“Does that happen a lot?”
“Only a couple of times. Mostly in the winter when it gets really cold, you know? But when it gets really hot some might come in here for the air conditioning.”
“I see.”
“I hope I’m not scaring you because they aren’t really scary. Mostly they just smell bad.”
“Yeah, they don’t exactly use deodorant, do they?”
Melanie screeched with laughter. “You’re so funny! I can tell this is just going to be such a blast. Tony’s a really nice guy and all but sometimes it’s just nice to have another girl around, you know?”
“Sure.”
“Hey, are you married? I don’t see a ring but that doesn’t always mean anything, you know?”
“No, I’m not married.”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
Lois looked back to where Tony stood behind the counter, going over some reports. He could probably hear them but was pretending to be engrossed in what he was doing. “No, I’m not seeing anyone,” she said loud enough for him to hear. He didn’t show any reaction at this.
“Oh my God, that is so great! Maybe we can go out to a club or something. I got this perfect dress for it. It’s hot but not really slutty, you know? Oh my God, can’t you just see us at a club? The guys would be all over us, just swooning.” Before Lois could say anything, Melanie had a hand in her hair. “You ever thought about getting this straightened? I’m not saying you’re ugly or anything but I think it would look really pretty if we got it straightened and then you could put it up. You’d look so sexy.”
“Thanks for the advice.” She glanced over at the counter, where Tony was laughing behind his hand. She wanted to pick up one of the toy dinosaurs to hurl at his head. “I kind of like it the way it is.”
Melanie gave her one of those Mom looks, as if she were about to cry. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say you don’t look sexy now. I mean if I were into that I would think you were totally hot, you know?”
Tony staggered back to the stock room, probably so that he could laugh his ass off without Melanie overhearing. “Thanks, Melanie. Thanks a lot.”
“No problem.” She checked her watch and then shouted, “Oh my God, it’s almost time to open! I better go count my cash drawer. Come on.”
* * *
For her first day, Tony stationed her with Melanie behind the counter so that she could observe how things worked. She would also be responsible for helping him restock the shelves and Melanie with bagging things. “It’s not too hard,” Tony said. “I’m sure you can hack it.”
She realized after about two hours that this was going to be the most annoying job she had ever held. The customers came in various types, all of them obnoxious. There were the old and middle-aged ladies who pestered Melanie and her with dumb questions, like if they thought her granddaughter would like a pop-up book on mummies or what kind of stuffing was in the stuffed giraffes because her niece was allergic to polyester. Then were the little kids who ran around the store like the Tasmanian Devil, leaving destruction in their wake. Much of Lois’s job the first day involved refolding shirts and picking up toys after one of the little brats ran through the store, which she thought was maybe a penance for her own childish indiscretions. And then were those who expected Lois and Melanie to be tour guides not only about the museum but also Ren City in general. Where was a good place nearby to eat? How do you get to Chester Square from here? When did the number seven train run?
Lois was more than grateful when Tony appeared and touched her shoulder. “Why don’t you two get lunch and I’ll mind the store?”
“Oh my God, that would be awesome!” Melanie said. She seized Lois’s hand, not giving her much of a choice about it.
Lois thought maybe she would find Mom in the cafeteria, though Mom probably had her secretary bring something up if she remembered to eat at all. A lot of the customers they had waited on earlier were in the cafeteria, giving equal amounts of grief to the cafeteria staff.
“The food here is pretty good,” Melanie said. “Plus we get a ten percent discount on everything. If you want to go out—”
“No, I’m fine here.” Lois would have preferred to go somewhere else, preferably somewhere alone, but she didn’t want to hurt Melanie’s feelings. It was pretty obvious Melanie didn’t have anyone else in her life since her husband had dumped her. She needed a friend and Lois supposed she could do worse on that front than Melanie.
Melanie got a salad and bottle of water while Lois bought a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda. They sat in an empty corner table, away from most of the museum guests. “So what have you been doing since graduation?” Melanie asked. “Probably something pretty exciting.”
“Not much. I’ve just kind of kicked around for a while.” She took a bite of her cheeseburger. Melanie stared at her, clearly expecting more details. “I went to a few colleges but I just didn’t think it was right for me. So I’ve been working different jobs and seeing the country.”
“Wow, that is so cool! I always wanted to go backpacking through Europe. Did you ever do that?”
“No, just America and a couple of times to Mexico.”
“Mexico? Ollie and I went there on our honeymoon. Did you ever go to Cancun? We stayed at this really great hotel on the ocean. I could have just stayed there forever, you know?”
“I bet. I didn’t really get that far.” She had mostly stuck to the border towns, where a young American girl could easily blend in.
“You are just so super-cool. I’d have been too scared of getting raped or something, you know?”
Lois thought of Durndell and nodded. “I’ve learned to take care of myself.”
“So why’d you come back here? Not that this is a bad place. I really like Ren City, but—”
“I know what you mean,” Lois said. “I came back for my mom. She was getting worried about me.”
“Oh my God, that’s so sad!” Melanie’s lip trembled as if she were going to cry. “Your mom is such a sweet lady. Super-nice. But duh, you knew that already, right? I mean her being your mom and all.”
“Yeah, I know. Everyone likes her.”
“I haven’t seen her around all that much since she works upstairs and all but once she came in and looked around and talked with Tony about how things were going.” Melanie lowered her voice and said, “Don’t you think Tony is so cute? If he asked me out I would just totally die, you know?”
“I know.” Lois took another bite of her sandwich to avoid saying anything else, not that Melanie needed any help filling the silence.
“He’s so awesome. And he’s like really smart too. Not as smart as you, but pretty smart. Him and Dr. Johnson talk a lot about mummies and stuff.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, he’s totally into that whole Egypt thing. Like Cleopatra and King Tut and all that. He reads all these books when he’s at lunch. You wouldn’t think he’d be that type to be all into books and everything since he’s so handsome.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“I mean, he doesn’t look like a nerd. He looks like that guy in Twilight. The werewolf, not the vampire.”
“Yeah, sure,” Lois said, though she had no idea what Melanie was talking about. The last movie she had seen was The Mummy, where she and Dr. Johnson had pointed out all the historical inaccuracies. Afterwards she had imagined Dr. Johnson in the Brendan Fraser role, opening tombs and battling evil mummies.
“You think he’d go out with me?”
“Maybe. I don’t really know him.”
“He’d probably blow me off because I’m not smart and cute. Not like you.” Melanie smiled as if a light bulb had gone off over her head. “You should totally ask him out.”
“You think so?”
“Definitely. He’d probably like you since you’re all smart and everything.”
“Maybe, but I probably shouldn’t ask since we’re coworkers, you know?”
“Oh, right.” Melanie
looked down at her salad. “There’s probably some kind of rule about that, like sexual harassment or whatever.”
“It was a good idea, though.” Lois reached out to pat Melanie’s arm. “Maybe this weekend we could go out like you said. Find some eligible bachelors.”
Her face brightened again. “That would be awesome! I’m sorry what I said about your hair earlier. I just got so excited about the idea.”
“It’s fine. Really.” She looked at her watch. “We should probably hurry and get back to work.”
“Oh sure. Tony will probably want to go on his break.”
When they went upstairs, they found Tony ringing up an order for a fat man in a baseball cap. After the customer had waddled off, Tony turned off his register. “See you guys in a few minutes,” he said. When Melanie wasn’t looking, he winked over his shoulder at her.
* * *
For the afternoon, Tony worked up front with Lois while Melanie mostly stayed back in the stock room. That didn’t keep Melanie quiet; Lois heard snatches of off-key singing and humming coming from the back. Lois shook her head, “She’s really perky, isn’t she? I don’t know how you can stand it.”
“She’s a good worker.”
“Did you pick her up at a bar too?”
His cheeks reddened at this. “No. Look, if I’d known that you were going to be working here—”
“Hey, come on, shit happens.” A woman with a basketful of souvenirs interrupted the conversation. While Tony checked out the woman’s items, Lois put them in bags. As she stuffed a half-dozen postcards of the museum and Ren City night scenes into a tiny paper bag she thought of all the souvenir stands she’d passed by without buying anything. She could have bought hundreds of postcards like these and mailed them to Mom, but she hadn’t, too afraid of giving herself away.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. She instinctively batted the hand away and took up a fighting stance. “What’s wrong?” Tony asked.
She forced herself to relax. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. I’ll go check the stock.” Looking over the shelves gave her a chance to try and think about everything that had happened in the last two days. Her old life on the run was rapidly becoming a dream, a movie of someone else’s life. Or maybe this, working at her mother’s museum with a cute guy, was the movie and she was really still in the hospital in Durndell.
Another hand touched her shoulder, but she resisted the urge to bat it away. “I’m all right, Tony, really—”
But it wasn’t Tony this time. “I was looking for something for my niece. What would you recommend?”
“Dr. Johnson!” Lois squealed. Not caring about protocol she wrapped herself around him in a hug. Only after she let go did she get a good look at him. His curly brown hair had some gray in it, but not as much as Mom’s. His skin was still as tanned as a movie star’s, although it was a bit more wrinkled now. He wore an unfamiliar mustache that tickled when he kissed her cheek. “Mom said you were in Washington.”
“I was. I got someone to cover the rest of the presentation for me. Couldn’t miss welcoming back my only niece.”
They weren’t really related. Aunt Betty was not actually Mom’s sister, but they had been so close growing up that Betty encouraged Lois to think of her as an aunt. She hadn’t been able to call Dr. Johnson “Uncle Richard” though; probably because she had always yearned to call him something else. When she was little she had imagined that like a fairy tale he would eventually reveal himself as her father. As she got older, she hoped that one day she would call him her husband. Neither of these had come to pass yet, nor did they seem very likely.
“You didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I would have been on the plane with your mom, but it would have taken too long for me to get back. As you can expect, she was in a bit of a hurry.”
“I’m really sorry about what I put you both through.” She looked down at her feet. “I’ve been kind of a brat.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it anymore. The important thing is that you’re here now.” He took her by the shoulders, holding her back so that he could look at you. “Look at you, all grown up now. And just as pretty as your mom.”
Her face turned so warm she felt ready to pass out. That would be really embarrassing, although maybe Dr. Johnson would give her mouth-to-mouth. “Thanks,” she whispered.
A customer slipped past them, carrying a baby in her arms. “I should probably let you get back to work. We can catch up later. I’m sure you have some exciting stories.”
“Oh, yeah, exciting.” A lot of her stories wouldn’t be fit for telling in front of her mother and surrogate uncle and aunt. “How’s Betty doing?”
It was Dr. Johnson’s turn to look down at his feet. “Your mom must not have told you, did she?”
“Tell me what?”
“Betty died two years ago.”
Lois grabbed a clothes rack for support. “She’s dead?”
“Cancer. It was really aggressive. Nothing we could do.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. If I’d known—”
He flashed a tired smile. “It’s all right. It’s not your fault.” He patted her on the shoulder again. “I’ll see you tonight for dinner.”
Lois didn’t want to go back to the stock room and have to explain to Melanie why she was crying. So she waited until Dr. Johnson was safely gone and then bolted for the ladies room down the hall.
* * *
Tony was still at the counter when she came back. “If you’re not feeling good—”
“I’ll be fine,” Lois snapped. She jammed a stuffed mammoth into a plastic bag. “It’s nothing, all right?”
“Sure.” After the customer had gone, Tony turned to her. “What’s the story with you and Dr. Johnson?”
“It’s kind of hard to explain.” Her family had always been hard to explain to other people. For years she had lived with her mother and her aunt who wasn’t really her aunt. For the daddy-daughter dance in fourth grade she had brought Dr. Johnson, who at the time wasn’t even her surrogate uncle yet. She had had to explain to her teacher that he was a family friend and that her own father was missing. “He’s a family friend.”
“That’s cool. That’s probably your picture on his desk.”
“Probably.” She thought of what Melanie had said earlier. “You hang out with him a lot?”
“Sometimes. Egypt is kind of a hobby of mine. That’s where the grandparents on my mom’s side came from.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they decided to get out after the Nazis left. Dr. J’s been helping me with some genealogy stuff, looking up records and whatnot. I’ve traced it back to the 5th Century so far.”
“Maybe you’re related to Cleopatra or King Tut.”
“Could be. He’s a really nice guy about it. Hey, that reminds me: the research staff gets a 75% discount on items. Custodial staff—that includes us—gets a 25% discount. In case you wanted to buy a T-shirt or snow globe or something.”
She grinned at this. “There’s not a special discount for the director’s daughter?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t had to worry about that before. I offered to let your mom take whatever she wanted, but she insisted on paying full price.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her.”
There were no customers in the store and Melanie was singing a Lady Gaga song in the back room, so Lois didn’t mind when Tony brushed up against her. His hand rubbed the small of her back while he leaned down to whisper, “I was thinking if you’re not busy tonight, there’s going to be this really awesome party down by the waterfront. I thought we could check it out.”
“I’d love to, but Mom and Dr. Johnson are taking me to dinner.”
“Hey, no problem. The party doesn’t start until eleven. Plenty of time for both.”
She smiled at this. “You’re probably right. How about I meet you there?”
“Sure.” His hand went down to give her rear a squeeze. “Make sure you wear somethin
g sexy. I want everyone to see the hottest girl in Ren City.”
“Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere—at least not until later.”
They separated just as Melanie came bursting out of the back room. “Hey guys, what’s going on? It’s so quiet out here.”
“I was just giving Lois some training,” Tony said. He gave her a covert slap on the rear before opening the register to pull out his drawer. “Why don’t you take over? I’ve got to fill out some reports.”
“Sure thing,” Melanie said. She waited until Tony had gone to squeal and whisper, “Oh my God, what were you and Tony doing? Dish.”
“Nothing,” Lois said. Melanie was a nice girl, but she was also the gossipy type. If Lois mentioned anything about her and Tony it wouldn’t be long until Mom found out from her secretary or the janitor or something. “He was just showing me the ropes.”
Melanie shook her head and then looked back to the stock room. “I would totally be all over him, you know?”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Lois said with a sigh.
Chapter 5
Her first day ended without incident. She had worked enough odd jobs that she didn’t feel any more tired than usual. Melanie gave her a hug and said, “See you tomorrow!” She pressed a slip of paper into Lois’s hand. “Here’s my cell number. I leave it on all the time and I don’t sleep a lot, so call me up whenever, OK?”
“Sure, but I don’t have a cell phone yet.”
“You don’t? You need to totally get out of the Dark Ages.” Melanie squealed and then said, “Oh my God, I have the best idea! We should go shopping this weekend. We could get you a phone and some clothes and stuff. It would be so fun!”
“Great idea,” Lois said. She could use a phone and some clothes that didn’t smell like cigarettes, whiskey, and worse things. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She slipped out of Melanie’s grasp. Tony was still filling out some reports, but gave her a wink to indicate he would see her later. She gave him a little wave and then went to the elevator, punching the button for the fourth floor administration offices.
The Night's Legacy Page 5
