came here, to ask you that.”

       “Well, if you yourself don’t know what seed this is, how could I help you?”

       “What do you mean? You’re a botanist, right? And not just an ordinary botanist but a decorated one! How come you cannot identify what seed that is?”

       Dr. Curtis sighed. He lifted the seed and wagged it under her nose.

       “This random, singular seed we have here could be from any plant among the millions of its kinds. How should I know when I did not see where it came from?”

       He had a point, a rather good point. Also, she noticed he was not acting so dumb at all anymore. So she took out her phone and she showed him the pictures of the chest. The old man’s jaw dropped and his eyes grew large. She showed him all of them, swiping her phone’s screen up to the chest’s last photo. The old man watched in disbelief and when she has shown him all of them, he asked for her phone.

       “Please?”

       Helen felt obliged. The old doctor took it from her with quivering hands and started inspecting them again. Helen watched as he studied them hard. His face was a portrait of confusion, of joy and of disbelief mixed with an undeniable sense of fear. He inspected them with tight lips and squinted eyes, her phone just inches away from his face.

       “Where did you get these photos?”, he asked her while his eyes were still riveted to the phone’s screen.

        Helen did not answer him at once, but the doctor did not seem to mind. She wanted to think, to weigh every word she would have to tell him. Could she trust this unstable old man? Could he even keep a secret? She guessed she would have to find that herself.”

       “A friend sent them to me.”

       “Where did he get it?”

       “It’s a she and I don’t think that matters, Doctor.”

       “It does matter, Miss Sandoval because knowing its origin will save us a lot of time. Or do you prefer to do this the hard way? We sure can do that by reading every book there is until we find what we are looking for. That would take at least one whole year, but I guess you have the luxury of spending a year over something that could be done in just a couple of minutes. It’s your choice to make, Miss Sandoval. But I’m glad for you, it was an easy choice to make.”

       He was right and she knew it.

       “They were not totally sure where exactly it came from but it was sent to them by a man in Egypt.”

       What she said shocked the old man that he dropped her phone. Luckily, her quick reflexes helped her catch it in mid-air.

       “My God, Dr. Curtis! That was close!”

       “From Egypt, you say?”, the man was still in a daze.

       “So they said. Why?”

       “Then Miss Sandoval, I fear it is what I think it is.”

       Helen felt her heart stopped beating. She leaned forward and held her breath. Finally, someone to shed some light on it. Dr. Curtis bent closer to her. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as she was still holding her’s.

       “Could you hand over that notebook by the picture frame? The black one with the red marker, fourth from the left.”

       Her face said it all. If he was not as fragile as he looked, she swore she could have hit him. She was so disappointed at his timing. All he had to do was tell her the truth but he wanted his goddamn notebook first. Why, she asked herself. Unbeknownst to her, Dr. Curtis sensed her frustration.

       “Miss Sandoval, let me tell you a story first.”

      It was then that she felt she had more than enough for this day. The fatigue, the meeting with Dr. Winson, the repugnant smell of his room that she had to bear and the awful old man that she had to talk to created an intolerable feeling within her and it made her burst ultimately.

       “You know what, Doctor? Why don’t we just cut the crap out and you tell me what this is or I’ll just leave and find myself another botanist? A saner, more decent one? Nobody here wants another story, and I’m sure as hell I do not need to hear one right now!”

       She was panting by the time she was done and she did not notice herself standing up the chair and making two clenched fists, her eyes glaring at him. But the doctor remained calm throughout all of that. Then he straightened himself up and took her right fist and uncurled it. He looked into her blazing eyes and kindly asked her to sit down. Eventually, when she had collected herself, she sat down again.

       “That is where you are wrong, lady. For everything started with a story but this will start with a legend.”