CHAPTER 8

The next day was thankfully Friday and she had no classes, but just as Avery was enjoying her day off she got a phone call from McPhee demanding her presence. So she quickly threw together her usual museum attire; a nice pair of slacks, a button up top, and a blazer, with the addition of a winter coat because NY was starting to get chilly; and rushed out the door to hail a taxi. She didn't want to waste any more time if she walked. She also didn't want to walk and show up to her internship a sweaty, frazzled mess. As soon as she paid the taxi and ran up the stairs, she found McPhee waiting for her.

"You, intern. Here, now."

Oh boy, this is not going to end well. What did I do? I mean he's always impatient but this seems a little different than his usual self. He never referred to me as 'intern' before. No, it was always my last name.

Steeling herself, she took a moment to adjust her top before walking over to him. He didn't even register her, just made a sign with his hand to follow him.

"Dr McPhee, if I may ask, what is it that you needed from me today?"

"A while back you asked me about 'shadowing' myself. And at the time I thought it was a laughable request. But now there is something I feel I must show you… Ah you night guard. Here, now."

Avery looked to see who he was addressing and saw Larry with the three elderly night guards. They were all just as surprised as she was.

"Yeah, what's up?" Avery would have loved nothing more than to facepalm. Such a casual way of interacting, and to McPhee no less! She understood if it was used with the old night guards, but McPhee was the overall boss. And it seemed he wasn't impressed with Larry's choice of words either.

"'What's up?' Well why don't we all take a walk and I'll show you what's up."

They walked in tense silence. Avery and Larry had looked at each other with questioning looks but neither could understand why they were both summoned. That is until they reached their destination. McPhee had marched into the Hall of Miniatures and stopped at the Wild West diorama. He pointed a finger inside the exhibit. And when Avery leaned over to get a better look, she let out a small gasp. A Roman general was in the stockades. And as Larry began to explain, Avery once again had to resist the urge to facepalm or slap Larry upside the head. Especially when she saw McPhee's face.

"-the Roman dude wanted to take over the West's territory so the cowboy rounded up a posse and put him in a stockade."

"Ha Ha. I forgot how to laugh. You with your funny night guard humor. But I'm not laughing, I was pretending to laugh. I don't find it funny at all. I find it a blatant disrespect of museum property. If this is some sort of battle of humor, you've lost alright. If I wasn't clear, I don't stand for this sort of thing. Tell me, am I clear?"

"Yes, yeah. Loud and clear."

McPhee just shook his head disapprovingly and left. Avery didn't think she should follow him however. It seemed like he needed to brood alone. She stopped to look one last time at the display and left. She decided to follow Larry. Soon they had run into Cecil who mentioned something about brushing up on history as he found it incredibly helpful when he started.

Since Avery was already here at the museum, she figured she could try to make herself useful after McPhee's little rant. She spotted Rebecca giving a tour to young kids and figured she could just shadow her. She looked up to see the wheels in Larry's head turning. And so they each joined the field trip. After briefly pulling aside Rebecca and asking if she could shadow her for the day, to which Rebecca wholeheartedly agreed, the tour continued.

The tour went through the Hall of African Mammals. Larry and Avery both shared a look, reminiscing that they were almost killed by the king of the jungle the night before.

"-and here is a capuchin. A highly intelligent primate known for its loving and generous nature."

"Ha!" Larry exclaimed, leading every eye in the group to look at him.

"Is there a problem Mr Daley?"

"No, no problem. Just laughing in agreement." That was a sorry excuse if Avery ever heard one. But she did smirk as she remembered him peeing on Larry.

The tour continued to the Hall of American history. They stopped in front of Sacagawea and Rebecca immediately lit up. Avery guessed that Sacagawea was one of her favorite exhibits.

"Was she deaf by any chance? It seems like she's just unresponsive." Can you guess what Avery wanted to do? Yup, facepalm.

"Um no, there was no record that she was deaf. And she's a statue."

"And she's also behind a pane of glass!" Avery whispered to Larry and suddenly that realization dawned on him.

Rebecca had told the kids to look at the other displays in the room as she walked towards the pair.

"What are you doing?"

"Well since I'm the night guard I figured I would brush up on my history. I have a lot of questions to ask, so I figured if you were on a break we could go grab a coffee or something. Not like a date, more like just a thing colleagues do every now and then."

Avery could tell where this was going. Even if Larry said it wasn't a date outright, she knew that it was a date. So she excused herself and wandered the museum. After a brief trip to McPhee's office to see if he needed anything, thankfully he didn't, she was out the door. She figured she would take Larry's words to 'brush up' on her history. It had been awhile since she last cracked open a history book. So she went to her university's impressive library and grabbed the biggest history books she could find. She wanted to cover the basics. And by basics she means the troublesome exhibits at the museum. You know the usual ones, like Attila, the Roman army, Wild West civilization, maybe even the Mayans. Oh and she couldn't forget about the Lewis and Clark expedition or Theodore Roosevelt's presidency.

I wish it was an art museum, then I could use my art history knowledge. But a museum is a museum. And this just happens to be an awesome one! She reminded herself that although she had to regrettably relearn some long forgotten history facts, her preparations would serve her well whenever she was there after hours. It was a lot to cover but within the next few days, she felt comfortable with her knowledge, so that she wouldn't be surprised or unprepared again. After she brought back several large history books, she began taking copious notes to help the information stick in her brain.

Between her classes and extra history readings, Avery had somehow managed to find balance in her crazy internship. When she was back at the museum during the day, she noticed she still had the same peculiar problem she noticed when Larry had started working there. There was a small number of missing artifacts. Nothing too big like the statues, it was more like jewelry and little trinkets. It seemed that she would have to play detective now.

Larry can't be the reason these things have gone missing, right? No, he just started working here, he couldn't have possibly cased this place so soon.

She knew she should have brought her concerns up to McPhee the second that they arose but she was scared. She had already upset him numerous times. She didn't want to be remembered as "the intern that lost valuable artifacts." She would never get a job at a museum. She blamed herself for losing the items. After all, they were under her care. But she still held some suspicions for Larry. She didn't know who else to turn to with this issue. Then she thought of Cecil. She would have to ask him the next time she saw him.

"Why do you keep pouring over those musty old textbooks? Does this have something to do with your museum internship? Are you trying to impress the unimpressible McGee?" Her roommate commented.

"It's McPhee. And yes, sort of. These last few weeks have been…interesting to say the least and I want to be prepared for every possible outcome. You know I'm stronger with art history stuff, not regular world history. I figured it would be a good idea to brush up on it. And apparently there's still a lot I need to cover. I'm trying to focus on the main exhibits or rather the most popular ones. Ya know, I actually got to shadow Rebecca the other day, she's a tour guide. She was part of the reason why I wanted to- I've lost you haven't I?" Avery looked up from her notes to find Beth actively tuning her out, by scrolling through her phone.

"What? Sorry, I got bored. No offense but your internship sounds super boring. I mean it's a museum of dead stuff and wax figures. How exciting can it really be?"

More than you know! Avery smiled to herself.

"Hey, by the way, what are your plans for this Thanksgiving break?" Beth said, putting down her phone.

"Oh, well not much I suppose. I planned on staying here. I mean you know my situation. My mom's in jail, dad's in rehab. Feuding grandparents, no uncles. An aunt who thinks I should choose a different major. I'm basically on my own."

"That story gets sadder every time I hear it. You're coming to Thanksgiving dinner with my family! No discussions. Oh and Josh will be there too!"