The Inventor's Son

Chapter 17: In Which Our Hero Suffers From Spring Fever

SATURDAY MORNING WAS the type of spring day in Paris that people sing about. The sunshine made the flowers positively glow. A gentle breeze flowed from the brilliant blue sky with not a cloud in it. It was the perfect day for Ethan and his companions to visit the Eiffel Tower and find his father's clue.

Breakfast was quite the affair that morning. Cora seemed to have outdone herself. There was plenty of tea, coffee and croissants for everyone. Ethan reckoned he could grow quite accustomed to the buttery pastries he'd been enjoying since he'd come to Paris.

Ethan scanned the front page of the English language newspaper Liam had obtained from his early morning walk. Eventually, he found something that he felt compelled to share with everyone. "Look at this. It says here that in the United States, in New York State, to be precise, they have just successfully executed someone with electricity conducted through someone's body while strapped to a chair!"

Liam dropped his coffee cup and it shattered into several thousand little pieces. "Sweet Jesus!" he hissed, then worriedly added, "Begging your pardons, all." Then he stalked off to gaze out the window.

Sophia glared at Ethan. "For pity's sake, young man! That is not suitable breakfast conversation!"

"But Father and I always read the newspaper to look for interesting scientific stories like that," Ethan explained innocently.

"When Marcus even remembered to break his fast, he hardly attended the affair, and certainly reading lurid newspaper tales is as rude as it gets! One would think you were raised by wolves!"

Because he could see that Liam was quite disturbed by the article's subject, Ethan said, "Please forgive me, Inspector Huntington. I suppose hanging is still the preferred method among your colleagues, is it not?"

"Er, whatever, yes, no, I hardly think it matters. Dead is dead."

Ethan carefully asked, "Do you not think this peach preserves in these beignets is absolutely divine?" Sophia glared at Ethan anew. He began to look side to side and pat his shoulders, like he was brushing something off them.

"Whatever are you doing?" Sophia snapped.

"I'm trying to find the second head that I must have sprouted in the last two minutes. Otherwise there's no way you'd be giving me those nasty looks," Ethan quipped.

"Just eat."

And with that, Ethan ate in total silence, trying very hard not to even make noise when swallowing his food.

Fortunately, the weather was simply too wonderful to remain in a foul mood. For the first time since Wednesday, Ethan was allowed outside the building. Once they arrived at the long path to the Tower, Ethan eagerly sought Beth. She waved to him with a white-gloved hand. Ethan waved back, and controlled himself enough to keep from running to her, though he did have a certain quickness to his step.

He wondered whether or not he should kiss her hand. Once he noticed she had her chaperon with her, he lost his nerve. After a formal, polite greeting, Beth slipped her hand around his arm and asked, "Ethan, have you reunited with your father yet?"

"No. And to tell the truth, we are not here merely to admire the Eiffel Tower, I'm afraid." And with that, Ethan offered Beth a very heavily edited version of how he came to this clue of his father's, eliminating all references to dead bodies and chemical disasters from his tale.

"Oh! It shall be like a treasure hunt, then! How exciting!" she laughed. They began a leisurely stroll to the Tower grounds. "I can recall watching this place being built. I used to marvel at how they managed to raise the large, pre-assembled pieces to the very top when those last stages were being built. Oh, my goodness, you and your father would have loved watching such a thing! It's no wonder that he put a clue for you here, Ethan. I'm certain he would have wanted you to see it!" Beth was nearly breathless just pointing out all the engineering that she and her classmates had watched being constructed over the course of two years.