Page 49 of Flirtasaurus
“Yeah, but that heart thing? Ew. No way. Never gone in there.”
“Why not?”
“First, gross. Second, ugh. Third, claustrophobia.”
“Are you actually?” he asks with concern.
“Claustrophobic? Yes? No? I don’t know, but after the elevator incident, I’m definitely a little bit wary of entering small spaces.”
“Understandable. But you gotta walk through the heart! How can you say you work in this museum yet have not experienced the famous walk-through heart?”
“I don’t know…” I say slowly, not quite convinced.
“I’ll protect you. Promise.”
Then he reaches out his hand and gives me that glorious smile.
I hesitate and roll my eyes, but how do I deny this guy? I take it.
“Excellent.”
We skirt our way around some kids who nearly knock us over while they exit through the entrance.
“Alright now,” he explains. “You are going to need to watch your head at certain points. Some of the ceilings are kind of low.”
“Have you seen my height? I’ll be just fine. It’s you I’m worried about, tall guy.”
“Nah, no need to worry about me. I have this thing memorized. One of my favorite spots in the city.”
As we approach the entrance, we are instantly enveloped in thethump-bump,thump-bumpmusic of this massive heart.
“Oh, man,” I say. “That sound reminds me of the time I got my wisdom teeth out.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, they were impacted, so it hurt like a bitch afterward. I didn’t want to take the hydrocodone because drugs and I don’t really get along, but at a certain point, I really had no choice, so I cut the tiniest sliver off the pill, let it dissolve on my tongue, and I swear, within minutes, I felt and heard it pumping through my body like a drum.Boom! Boom! Boom!It was creepy as hell.”
“Creepy? Why?”
“I dunno. My… aliveness was freaky to me, I guess? The fact that we’re all fleshy, bony, organy creatures walking around with all these fluids pumping through us on a constant basis? Yech.”
“Huh. Not the perspective I’d expect from a scientist.”
“Yeah, but you forget I’m a scientist who focuses mostly on dead things. Human biology was never my strong suit. The human body kind of grosses me out.”
“Well, this should be fun then,” he says with a fair amount of snark.
We reach the pink plexiglass opening.
“You ready?” he says as he gives my hand a squeeze.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Alright. Here we go!”
We step inside.
“First stop… the right atrium,” Ralph announces. “They call this the front door to the heart. It’s where all the blood first enters and… Sorry. You don’t need me mansplaining this stuff to you.”
