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Twenty years in this departue were here, and when they left It also meant he’d been one of those who’d chosen to stay behind

"Well?" he barked out

I looked back at Em for visual confirmation and then pushed the door open I was immediately assaulted by shiny black leather, Art Deco prints, and a giantunderneath it, with one word, Freddy A fedora hung on the topmost point of each antler One of the hats had a cheetah print hatband

A oatee sprinkled with silver, sat behind a desk His skin, the same color as cocoa powder, sported deep wrinkles in his sered on Em when she stepped into the doorway beside me "Can I help you?"

I felt out his emotions Curiosity Mild impatience tempered with tolerance

"Are you Dr Turner?" E to be invited in, like a vahost chasers?" He considered us over his bifocals as he pulled a bag of pipe tobacco out of his top desk drawer

"No, sir," I answered, frowning at Ehost chasers"

"Good Reality television has created way too many a It’s because they’re looking in all the wrong places"

"I’m Emerson, by the way" She pointed to herself and then toto the conclusion himself "This is Kaleb"

This ti

"I’m Dr Turner Head of the physics department Nice to meet you both"

In an un-va asked "We ondering if we could talk to you"

"Certainly As long as you were telling " He spun his chair around to turn down an ancient-looking record player The scratchy sound of the blues faded away and he faced us again, waving his hand at E haphazardly from a buttonhole in his vest When he pulled his pipe from an inside pocket, the flower fell on his desk He picked it up and twirled it between his fingers

"Had a visit froift" He smiled, tucked it into a leather pencil holder on the corner of his desk, and gestured with his pipe "May I?"

"Sure" Eranddad smoked one"

"Good, then" He scooped tobacco into the bowl of his pipe, the h the motions, but it felt like a thinly veiled distraction "Have a seat"

Ees with brass tacks The only other chair in the office looked like it ht cruainst the bookshelves built into the wall, taking note of the many family pictures as well as the titles on the shelves Quanturaphic Man, The Tao of Physics, and a decent collection of what looked like first-edition Twain

"How can I help you, children?" Direct but kind

"We had sohtly in her seat It was either exceptionally springy or her nerves were getting the best of her

"About the physics progra atwe’d discussed a plan "We were talking about the … uy department," he said, like he’d said it a million times before "You discovered it on the Internet"

"Uhtly unbalanced way "That’s it"