I snatch the page and look it over. It’s a to-do list.
Dustall items.
Vacuum floors.
Take photos for potential social media use.
“Let me know if you have any questions,” he says. “I’ll be in the office. Down the hall, to the right.”
Then he simply walks away, shattering every single fantasy I ever had about him into the tiniest shards that reflect myself back to me in a way that I’m not sure is particularly flattering.
“Good morning, Baltimore!” I sing quietly to myself again, even though I’m absolutely sick of it.
I barely see Cal the rest of the day.
Washington, District of Columbia—August 1908
Dearest Ora—
I write you now with exciting news: I have spotted the most incredible bird. It is like nothing I have ever seen, here in Maryland or in any of my (admittedly limited) travels. It is the size of a robin, with bright pink and violet plumage on most of its body and a yellow tail. To add to the impressiveness of its coloring is the fact that it seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, iridescent.
I have, of course, included an illustration for you, my darling friend, but I cannot help but feel it pales in comparison to the real thing. How I wish you could see it with your own expert eyes…
“What’s got you smiling, hmm? A bit of gossip from a senator’s wife? A treatise on what hats will be fashionable this spring?”
Dr. Ora Belmont Worthy didn’t bother looking up from themissive in her hand. She had no intention of responding; silence, Worthy had discovered, was the most effective response among this bunch of dunderheads and cads poorly disguised as serious scientists. Starving them of the attention for which they hungered made them desperate at first, but soon the desperation would give way to disinterest.
Until then, though, one man’s teasing and taunting acted as a signal to the rest. Quite fascinating, really, how closely the ornithology department here in the basement of Smithsonian Castle resembled a murder of crows.
“Don’t be thick, Graves. Don’t you know a love letter when you see one?”
She ignored the predictable laughter coming from the direction of Graves’s and Fleming’s desks.
“Of course it’s a love letter.” Ledford leaned back in his chair toward Worthy’s desk and added in a teasing whisper, “Of a sort.”
“It’s from Walcott himself, isn’t it?” Fleming suggested. “Did you know, Miss Ora, when you got on your knees for this job that our distinguished Secretary would require you to stay down there?”
It was hardly the first time someone had accused Worthy of procuring her position as the Smithsonian’s first female ornithologist by performing carnal favors. But at least most were respectful enough to imply it was those she had performed for her late husband, the highly esteemed naturalist and professor who was Ora’s doctoral advisor at Columbian University, that gained her the necessary connections. The implication that she’d gone straight to the top, to the Secretary of the Smithsonian himself, was a new one.
Startled by the unexpected loud thud of palms hitting a desk,Worthy looked up just in time to see Ledford, who had spun around, leaning threateningly over Fleming. “That was too far,” Ledford said, the menace in his voice so incongruent with his usual rakish, carefree demeanor that it created a dark juxtaposition that inspired every man in the room to sit or stand a bit straighter.
“Besides,” Worthy added casually, glancing back at her letter, “we were under Langley when I was hired. Even I don’t have that kind of foresight.”
Graves snorted in amusement, and Ledford slowly rose, keeping his eyes on Fleming until the latter muttered, “Was just a jest, Miss Ora. Nothing meant by it.”
No, nothing was ever meant by any of it. The comments. The jokes. The “Miss Ora” nonsense when all of the men were simply called by their last names or, in formal settings, “Dr. So-and-So.” Oh, but it was all intended to be good fun, they always said. If it bothered her, well, then perhaps she shouldn’t have insisted on interposing in men’s business by becoming a naturalist in the first place. Years of culture weren’t going to change just to suit her delicate, feminine sensibilities.
