Alexander the Caracal's Halloween

The Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum was not an old building. In truth, it was only four years old. A place of archeology, geology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology, it in truth, house five separate museums, one for each of its devoted fields.

Staring a stuffed specimen of a dodo, a species extinct long before his time, Alexander saw Herr von Fell appear in his mind's eye. It was said he was a devil, if not the Devil, and slowly Alexander was indeed beginning to see him as the Devil.

While Captain Smith, Ms. Lombard, Alan, Gemma, Hippolyta, the teachers and the students all stood nearby, with Roxana staying close to Gemma and Cnut and Emma close to Captain Smith and Ms. Lombard respectively, Alexander roamed the Museum of Zoology. Looking at these various creatures that once lived, murdered by people like Herr von Fell. These stuffed specimens may have been to educate people, but the fact remained that in order for them to exist, live specimens had to be killed.

"It's barbaric!" exclaimed Alan as he and Gemma looked over a stuffed lion. Walking over to them, Alexander saw that the stuffed lion had a mane, looking quite ridiculous in comparison to the maneless lion Heinrich. "I doubt this lion was a man-eater like Heinrich or his most famous fellows the Ghost and the Darkness."

"It is unlikely it was, Alan." Said Gemma, shaking her head as she looked at the stuffed lion. "There must be an alternative like a painted statue."

"The paint might fade overtime, but that does sound better, Gemma." Agreed Alan with a nod.

A painted statue? That did indeed sound better, though Alexander was not sure if he would see such things in his lifetime.

"Captain Smith!" Alexander turned his head to see a man standing in the doorway, a well-dressed man, someone Captain Smith knew from something called the "Royal Society." When Captain Smith turned to look at the gentleman, the Man from the Royal Society said: "We are ready for you."

"We'll be right in, Danvers." Said Captain Smith, running a hand through his hair. Looking to everyone else, he then said: "Go on, I'll be right there." While everyone else exited the Museum of Zoology, with Roxana, Cnut and Emma following, Alexander stayed with his master, looking up at him. Captain Smith looked down and at the Northern caracal and said: "Alexander, my lad, what am I going to do? I'm here right now and what am I going to say? What was it I even said earlier?" Meowing at his master, Alexander soon found Captain Smith kneeling and placing a hand on the side of his neck. Laughing, Captain Smith replied: "Yes, I said something good. The question is what?" Sighing, Captain Smith started to scratch Alexander's chin, something that the caracal enjoyed immensely. "I don't know, Alexander. What if I make a fool of myself? Every other notable archeologist in the province is here and I feel like if I make a fool of myself, I have never given a speech before my fellow archeologists before." Taking a seat on the floor, Captain Smith watched as Alexander stepped onto his lap and then proceeded to rub his head against his face. Smiling, Captain Smith stroked Alexander's back. "Yes, there is a first time for everything, isn't there? First time for giving a speech, first time for leaving a continent... Would that my mother and father could see me here tonight... My first wife and my sister too... And old Borna as well. True, Alan, Ian, Hippolyta and Igraine are here, as are everyone else, but I wish they could actually be here instead of just smiling down on me... If I don't make a fool of myself. I haven't got my father's strange charm he would just randomly start singing to himself and immediately everyone smiled. My father was what he was. He was strange, but people loved him. He gave a few speeches in his time at my first wedding, the wedding of Alan's parents, he did it quite well, but I... I get tongue-tied even reading aloud a speech from 'Julius Caesar.' Alexander, would you do me the honour of accompanying me on stage? I think I'll need someone by my side." When Alexander meowed, Captain Smith stroked the caracal's back and said: "Thank you, my friend. You are as fine a caracal as Darius was... I wish to stand up, now, Alexander, please move." Getting off of his master's lap, Alexander looked once more at the dodo. Such a strange looking bird and its loss was a tragedy, a tragedy that Alexander knew nothing about. "Come, Alexander. Let us go and give our speech." As Captain Smith exited the Museum of Zoology, Alexander continued to stare at the dodo, before finally following after his master. As he emerged from the Museum of Zoology, a scent, multiple scents. came to Alexander's nostrils, the scent of living beasts, but where? "Alexander!" Looking to his master, standing at the other end of the hallway, Alexander returned to following after him.