only if for a night [ahkmenrah]

02 ▷ the night shift

"OKAY KIDS, WHO can tell me what this room's called?" Rebecca, the museum's tour guide, asked a group of children she was currently showing around. Emily tagged along at the back of the group, having arrived at the museum in time to join the latest tour. Rebecca had said that since she was the only clerk on that day, the only way Emily could be shown around was via the tour, or to wait until Rebecca's shift ended. Not that she minded either way, but she figured the tour would be fun, at the very least.

   There was another guy at the back of the group with her, who was just as out of place as she was, only older than herself. She gave him the odd glance every few minutes but didn't speak to him, and he didn't seem too eager to speak to her, either.

   One of the kids in the group had answered Rebecca's question, and she continued, "Very good. The Hall of African Mammals. Right here we have the king of the jungle, the lion." She gestured to a group of lion statues, posed to look as majestic as possible. Moving swiftly along, she continued her running commentary, almost as if she were talking to herself. "Up ahead is one of my favourite creatures in the whole museum, the Capuchin monkey. A highly intelligent primate known for its loving and generous nature."

   The man at the back of the group let out a snort of laughter, and everyone turned their eyes on him, including Emily.

   "Excuse me?" Rebecca asked.

   "I just thought that was..." The guy stammered, clearly not having expected Rebecca to hear him. He tried again. "I just was ... laughing in agreement. Happy monkey."

   No one, not even the kids, looked like they were buying what that dude was selling, and he didn't look too convinced, either. Emily was thankful when Rebecca carried on with the tour. "All right, kids, this way."

   Emily didn't even notice that the guy had lingered by the monkey exhibit until he rematerialised when Rebecca was talking about Sacagawea. "One of the most famous trackers in history, Sacagawea was the woman who led Lewis and Clark on their expedition to find the Pacific Ocean. You guys have heard the saying, 'Actions speak louder than words.' And yet they wrote—"

   No one would get to find out what they wrote because the guy at the back of the group had stuck his hand up in the air, like he was a school kid, too. "Yes, Mr. Daley?" Rebecca asked, only just keeping the exasperation out of her expression.

   "Yes, was she deaf?" He asked.

   Emily's eyebrows furrowed, and Rebecca frowned slightly before saying, "Was she deaf? No, she was not. But she—"

   "Yeah, because — Just — She does seem a little bit sort of unresponsive."

   "That's because she's a statue," Rebecca replied, in a tone that suggested he was making a dick of himself. Emily had to agree on that front. Rebecca turned to the group of children. "Kids, could you give me one sec? Go check her out, she's really cool."

   The kids all shuffled off to peer at Sacagawea and probably smear the glass with their dirty fingers, but Emily stayed behind, half-listening to Rebecca's conversation with that annoying guy. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

   "I'm gonna be here every night," he answered. "I wanted to know a little bit more about what I'm guarding. Actually, I've got a bunch of questions..."

   Emily slipped away silently, having heard enough. So that annoying dick was the other night guard? She couldn't say she was looking forward to working with him if he acted like that all the time. She wasn't too keen on sticking around for the last part of the tour, either; she figured she had a pretty good recce of the museum's layout in her head, but resolved to wandering around a few more times by herself to kill time until the museum closed.