Preys and Predator Part II; the monster and witches' Chapter 3

 

3.

“The adult human body has two hundred and six bones, and except for the hyoid bone in the neck, each bone is connected to at least one other bone. Andrea Vesalius outlined that in the mid-15th century.” Victor held up the spine of the human body. That one was a reconstruction by the Art Department as a model.

“Is that a man or woman? It is missing the groin.” A student raised the question. “How could we know?”

“Horace, just add the flesh and hairs, then you will know.” Another student called out. “If you like the design, it does not matter if it’s a man or a woman. ‘Aut foraminis adhuc fit’ (Either hole can still fit in Latin.)

“Horace, tua plena stercore (Yours full of shit).” Another called out. The roar of laughter rang then.

“Class, if I may. ‘Nos hic focus’ (let us focus).” Victor called out in his sparse words in Latin. “Can I please?”

“The main differences between male and female bones are size, shape, and density.” Victor continued to get their attention on the subject matter. “Male bones tend to have larger, heavier bones, especially in the arms, legs, and shoulders, while female bones are lighter, and their hips are wider to support childbirth.”

“Idiosyncrasies of the typical male that childbirth is for the woman only.” Another student voiced out. She is an advocate for the female.

“That’s why we are the fuckers.” Another male specimen voiced out. It drew mixed approval and rejection from the attendees. A few raised their middle finger to the outburst.

“Okay, please stay focused.” Victor pleaded with the attendees. They all went silent, and Victor continued. “The joints are the location where bones come together. Many joints allow for movement between the bones where they will be joined to each other by connective tissue or cartilage. That design gives us stability in movement.”

Victor searched for Charlene, and she was not there. He heard the faculty heads had removed her from the program after a teacher was caught with her in an improper act. It could have been a suspension, but ‘menage a trois’ with one other teacher, Ms. Franchoise, was an absolute mayhem.

“Joint stability and movement are related to each other.” That came out from Victor with a bad taste in his mouth. “I mean to say stable joints allow for little or no mobility between the adjacent bones. Conversely, joints that provide the most movement between bones are the least stable. Understanding the relationship between joint structure and function will help to explain why particular types of joints are found in certain areas of the body.”

“I know. I told Ellen, No, fuck, that means we are breaking up.”

“Shut up, Steve. She broke up with you because you are vain. Imbecile et idiot (Imbecile and an idiot in French).”

“Steve non parla francese. È italiano. (Steve does not speak French. He’s Italian in Italian.)

That brought up the attendees to go into another round of heckling and squabbles then. Victor was not giving up, but the bell did. The attendees filed out as if nothing had happened before the bell. He saw the person he was looking to meet.

“Come in, Silvus. Did you bring me what I was asking?” Silvius was an extraordinary man in his sixties, sporting the unkempt grey hairline and long white beard. He worked as the janitor at the hospital, and in the evening, he was at the morgue to manage the cadavers.

“John Doe, or Jane; it matters none to me. I am there to bury them deep down in unmarked graves.” Silvus was also the grave digger. “The bad ones, I shoved into the furnace. They might as well burn there than at Hell.”

Bad ones to Silvus were dismembered parts or the decayed body. The latter he sold to the abattoir of the pig farms.

“Waste not when they can be consumed.” Silvus told himself, but he was not a cannibal, or he would have daily meat servings.

“Three bags full, Sire.” Silvus nodded to the bags he brought. “Fresh parts.”

“No lime or whatever you tossed over to prevent the smell.” Victor asked.

“None, Sire. These came in fresh this morning, and I brought them over. Someone did us a good turn.” Silvus smiled. “That will be four pounds. One more extra for the freshness.”

Victor relented but he knew getting the fresh cadavers were rare. The Universities were in the game to acquire them, and there were not many to offer. They were not particular to the condition of the cadaver but the whole physique was a prerequisite. Anatomy study was improving and more students have enrolled. They went for the prisoners but that was a short supply. The distant wars held plenty but too far to deliver them to the Unis, unless embalming was done but formaldehyde was too expensive to preserve so many cadavers. The alternative was arsenic or alcohol, but that its toll on the volume to be used. More to it, the embalmed cadavers could only be preserved for one week or less.

Victor was experimenting with coldness as the means to preserve cadavers, but having to store a whole body was restrictive, and then he decided to keep only parts of it. He got Silvus to work at the hospitals, and in his role as the janitor, he knew where the discarded parts were kept.

“Are you paying, Sire?” Silvus was impatient to receive his fees.

“Yes, I am paying.” Victor drew out the notes and paid the man. “Put the bags into my lab. The usual place. And close the door well.”

“I am goi g there, Sire.” Silvus smiled. His money in the pocket and he was to complete the last errand. Once Silvus had left for the lab, Victor gathered his things. He walked to the open area where he parked his carriage. The horses were in the stables. He saw there the experimental steam engines made by the Unis faculties, but that prototype was from completion. The first steam engine was by James Watt back in 1765, but it did not take on with the people. The horse-driven carriages were still the preferred mode. He had one build next to the lab, as it will allow him uninterrupted power for his lab.

The lab was at the mansion ground, build some distance away, as part of Victor’s instruction. His father had never asked on his works there. The road to access the lab was a path on the side of the mansion, and there was a lock there on the gate.

Victor drove to the lab; the lab chamber was on the ground level and had a doorway facing the yard. Victor loaded the bags from the cold chamber and drove feverishly towards his home. He lived in a huge mansion with his father and brothers, just outside the village.

The lab chamber was not huge, but it held the entrance to the basement, which was huge. It was used to hide the kegs of wine during the late 16th century when the Bill was passed to prohibit the import of French wines, among other things. The Bill engaged the smugglers to build cellars to hide the imported wines. He had refrigeration installed there powered by electricity.

The cellars became Victor’s personal lab. He kept his works there.

Instead of wine kegs, it was designed with long tables and scientific equipment. At the basement, where the wine kegs were kept, the shelves were designed to keep the unused equipment. It was rare then, but the Frankenstein family commanded great wealth and influence. It was one of the rare households to have electricity in the mansion, provided by the thick cabling near the mansion.

Victor took to the lab on his carriage. He walked into his lab with the door unlocked.

“Imbecile.” Victor cursed under his breath. Silvus was never careful with instruction. He went in and then looked around. All was as it was, but the frozen chamber unit’s door was ajar. He had access to it there.

Besides Silvus and Henry.

Henry was his servant at the mansion. He had just stepped out of the cold chamber.

“Master Victor, the man brought some parts for you.” Henry was the only person he entrusted to keep his secret.