NaNoWriMo-novel/novel.md

For the Priceless Treasures

by Vicky Steeves

Chapter 1

Harriet A. Allen was late for her first day of school.

Her cat, Copernicus, lazily doing some “kitty yoga” and stretching as if to say, “why don’t you just stay home with me?,” and Harriet was almost tempted to at this point. After arriving to her new flat late because of a delayed flight (and dealing with an angry cat and angry airline representatives), not having any of her boxes of clothes arrive, and finding the studio apartment much smaller than promised, she’d just about had it with this move. At least she spotted a man with a cheap breakfast cart outside on her block.

She wished her brother was here to deal with all this.

Copernicus rolled around their maroon sheets, claiming it with a sheet of black fur. She sighed. “I’ll deal with it later” she thought, while standing in front of her hasty assortment of Macy’s brand clothing, trying to piece together a decent first day outfit.

“What do you think, Perny?” She asked her kitten, holding up a black skirt with bright green top. He just flopped, and promptly fell asleep in the exact center of their bed. “At least now there’s no way I can crawl back in.” she grimly determined.

After settling on black jeans and a more subdued navy striped top with a beautiful petal collar, she grabbed her backpack and jacket, kissed her cat and flew out the door to get a cheap bagel and coffee. As soon as her front door opens, she’s instantly smacked in the face with the cool Northeastern autumn air, and hopes her relocation from the West coast isn’t too much to bear when snow comes.

After getting a free breakfast (“Welcome to New York!”), Harriet had to hurry to make it to the Museum on time. “I could probably run through Central Park faster than the bus, right?” She decided to go for it. “If anything, it will be a nice nature walk, and hopefully I’ll see some inspiration for my dissertation”

Though she laughed off this ludicrous thought (“I probably won’t know my dissertation until it smacks me in the face, literally.”) and turning on some Explosions in the Sky on her phone, she hopped on the M40 bus to the M1 bus to get down near Central Park. She had time, so she decided to get off right before the park to get some fresh air and clear her head before her first day.

She was quickly entranced walking down the winding roads of the park, supposedly walking in the direction of the museum where she’d spend the next four years studying. In the air and trees, Harriet spotted several blue jays, yellow-rumped warblers, even a red-headed woodpecker! In the paths near the lake, she saw red-eared slider turtles sun bathing while eager squirrels waited near tourists to catch bits of their breakfast.

“You’d never have thought it, but New York City is randomly an ecologists’ dream.” Harriet thought, gazing in wonder at the lush reserve in the heart of the city.

It wasn’t until she glanced at her Macy’s brand watch, and noticed it was 8:30am, the exact time her itinerary said “Meet in the lower level Atrium,” that she began to run. As she whipped down the paths, she realized that she was totally and completely lost. “Gorram it. I should have never let myself walk.” She hadn’t even had the sense to look at which signposts she was following, totally entranced in the ecosystem that seems to be both isolated and a part of the city that never sleeps.

Harriet tried to recreate her path while convincing herself she was “totally paying attention and knew where to go” and ended up stepping on her slightly-too-long jeans, tearing a bit at the seam. “At least I didn’t manage to spill--” She began, right before spilling a third of her large, black coffee onto her pants.

After trying to ask some people in the park to point her towards 79th street, and trying to do so in French a few times, she brought out Google to save her from total and complete embarrassment. She just hoped that following along with

“Where the frack is this museum?!” Harriet screamed internally, wandering around the Upper West Side, eyes glued to her phone. “I’m late!!” Half-running, half-jogging through Central Park, she curses herself for even thinking her sense of direction could take her through the maze of the Park, even with Google as a backup. A giant planetarium suddenly came into view over the trees, and she rediscovered her misplaced geography skills.

Outside the museum, Harriet pauses. Looking up at the grandeur of the 142 year old building, her breath catches in her throat. “Wow.” is all she can think, as it looms above her, daring her to come in and discover. Then her mind returns, and all she can think is “Wow. I hope no one notices my torn and coffee stained pants under my jacket.”

Scrambling up the stairs of the museum, she stares up at Theodore Roosevelt on his horse, triumphant, and darkens, “He’s totally mocking me.”

She tries to catch her breath, to run faster, and as she finally breaches the Atrium doors, looking around for her new cohort of classmates, she staggered back, staring down at her chest. “What was that?”

An intense pang in her heart makes her look down to make sure no child has blasted her with a toy from the gift shop. Nothing. Her ears start ringing, and her heart pounds faster and faster as she looks around for the source of this feeling. Because no, it can’t be from her. She can’t get sick.

Just over the crowd, Harriet makes out a woman's scratchy, irritated voice, "Harriet A. Allen?! This is your last call!"

Harriet snaps back to awareness, eyes wildly searching out the voice while panting “Yes, I’m here!” She finally spots the waving hand of the woman, and weaves through the crowd to a small group of fifteen, professionally and darkly dressed twenty- and thirty-something-year-olds.

"Well thank goodness. We were just about to leave you to fend for yourself." The woman, whose name tag reads “Jay,” gestured to Harriet’s cohort of PhD students, and continued "Well, let's go. We have to make up some time in the schedule."

Harriet visibly sags, stammering out an apology. Everyone else files in front of her before she walks forward, following Jay and her new classmates. “This was supposed to be my defining moment, and I’m at the back of the line, yet again. Perfect.” She wallows, eyes cast down, and straightens her shirt to try to reassemble her confidence. Brushing her gigantic conglomeration of long, dark curls out of her face, she quickly tucked her hair back in a bun, much in the fashion of the others in her group.

One girl, whose straight, tawny hair hangs freely, stayed back with Harriet, gave her a commiserating look, and starts to introduce herself: “Hi, I’m --” before being interrupted by Jay, at the head of the group.

“I’ll say this again for the late arrival,” Another visible cringe from Harriet as a few classmates snicker, “Welcome to the American Museum of Natural History. As PhD candidates in our comparative biology program, you will be learning from leaders in fields of Anthropology, Vertebrate and Invertebrate Zoology, Paleontology, and Physical Sciences, which includes astrophysics and earth and planetary sciences.”

A brief pause for everyone to enter the elevator, with Harriet and the mystery woman at the back.

“I’m Ruth, what’s your--” The younger looking woman was able to breathe out before being cut off yet again by Jay’s lecture.

“I’m going to bring you up to the fourth floor, and you’ll have one and a half hours to do a self-guided tour down to the first floor, after which we’ll do some super exciting paperwork and housekeeping. Take this as a chance to do some bonding with the folks you’re stuck with for the next four years.” She laughed to herself as she led us out of the elevators, pointed us down a random hall of bones, and took off down the stairs.

“Great, I didn’t get a name--” Harriet began to think, before Ruth spoke again: “I see you didn’t get a name tag. I introduced myself, what’s your name?”

Harriet, unused to this kind of attention, shyly replied, “Harriet. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Harriet! I’m sorry Jay called you out like that. Majorly uncool. Want to start by walking down the Hall of the Ornithischian Dinosaurs? We can loop around and end near the special exhibit gallery and the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs!” Ruth gushed out in one breath.

“So, you’ve been before I take it?” Harriet asked, as they began to walk in the proposed direction, wading through the hordes of small children, with a few of their cohort slightly behind them.

“Yeah, a few times. I came to visit before applying. Didn’t you?”

“No, I couldn’t. I came from Oregon, so the trip was a bit much.”

“Oh wow! Neat! Well I can be your tour guide” Ruth smiled enthusiastically, and began to give Harriet a rundown of the structure of the museum. “One time at a visit, my parents came down from Boston and we spent the whole day in here! One and a half hours is so not enough.”

Harriet was too busy looking at the facsimiles of ancient creatures, and listening to the curators on the video displays to really take in what Ruth was saying. When there was a lull in the conversation, she realized that Ruth had asked her a question.

“I’m sorry, what was that? It’s so noisy in here!” Harriet explained, hoping that Ruth wouldn’t question her that much on the previous chatter.

“Of course! So many kids. There must be a field trip. Do you want to see if we can go inside the library?” Ruth inquired, looking hopeful.

“Yeah, sure.” Harriet mumbled. The museum is overwhelming. She hoped the infestation of small children was a temporary deal, but she had a lurking feeling that she’d be fighting her way to the office every day through crowds of tiny, mid-sized, and full-grown humans.

Chapter 2

Harriet A. Allen and Ruth M. Jillian pressed their faces up against the glass of the Library’s doors, and ended up surrounded by books, busts of old men, and paintings of animals.

Cursing their lack of Museum-official badges, the two young women were desperately looking around the library, or at least what was in range of the view while having a face mashed up against glass doors. That is, until the librarian at the reference desk glanced up, jumped nearly out of her skin upon noticing them, and got up to open the doors.

“We always get a few eager students here around this time of day,” the librarian laughed, “We’re closed to the public now, but it’s been a slow work day for me, so you both can come on in. I’m June, a reference librarian here. Would you like a small tour of the reading room, or just a look around?“

Ruth immediately exclaimed, “A tour please! I’m Ruth, and this is Harriet. We’re in the new cohort of PhD candidates in the comparative biology program. Today is our very first day! We’re on the self-guided tour portion of our schedule, and thought we might check out the library.”

Ruth gushed this out right as Harriet was about to tell the librarian they didn’t want to disturb her or her work, especially since they knew the library was closed. Harriet sighed but didn’t contradict her (hopefully) new friend and followed the librarian to the edge of the rows of bookcases in the reading room.

“I’ll give you two a little preview of the official tour we do for new students here then! The library here was founded in 1869, right at the same time the Museum itself was founded. Since then, the AMNH research library has grown into one of the largest natural history libraries in the word! The library collects everything from field journals to publications, to the sweaters that our researchers wore on the first ever expedition to Mongolia. We have a team of conservationists that have been keeping that particular item safe for half a century. We work to support the work of the Museum’s scientific staff, which is now you! We have a few collections you can leverage at your time here: our research collection, our special collections, and our digital collections. You students will have the chance to come in here and work with our materials at some point in your coursework! And if you ever need anything we don’t have, you can just ask me. I’m in charge of interlibrary loan.” June explained with a wink, walking Harriet and Ruth in between the stacks, “What is your focus?”

“I’m here because I really want to do mammology, focusing on canidae. That’s like foxes, wolves, canines like that! I just think they are so fascinating. And so cute, of course!” Ruth exclaimed.

“Why does this not surprise me...” Harriet grouched, while simply replying, “Ornithology by trade, but I’m really more interested in the side of conservation ecology.”

“Oh great! You’ll find the program here really interesting for both those fields, especially given the personalities of the folks in them. You’ll find lots of hippies in conservation, and a lot of dry wits in mammology. That department has its own beautiful archive of field journals dating back to the very first expeditions by Museum scientists. The folks at the Center for Biodiversity Conservation take a really technologically mixed approach to data gathering, which is really cool to follow.”

“Wow! Do you think I’ll get to see them?” Ruth asked, eyes wide.

“Hippies? Seriously?” Harriet asked in disbelief. “I thought I left those behind on the West coast. I even have yet to see a Whole Foods in NYC.”

“Well, the curators have keys, so you’ll probably just have to ask your advisor. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in those journals – about how the landscape has changed, and how mammals change with it. Very cool to do a comparison study with that data. And oh yeah, Harriet. It’s not just the tourists rocking the socks-with-sandals look around the Museum. Go down to 79th street and you’ll find a Whole Foods waiting for you.” June joked.

I gave her a chuckle, but then Ruth laughed.

But this laugh wasn’t your average cute-girl politely low-volumed chuckle, like you’d expect from someone with her perky, light-haired, excitable demeanor. This was a full-on snort, grunt, deep-bellied laugh that you’d expect out of a middle aged man with sleep apnea. She went on for a full thirty seconds of this before composing herself.

June and Harriet gave each other incredulous looks, and Harriet burst out laughing with her own “normal” but loud laugh, gasping air and putting her hand over her mouth to reduce noise pollution in the library. By now, Ruth was extremely confused, watching Harriet guffaw and smiling widely.

“It wasn’t that funny, Harriet. No offense, June!!”

“I’m sorry, something just tickled me” Harriet grinned, looking at June with knowing eyes.

“But in all seriousness,” June started again “There are some seriously amazing people here. And we all work together.“

“I know, I’ve been following their publications and field studies since applying for the program, “ Harriet replied.

“I am just so excited to meet my advisor and get into the meat-and-potatoes of natural history work. I want to go out in the field and see some cute canids up close for myself!” Ruth proclaimed.

“Well you know, our field expeditions are carefully thought out. Don’t go into this thinking you’ll get to pet these wild animals. I’ve heard of people getting into dangerous situations with carnivores in the past.“ June warned.

“Oh, I know, I’ve been in the field before. Growing up the suburbs I used to pet the wild foxes all the time, but my advisors beat that out of me. I can’t help it! I love their fluff!” Ruth declare with the excitement of a five-year-old being able to pet a stranger’s puppy on the street.

“This is why I stick to mostly birds, or maybe some small mammals,” Harriet interjected, “No real threat of harm, unless you deal with cassowaries. Hell no thank you. Those demons are pretty much dinosaurs, and look like them too!“

“So, what made you girls come to New York City? Did you live here before and want to stay, or come from out of town? “ June asked, innocently.

Ruth, as always, answered first. “I’m from Boston so not that far away. I visited the city a bunch when I was in high school and college, and decided I wanted to do some coursework here eventually. I just happened to get good scholarships for being an in-state resident in Massachusetts, so I ended up making the goal a PhD in New York City.“

Just as the two women turned to hear Harriet’s answer, she abruptly changed the subject, instead asking “So June, how long have you worked here?”

“Oh, about ten years now. I started off on soft money from grants and was just recently promoted! I’m now 100% officially on the AMNH payroll.” June proudly gushed.

While Ruth and June continued to chatter happily, Harriet’s mind wandered off, and with it her eyes. Scanning the stacks for an interesting book to check out once her badge had been issued, she zeroed in a book, whose title was too far away to see. Almost as if possessed, Harriet briskly walked over to the stack and stared into the spine. “The story of the land by Harry Stevenson and Farida Springer. Wow, 1951. This is pretty cool”

The heart pangs were back, with the vengeance of 1,000 scorned enemies. Harriet turned quickly around so the other two women across the aisle couldn’t see her stagger and clutch her chest. Her ears started pounding. “What the frack is happening to me?!” she frantically thought, looking around for any sign of the source of her shakiness, and bracing on the conveniently waist-height bookcase. Her eyes bore into the book. Trying to collect herself, she closed her eyes and stood for a moment in silence, willing her body to settle itself down. And suddenly, despite her vertigo, she reached her hand out for the volume, as if holding it would make her feel better, even if it was just a moment.

“Oh, honey, be careful! That’s a first edition.” A voice reached out to her, grasping her and pulling her out of her disequilibrium.

Harriet snapped to attention. “Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize. It just looked to interesting” She recovered, putting on her most sugary smile for the librarian.

Ruth shot her that same knowing, compassionate look from this morning's ordeal. “We should probably go, Harriet! We only have an hour and a half.” She looks at June, “Thank you so much for showing us the stacks. We’d love to come back and see the special collections! I hope it’s on our official tour.“

June smiled kindly, “Yes, I believe it is. Feel free to make an appointment with me if you have specific questions.”

After a round of “thank you” from both women, Ruth turned up the aisle towards the exit. As Harriet started to follow her, June gently touched her left shoulder.

“If you have any specific questions, please, come back.“ She whispered to Harriet with some urgency.

“Ok...thanks.” Harriet confusedly murmured back. “What was that about? I hope she didn’t notice my weirdness. It’s nothing. Maybe there’s a gas leak in this museum. Why does this always happen to me.” Harriet hurried up the aisle to meet Ruth at the doors.

“Sorry! I just had a quick question for her.” Harriet apologized, smiling in the hope she didn’t weird out yet another person of her small cohort of colleagues.

“No problem! It’s so cool, huh? So interesting to see the history of work we will be building on, hopefully!” Ruth gushed, leading Harriet back down to the elevators, hitting the down arrow.

Chapter 3

Harriet A. Allen was very confused.

She was staring down at a piece of paper that basically outlined the next four years of her life. 8 hours a day, five days a week, roughly equaling 7680 hours of her life. And she was, for the first time, totally and completely happy. Incandescently happy.

“Oh what is this feeling?!” She sang in her head, trying to parse out the unfamiliar feeling of happiness, excitement, and anticipation rolled into one and fighting in her chest cavity. The packet that Jay gave her and her cohort this morning outline everything she wanted in a program:

The normal course of study for AMNH’s Ph.D. degree will be four years. Students will earn a minimum of 62 credits through a combination of coursework, teaching assistantships, and individual dissertation research. As a distinctive strength of the program, students will be expected to work on their own research as early as the first semester of their first year, an opportunity not available in many university settings. To ensure this, students are matched to a faculty member’s research program and/or laboratory during the admission process.

The curriculum is intensive, immersive, flexible, and field- and collections-based. Students are required to complete a minimum of 62 credits through a combination of:

• Core courses (3 required: Evolution; Systematics and Biogeography; and Grantsmanship, Ethics, and Communication give students a broad overview of the conceptual basis, tools, and methods for studying life;

• Elective or immersive courses allow students to achieve a depth of knowledge in an area of interest;

• Museum seminar series expose first year students to a broad range of research disciplines and topics;

• Teaching assistantships at AMNH and at partner universities; in lieu of a traditional teaching assistantship, students also will have the opportunity to complete an equivalent educational project through the AMNH’s many educational outreach vehicles;

• Directed research culminating in a dissertation, which is defended. “If everyone could give me their attention, please!” Jay shouted over the cohort, who were all chattering away with each other, “We are going to fill out the forms in the back of your packet, rip them out, and hand them back to me. Then, we’re going to have a little mixer where each of your assigned faculty members will be coming in to meet you, and to meet your colleagues. If you have any questions, come ask. Yes, there will be food and drinks.“ “Oh wow, I didn’t realize we’d be meeting out advisors so soon...I can’t wait to meet...um...” Glancing down at her packet again, Harriet found the name of the faculty member that she’d be working under for the next four years. “Dr. Joss C. Canonne. Thank goodness they gave me his bio or else I’d be screwed. I should have looked this up before...”

Dr. Cannone’s research on the systematics and evolution of birds, speciation analysis, and biogeography are all factors to understand how biotas evolve over time. This can in turn shape one’s understanding of the patterns and processes involved in diversification. The specific research focus of Dr. Cannone’s lab is the phlyogenetic history of songbirds. Dr. Cannone has also undertaken research contributing to conservation biology.

“Wow, he pretty much is doing what I want to do for the rest of my life...” Harriet thought to herself, looking down at the packet to see what her schedule would look like, and the various concentrations the Museum offers new students.

Core courses	Evolution Systematics and Biogeography Grantsmanship, Ethics, and Communication (all three required during first year)	4 credits 4 credits 3 credits
Elective courses	Student selects elective courses based on individual focus (carrying 1 credit/week class is in session)—15 credits to be completed during student’s tenure	15 credits total
Teaching Assistantship	Two different AMNH courses or comparable AMNH educational projects during the course of study	6 credits total
Weekly Museum Seminar Series	First-year students required to attend; other students encouraged to attend (carrying 1 credit/semester for two semesters)	2 credits
Student Symposium	Students will organize a symposium on research interests/activities	1 credit
Qualifying Exam	During fall of second year, leading to doctoral candidacy
Dissertation Proposal	At end of second year
Directed Research	Variable credits/term	27 credits
Dissertation
Dissertation Defense
	Total Minimum Credits Required:	62

“All that in four years?!” Harriet felt the familiar panic setting in.

The curriculum is designed to meet students’ individual needs, ensuring that they get instruction in relevant areas and helping to direct them in their future careers. Students can elect a curriculum focus by choosing five (or more) related elective courses. Here are some examples of possible curriculum focus areas, and the elective courses that a student could choose to fill them:

Systematic Theory—Invertebrate Zoology, Statistics, Informatics, Systematic Algorithms and Software, Advanced Topics in Systematic Theory

Conservation Biology—Invertebrate Zoology, Herpetology, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Behavioral Biology, Topics in GIS

“*Ok well if this is mix and matchable, then I could probably substitute out the first two and – “ Harriet glanced up from her reading, and suddenly, Ruth.

“Hi Harriet! Can you believe the faculty is going to come meet us on our first day? How lucky are we!“ Ruth gushed, slightly bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Yeah. It’s something. Who’s your advisor?“ Harriet asked, her guard still up.

“Um let me look again...” Ruth stared into her packet. “Sarah MacGovett. She studies bats and is the head of the Mammology department!”

“Gadzooks, the head of the department? That’s going to open a lot of doors – maybe even the one to the field journal archive! My advisor is Dr. Joss C. Canonne. He studies – ”

“Wait...did you just say gadzooks?” Ruth interrupted, clearly taken aback.

“Yes...why? Is that weird?” Harriet asked, puzzled. “Do they not say that on the East coast? I didn’t realize it was so different...”

“YES it’s weird! Oh my god! I haven’t even heard anyone under the age of 70 use that!” Ruth chuckled, poking fun at Harriet.

“…anyway.” Harriet said, looking sideways at Ruth, “He studies--songbirds but is the only Ornithologist who also works on conversation, which is why I suspect they assigned me to him.” Harriet postulated, looking down at Dr. Cannone’s biography and trying to make Ruth forget all about the fact that she was blushing hard.

“Ok everyone, thanks for your forms. We are missing…Harriet A. Allen’s. Surprise, surprise. Harriet?” Jay announced, looking purposefully at Harriet. A bigger blush. A quick rustle of paper and pen, and a hop-skip over to Jay, and Harriet’s form joined the others.

“What is up with this lady?! If she is any more on my back I’m going to start charging rent...”

“Thank you. Now that that is settled, let’s go up to the room where your faculty members should be assembling. But, as I’m sure you know, punctuality has it’s place in academia” Jay winked at the cohort, leading them up to the fourth floor of the Museum. “We’re actually going to be having this shindig in the Ornithology department, which two of her will be situated in. There is a wonderfully large old hall in the department that we sometimes set up for these types of events.”

Jay tapped her AMNH badge against a panel near a door, and it opened into what looked like a Medieval dining hall. The ceiling was at least 100 feet high, and it was at least 40 yards long. There were a few faculty members already milling about the coffee station, and a few others near the snacks.

The cohort visibly shrunk in the face of the people they would be answering to for the next four years.

“Now, don’t be nervous everyone!” Jay exclaimed, “They were once PhD students too, you know!”

Looking at the name tags of the professors there, Harriet noticed one absence: Dr. Cannone had yet to show up. As the other PhD candidates paired off and began talking with their advisors, Harriet was, once again, on her own with nothing but coffee.

“I guess I should have expected this. I know better than to let me imagination run away with itself and generate ‘expectations’. Maybe I can at least prep my schedule so I can ask him quick questions and leave.”

At twenty minutes in to the hour long party, Harriet was about to make some excuse to leave when a middle-aged, grey haired man only a few inches taller than her burst in.

He went over the to name tag table, hastily filled it out, and stood sullenly by the cookies.

“Oh goodness...” Harriet thought, walking over. “*This is clearly my guy…”

She coughed as politely as possible, extending her hand, and making her introduction: “Excuse me, are you Dr. Cannone? I’m Harriet Allen, I’ve been assigned to work in your lab. I’m very excited about the opportunity, thank you so much.”

“Yeah yeah. You were lucky you liked birds and conservation, otherwise you’d have ended up with Jorge.” He spat out, “What was your plan for research so far?”

“I was hoping to talk to you about that, to see where I’d best fit in with the lab’s work.” Harriet said. “Oh frack he’s going to hate me.”

“Well, first thing’s first. Do what you want and what’s interesting. I’m not here to hold your hand or tell you what to do. You are responsible for yourself. I see this relationship as a master-apprentice. I’m going to teach you methods, give you too much literature to read, and hole you up in the Library on Thursdays when the journals arrive. You’ll read them every Thursday with me, regardless of your research schedule.” He took a pause for a breath and an assessing glance at Harriet. “What do you think of that?”

She just stared him in the face.

“I’m glad you value research freedom. If your one rule is I have to read, I think I’ve gotten very lucky in my placement.“

He grunted in agreement. She just kept staring.

“Oh frack I’m doing the thing again. Look away Harriet, look away!”

“What was your master’s thesis about?” He asked, clearly a bit more uncomfortable given Harriet’s constant eye contact. “Were you always interested in ornithology?”

Harriet answered, this time looking over her shoulder at Ruth and her advisor, an older woman with a short-hair cut and easygoing expression. They were laughing, seemingly uncontrollably. Harriet felt a pang of jealousy as she looked back at the older, brash man that she’d be seeing for 7,680 hours of her life.

As the party was winding down, Joss left, having stayed for a total of thirty minutes out of the whole hour, leaving Harriet on her own yet again. Mortified, Harriet looked around for the nearest escape route, and started walking as quickly as she could without giving the appearance of weirdness.

And of course, she felt a tap on her shoulder and was forced into more human contact.

“Hey Harriet! Do you want to go around the corner to Jacob’s Pickles with me? Amazing Southern food, good drinks, and fairly low-key this time of day. It could be like a little ‘congrats for making it through the first day!’ happy hour!” Ruth asked, biting her lower lip, looking hopefully up at Harriet.

“Yeah, I guess I could use a drink.” Harriet replied, “Especially given this day.” 30 minutes later, Harriet had a pint and fried pickles in front of her and she was loving it: “Wow. Everything fried. This is really good for me right now.” She sighed happily as she took a sip of her sour beer and a bite of her fried pickle, drenched in chipotle mayo.

“What an awesome day,” Ruth started, “I can’t believe how awesome Sarah is. She’s going to be the perfect advisor! I can’t believe no one here works with canids, though! My whole department is bats and marsupials...”

A few beers and fried desserts later, Ruth and Harriet parted ways, hopeful that their second day wouldn’t be as eventful as their first. And when Harriet returned home to find Copernicus curled up like an angel on her bed, she collapsed, face down, and joined him in sleep.

Chapter 4

Harriet A. Allen was stuck in the elevator with the chattiest person on the planet, and it wasn’t even nine o’clock in the morning.

“I should have trusted my instincts when they told me to get the extra large coffee when the man offered it as a new size.” She thought as she anxiously looked around for a phone number to call to get herself, Ruth, and the five Museum guests (children and their mother here early for an education initiative) in the elevator out of this mess.

Although she thankfully arrived to her second day of work on time, meeting Ruth for a coffee at one of the stands just outside the Museum, and now she was now late yet again because some wonderful, perfectly behaved child had pressed all the buttons for every single floor, including the ones on different sides of the elevator, and it got stuck between floors moving upwards.

“I am done riding elevators with children for at least this entire week. I’ll take the gorram stairs up. I need to get my 10,000 steps anyway, and I haven’t found a good path in central park to run yet. And those bagels are too delicious. Yes. I’m going to walk. This is good.” Harriet thought begrudgingly, “At least until I get my AMNH official badge, though, then I am taking the freight elevator every day.”

What’s even better is, now, is that Harriet is stuck with not only the child (now just absolutely howling in the corner loudly) but also Ruth, who was content to pass the time chattering. Harriet was fine listening to the birds chirp at each other, but before nine AM, Ruth’s enthusiasm and love for everything and everyone was a bit too much. Meeting for coffee was doable because, well, coffee, but this is too enclosed. Like Garfield to Mondays, Harriet hated mornings.

“How the frack can someone be this chipper in the morning?!” Harriet grumped. “I thought East coasters were supposed to be the stoic ones. She and I were switched at birth, she would do great on the West coast. I can do this, I can do this.” She kept searching around the elevator for some plaque, moniker, anything with a number or a person that could be responsible for this and get them all out. One of the guests had tried to press the call button, but no one in security, or the fire department, or whoever answers those sorts of calls, had gotten back to them yet.

“What in the actual frack is this morning.”

Harriet had to take action. She glanced over the mother desperately trying to control her son, and asked if she could try to keep him a bit quieter so she could call 911. As Harriet lifted the phone to her ear, the mother just stopped trying to persuade him to stop and put her hand over his mouth so Harriet could explain their situation to the dispatcher.

“Hi, yes, I’m stuck in an elevator at the American Museum of Natural History. We’re between the ground floor and the first floor, in the one second to the left when you enter the building’s lobby. The call button doesn’t seem to be working. I’m here with five guests, and one other staff member. Can you please send someone right away?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll phone the fire department right away.”

Now, all there was was to pass the time until the gallant rescue. Harriet was trying to keep her calm, and Ruth was still happy to chatter away.

“So Harriet, “ Ruth looked up at her, smiling widely, “Last night when I got home from our day yesterday, I was thinking about the library yesterday, and orientation. Were you OK? I saw your eyes get very glassy at a few points.”

Harriet sighed. She really didn’t want to have this conversation with a girl she barely knew, but since arriving in New York yesterday meant she had no friends, she decided to put herself out on a limb.

“I have no idea what came over me. It was the strangest thing. I got a few weird pangs in my chest, like my heart was being squeezed in a vice. My hears started ringing too, but June’s voice kinda snapped me out of it.”

“Oh my goodness!” Ruth exclaimed, her face contorted into worry, “Has this happened before?”

“No, never.” Harriet confessed, “It was really weird. I really have no idea what happened. Nothing has happened so far today, so I’m going to just put it on jet lag. I did only arrive two days ago, after all, and didn’t get to sleep that much because of it.”

“That’s probably what it was.” Ruth nodded sagely, “I was lucky that I was able to move here last week. My mom and my aunt drove me from Boston and helped me move. I still slept for a straight week after the fact though, at least when my roommates were gone for work. I nearly became nocturnal!” She laughed her ridiculously low-pitched, guffawed, snorting laugh, earning a few disbelieving looks from the guests trapped with us.

Harriet tried to keep it together, but the fact that the background music to this conversation was this same poor boy, who refused to stop crying, did not help her case. His cohort of buddies were all desperately trying to make him laugh, but he was too guilty. His big, wet tears were streaming down his face as his friends made silly faces, sang ridiculous songs, and tried to give him hugs.

Harriet would normally find this cute, but right now, before nine in the morning, she wanted to self-mutilate. “I’m going to pop my ear drums so I never have to listen to anyone or anything again.” Harriet thought, done with everything. “There is no way I getting through this day without a drink.”

Thankfully for her, it only took an hour for the fire department to show up, and then another hour for the elevator to start working again. The firemen and the elevator technicians brought the elevator up the first floor, and the doors were open.

“Freedom!” Some small child in the back yelled. Harriet didn’t care though, because she was first in line to bust out of there and planned on getting an IV of coffee straight into her bloodstream.

“I will not make it through this day.” But of course, because Murphy’s Law is alive and well, when Harriet ran out of the elevator, she crashed into a strange man’s chest.

After the initial impact, she looked up into dark, grey eyes.

“Are you ok?” The tall, blond man asked while stepping backwards away from Harriet’s invasion into this personal space.

“Uh...yeah. I’m so sorry!” Harriet nearly shouted, totally exasperated by the morning’s events. “Some days are just meant to be awful. I can’t wait to be home with Copernicus and some wine and Hulu” It’s when she glanced at the man properly she noted the same name tag that the rest of the PhD candidates had filled out: “Hi. My name is Brendan.”

Thankfully, Ruth interjected. “Hi! I don’t think we had a chance to meet but you must be in our program!” She pointed to her own name tag, proof that we were indeed students in the same cohort. “I’m Ruth, and the lady who bumped into you is Harriet! And you are?”

“Brendan, hi.” He said, looking a little weirded out by her immediate enthusiasm and friendliness.

“Ok, glad to know it’s not just me.” Harriet observed, creating her exit strategy for this conversation. “Time to get coffee and silence.”

“Did you just come from orientation? How was it? What did they cover? Did they know we were stuck in the elevator?” Ruth inquired.

“Yeah, the admins knew after the fire trucks showed up and the fireman gave Harriet’s name to security as the person who reported it. It was ok, we mainly just went over the rules of the road. They gave us some free time again to explore the Museum now, so I thought I’d check out the map before I committed to a floor.” Brendan replied, hand raised towards the map on the mall next to the elevators.

“He really keeps it short and to the point, doesn’t he?” Harriet pondered, looking thoughtfully at Brendan, trying to see what he is all about.

“Gorram it. I can’t believe we missed the entire orientation. Between this and being trapped in an elevator with a screaming child, I am absolutely, 1000% done with today.” moaned Harriet, not even trying to keep a happy face on this time. “I’m going to get coffee and stare at a wall. I’ll see you guys later for second half of the day.”

“Wait Harriet! Don’t go. Come tour with us! Brendan, you don’t mind if we come with you, do you? Yesterday we stayed on the fourth floor, and haven’t had another chance to go to more parts of the Museum! It seems impossible to see more than one floor in the span of two hours even. I pity the tourists who only have a day or half day to be here! Please come Harriet! It will be fun, right Brendan?” Ruth implored, staring at Brendan and Harriet, waiting for answers.

Brendan and Harriet looked at each other, clearly both on the fence. Brendan was the first one to break the silence with a simple, “Sure.”

Harriet really, really wanted to go home, or at least out to the Starbucks she knew was on the other side of the Planetarium. She wanted to see Copernicus for a few hours, lay in bed, and wallow, or alternatively, drink about 10 shots of espresso and return to orientation with a vengeance. “What would my brother say if he saw me now? “Get in there and be nice, brat.”” And with that, she nodded her assent.

“Oh yay!! Thank you two! Should we go to the Hall of Human Origins? That looks pretty cool, and it’s only one floor up!” Ruth said eagerly.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Harriet replied, “But we’re taking the stairs. And stopping at the Museum cafe.”

“That’s fine! We need our steps anyway!” Ruth winked, heading for the staircase up and on the left.

Chapter 5

Harriet A. Allen, Brendan H. Bird, and Ruth M. Jillian were having coffee together, silently, as the storm of the AMNH cafe raged around them. Children ran, adults yelled after them, and here these three students sat huddled in a corner closest to the window.

“Thank goodness, a little bit of peace after the hell of this morning.” Harriet sighed sarcastically, hoping for a break in her headache as she looked out the window for any interesting birds that might happen to fly by and give her some hope.

Ruth looked as happy as could be across the table, sipping her latte excitedly as she looked over at her two sullen colleagues opposite her. “So Brendan, what part of the program are you here for?” Ruth asked, happy to break the silence.

Harriet sighed again. “Ok, stop being a bitch and just go with it.” Harriet yelled at herself. “This is not how you keep friends. You want a friend here. Enough.”

“I do paleontology. I’m hoping to get on an expedition to Mongolia, it’s most of the reason I applied here. I did my undergrad and master’s in California, the same place where the head of the Division is from.” Brendan said, finally looking excited to be in a conversation.

“Wow! Really cool. Are you into like dinos, or old mammals, or what?” Ruth inquired.

“I did my master’s thesis on invertebrate fossils.” Brendan explained, “I am hoping to get placed in the division of Invertebrate Zoology and just liaison with paleontology, actually. I love field work but have no interest in dinosaurs or ‘old mammals,’ as you put it.”

Harriet looked down into her empty cappuccino cup and let the conversation flow around her. “How weird would it look if I went up to get another coffee?” Her reverie was interrupted by Ruth’s perky, adorable, voice. “Lord, beer me strength.”

“Harriet, don’t you agree?” Ruth asked innocently.

“Agree with what? Sorry, I zoned out.” Harriet replied, looking a bit worse for wear.

“That Brendan should take Evolution and the lab this semester instead of next, and switch the class time so he can be with us! I heard it’s better to study in three’s as opposed to two’s anyway. Harriet and I are taking one class this semester and two next semester, so we can ramp up to the hard stuff and get acquainted with the Museum and the city.“ Ruth half asked, half explained, giving Harriet a look that just screamed “You silly thing!” Harriet was surprised Ruth’s hands weren’t on her hips.

“If you want to and if you don’t have anything else going on sure, why don’t you join us? At least Ruth is entertaining.” Harriet smirked, giving Ruth a playful look.

“Harriet!” Ruth yelled out, pretending to be shocked to her core.

Brendan looked between the two girls with the same blank-ish look on his face. “Yeah, I guess studying with you both could be interesting. Why not. I’ll do it this afternoon. Today’s the last day to switch, right?”

“Yes, it definitely is. I remember reading an email about that yesterday.” Ruth affirmed. “Yay! We are going to be a great study group. I heard they have really nice rooms here to study in, or we could always go to Harriet’s apartment since it’s just her and her cat – unless you’re allergic? I have really loud roommates or else I’d offer my place.”

Harriet groaned. She did not like people in her space.

“No, I’m not.” Brendan replied.

“I’m sure the space here will be more than adequate.” Harriet interjected, hoping that gives her two new study buddies enough of a hint about coming over. “We should probably start heading downstairs soon, right? If we want to get into the Hall before school gets out and the older kids start to arrive.”

“Yes, very good idea Harriet!” Ruth turned to grab their empty cups to throw them away.

“Thanks!” shouted Harriet over the crowds.

The three of them turned to the stairs to walk down to the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins. What no one could have predicted, was Harriet’s reaction when they did eventually make it down there.

The three students stood in the doorway to the Hall, not knowing where to start first in it’s information-packed exhibits.

“Which one should we go to first? I kind of want to see the migration pattern one at the end, but then there is also this wall of skulls that is supposed to visualize the human family tree that looked really cool.” Ruth said, examining a map.

Harriet’s chest panged, again. “Gorram it what is going on with this Museum?!” She panicked.

“I don’t care, lead on Ruth! You seem the most prepared out of the three of us.” She said, hoping that some movement will help her heart and head settle down to their normal state.

Brendan, content to go with the flow, started walking with Ruth towards the end of the hall. Harriet walked a bit slower, in the shadow of her cohort, trying to get herself together. Harriet’s vision began to be clouded with black spots, and her hearing was going in and out. “*Oh my god frack not again – *“

And all of a sudden, Harriet dropped to the floor.

Harriet was in the middle of Central Park at twilight. The sun was just beginning to descend over the treetops, leaving a beautiful pink-purple sky in its wake. She was sitting on a bench, keen to observe the nocturnal creatures of the park wake up, when all of a sudden, she felt a pain in her chest.

When Harriet A. Allen awoke, she wanted to believe that she was ok, that she was in her bed with her cat next to her, and the dream she’d had was just another in a series of persistent scenes/nightmares, and not that she was on the floor of her dream school and favourite museum.

But when her eyes opened, it was to the faces of her PhD cohort surrounding her, and a frantic research assistant forcing them back. “Oh my god this is my actual nightmare. What is happening?!”

“Don’t move Harriet! Giver her some air everyone. Just stay down there. Someone give me a jacket to put under her head!” The familiar voice yelled out, half at her, half at the crowd of tourists and students around them. “Everything is going to be ok. You’ve had a bit of an accident.”

Harriet’s head swam. “What happened?” She asked.

Ruth answered, “You just dropped down to the floor, Brendan and I did not see it coming at all! How are you feeling?” Harriet felt her head lift up and a lumpy warm mass shoved underneath it.

“Weird...like vertigo. I had a chest pang and my hears went out and I don’t remember what happened. Did you guys see me fall?” Ruth and Brendan shook their heads. “You were behind us.” Brendan explained. Jay was looking frantic, examining Harriet for any signs of immediate outward trauma. Harriet sat up, bracing herself against Ruth’s outstretch arm.

“Stay still, I’m going to call you an ambulance.” Jay said, pulling out her phone and tapping rapidly.

“There’s no need for the hospital! I’ll take her home. Brendan can help. ” Ruth interjected, reading the absolute look of terror on Harriet’s face, “Right Brendan? It’s ok for her to miss the second half of the day, right?”

He nodded, eyes cloudy. Jay wavered, but ultimately gave in.

“Of course” Jay replied, exasperated, “I’ll at least call you a cab.”

Jay, Brendan, Harriet, and Ruth shuffled outside, Harriet cradled between Brendan and Ruth, who were holding her up by her shoulders. They put her on a bench and waited for the Lyft that Jay had ordered for them.

“Thanks you guys,” Harriet began, “I’m so sorry. This has never happened to me. I have no idea what it is. I am so embarrassed. This never happens to me, you have to believe me.”

“Of course, Harriet!! We wouldn’t leave you now!” Ruth rolled her eyes playfully and elbowed Brendan in the side.

“If you guys could just get me in my apartment I’ll be ok, it’s just on the second floor.” Harriet asked humbly, trying not to overstep her own bounds.

“You two need to stay with her for at least an hour.” Jay demanded, “We don’t know if she’s had a concussion or not.”

“But – “ Harriet started.

“It’s totally fine! I can stay with her. Brendan, you can go once we get her in her place.” Ruth assured them.

A half an hour later, and Harriet was safely ensconced on her sofa in sweatpants, a sweatshirt, plus a blanket, watching Ruth try to pull the tea-making supplies out of the freshly delivered boxes of Harriet’s stuff. Copernicus was having fun jumping in and out of the opened boxes, happy that someone returned his box kingdom back to him.

“He’s so spoiled for cardboard. I buy him all these toys and this entertains him the most” Harriet said, smiling at her cat’s antics. “Thank you for doing this, Ruth. You really didn’t have to.”

Ruth just smiled and yelled “of course!” from the kitchen, still fluttering about with the tea. “Why don’t you put on a movie for us? Have you got your Netflix hooked up yet?”

“Sure! I know just the one.” Harriet replied, navigating her TV to Netflix, and searched for the perfect movie to recover.

When The Breakfast Club music started playing, Ruth just laughed out loud.

“I thought it was apropos! Plus, this is a great recovery movie. I am a sick lady you know!” Harriet exclaimed at her friend, who just smiled back.

“Well in the one and a half days of knowing her, this is the least she’s talked. Maybe it was a nervous reflex...” Harriet pondered, queuing up the movie. Copernicus, finally done with his box exploration, came to sit next to her.

Ruth came back with tea, and together, they sat.

Chapter 6

Harriet A. Allen was in her bed, cuddled up perfectly warm and snuggly, with a cat on her chest, and she had to leave for her first day of class.

“Oh my god he never does this why did he have to do this this morning when I need to get up so early?!” She yelled in frustration at the word. Gingerly, she started to pet Copernicus, knowing that it would wake him up so that she wouldn’t have too. Eventually, he’d get tired of her petting him and move on to sleep either on the ottoman near the sofa, or up high perched on his cat tree.

Granted, it was ten A.M. and her class was at eleven A.M., but given Copernicus’s level of comfort, she was truly worried if she’d make it on time. Glancing over at the clothes she laid out the night before, she kept on stroking Perny’s fur, hoping that the little guy would move soon.

Ten minutes, approximately 1,000,000 pets, and two kitty kisses later, Harriet was up and moving swiftly throughout her apartment. “Ok, breakfast and litter for Copernicus, shower, breakfast, and coffee to go for me, double check my bag, and I’m good.”

Copernicus purred and meowed around her ankles as she brought over his food. She scratched his little kitty cheeks and cooed, “Don’t worry Perny, I’ll be home in just a few hours to play with you.*”

He wasn’t listening anymore, of course, because food. Harriet looked at her clock. “Frack, gotta go!”

Twenty minutes later, and Harriet was out the door. Now that she understood the correct paths that would get her from the iHouse to the AMNH in under thirty minutes, she could take the buses and have a short walk through Central Park, enjoy her coffee and the life around her, and relax.

“What a great commute” She sighed happily to herself and she took the winding roads around the Museum, thinking about her first class. “I wonder what the lab could possibly be like for this class...” She wondered, taking out her packet again and giving it another look over.

Evolution: This course is intended to give students a broad overview of the conceptual basis, tools, and methods for studying life. This course focuses on the history and interactions among species, within and between biotas, and across time and space.

“Across space and time? That’s a bit weird...what’s that about?”

“Harriet! Harriet! Hey! Wait up!” Whipping around, Harriet saw Ruth running down a path in the park to come over to her. Her bone straight

“Hi!” She panted, coming up next to Harriet, “Want to go to class together? It’s almost time. Do you know what room it’s in?”

“Yeah I think it’s up on the third floor in the suite that’s for the school. We passed a bunch of classrooms there the first day, or so I thought. The labs are all there too. We won’t get to walk much around the Museum I’m afraid.“ Harriet replied, turning towards the Museum entrance.

She flashed her official badge at the guard (“I am a badass...”) and the two friends started to make their way up to the third floor.

“Have you looked at the other electives?” Ruth asked as they walked up to the third floor.

“Yeah, I think I have a plan I want to run through with Dr. Cannone – this one might be my favourite though.”

Harriet leaned over her packet with Ruth and pointed to the course:

Extinction Science. This course is concerned with explaining the causes and consequences of biological extinction through time. Importantly, perspectives from both the physical and organismic sciences will be employed throughout. This survey course will use a broad historical perspective, i.e., the vicissitudes of life on this planet during the past 600 million years, with a special focus on three events that illustrate many of the most important phenomena and puzzles connected with major losses—the Permo-Triassic, Cretaceous-Paleogene, and Late Quaternary extinctions. Topics covered include: the fossil record of extinction; “mass” vs. “background” extinction; extinction rates: computation and meaning; assessing causation in theory and practice; biotic and abiotic factors in extinction; understanding modern-day biotic losses.

“Oh yeah! I was thinking about that course too – I did a lot of reading in undergrad about dire wolves – well, after reading Game of Thrones.“ Ruth laughed.

“There’s no way that dire wolves are real.” Harriet gave her a look over her glasses with the ‘come on, girl’ face.

“Dire wolves were actually real! The latin name was Canis dirus. They lived in North America actually with the sabertooth tigers. The first specimen was found in Ohio, in the 19th century. There are even two subspecies! And there are so many more canids that have gone extinct. Yes, we are definitely taking this class!” Ruth explained, speaking quickly with a passion in her eyes that Harriet had truthfully never noticed before.

“She may act like a doll, all perky and air-headed, and it makes you forget that she’s a legitimate scientist.” Harriet deliberated. “I wonder what where she went to school. Maybe if I ask she’d let me read her master’s thesis.”

“Hey, Ruth, would you ever let me read your master’s thesis?” Harriet requested, interrupting Ruth’s monologue on perhaps the coolest piece of trivia she’s learned this year.

“Um...random but ok I guess.” Ruth answered, brows furrowing quizzically.

They reached the third floor with exactly one minute to spare. They took the last seats in the back row, and waited for the professor to arrive.

Harriet noticed Brendan sitting by himself in the row across from hers and Ruth’s. She looked at him, and he just stared back. Harriet gave him a short wave, and the sides of his eyes crinkled.

A two hour lecture and a three hour introductory lab later, Harriet was just about done with life. Saying goodbye to Ruth and Brendan, Harriet made for the park.

She had no idea what it was, but Harriet was just split between the Museum and the park. There were these...energies...pulling her in both directions. An intense desire to walk through the park and amble, and a strange devotion to the Museum. It’s as if she finally made it to where she was supposed to be.

She found a bench and sat, and had the strangest feeling of deja-vu. As she watched the orchard orioles and black-capped chickadees fly past her, she kept looking over her shoulder, as if something or someone was watching her.

Nothing.

“What is going on with me?” She kept looking around the park, eyes searching for...something she couldn’t quite put her hands on. “I should probably get going. Perny is probably waiting for me.”

As she looked down at the bench she’d just risen from, she realized where she knew this from. The flash she had gotten on the floor of the Museum. The name of the donor of this bench was the same. Farida Springer.