After the school bus stopped, we followed the history class out. Like an army, we marched onto the sidewalk and lined up against the bus.
Mrs. Hickey stood in front of us, wearing a brown coat and a green skirt that didn't match her brown Mary Jane shoes. Her red round hair puffed like a scruffy afro. She smiled at us with an awkward smile. "Ah, here we are. Aren't you kids excited?"
We stayed quiet while one of them stared at their cellphones.
Mrs. Hickey sighed. “I know most of you are not happy about this, but- buck up, buttercups! Learning history is not about sitting at your desks and reading your text messages. It's about exploring and not repeating the same mistakes our ancestors did. The Egyptian exhibit is new, not like the others you seen a million times.”
Kevin waved his hand. “Can we explore the witchcraft section?”
“No, the Egyptian exhibit will be the only place we’ll visit before lunch time. If you wander off without my permission, you will earn yourself an F. Understand?”
The other students nodded and placed their cellphones into their backpacks. I rubbed my back pocket to check my cellphone.
Mrs. Hickey grinned with delight. “Good, now follow me and take out your notebooks. You will write down whatever the tour guide says about the artifacts. I will put them on the quiz on Friday. Listen, or you will fail.”
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We pulled out our notebooks from our backpacks. I might be a good listener, but if the tour guide’s mouth runs like a motorboat full of rubbish, I might get a headache.
Everyone followed Mrs.Hickey across the sidewalk past tall trees, surrounding the three-story tall granite building. It has Neoclassical architecture features with square glass windows and a US flag at the top.
The class walked up the stone steps and entered through the double glass door. Inside, we stopped at the large empty main hall where the check-in desk stood between two stairways. Behind the desk was a hallway that lead people to the lower floor with the museum.
From the desk, a lady in a blue sweater with a white skirt sprinted toward the class. Middle age with short dark hair. “Greetings, my name is Mrs. Dean. I will be your tour guide this morning. Mrs. Hickey has already called me to stay up your visit at our new limited time exhibit. Eeeeeeeeeeeh! Aren’t we excited today?”
Nobody answered, except Mrs. Hickey. “I’m excited!”
My stomach dropped to the floor. Maybe if I try to vomit, the paramedics could set me free from this boring hell hole, even if I lose my grade.
Mrs. Dean folded her hands below her waist. “It’s been a while since we had a new exhibit. I’m pretty sure you will enjoy it.”
Maybe if I talked, my boredom will go away. So I raised my hand.
Mrs. Dean pointed her finger at me. “Yes?”
I dropped my hand down. “What’s so totally special about this Egyptian exhibit? Aren’t other museums have them already?”
“Oooooooooh, this one is special. The artifacts are from a newly discovered tomb near the Sahara Desert. After months of research, the expedition learned who the tomb belonged to. Please follow me and remain quiet. You don’t want to wake up the mummies, do you?”
My back crawled. How was that supposed to be funny?