Mogtober 2022

Day 27: The Museum Of Stolen Moments

[A Day In The Life Of A Museum}--{Oh, I like that! Maybe the title of a story?}

At the height of its fame, the Museum of Stolen Moments saw hundreds of visitors a day, and saw many interesting things happen. Whenever it felt abandoned nowadays, it liked to remember a typical day during those busy, happy times.

In the stillness of the dawn hours, Mr. Rippens, the night guard, would wake up, just in time to go off duty when Maurice Kalinns, the head guard arrived to open the museum. 

Maurice would arrive, whistling a cheerful tune while Mr. Rippens blinked the sleep out of his eyes before Maurice could see. Of course, Maurice knew that Mr. Rippens liked to spend his shift napping- he couldn't have gotten this job had he not been able to see the obvious- but unless there had been a major incident, he didn't really mind. The poor man was practically a hundred years old, he deserved a little rest now and again. 

Mr. Rippens would go home, and Maurice would be alone in the museum. Both the Museum and Maurice enjoyed this time the most out of every day: When it was quiet and still, and a light mist swirled through the streets of Nevermoor. 

At six-thirty, the curators of the museum would arrive, ready to start a busy day of doing nothing in particular. Maurice would let them in with a polite nod and smile, and they would say "Hello" and "How've you been?" and "Lovely weather we've been having" and such, before going up to their offices on the second floor to answer calls and have meetings or whatever else they decided to do that day.

At six forty-five, the museum guides and the other guards began to arrive, and the day would begin for the museum and its staff. Maggie would arrive in a huff because Lucas, one of the guards, borrowed her hairbrush two weeks ago and never gave it back, and Lucas would explain that his nephew got hold of it last wednesday and he hadn't seen it since. Frank would be upset that his date stood him up last night, and the other guides would tell him that he was too good for whats-her-name anyway and he would smile, feeling a little better. Carmen ran in fifteen minutes late as usual, and got the usual ribbing for being late. She waved it off with a laugh and said that she would set her alarm earlier tomorrow, just like she did every day. 

At seven-twenty on the dot, the museum was as sparkling clean as it could be, and five minutes later the Museum of Stolen Moments opened its doors to greet the morning crowds.

The early-risers were some of the more annoying ones. They were the ones who would go jogging at dawn, and always spoke too fast and with too much energy before the museum's staff were awake enough to catch what they'd said. They were also the ones uptight enough to be offended that the staff was pretty much sleepwalking, and tried to report them to their superiors who, funnily enough, were snoring upstairs in the break room. 

The museum staff tried not to take the early-birds too seriously, and they did their best to be as cheerful and attentive as always, which they were greatly respected for.

At eight-fifteen, Lola and Connor, the first shift guides, went on break, and Ryan and Maggie, who were twins, stopped their endless chatter about the latest gossip to chatter about the museum to the next few tour groups. Connor was going to propose to his girlfriend that day, so he took off earlier than usual to surprise her at her office, where she was a records-keeper for one of the various little government departments on Sixteenth and One-fourth Street (because the government never does anything halfway.) Jase and Kevin made their rounds, and caught two teenagers skipping school in the alley next door. They promptly sent them back to class, with a call to their teachers and parents, much to their protests. Lola sighed as the break room ran out of tea again and hurried about, collecting orders for this kind or that, and grabbed her brolly so she could get to the corner store and back again as soon as possible. 

At eight-thirty, Maggie and Ryan had to stop a toddler from accidentally pushing over one of the globes, and helped a little boy who was lost find his mum. 

At eight forty-seven, Lola returned with four plastic shopping bags, filled with tea and other little treats for the staff.

At nine oh five, Maggie and Ryan returned to the break room, this time to argue about which famous actor was cheating on their spouse with whom, and Carmen and Katie's shift began.

At nine-seventeen, Lillian saw a mouse and screamed bloody murder. She refused to get off Travis's back until the exterminator came.

At nine twenty-four, Katie managed to calm down the tour group and the other guests milling around the museum. Carmen walked up behind Katie and told her that the exterminator would be here in about half an hour. 

At nine fifty-five, Carmen and Katie walked into the break room and discovered that Lillian was still on Travis's back. They died laughing while Lillian tried to look dignified and Travis didn't even try to disguise his irritation. Taylor, who was standing nervously on the table, asked when the exterminator would show up. She was very happy to start her shift, even though Miles, her partner, was out sick with the flu today.

At nine fifty-nine, the exterminator finally arrived.

At ten-seventeen, the exterminator declared the building mouse-free, and left an invoice for his fee on one of the curator's desks. The curator gave it to Janet from accounting. 

At ten forty-five, Lola and Frank swapped out with Taylor, who noticed that they were holding hands. She hid her smile as best she could.

Around twelve, the lunchtime crush arrived. All of the buildings around the museum had a lunch break around then, and a lot of them ended up loafing around the museum to eat their lunch. 

Most of the office workers were reasonable people, who didn't mind the museum staff's endless busyness, and a lot of them knew the museum workers reasonably enough. Neither group really minded the other, as long as the office workers cleaned up after themselves before they left. 

At two oh five, when the sudden influx of people had slowed to a trickle, the exhausted guides would collapse onto the benches lining the main hall of the museum, and most of them would take a nap about then. 

At three-ten, a school group was scheduled to tour the museum. Monica and Travis decided to take over the shift. Callie and Martin raised their arms in thanks and flopped over on their benches. 

At three twenty-five, Connor returned with an enormous smile on his face.

At three thirty-two, Connor helped Monica wrangle one of the sixth-graders off of the swimming woman's globe while Travis hunted up the other troublemakers.

At three-forty, the school group finally left, and all of the guides were asleep when Jase and Maurice wandered in a few minutes later. They looked at each other and chuckled, shaking their heads as they hung a sign on the museum's door, reading: BACK AT FOUR O'CLOCK.

By the time four o'clock rolled around, the guides had gotten enough rest that they were ready to be cheerful and helpful for the next few hours. They sheepishly thanked Maurice and Travis for switching the sign and letting them sleep.

At five, Katie and Taylor led the final tour of the day.

At six, the guides and guards discussed closing the Museum of Stolen Moments early, because the guests had slowed down enough that the museum was practically deserted.

At seven, the last guests of the day walked out the doors.

At seven oh five, Maggie flipped the sign on the door to CLOSED and flicked the light off.

By seven twenty-five, all of the guides had packed up their belongings and were exchanging goodbyes as they left.

At seven-thirty, the museum curators left, with a nod to Kevin, who was taking the first night shift. 

At eight o'clock, the janitor finished his work for the night and left. Kevin locked the main doors and settled in for a long night. 

The Museum of Stolen Moments thought about days like that one with a happy air, as it settled in the night.