Thursday, August 2, 2007

the stablity destabilizes

as you probably know things had been fairly stable in my life, people of the web wide world. today something occurred that might signal an end to that trend.

as you know people of the innerweb i've been working as a security guard at the otago museum for a couple months now. as per the normal practise i've been diligently watching the whole place from the central lobby... due to my being able to see all the entrances to the museum galleries (just like in this nice pic).


up till recent i've been able to do my own thing at work cause my boss has been off doing... uh i don't know bossy type stuff at other museums around the world... she didn't mention what it was when she left...


well that changed today. without warning this morning ms. rhonwyn showed back up here in dunedin...


fortunately i had managed to get around to the main task she'd asked me to do last week... phew that was a close one!



now the one thing i don't have to worry about when the boss shows up unannounced is being caught NOT working! when ms. rhonwyn snuck behind me i was ever vigilantly patrolling the whole museum as usual (from one spot i'll point out... not to bad for a guy with a brain the size of a peanut!)... and come to think of it she didn't technically sneak up on me... cause hey as a guard at the museum that would make it sound like i didn't see her... which is preposterous!... i uh let her sneak up on me... yeah a test of sorts...

and as part of that test i might have let out a bit of a startled yipe of surprise when ms. rhonwyn was right beside me and said hello... it was JUST a test mind you... i'm not a coward or anything...

it was real exciting to she her again cause thus far she's been the nicest boss i've ever had.

that's not to say my bosses at other places i've worked were mean or anything. it's just in the 3 months i've worked here ms. rhonwyn has only been here in dunedin for one of them... which is kinda odd to be honest... i just haven't had to deal with her to draw a comparison is all...

"how have things been here while i was gone?" she asked, though ms. rhonwyn sounded like she was expecting a bad answer with her voice. was i in trouble or something?

"fine... i think," i replied hesitantly.

"oh good," ms. rhonwyn seemed to relax a bit. just a bit mind you...


"how was your trip?" i asked eagerly.

"it was... productive," she seemed as hesitant answering my question as i was with hers.

"what were you doing?" i was excited to hear tales of all the exotic museums she'd been to. man i love museums!

"just checking in with old friends," she said quickly. before i could try to ask her about her friends, ms. rhonwyn changed the subject. "so tell me about your shifts this last month."


that was a pretty exciting subject causing me to forget my line of questioning... for the moment anyway.

i told her all about my cool discoveries and findings in the various halls of the museum.

i could tell this made ms. rhonwyn happy with me just from the big smile she got.

"good on you traumador! that's what i like to hear. you're getting right into the thick of things here at the museum," she praised. "that way if trouble strikes you'll be able to deal with it, and know the in's and outs like the back of your hand."

something about how she talked about this "trouble" made my stomach churn a bit.


"are you expecting something bad to happen here?" i gasped in worry.


ms. rhonwyn stared at me for a moment, and then she got an uncomfortable smile... now i normally don't read human expression very well. being a tyrannosaur and all. instinctively i look for way different indicators of emotion (like exposing of massive t-rex teeth)... but i've seen dan put on "fake" smiles lots of times when i was living with him in drumheller.


"of course not," she stated with ingenue smile and all. suddenly ms. rhonwyn turned around and walked to the closest bench.

not sure what was going on i followed her. this was beginning to remind me of the weird way ben the gardener had been acting last time i talked to him about the scary maze he was talking about...

ms. rhonwyn was starting to slide down my list of favorite bosses... she was kinda scaring me... i liked my job, but if there was something she wasn't telling me about it i didn't really want it...

"what aren't you telling me ms. rhonwyn?" i asked surprisingly confrontationally... for me anyway... i'm normally a big chicken when it comes to these things. "this is the second time you've talked weird about this security job."

last time she had mentioned "interesting" stuff happening while on the job... i hadn't thought much about it then, but this was all new and exciting, and let's face it i was kinda desperate at the time!

now i had a somewhat stable life in the mix, and not to mention my nice scaly self.

her face took a slightly more serious expression, but not ominous or threatening mind you. "i'd never with hold any information from you or any of my other staff that you need to know traumador. i was talking 'figuratively'."

i have no idea what figuratively means people of the web wide world... does it have something to do with action figures? i like action figures!

"what?" was of course my reply... but ms. rhonwyn must have thought that i was being pushy or something.

"look traumador, you're misunderstanding me," she paused and clearly had something on her mind... she was just deciding whether to tell me or not. "my trip to those various museums around the world it was because they've been having some unfortunate things happen to them as of late. frankly i don't want to see any of it happen here."

what did she mean by "unfortunate things"? why wasn't she giving me straight answers.

it was like ms. rhonwyn could read my mind (as small as it is and everything!)...

"i'll show you what i mean," she tried to assure me.

we walked to the nearby maori gallery.

"you see this waka," she referred to the beautiful war canoe in the entrance... a waka need to remember that fun factoid... "an absolute treasure, and a key part of new zealand's heritage."

it sure was a nice exhibit piece...

she smiled. "i'm just a bit of a worry wart sometimes is all. i worry that somebody or something outside this building, or inside come to think of it, might try and do something that would remove this or another piece of new zealand forever. your job traumador is to make sure that doesn't happen."

well that kinda explained it all... i guess?

"as it is my job to make sure you do your job that's why i might make things sound a little dire," she concluded.

i couldn't quite relax though. i've worked at museums before. the royal tyrrell and devil's coulee to name some... none of my bosses at those places were worried about "somebody or something" "removing" any of our specimens...

come to think of it my bosses certainly never travelled around the world checking out other museums for trouble... what sort of troubles?

before i could ask any of these questions ms. rhonwyn stated. "you should get back to work traumador."

well there was no point in arguing it. i headed back to the lobby to resume my watch... what did watch mean though? was i just watching over or was i watching OUT for something?

so much for that stretch of nice calm stability people of the innerweb...

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