Mark Krijgsman
A new riddle
The morgue was dark when we walked in. Andreaa was hunched over her desk wearing a set of jewelers’ magnifying glasses, poking into something. As she heard our footsteps she tilted the magnifying lenses up and smiled. “Ah, ladies, glad you could come, so much has happened, you see the rib just opened,” she said, talking rapidly.
As I looked at her trash can I saw several large cups of coffee; she must have been awake the entire night.
“Anything came out of it? Gas, a piece of tooth?” Petra asked as she pulled out her notepad and pen and began tapping them both together.
Andreaa nodded. “Nothing like that, but there was a piece of very old paper in here – parchment – and it has another riddle on it. It’s so exciting,” she said.
Petra looked almost annoyed now. “There might be somebody innocent dying out there and another riddle by this son of a bitch is exciting?” she asked, snarling.
Andreaa looked up at Petra as her dog Cezar, sitting in his basket, also raised his head and growled. She signaled that it was okay, and Petra looked over at the dog. “That’s right, all is fine, dog.”
Cezar let out a soft snuffing sound and laid his head back down.
“Well, that’s not entirely true,” Andreaa continued as she turned on the lights by clapping her hands. “It’s a human invention called the clapper; it’s neat,” she said as she walked to her desk and sat down. She picked up the paper and lowered the magnifying lenses of her glasses again. “Okay, here goes. Petra, you write it down again for me, okay?” She frowned, examining the small brown piece of paper. “Unmeasured I am still unknown, but still you miss me, when I have flown.
What am I?” She placed the paper back on the table and looked at us. “Either of you two have any idea what this is supposed to be?” she asked.
I glanced at Petra who stared back at me and lifted her shoulders signaling in a shrug. I shook my head. “No, I have no idea what that could be; but I might know someone who might know,” I said, thinking about Victor the lion. He had helped me before and I hoped he would be able to do it again.