Lucia walked up the steps to the Museum. In front of her were her two Great Aunts, Great Aunt Jeannie and Great Aunt Alison. The two were chatting and fussing each other forward through the revolving door of the huge stone building. Both looked very similar with their little hats and little bags and their big coats and dresses. Jeannie wore green and Alison wore blue. It was the first week of the summer holidays and, while her parents worked, Lucia’s relatives were taking her out on day-trips.
Lucia loved the old women dearly; she was glad that she had come with them. They walked very slowly which suited Lucia, she liked to enjoy herself along the way and if adults hurried then she often got left behind. While her Aunts struggled with the revolving door Lucia ran up and down the sunny steps and swung on the metal railings. Before she was missed by her beloved Aunts she scampered up to the door and spun into the museum.
The main hall was huge; Lucia stood still and craned her neck back to look up into the big white space. The hall was full of sunshine and the soft sound of water. In such a big room all of the visitors to the museum looked tiny and far away. Great Aunt Jeannie turned around and saw Lucia.
“There you are lassie,” she said with a smile, “what would you like to see first?”
Lucia didn’t know all of the things that there might be to see so she said what she knew was there.
“The animals!”
“That’s this way then.” Said Great Aunt Alison and led them off into the giant room.
Behind a big ugly wooden clock and some big beautiful golden statues they found an archway into a room of wonderful creatures. A whale hung from the roof and elephants stood still as stone; Lucia stared at the huge beasts and wondered what they would be like if they moved. Great Aunt Jeannie and Great Aunt Alison moved slowly round the room; reading each of the animal’s labels to each other as they went. Soon all the bald mammals had been looked at and they went on to the furry mammal room. This room was smaller and Lucia was closer to her Aunts so she could hear what they said to each other as she looked at the Spotted Hyaena, a thing like a dog.
First Aunt Alison would read the label to Aunt Jeannie.
“Canis Lupus, The wolf”
Then Aunt Jeannie would say something about the animal.
“Such a sweet face.”
Then Aunt Alison would say something in agreement.
“Doesn’t look dangerous at all.”
Then again with the next animal.
“Hydrurga Leptonyx, The Leopard Seal.”
“It looks fair vexed.”
“Snarlin’ like a leopard right enough.”
Lucia moved around the room peering into the glass cases. After a while she noticed that the furry mammals were running out and the rest of the cases held reptiles so she turned back. Neither she nor her great aunts liked reptiles so they would not go that way. Her aunts were still commenting on each and every animal.
“Lutra Lutra, The Otter.”
“Clever wee thing.”
“Such an agile wee creature.”
Lucia looked into the glass case full of bears. Right at the back was the Kodiak Bear from Alaska, the biggest bear in the world. It was standing on its back legs; holding up its paws; towering over Lucia and the other bears. Lucia thought that it looked splendid but a little sad because it was in a glass case.
Lucia turned around to check on her Aunts and saw that they were making their way into the bird department. She turned back to the bear to say good bye and noticed that something was different. She almost couldn’t say what it was: and then she noticed that the glass had gone from the side of the case closest to the Kodiak. A moment after that she noticed that the paws of the Kodiak were moving in tiny circles. A moment after that she saw that the bear had taken a big, deep, bear-breath. A moment after that she saw that the bear’s eyes were no longer glass but real eyes looking into her own.
Lucia started to step very carefully away from the Kodiak. She kept her face still and backed away in the direction that her Aunts had gone. As she moved slowly away the Kodiak stepped over the Brown Bear between it and freedom and stepped out into the room. The Kodiak moved so slowly on its back legs and it looked so funny that Lucia wasn’t really scared. She kept her eye on the bear and kept moving away. She backed off under another arch into another room. For a moment she thought of running after her Aunts and demanding to be taken home but then she felt brave and she decided to get another look at the bear before she went.
The room that she was now in was empty apart from a blue floor, covered in painted animal tracks, and a white metal pavilion, like you might see in a park. Around the walls of the room was a balcony with cases full of British birds that could be reached by tiny sets of stairs, only big enough for a little girl not a bear. Lucia climbed the small flight of stairs and at the top was an opening to look back into the room where the bear was. She watched the Kodiak slowly, slowly pad forward on its big soft paws. The big bear lumbered under the archway beneath her and into the room with the tracks painted on the floor. Lucia ran around the balcony to the next place that she could look down and see the bear. She ran past Warblers and Tits, Larks and Pipits, Wagtails, Swallows and Martins; there were big colourful pheasants and small brown owls. She looked down again into the room and saw the Kodiak.
The big bear seemed to be thinking, it had stopped in the middle of the room between the metal pavilion and Lucia. Then, with great concentration the Bear began to dance. It started with its front paws, waving them in circles and jigging its shoulders. It nodded its head in time with music only it could hear and started a shuffling, swaying dance on the spot. Lucia lost all her fear at this point and just stood staring at the bear with a big grin on her face. The bear huffle-shuffled one huge leg forward and brought it back, it moved its weight from one soft paw to the other and the sound of its breathing filled the room. The bear began to move, and as it moved it left tracks on the blue floor the same as the ones that had been painted there. It danced slowly, always slowly, around the room and around the pointed pavilion, leaving big bear tracks after itself. Lucia stood and saw it all; she was speechless, she couldn’t make a sound.
After a few short minutes the bear finished its dance and lumbered silently back into its room. Lucia was sad to see it go. She used the other stairs to get down from the balcony and ran after her Great Aunts. She found them standing at the bottom of some more stairs, these ones were much bigger than the last, deciding which floor to go to next.
Great Aunt Alison said,
“We should go to the top floor now, we’ll be tired later.”
Great Aunt Jeannie said,
“You’ll tire later child, we’ll go all the way to the top now.”
Lucia was only too pleased to be putting two floors between her and where the Kodiak might be still wandering about. It might only be a dancing bear but it was still the biggest bear in the world. She ran up the first flight of red carpeted stairs. Her Aunts followed after, holding onto the brass banister.
“Don’t hurry us, child.” Said Great Aunt Alison.
“Lovely soft stairs!” Said Great Aunt Jeannie.
The Aunts looked at every thing on the way up the stairs but Lucia had no interest in it. She climbed up listening with half an ear to what the two old women were saying.
“Jacopo della Quercia, 1425”
“Poor things, being put out like that.”
“The good lord at work.”
“Och, such dark Iron-work”
“Iron is such a dark metal.”
None of it made that much sense and Lucia scampered away up the stairs to see what there was to see.
At the top of the stairs there was a choice between sea creatures and Japan. Lucia didn’t think that her Great Aunts would care for squids and crabs and stuff so she decided that they would try Japan. Her Aunts slowly appeared and the three of them entered the gallery.
Inside the room was full of odd objects. Lucia’s Aunts stopped in front of a case full of tiny carved animals. Great Aunt Alison read them out,
“Tiger, Oxen, Rat, Snake, Horse, Monkey, Rabbit, Cockerel, Dog, Boar, Goat, Dragon.”
“Such tiny details, I can hardly see.” Said Jeannie, quite taken with the little ornaments.
The two Aunts looked at them for ages and Lucia wandered a little way away. She looked into a Japanese room and read about the Japanese tea ceremony but she was getting a bit bored.
Suddenly she heard a noise. Then another. Someone was quietly tapping on the glass of one of the cases. She looked back to see if her Aunts were trying to attract her attention but they had moved on to look at a model of a Japanese Palace. Lucia searched for the source of the noise. In a few moments she had fount it but she didn’t believe it.
In one of the cases was a Japanese suit of armour. It looked like it had been woven from straw and it had a funny grey moustache on the helmet. The armour was empty but somehow it was moving. The armour was bent down towards her and was tapping patiently at the glass to call her over. Now she had noticed it the armour waved, and even though there was no face inside the helmet Lucia thought that it smiled a cheeky smile at her with its funny moustache. Lucia came up close to the glass of its case and wondered what to say. The armour bowed at her and seemed to smile again. Then it beckoned to her and put its glove up against the glass right in front of her. Without thinking for a second Lucia put her hand up against the glass and the glass melted away. The cheeky suit of armour held her hand until all the glass had vanished and then it stepped nimbly out of its case. The funny moustache twitched again in another invisible smile and the armour crouched down a little to Lucia’s height. The armour reminded Lucia of her favourite grandfather, whose eyes were always twinkling and who laughed all the time. The armour held out its other arm and Lucia realised that it, like the bear, wanted to dance.
Lucia put her arm on the arm of the armour. She smelled the exotic smell of the armour that had been made so far away and so long ago. The moustache twitched in another smile and they were off, waltzing around the gallery. The armour whirled Lucia around in a dizzying dance. The floor squeaked under their shoes and the cases full of objects spun around and around. Lucia felt as if she was flying. The armour was very strong but very gentle. Often Lucia’s feet would leave the ground and she would spin around, laughing. The cheeky armour danced her up a ramp in the gallery and onto a massive metal map of the world. On this metal map they danced, around and around and around until Lucia was breathless with laughing. Then they stopped and the old armour sat down, breathing deeply but silently. Lucia stood and looked at the grandfather armour, her face flushed red but her eyes shining. It had been a merry dance. The armour sat for a moment more then gave her a last invisible moustache smile and skipped back to its rightful place.
Lucia stood and got her breath back while her Aunts slowly caught up with her. They took one of her hands each and they walked out of the Japanese gallery back into the entrance hall. The hall was the same as they had first walked into but they were three floors up and the groups of visitors far below looked even smaller than they had then.
The three girls, two old and one young, walked hand in hand past case after case of blue Ming pottery from China. They walked the length of the main hall and set off down the steps to the level below.
The first floor balcony was full of delicate cut glass from all over Europe. As usual Great Aunt Alison read out all of the labels.
“Bohemian Scent Bottles, 19th century Italian. From the Ida Pappenheim collection, donated by her daughter.”
“What a kind daughter.” Murmured Great Aunt Jeannie.
“You’re a good lassie, Lucia.” Said Alison.
In another case were two miniature silver sailing ships. They were covered in decoration, little swans and magical monsters, dolphins and dragons, tiny wheels and ropes. The sunshine blazed though the glass and shone off the silver sails. Lucia’s face was lit up and she stayed looking at the fabulous ships as her Aunts moved off towards a statue of a heron.
As soon as the Aunts were out of the way the ships gave a twitch and sailed out of their case into thin air. Lucia smiled; she wasn’t surprised by magic anymore. The ships sailed around her head, always going higher. Lucia put her arms up towards the flying ships and spun around with them. She danced in circles and followed the ships. They flew over the balcony and out into the huge space of the main hall. As Lucia skipped and watched them the cut glass from the other cases floated silently out and joined her in her dance. A huge ball of crystal with many flashing edges spun above her head. It sent beams of light dancing among the dancing glass. Small coloured pieces of glass attached themselves to Lucia’s fingers and arms and to her dancing hair. Lucia threw light all over the room, spinning and twinkling like a star. The silver ships sailed around the room full of colours. Purple and Green, Red and dark Blue, Amber and pure White, the spots of bright colour flew around the great big room. Lucia was totally happy, her smile shone like the light. Her feet found the steps of the dance and she tripped on tiptoe the length of the balcony. At the end she let all of the sparkling glass fly up to the roof and fall like coloured rain back into its cases.
Great Aunt Jeannie and Great Aunt Alison were very pleased to see the smile on Lucia’s face when they found her to take her home. They had done well to bring her to the museum, she had obviously enjoyed it. The three of them went down and sat next to the fishpond so that the Aunts could rest. Lucia sat with her back leaning against Great Aunt Jeannie and looked up in the huge entrance hall. She thought about all she had seen and all the dancing there had been. She closed her eyes but she was still smiling broadly.
Then it really was time to go home and she followed her Aunts back out through the revolving doors.