“Was it his?” Calvin dipped the cold noodles into sauce before correcting, “I mean—something personal he owned. Like, he wanted to get it appraised?”
“That wasn’t the impression I got. Ron bitterly acknowledged that I knewstuff and thingsand said it’d save him time and resources ifIidentified the item in question.”
“And what was it that you identified?”
“A spiritoscope.” I took another bite of sushi.
“Have you, or any of your family, ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?”
“What?”
“Ghostbusters,” Calvin explained. “Bill Murray. Have you not seen that movie?”
“Like, twenty years ago,” I supplied.
Calvin looked thoughtful as he said, “Most of the time, you’re thirty-five going on eighty, but then you throw out these real zingers to remind meI’mthe senior in this relationship.”
“You’re the one who wanted a younger husband.”
Calvin massaged his temples with one hand. “What’s a spiritoscope, baby?”
“Pseudoscience. Do you know who the Fox sisters were?”
“Didn’t they perform séances back in the day?”
I nodded. “They were seen as founders of the Spiritualism movement and instrumental in it reaching mainstream popularity. The two younger sisters—Margaretta and Catherine—were the focus. Leah, their older sister, acted more like a manager, for lack of better description. Their method was ‘rapping,’ which is where the term ‘table-rapping’ came from.”
“They were frauds, though, weren’t they?” Calvin asked.
“Sure. But for every scientist or university professor who concluded that the sisters were likely able to crack various joints in their hands and feet to produce the sounds, another learned man fell for their spirit communication trickery. Spiritualism became so popular, with imitators crawling out of the woodwork, that by the turn of the century, even with the sisters having all passed on, you had situations like the fallout between friends, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, who couldn’t reconcile their differences when it came to the belief of the supernatural.”
Calvin snagged a gyoza between his chopsticks. “And so how does this pertain to… what did you say, a spiritoscope?”
“Oh, right. The 1850s is when a lot of the evaluations of supposed mediums began in earnest, wherein their abilities were tested with pseudoscientific measurements. One man, Robert Hare of Philadelphia, built a series of contraptions he called the spiritoscopes, which were meant to gauge whether or not a spirit was actually in physical contact with the medium, which they thought was necessary in order for tables to move and various other claims. He’d gone into the project as a staunch disbeliever, although based on his writings, he did seem to sincerely believe in the possibility of clairvoyance and worried how that might affect his test results.”
Calvin had raised the gyoza to his mouth a few times now, but kept lowering it until, finally, he set the food back in the carton. “Then what?”
“There isn’t a lot of information on Hare, but one or two accounts I’ve read suggested he was gullible in his older age, and after using his various spiritoscopes, ended up being entirely convinced of what he’d originally set out to prove as false. He converted to Spiritualism and was shunned by the science community.”
“So his machines worked?”
I shook my head. “No. They were just used by gifted tricksters. Anyway. None of the spiritoscopes are thought to exist anymore. The only reason we know about these designs at all is because of Hare’s book. He included illustrations. Hare was one of countless personalities wrapped up in the craze, and his inventions are hardly as memorable as something like the planchette or talking board or spirit photography.”
“Except Lieutenant Fergusondidcome to the Emporium with a spiritoscope?”
“Yeah. It was one of the smaller, tabletop versions. He didn’t have any paperwork, and I tried to ask where he’d gotten it, but he cut me off. If I were to appraise it, under the presumption of being one hundred percent authentic, I’d say it was in near-fine condition. Some scratches in the wood, but otherwise entirely functional.”
“What happened after you told him all this?”
“You’re a much better audience, Calvin.”
He corrected, “After you gave him the abridged version.”
I sat back in my chair, frowning a little. “Well… after I explained there were several unique spiritoscopes, he swore and left.”
Calvin raised a light-colored brow. It wasn’t a disbelieving expression, but one of,probably, due caution. I reflected briefly on that monochromatic face staring back at me. Was it as beautiful as how the rest of the world saw Calvin? I wouldn’t know, wouldn’t ever know—but taking in those constellations of freckles across his pale face, like an inverted night sky, I briefly thought,Gray’s not so bad.
“You’re very handsome,” I stated.
