Unlike Eric’s last visit to the workshop, this time every single monitor was pulled down to eye level and turned on. Each had a grainy green image on it, but no two were the same. Most were showing shots of landscapes, while a couple were of buildings, and one looked very much like the Lady Candice.
After a closer look, he realized it was the Lady Candice, and the buildings were the barn and the farmhouse they’d passed as they’d driven in. So the landscape shots must have been of the surrounding area.
No one seemed to be paying attention to the monitors, though. The two uncles and Mother Trouble were huddled in front of the Maker’s box, which they had put on the workbench.
One of them had attached a clamping device to the top of the box to keep it from moving.
“Find anything?” Mr. Trouble asked.
The two uncles whirled around, surprised, but Mother Trouble didn’t even flinch.
“Not yet, sweetheart,” she said, still looking at the box. “I believe we were just about to open the first drawer. Isn’t that right, Colin?”
Uncle Colin touched the odd-looking goggles that sat on top of his head as if he were making sure they were still there. “Uh, yes. Exactly right. Exactly right. But…” He looked at his nephew.
“Yes?” Mr. Trouble asked.
“Um…do you think…” Uncle Colin tilted his head twice to his left toward Eric, “…should be here? It would be highly irregular.”
Mr. Trouble almost laughed. “Isn’t everything we do highly irregular?”
“He has a point, Colin,” Mother Trouble said.
Uncle Colin hesitated a moment, then smiled. “Well, you are the one calling the shots. If you think he should stay, then…he should stay.”
“Now that that’s settled, can we get back to work, boys?” Mother Trouble said.
“Of course,” Uncle Colin said as he turned back to the box.
Mr. Trouble and Eric moved in behind them, but the wall of adults was too tall for Eric to see anything. He craned his neck and leaned side to side, but at best he could see only a sliver of what was going on.
“Hang on,” Mr. Trouble said. He pulled a large plastic bin out of one of the storage cabinets and set it on the floor. “Stand on that. If it’s not high enough, I can get another.”
Eric climbed onto the container and was now able to see over Uncle Colin’s shoulders. “No, this works great. Thanks.”
“Is everyone ready?” Uncle Colin asked. He pulled his goggles over his eyes, and his brother, who had an identical pair sitting on his head, did the same. “Yes? Okay. Then here we go.”
He reached a gloved hand toward the drawer in the upper left corner, but just before he touched the handle, Uncle Carl yelled out, “Video!”
Uncle Colin jerked his hand back. “Of course. What were we thinking?”
It took them three minutes to set up a video camera and clamp it to a stand so no one would have to hold it. Uncle Carl then ran a cable from the camera to the closest monitor and pushed a couple of buttons on a remote. The image switched from a shot of the dark silent farm to one of the Maker’s box.
Using the monitor, Uncle Colin adjusted the camera’s angle until the box was centered, then said, “Now I think we’re ready.”
The brothers pulled their goggles back down and Colin reached for the drawer again.
“I am opening what we have numbered drawer number one,” Uncle Colin narrated for the camera. “The handle feels like metal of some kind. I’m going to pull the drawer open now.”
Eric could see him tug on the knob.
“It’s a little sticky,” Uncle Colin said. He continued to pull, his hand shaking a bit as he moved it up and down. “I’m not sure, but it….might….be….stuck.”
“Let me try,” Uncle Carl said.
“What difference is that going to make? You’re not any stronger than I am.”
“Just get out of the way.”
Uncle Carl shoved his brother’s hand off the drawer and grabbed the handle himself. But he, too, had the same problem.
“See,” Uncle Colin said.
Uncle Carl grimaced but made no reply.
“Why don’t you try a different drawer?” Mr. Trouble suggested.
Uncle Carl nodded, then moved to the middle top drawer.
“My brother is attempting to open drawer number two,” Uncle Colin said.
But drawer number two didn’t budge. Neither did the last one in the row, drawer number three.
They moved down to the middle row, drawers number four through six. This time Uncle Colin tried again.
“The handle of drawer number four feels similar to previous handles,” he said.
Uncle Carl groaned. “Just pull it.”
Uncle Colin tensed, ready to fight with the handle again, but this time the drawer slid out easily.
Everyone seemed to breathe in and lean forward at the same moment, but Uncle Carl was able to get his face over the drawer before anyone else could.
“I can’t see,” Uncle Colin complained, trying unsuccessfully to shove his brother to the side.
“Carl!” Mother Trouble said.
But her brother didn’t move. He simply stared down into the open drawer.
“Well?” Mr. Trouble asked after several seconds. “Is it empty like the ones in the other boxes?”
Uncle Carl turned his face so he was looking back at the group.
“No. It’s not.”