I had been here for multiple field trips now. Ever since the museum opened, it was a favorite visit for the local elementary. The usually took the first and second grade classes. Because of this, I quickly saved up the funds to install various activity panels for younger children. While I had planned for the school and families to bring kids, I had not expected them to be so young. Speaking of young kids, they were coming in now.

At the head of the group was one of the teachers, Miss Smith. She was young, and it was her third year teaching now. Like me, she had also found it hard the first year of her new job. There were just so many responsibility that college never really prepared her for, but from what I saw she quickly grew into her role and adapted pretty quickly. I can only hope to say the same, though many days I felt like I fell pretty short.

“Good morning Miss Smith!” I called as she entered. Behind her was an organized train of kids, all of them in their school uniform and on their best behavior. It was certainly not like this the first year the school brought kids over. I shudder at the memory of the several broken items that had been left. It would seem that the school was more inclined to semd well behaved kids after I forwarded the bill for damages. Was it petty? Maybe a little, but fossils - even replicas - are expensive, and not easy to replace.

“Good Morning!” The teacher called cheerily. She had what looked to be twenty children with her, and three other adults who accompanied them. That was one more than last year, and probably one less thing for me to worry about. They were likely parent volunteers, which meant the school didn’t loose out on anything but it also meant there was a fifty-fifty chance they would actually be helpful.

“I hope you guys are ready for some pretty cool dinosaurs!” I say with a clap and excited face. It was so easy to get kids this young invested, as they quickly agreed. Most of them anyway. There’s always that one, isn’t there?

“Well,” I say after the kids quiet down. “Out very first one is going to be right here.” I step aside to show them the velociraptor. Many of the kids have a lot to say right then and there, but their teacher rounds them up pretty quickly so that I can speak. I tell them about the small dinosaur, and of course there’s always the comment on how small it is. I’ve learned to streamline and simplify my presentation to perfection at this point, and I can anticipate nearly every comment and question the kids would have. I make sure we don’t spend too long on this one little dinosaur, because we have several exhibits and only a couple hours to get through them all.

As always the first exhibit, the Paleozoic Era, is the most disappointing to little children. This is where I have to bring up evolution. Even if the kids have been introduced to the idea, they’re still so young that they need to see it to understand it. That’s why I’ve included small signs around the museum with “You Are Here” dots, showing passerby where they are in the lifespan of Earth as we know it. It proved very useful, and I’ve done my best to invest in more things like it.

One of those things for the first exhibit was a touch and see plaque. Children could touch casts of fossils such as ammonites and trilobites. Images next to the casts showed recreations of what the animals may have looked like, though of course most of the kids were interested in touching the funny looking rock. At the end of the exhibit was the most popular period, the Permian Period. This was the part that had the most notable and interactive statue in this exhibit, it was a Dimetrodon and children loved trying to sit on it, right behind the head and in front of the sail. So of course, we had to take a moment to stop while the kids played with the statue.

It was nice, seeing them so easily entertained. Their joy was infectious, and I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped back and watched. Watching them reminded me of my own children, a memory that was laced with pain. I had to force it down, now was not the time to be nostalgic. It’s been almost two hundred years after all. I imagine they don’t spend as much time remembering me as I do them.

We soon moved on to the next exhibit, the largest of the three. It was Mesozoic Era, and was broken up into the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Eras. It was the most popular exhibit, being the only true “dinosaur” exhibit. Of course, we could only fit so much between our size and our budget. Despite the Peleozoic being made up of six eras as opposed to the three of Mesozoic, the attraction of dinosaurs was too hard to pass up. This exhibit only had a handful of complete skeletons on display, but was made up for with the painted scenes, interactive displays, and our recently added monitor display. It was a touch screen where visitors could play videos and games related to dinosaurs. We used a lot of our money from last year’s donations to fund it, and so far it seemed to be working well.

The children payed attention to my little demonstration of the exhibit as well as any first and second grader could, before breaking off into three groups to explore. I again stepped back, letting the kids choose what they wanted to do. This was the part they usually spent the most at, and now that we had the touch screen I was sure they would spend even longer.

While I was watching over the group, making sure no one got hurt and nothing was broken, I heard an alarm on my phone. I quietly step aside to check it, finding that it’s an alert for the front door. I had a camera set up about a year ago that alerts me every time someone comes in. It comes in handy for slow days, but I usually have it muted during tourist season. I open the camera footage in hopes that it’s Derek finally coming in for work, but it’s not. Instead, I see two older men approaching the door. They take a moment to read the sign I put up earlier, and proceed to ignore it and walk in.

I’m about to turn around to tell the group I need to step aside for a moment when I feel a tug at the hem of my shirt. I look down to find that one of the children, a little girl, has come up to me. She holds on to my shirt as she looks up at me with those big baleful eyes that all children seem to have. If I was Superman, this was my Kryptonite.

“Miss dino lady?” I can’t help but smile at the title, finding it far cuter than I probably would have if the child were older. “Can we go back and see the big fish?” She asks, tugging at my shirt again as if to emphasize her question. She’s most likely referring to the Dunkleosteus in the middle of the Paleozoic exhibit. I shake my head before I reply.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” I start. “But you have to stay with your group.” She looks deflated when she hears this, and turns to one of the parents with the group. I start to leave in the hopes that this is over, catching their teacher on my way out.

“I have to go check on something at the front, I’ll be back in a moment.” I tell her. She nods her head and tells me that it’s okay when the little girl returns, this time with a parent.

“Miss dino lady?” She says again, though I find it less endearing this time. “Can we go now? Together?” She asks me, her face very hopeful. I can’t help but bite my lip and look to Miss Smith, who just turned to me with a questioning look in return. I’m fairly certain that I’m not supposed to take a child alone, away from the group, even with one of the parents, but it would seem I’m not getting any help here.

“Alright,” I say, trying to hide my sigh. “But only if our friend here,” I feature to the adult who joined her. “Says it’s okay.” The girl looks up at the older woman, who cheerily agrees. I was kind of hoping she wouldn’t, but here we are. I turn around and go, looking down at my phone and flipping through the footage as I do so.

The two men that had come in are loitering near the entrance, and I hope they don’t get bored enough to just jump the gate and wander through the exhibits. The school had payed extra to have the museum to themselves for the duration of the trip, and I did not want to be the reason that didn’t happen.

As we were walking through the exhibit, the girl grabbed my hand and started to skip beside me. I said nothing to prompt her, but she quickly divulged me the many things she liked about fish, especially the big “dinosaur” fish like Dunkleosteus. I smiled down at her, making small encouraging comments as she continued. Eventually we reached the painting of Dunkleosteus. Having it professionally painted was almost as much as buying a model or statue. Almost.

“Do you know why they call it an armored fish?” I asked the girl. I decided I could take a small moment, if it meant making a moment for the girl. She still held onto my hand, her chaperon standing to the other side of her. That one question was enough as she quickly went over both the things I had gone over in the tour as well as information that she must have already known. The girl struggled with a few words but didn’t mind the help. I gave her a nod and encouraging smile before I quickly checked the time. It had been just over five minutes now, I really should get going.

“Very well done,” I say as I slip my hand from hers. She looks confused for a moment, then her face drops as I keep speaking. “I’ve got something I have to do now, but I’ll catch up to you guys in just a moment.” I try my best to put on a smile, but my worry grows with every moment that passes. The older woman with us takes the child away, the girl doing her best to put on a brave face as they go back to the next exhibit. At that, I turn on my heel and head for the museum entrance.

When I get there, both men are still there, and are looking exceptionally restless. They don’t look like the typical person to go into a museum. Most people who come in are parents, college students, or academics. These men weren’t any of those things, not that I could tell anyway.

The two men seemed like the typical if somewhat muscular type. Average intelligence, somewhat taller than most at probably something close to six feet, brown hair and eyes. There was nothing remarkable about them, but also nothing that appeared to be the museum going type. On the street they would be quickly dismissed, but here they stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” I ask politely, pulling from my customer service experience. The two turned to look at me the moment I spoke. There was something odd in the way the evaluated me, but I pushed past it.

“I’m very sorry there was no one here,” I saw as I step closer to speak with them. “But we are currently hosting a field trip, perhaps you missed the sign?” I ask in a way that pretends to be polite but is clearly an underhanded insult. I don’t like the way they’re looking at me.

“This is the fossil museum in Burnt Rock?” The first of the two men asked. The second one looked around, continuing to take in the room with a sharp eye.

“Yes, it is.” I answered rather curtly. “If you would like to see the museum, you can come back in an hour.” I informed them, again pointing to the sign on the desk. The first of the two men started to say something when the second one got up close to me, squinting as he looked me in the face. I immediately step back a few steps.