I make other sweets besides taffy, after all, and unique heat sources make for unique flavors. I would have to be careful regardless, as the Puller had had many, many owners over the years, some for ominously brief periods. One fact stood clear through all its shadowed history, though: those who mastered the Puller’s secrets ranked among the greatest chefs and innovators of our art.
So I would test, and take great care in the testing. I would use every bit of knowledge and skill that I possessed, and some that I did not yet, to determine how best to employ this marvelous device. And if that thrice-damned potager next door ever again abused a bushel of garlic . . . Well, then I would have myself a fine new guinea pig.
So. When next you visit the city of the crescent, be certain that you come to the Vieux Carre, Toulouse Street, and ask for my shop. You will find the finest taffy in the city, to be sure—but if you find new desserts, then you will know my experiments have been successful. I shall owe it all, or at least its beginnings, to the good professor.
1943: A Brief Note Pertaining to the Absence of One Olivaceous Cormorant, Stuffed
By Dr. Rachel Swirsky
It was some sort of stuffed sea bird. A pelican or puffin or penguin . . . I’d never been good at birds. It stood with its feet awkwardly splayed and its wings raised in a threat display, neck curved and beak hissing. Black glass eyes shone murderously.
Dr. Lambshead (Thackery T.) thrust the dead thing forward. “This is it, you see! What did I tell you?”
“Doctor, I don’t understand,” I said. “What makes you think this seagull is the source of the phoenix mythology?”
“Gull? This is no gull!”
“I don’t really do birds . . .”
“Note the slender body and long tail. This is a Brazilian olivaceous cormorant.” He paused meaningfully. “Or looks superficially like one.”
It was late 1943. I prickled in my cardigan suit and d’Orsay pumps; Dr. Lambshead looked breezy in his linen jacket and geometric tie. We stood in the basement of his Whimpering-on-the-Brook home, where he’d received me for the weekend, temporarily abandoning his post tending war wounded at the Combustipol General Hospital of Devon.
Readers who recognize me as a contemporary science fiction writer may be confused by my claims of visiting Dr. Lambshead in 1943. It’s true, my body has only aged twenty-eight years at the time of this writing. This seeming contradiction is the result of a rare biological ailment, the nature of which Dr. Lambshead had been secretly helping me investigate, this comprising the bulk of our acquaintance.
You see, when I experience particularly extreme emotional states—sometimes joy, though usually pain or fear—my condition triggers a painful chemical process wherein I stiffen, contract, and shrink in on myself until I am reduced to infancy, and must re-embark upon the tiresome process of growing.
You must not take this for some airy supernaturalism. The matter is simple biology.
I maintain strict secrecy about my affliction; the world has always been hostile toward the unusual, and for centuries I’ve feared the historical equivalent of “alien autopsies.” For this reason, I pressed Dr. Lambshead to keep his research confidential, which is why my affliction does not appear in any edition of his rare disease guide.
Dr. Lambshead was well aware that my condition had made me obsessed with legends of immortality, particularly those relating to the mythical phoenix, who—like me, and unlike the equally mythical vampire—must suffer periodic rebirth (with its loathsome necessity of periodic adolescence). Therefore, he had been sure to include the word “phoenix” in his invitation, knowing I would hasten to meet him immediately.
With this background, you may understand my disappointment as the distinguished scientific gentleman did nothing more dramatic than wave about the avian corpse while lecturing me on taxonomy.
“Of what possible interest,” I asked with exasperation, “is this dead, grey thing?”
“That’s just it!” he replied, excitement undimmed. “It’s not grey at all!”
He pulled me nearer. Despite my natural disinclination toward being in such proximity to a corpse, I gasped—the feathers shone a strangely inorganic, metallic silver. Dr. Lambshead plucked one feather loose and held it to my eye. Even more remarkable! It shimmered with intense, beautiful colors that did not merely change in reaction to the light, but seemed to alter of their own accord. Gold, white, orange, rose, violet, and crimson danced together like the heart of a flame.
“Where did you find this?” I murmured.
The cabinet had a Victorian stiffness and eclecticism; I expected an answer in keeping with the air of pith helmets and mosquito nets. However, I must also report that I later felt that this was just a front or disguise of some sort for a more profound and eclectic collection.
“Some sprog found it in Gurney Slade. Sold it for thruppence.”
“It’s beautiful . . . but surely only superficially related to the phoenix mythos.”
“You might think so! But my experiments have yielded other data . . .” Here, he digressed into such specialized, technical vocabulary that I cannot hope to repeat his lecture. At the completion of this torrent of obscurantism, he said, “I’ll go fetch my notes.”
Without further niceties, the doctor withdrew, taking the bird’s corpse with him. Abruptly, I found myself alone in Dr. Lambshead’s cabinet of curiosities.
A great deal of wordage has been spent describing the cabinet, but I will add my own. I’ve already mentioned that the rooms exuded a dark, musty air, crowded as they were with objects ranging from exquisite to disposable. A large number of preserved animal parts were affixed to brown velvet drapes that hung from the ceiling: malformed antlers, jagged horns, monstrous fish, paws and pelts and glowering heads. Bookcases crowded the walls, some filled with actual books, others piled high with specimen jars and music boxes and inscrutable devices.
My meandering took me to an archway blocked by a heavy, green-gold curtain. I admit I should not have swept it aside, but curiosity overcame my sense. As the fabric shifted, I saw a gleam in the shadows—something enormous and mechanical.
It will not surprise you that Dr. Lambshead attracted a great deal of gossip. In my social circle, it had long been suspected that Dr. L. was building some sort of war machine with which to aid the British effort. None of us doubted he could build such things; it was clear his genius extended beyond the medical.
It was such an armored monstrosity I expected to encounter when I stepped into the room. Imagine my surprise when I found myself nose to nose with a mechanical bull.
Don’t mistake me. I don’t mean the sort of crass rodeo relic on which inebriated young people struggle to maintain their equilibrium. This was a colossal bronze and silver construction, so large that its wickedly curved horns swept the ceiling. It was worked in excruciating detail, from muscular neck to powerful haunches. Only on close examination did I discern the evidence of clockwork mechanisms beneath its metal “skin.”
I found myself drawn to the creature. I extended my hand, longing to stroke that vast, smooth muzzle.
At that moment, I heard Dr. Lambshead’s returning footsteps. I snatched back my hand and turned toward the entryway. I expected him to be angry; instead, Dr. Lambshead seemed thoughtful as he looked between me and the bull.
He tucked the papers from upstairs under his arm. “My latest acquisition,” he said. “More precisely, a loan from the Greek government. They want me to determine how it works.”