Xerxes to the Rescue

A Fictional Story by Mr. Brügge

It was a dark and stormy night, and the ring of the phone sounded like a clap of thunder. Mr. Brügge snapped his eyes open and fumbled for the receiver.

"Hello," he said with a bit of a gurgle in his voice.

"Hi, Steve, I just wanted to remind you to bring the amber with you when you come over tomorrow," said Mr. Brügge's mother-in-law in her precise English-teacher voice.

"No problem. I'll put it by the door right now."

Mr. Brügge had fallen asleep while grading yet another set of papers. He was fully awake now and opened up his briefcase to look for the amber pendant.

"What are you looking for, Daddy?" asked Mr. Brügge's five-year-old daughter in her inquisitive little voice as she walked into the room.

"I'm trying to find your grandmother's amber necklace."

"What's amber, Daddy?"

"Well, it's prehistoric tree resin that has been under the ground for millions of years and turned into a fossil. It's also very pretty and used for jewelry," said Mr. Brügge realizing that no five-year-old would really understand his explanation, but, science teacher at heart, he could not resist giving such a long answer. His own father had done the same when he was a child.

He proceeded to completely empty out his briefcase and even found a couple of dead insects that he had planned to add to his collection at school, but he did not find the amber.

"I'm in trouble," he said more to himself than to his daughter. "I'll never be forgiven for losing her very favorite piece of jewelry."

"Will Grandma put you in timeout?"

"It will be worse than timeout," Mr. Brügge said as he lifted his daughter up to sit on his lap. "Your grandma's a good lady, but she does have a temper."

"Maybe Xerxes ate the amber, Daddy."

"No, I don't think so. He's been known to eat the roses, chew on your toys, and eat your crackers, but he has never gotten into my briefcase."

Mr. Brügge spent the rest of the evening after his daughter went to bed trying to figure out what had happened to the amber. He could remember the amber sitting on his desk at the end of the day, and he had a vague memory of putting it back into its box and sliding the box into his briefcase. He even went out with a flashlight to look under the seats of his pearl-white Lexus. Alas, the amber was not to be found.

That night while falling asleep, Mr. Brügge was struck with a brilliant idea. He should take Xerxes to school with him tomorrow and would use the dog's exceptional sense of smell to locate the amber. He reasoned that since it was not in his briefcase or car, it had to be at school.

It was still dark the next morning when Mr. Brügge glided into his parking spot. Xerxes sat in the passenger seat drooling on the leather upholstery, but Mr. Brügge was too preoccupied with finding the lost amber to even notice the small pool of dog saliva.

"Here, boy," Mr. Brügge called softly as Xerxes began to wander off the sidewalk as they walked toward the school.

Xerxes eyed a couple of the bushes but heeded his master's voice.

Mr. Brügge quietly opened the outside door, grabbed Xerxes by the collar, and quickly yanked him into his science room. On his desk Mr. Brügge spied the small white box that the amber had come in. He quickly opened it up only to find it as empty as his classroom at one minute after three o'clock.

This did, however, give him a scent for Xerxes to work with.

"Xerxes, take a good whiff," said Mr. Brügge as he held the box under the dog's moist nose.

"Go, Xerxes, find the smell!" he shouted with glee as Xerxes ran about the room sniffing and snorting.

After about ten minutes Xerxes tired of the game and plopped himself down on the floor and closed his eyes. Mr. Brügge realized that now he had not only lost the amber, but he would have to hide Xerxes for the rest of the day.

Mr. Brügge coaxed the dog into the plant room. He went back into the lab section and located the fire blankets. He took one back to the plant room and made a small bed for Xerxes.

Just as Mr. Brügge was getting that day's lesson on the front board, Mrs. Eubanks peeked her head into the room and said, "I heard the kids say yesterday that you had a piece of prehistoric amber. I've always wanted a piece of amber jewelry; I'd like to see what yours looks like."

"Well," Mr. Brügge replied, "I did have a piece of amber, but it seems to have vanished. I've looked high and low, but I can't find it. It's as though space aliens just came and stole it."

"It's really beautiful stuff," Mr. Brügge added. "In ancient times it was worn by Roman soldiers for luck, and today it is an invaluable source of information about evolution. Scientists can now extract DNA from 40-million-year-old insects."

Mr. Brügge stopped short when he realized that he was telling Mrs. Eubanks far more than she wanted to know. He made a mental note that he really needed to work on not giving everyone a science lesson each time he had a conversation.

Just then Mrs. Eubanks began to sneeze. Five loud sneezes in a row echoed through the empty room.

"My goodness," said Mrs. Eubanks as she recovered. "I don't know what came over me. I only sneeze like that when I'm around dogs."

"Must be something in the air," Mr. Brügge said without looking Mrs. Eubanks in the eyes.

"I've got to get back to work, " said Mrs. Eubanks. "Let me know if the amber turns up."

"Sure thing," said Mr. Brügge as he went back to his lesson on the board.

Mrs. Eubanks could be heard sneezing all the way down the hall to the main office.

As the sound of sneezing subsided, Xerxes began to howl--not a bark but a low, deep-throated howl.

"This is all I need," said Mr. Brügge to himself as he ran to the plant room door to quiet his noisy dog.

It was not easy, but Mr. Brügge was able to get Xerxes calmed back down before the bell rang at 8:15 to let the students into the room.

Xerxes slept quietly for the entire morning. After lunch, however, Xerxes became restless and would not settle down.

Just as Channel One began, Xerxes jumped on the shelf in the plant room and pressed his moist nose against the glass window and began barking.

The students whipped around in their seats and found themselves face to face with a howling hound. The class was in an uproar. It took Mr. Brügge the better part of the period to restore order.

Mr. Brügge was ready to confess everything to his mother-in-law and Mrs. Eubanks when, without explanation, Xerxes settled back down for the rest of the day.

As Mr. Brügge erased the board at the end of the day, the yellow chalk dust settled silently on the floor. Mr. Brügge wished that he, too, could just sink into the floor and disappear.

He grabbed the empty white box and his briefcase and opened the plant room door to get Xerxes.

"Here, Xerxes," said Mr. Brügge in a weary voice.

Xerxes did not come. Instead, he jumped on the plant shelf again and began to howl loudly.

Mr. Brügge glanced down and noticed that at the base of the philodendron plant was his mother-in-law's amber. It all came back in a flash: He had gone to water the plants yesterday and must have put the amber down to get the watering can. Xerxes had been trying to tell him this all day.

"I guess I'm turning into an absent-minded scientist," Mr. Brügge said to Xerxes as he pressed the remote to unlock his Lexus.

That evening at his mother-in-law's house, Mr. Brügge quietly pulled the white box out of his pocket, tossed it on the kitchen table, and said, "Here's your amber back. My students were fascinated to learn about amber and how DNA recovered from fossilized insects has clarified disputed points about the shared ancestry of cockroaches and termites. It also may at some point in the future lead to the ability to recreate extinct life."

"I'm glad your students enjoyed it," said Mr. Brügge's mother-in-law. "I don't know what I would ever do if I lost this piece of amber."

"Not to worry," said Mr. Brügge. "It was in safe hands with me."