Shortest Day by Jane Langton Page A

just thought I’d come to meet you,” said Morgan defensively. “Anything wrong with that?”
    Sarah hurried back to him and took his arm and squeezed it. “Of course not. Come on. Arlo’s going to show us something on the eighth floor.”
    â€œBut what happened?” said Morgan. “Why is everything so dark?”
    â€œNobody knows,” said Tom Cobb. “Everything went kapoof.”
    Homer waved his arms and explained the whole thing. “Somebody threw this huge enormous switch labeled Main Fuse, Harvard University . It must be some diabolical anti-intellectual plot, the end of higher education as we know it.”
    They climbed the steps to the east door of the Science Center. Within the glass walls flashlights fumbled in the dark.
    Jeffery Peck glanced back at Morgan and Sarah. “Funny guy,” he said to Arlo.
    â€œFamous ornithologist,” said Arlo.
    â€œNo kidding? Funny guy just the same.”
    â€œSarah,” whispered Morgan, “you shouldn’t be climbing a lot of stairs, not now.”
    â€œOh, don’t worry,” said Sarah. “I’ll take it easy.”
    But all of them were worn out by the time they reached Arlo’s lab on the eighth floor.
    â€œOh, hey, hi there.” Giggling, Chickie Pickett loomed out of the shadows. Chickie knew almost everybody, even in the dark. “Hi, Arlo; hi, Morgan; hi, Sarah.” Morgan was surprised to discover that Chickie even knew Kevin Barnes. In fact, he was putting his arms around her. She must know him very well indeed. “Oh, hey, Arlo,” said Chickie, disentangling herself from Kevin, “the camera clock’s stopped. And, wow, like I forgot to notice the time.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” said Arlo, “I looked at my watch. The power went off at four-forty-eight. I hope to God it comes on again soon. There’s only one more exposure before the shortest day.”
    Kevin and Chickie withdrew to the far side of the room to whisper in the corner. Chickie was shivering in a skintight athletic suit. Morgan watched enviously as Kevin wrapped his jacket around her.
    Sarah wanted to know what Arlo’s camera was for, what it was that he did up here, what his work was all about. Arlo explained about the analemma in a couple of sentences. Homer didn’t understand, and he asked questions. Sarah said, “Oh, right, but—” Morgan was silent, Chickie squealed from the back of the room, and Tom Cobb opened the door and went out on the terrace.
    They followed him, and everybody gasped at the view.
    â€œGreat place you’ve got up here,” said Tom, looking southwest at Harvard Square, glowing brightly beyond the dark blotch that was the university. Below them the tents of Harvard Towers glimmered from within with fiery sources of light.
    Arlo and Homer leaned over the railing to the west and looked out over Cambridge Common. “Is it true you used to be a policeman?” said Arlo, who had heard a rumor somewhere. “A traffic cop?”
    â€œWell, yes, for a while. Then I investigated homicides for the District Attorney of Middlesex County.”
    â€œHomicides, no kidding! Did you catch any murderers?”
    â€œOne or two,” admitted Homer, puffed up with false modesty.
    Tom moved to the east side of the terrace and looked beyond the dark bulk of Memorial Hall. “My God, you can see all of Boston from here.”
    Morgan stood next to him and craned his neck over the railing to look at the courtyard far below. Directly below them was the glass roof of the Greenhouse cafeteria. If you dropped something, it would fall a long way down .
    Drawing closer, he slipped something into the pocket of Tom’s padded parka.

PART THREE
    THE HERO COMBAT

    TURKEY SNIPE
    Battle, battle, battle I will call ,
    And see which on the ground shall fall .
    KING GEORGE
    Battle, battle, I will cry ,
    To see which on the ground shall lie