One Night - Night at the Museum

Three: Coffee For Colleagues

The next morning Larry saw Rebecca, the docent, and Natasha leading a tour of schoolchildren around the museum.

"Now this museum was originally dedicated to that man there," Rebecca told them, gesturing to the statue of Teddy. "President Theodore Roosevelt."

"He absolutely loved history," continued Natasha. "And believed that the more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future."

The tour continued on, Larry tagging along. Rebecca and Natasha led them into the room where the Sacagawea, Lewis, and Clark exhibit was.

"And now we've reached Rebecca's area of expertise," said Natasha. "Take it away Rebecca."

Rebecca smiled and gestured to the statue of Sacagawea. "She was one of the most famous trackers in history. Sacagawea led Lewis and Clark on their expedition to find the Pacific Ocean. Now you've probably heard the saying 'actions speak louder than words'..."

Larry put up his hand. She stopped talking and looked at him, appearing to notice him for the first time. "Yes, Mr. Daley?"

"Was she deaf?" he asked.

"Was she deaf?" she repeated, looking confused. "No, no she wasn't."

"It's just that she seems a little unresponsive," he said.

"That's because she's a statue."

Larry realized how that had sounded. Of course, they didn't know what happened here at night. He nodded. "Yes, right, never mind." And with that he separated himself from the tour.

A little while later, he was just preparing to leave when he met up with Natasha along the way.

"Hey Larry, enjoy the tour?" she asked.

"Yeah, it was interesting. Sorry for barging in."

"Oh-" She waved away his apology. "Don't worry about it. How's the new job going?"

"Oh, you know, pretty good so far. I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it."

"That's great! This is a great place to work, I love working here! It must get kind of lonely though, wandering the empty halls by yourself all night. I guess it's kind of hard to get bored though, with all the exhibits to check out."

You have no idea. "Yeah, no, there's never a dull moment that's for sure. You know, I was wondering, I'm going to be here every night and I'd like to know more about what I'm guarding. I have lots of questions, so I don't know maybe when you have a break could I buy you a cup of coffee? I mean purely just a colleague-to-colleague information download kind of coffee."

She chuckled. "Sounds good, I never tire of talking about history - or coffee." She looked down at her watch. "My break's in twenty minutes, so if you don't mind waiting."

"Yeah, no, thank you. See you in twenty."

--------------------------------

"So how long have you worked at the museum?" he asked her as they headed for Central Park, cups of coffee in hand.

"Coming up to four years."

"Wow, and all in the same exhibit?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "I've always had a fascination with Ancient Egypt, I just think it's so interesting. Honestly I could spend all day staring at that exhibit." She chuckled. "My ex-boyfriend used to joke that I was cheating on him with the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ahkmenrah cause I spent so much time there. He didn't last long after that." Then she shook her head. "Anyways, what about you? Have you ever been a night guard before?"

"No, this is a first. Well I'm divorced, and I have a ten-year-old son, so I needed to find a more steady situation. But that's pretty much it."

She nodded. "So, what can I tell you about the museum?"

When evening came around he once again wandered the main lobby, waiting for the sun to set and the magic to happen. While he was waiting he began fiddling with different objects at the front desk: pencils, paper, even the intercom.

"Hello?" He spoke into the microphone, reacting when his voice echoed throughout the empty building. "Hello... Helloooooo! I AM LARRY."

He had been speaking into it for about five minutes before he realized he wasn't alone. As soon as he saw her standing there he jumped to his feet, and slammed the intercom phone back down onto the cradle - messily.

"Natasha!" he cried, extremely embarrassed. "I-I forgot you were here." He had to keep in mind that she stayed later than the rest of the staff.

She looked as though she were trying not to laugh, but all in good humour. "Yeah, I was in my office. I'm just leaving. We're passing: my day's just ending, and yours is just starting. Goodnight Larry."

"Goodnight." Still recovering from the embarrassment, he began to put his plan into action. His meeting with Natasha as well as his own research had inspired him to take a bit of a different approach. He brought along a bunch of objects to help him, such as a remote-control car to which he could tie a bone for Rexy, a lighter for the Neanderthals, a huge ball of gum for the Easter Island Head, and some magic tricks for Attila and the Huns. After a successful night, his most successful yet, he began to realize that maybe this job wouldn't be so bad after all.

(Sorry if it feels kind of random/choppy so far - it kind of does to me. I'm trying to establish my character and fit her into the story - I'm hoping it will get better as I go! Thanks so much for reading! Bye for now! :))