Over the crackling, young Heath started singing.With the quality being so poor, Raven couldn’t make out the words.Then, he realized it wasn’t the quality, but that Heath was singing in another language.
“Is that French?”
Maxim nodded.“Oh, yes.‘Au Clair de la Lune.’He practiced so much for this.”
Maxim looked dreamy, lost in memory.The song went on for a while.
“That was wonderful.Thank you so much, darling.Now, let’s go find you that rice pudding.”
With that, the recording ended.
“Such a treasure, as you can clearly see.Or rather, hear.”Maxim indicated the room, the entirety of the floor.“It’s all like this, and Heath would love nothing better than to have it all cleared out and turned into an office space.He’s very fond of his office, you know.Anyway, Raven, we must not let this happen.”Maxim put the cylinder back in the case that held several others, and clutched that case to his chest.“Everything here is precious.You do see that, don’t you?”
“It’s…it’s something else.”
“You will help me protect it.Become the guardian of treasured things alongside me.”
At Raven’s feet, Ume was yawning.“I’m not sure…I’m not sure what to do with everything here.Or what you want me to do with it.”
Maxim held up his index finger.“Let’s see.The first rule of the secret floor shall be that you must not tell Heath what exactly you’re doing or what you’ve seen.”He patted the case.“Or heard.There was an accident on our journey here, and I have long suspected it wasn’t an accident at all.As a result, Heath believes these recordings to have been lost at sea, but they weren’t.He must never know he didn’t succeed in tossing them overboard.”
“Oh?Okay.”
“They went into the water, but I managed to get to them at the last moment.”
Raven couldn’t quite imagine that.He also couldn’t imagine what help he was going to be in Maxim’s quest to…do something with all of the stuff he had accumulated.Raven hadn’t had much experience with old technology, and even with all the time he’d spent in the library, he had no archival training, but he’d seen really old books before.He could understand why they were loved and cherished.
“Shouldn’t you get everything digitized?”He looked at the phonograph.“And maybe donate stuff like this to a museum?”
“Now, Raven, this is just the kind of initiative I think a guardian of this place needs.This is going to work out perfectly.”
“Huh?”
Maxim handed Raven the case.“To you I give these precious memories.Protect them well.And digitize them.”
“I…I don’t know how to do that.I mean, I could just record it on my phone, I guess, and then get the recordings to you.”
“Off you go recording, then.”
Raven pointed at the phonograph.“I’m not touching that thing though.You do it.I’ll just set up my phone and press the button.”
“Hmm.It’s good to delegate your duties, I suppose.”He looked around.“Just let me look for the other cases before we get started.”
“There’s more?”
Maxim pulled back a few of the sheets in impressive flourishes, filling the air between them with clouds of dust.
“There certainly is.Oh, look!Our old slide projector.And the tube radio.I wonder where the slides went.Raven, gently put down the cylinders and help me look.The Kodak Brownie must be here somewhere too.”
A feeling of foreboding marched right up to Raven when he took another look at the sea of sheets.What on earth have I signed up for?
Carefully, he set down the cylinder box of Maxim’s memories and prepared to help him unearth more of the same from under decades of dust.Behind him, Ume was having a sneezing fit, clearly not made for this sort of thing.I wonder if I am.
He was going to have to find out.
Chapter 27
Maximbrushedadustbunny off his sleeve and looked at Raven, who was tagging the latest recording on his phone.Ume, curled up near Raven’s feet, sneezed again as if the dust bunny had tickled his nose, then curled right back up to continue his nap.They’d found a pair of chairs from several decades ago to sit in.The walnut frames had come from France, and Maxim had taken them along on the move from London.
