The Night's Legacy by P.T. Dilloway Read Free Book Online

you, but please understand I only want the best for you.  I’m your mother.”
    “I know.”  She let Mom hug her.  When they parted, Lois did a slow turn.  “What do you think?  Do I look disreputable?”
    “No, sweetheart, you look like my little angel.”
    “Thanks,” Lois said, knowing it was going to be a long day.
    * * *
    The car they had taken from the airport was waiting by the curb.  If Mom had noticed her old motorcycle sitting on the porch she didn’t say anything.  Her Spyder was chained up in its spot, looking no worse for wear.
    “So how much does the gift shop pay?” Lois asked.
    “Minimum wage.  It’s just a summer job.”
    “Then you’ll probably want me to go back to school, right?”
    “Only if you want to go back to school.”  Mom turned to her with a slight smile.  “What is it you want, Lois?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Then maybe this job will help you figure that out.”
    “Yeah, maybe.”  Lois wasn’t so sure about that.  Seven years of various jobs hadn’t brought her any closer to figuring out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.  Mostly she just wanted people to leave her alone.
    They didn’t say much else the rest of the way to the Thorne Museum.  The driver opened the door for her.  She nearly fell on her face staring up at the museum’s stone façade.  Its Greek columns and portico had always struck her with a feeling of awe, as if she were entering an ancient temple of Zeus.
    She had gone up the marble steps numerous times, first on Mom’s shoulders when she was a baby and then scaling them like a mountain as a toddler and then doing a sort of hopscotch up as a little girl and then finally with her head down and hands in pocket as a teenager.  This time she tried to mimic the easy stride of her mother.  A part of her still felt like the toddler trying to ascend Mount Olympus to the heaven of knowledge.
    Mom took longer to make her way up, her face a bit flushed and breath coming heavily despite that she didn’t seem any heavier.  “You don’t have to wait for me,” Mom said.  “You know where the gift shop is.”
    “I thought you would want to introduce me around.”
    “Most everyone already knows you.”
    When she stepped through the front doors, Lois thought maybe Dr. Johnson would be there waiting for her.  He wasn’t.  He was probably still in Washington for his presentation.  There was only a security guard who smiled at her.  “Hello, Miss Locke.  Welcome back.”
    “Thanks—Stan.”  She remembered his face when it had been a little smoother and the hair a bit less gray.  She had gotten to know most of the guards, usually when they were giving her lectures about not playing in the exhibits. 
    The main hall hadn’t changed at all in seven years.  There was still a blue whale skeleton suspended in the air, its yellowed corpse long and wide enough to take up most of the ceiling.  She followed Mom past the ticket counter, to the center of the hall that in an hour would be packed with gaping tourists.  On either side of the hall were sets of double-doors—six in all—leading to various exhibits.  The one on ancient mummies she knew belonged to Dr. Johnson.  He had probably dug up most of the mummies himself and brought them back on his plane.
    “No one’s going to expect you to remember everything right away,” Mom said.  “If someone asks a question you can’t answer, just ask your supervisor.”
    “Sure,” Lois said.  She hadn’t really paid attention to anything after the mummies exhibit; she hoped none of the tourists bugged her until she had time to do a little looking around.
    At the end of the main hall was the bronzed skeleton of a mammoth named Jeff after Jefferson County, Missouri where he had been dug up.  Mom’s lip trembled as if she were about to cry as she looked up at Jeff.  “Remember when you climbed up there and tried to ride him?”
    “Yes.”  She had been five years old and