348… 349… 350…
Meanwhile Pat was still counting the shiny pennies in his possession.
Counting at the crack of dawn each day was a tedious job and often he would find himself fighting with his droopy eyelids and then slap himself in fear of accidentally touching those damn coins. So, he found himself a solution- caffeine and listening to podcasts. More specifically to Swallow's podcast. He knew that many people labeled podcasts as boring and monotonous and he could not blame the said people for doing so as most podcasts were pointless regurgitations from hosts, complaining about how rich and successful they were and how they accidentally married a furry. However, it was a different case for Swallow. Swallow also known as Captain Swallow was a retired RJ whose podcasts had gone viral in the recent year and Pat could not help but jump into the bandwagon.
Pat pushed in the tiny ear buds that kept sliding off.
"…And people say history isn't juicy." Swallow paused his sentence and chuckled which made Pat pause his counting. Captain Swallow sure did have a nice ring to his laughter, not to mention he sounded like a literal Disney prince- the perfect vocals to bewitch his audience.
"People actually were better at hiding skeletons in their closets which was the literal case for our fellow Baron Pail I just mentioned…" Pat listened to him intently, interested in how he was going to unfold the noble secrets of the not so noble baron. Swallow also had a way with his words. A smooth talker who sounded charming was a lethal combination which had attracted a huge audience to his podcasts in the first place. Him being young and handsome was just a cherry on the pie.
"…believed that the Baron manipulated his wife into eating his brother for dinner." Swallow continued to which Pat nodded his head. He was amazed how historically accurate yet funny he was. For Pat, it wasn't necessarily his voice or youth that drew him in. It was the content. The way he so cleverly talked about historical figures and events truly amazed him. Pat was a history major after all. They both shared a common ground. The passion for history. Swallow wasn't another one of those podcast hosts who spoke like broken recorders and had unlimited supply of lame dad jokes. He was like the 'I'm not like other girls girl' when it came to podcast.
468… 469… 470…
Pat yawned hooking in the ear bud as it was sliding off again.
"…Which brings me to a question I'm quite often asked. Do I admire any historian?"
473… 474… 475…
"To simply answer: I do. Many historians I admire have already moved to the Hereafter, so I would like to talk about someone else. Someone very alive. Not a historian but he is an archaeologist. Many of you may already know him. He is… P. Pace."
Pat's hands froze as he sat unmoving attempting to digest the information. Did Captain Swallow just take his name? But how is that possible?
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"Your jokes aren't funny." Addy retorted with an unimpressed face. "You tease me about my baby hands all the time."
"I do?" Celine playfully scratched her head to feign ignorance.
"I'm trying to open up here!" Addy stated as she sat up and crossed her arms.
"I didn't glue up your mouth. You are free to speak." She joked knowing Addy was already in a better mood.
Addy pouted and threw her pillow at her roommate. "I hate you!"
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"He did what?"
"He pushed me which led to me losing my phone." She had narrated all the events to Celine so far.
"That b*stard! Are all our co-workers d*ckheads?"
"I don't know. I don't know. For the next two hours I had to scavenge for my phone in the bushes and they had the audacity to shut the security room door close in my face and go on like nothing happened. With my phone gone, I didn't even have a source of light. It was a nightmare!"
"Oh no!" Celine sympathized guessing how awful Addy might have felt. Her shift had indeed turned bonkers.
"And did I tell you those bushes were wet and smelled like urine? I even scratched my ankle on one of those thorny shrubs!"
"You sure did have a rough night. It sounds like a fever dream!"
"It feels like one as well."
"You did double check if the tortoise enclosure was locked, right?"
"I did."
"Did you check if the tortoises were okay?"
"I didn't. I don't think anything happened to them. What kind of dumb smuggler would steal tortoises when there are leopards and anacondas in the zoo?"
"Because stealing tortoises is easier? And they are just not any tortoises. They are Gãlapagos tortoises!"
Addy took a moment to think it over. "I am a dumb*ss. Should I go and check the enclosure once more?" She asked Celine.
"You are not a dumb*as but you sure do sound crazy for wanting to go check now. Go to sleep before your eyes fall off."
Addy hesitated at her words and massaged her aching elbows.
"Don't worry. It's i-guana be okay." Celine assured her roommate by patting her head.
Addy displayed her rare lop-sided smile revealing her even rarer one-sided dimple. "You and your stupid puns!"
After that, it was easier for Addy to lull her body to sleep which surprised her since it usually took a good forty minutes of swimming in her bed before she would even go close to entering her dreams. Perhaps it was the toll the night took on her or the talk she had with Celine, Addy had a sound sleep that morning.
Unfortunately, her visit to her dreams was cut short after two hours when Celine rushed into the room panting that Addy had been summoned by her boss.