With a husband who possessed top secret clearance Mrs Ramsey knew what to do and what not to say when the police arrived.
In the meantime George returned to the laboratory to discover that the hole in the wall no longer existed and a black cat with a white star mark on its head was sitting on the bench top calmly gazing at him as if to ask "Yes? Is there a problem here?"
It was then that George realized the ozone like smell he'd previously blamed on the shorted out coils from his electromagnetic devices was not ozone but something alien that for some reason suggested the colour blue. The sort of blue that romantics associate with the presence of magic or supernatural effects.
Talk of the devil! The blue theme returned with a heavy handed abuse of the front doors heavy brass dolphin shaped knocker, a present from Malta that hardly any visitors used because either they preferred the white bell push or equally possibly couldn't lift the damn dolphin which had to weigh at least 4 lbs. It was more suited to a castle door than a suburban one but admittedly it did look rather glorious its polished brass shining in the sun.
Also it was a gift from his wife's sister Joan who was noted for her shopping faux pas such as the pink rabbit fur ear muffs she'd sent the two boys neither of whom would have worn them even if the ice age returned.
Carefully George explained to the police officer that an experiment of his had malfunctioned causing a loud noise but that no damage had occurred to the laboratory, simply an electrical short circuit had caused his equipment to fail.
"We thought we should report this in case any neighbours had made enquiries about the noise because it was very loud" explained Helen Ramsey. " However we are also concerned that our son Charles has not come home for lunch but I expect he went off on his bike and is probably at a friends house." she concluded looking as unconcerned as a mother could under the circumstances.
"Would you like to see my laboratory officer? Just to be thorough when you make your report, I know what paperwork can be like, I have to do a lot myself. Forget some minor detail and they expect you to do it all over again."
George led the way and the policeman quickly satisfied himself there were no signs of a struggle or foul play not that it was to be expected but better safe than sorry. In the interim the cat had apparently taken a hike. One less thing to raise comment thought George who hadn't mentioned his odd vissitor to his wife.
After husband and wife had cordially thanked him before sending the police officer on his way Helen told her husband that their first priority must be to locate Charles.
"There's more to Charles disappearance than you think Helen. I wanted to get the slate clean by making a report to the police because if we can't find our son, it'll have to be reported too but at least there won't be a suspicious pause that would invite awkward questions.
That bang was caused by something Charles set up and thank God he left me his notes which may help me to explain what happened to him. Of course we'll phone around to see if he's at anyone's house or if they've seen him but I'm sure that won't help me at all. Why don't you make a start on that while I sit down with his notes to see if I can recreate whatever he was doing."
George was fascinated and impressed by Charles logical analysis of particle behaviour that physicists were still arguing about. Especially since it was mostly explained in pictorial form and seemed very common sense though this is a property that physics rarely gives any credence too.
Maybe I can just replace or make good whatever was damaged thought George, though it must have taken one hell of a current to melt those coils and my power supply certainly isn't capable of that kind of current output. Perhaps he used a couple of the big capacitors? They would certainly cause a big bang but wheres the shrapnel?
They decided not to tell their other children where Charles was but at supper time the question was never raised so it was with mixed feelings that the Ramsey's went to bed hoping that somehow everything would look better in the morning.
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