Sweat ran down Jack's face. 'How on earth would she know that? Why would she say that of all things?' Just when he thought he was safe and in the clear, there was another round of tension in the air. Jack couldn't think of what to do, he pushed his rising anxiety down as best he could and gulped down a breath of air. There wasn't any way around this so he nervously sputtered,
"O-oh..W-well I was a bookkeeper before this.." Jack scratched the back of his head anxiously and looked away from her. How did she know this about him?? Had she caught on somehow? Was this all over already? He didn't dare to look at her, he didn't want to see a hurt expression on her pretty face. Thinking that she might be upset at him, he didn't think he could face her, but much to his surprise, when he snuck a peek at her face she had a stunned look on her face. She said with her big doe eyes opened wide,
"Oh my! You were?! I had no idea! I meant all the bookkeeping we do in the archives here at the museum!" Darby smiled innocently up at him. Jack instantly felt relief douse him once again. In his obvious relief, he rested his hand on his chest trying to calm his runaway heart. He felt he might faint from the hot and cold emotional whiplash he had experienced in the last five minutes. It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on him, wrapped him in a warm cozy blanket, only then to dump another bucket of ice water on him. His nerves were completely exhausted in these first 5 minutes, how would he ever make it a day, let alone a week or more? Jack nervously laughed and said
"Ah haha I see. I think I will be a quick learner here." Ms. Kenny, having heard part of their conversation, added
"If you like dealing with books you will definitely fit in around here, Mr. Clemins! Also, the upcoming expedition will be very exciting, we have a lot to do to prepare!" Darby smiled and patted Jack on the back and said
"Yes, I think you will be kept very busy here, Mr. Clemins!" Even though the pat on his pack seemed to be a friendly gesture, Jack couldn't stop himself from shivering at the touch. 'That was odd.' He thought. Abruptly, Director Mortimer walked into the main area and announced,
"Miss Darby! I have decided that Mr Clemins here will be your new assistant. After all, with the expedition coming up you will need an extra set of hands." Darby looked to be surprised at the news.
"Wow! How extremely thoughtful of you Director Mortimer!" The Director looked away, uncomfortable, suddenly and cleared his throat, saying
"Ahem! Mr Clemins, Miss Darby here will show you what you need to do. You two will be working closely together, so feel free to follow her, she will show you the ropes." In Jack's eyes, Darby was smiling sweetly and said
"Well it sounds like you have this all worked out, Director." However, in the Director's eyes Darby was very obviously smirking. And every word from her mouth dripped with sarcasm. For Director Mortimer, this was from years of personal experience. He was an old friend of her father's and he had known Darby her whole life. He knew as sweet as she may sound, her words were covered in thorns. Director Mortimer held up his finger to Jack and said
"Would you excuse us for one moment, please?" Director Mortimer took Darby aside and held up his hand near his mouth as he whispered to Darby
"Look, I am sorry ok! Your father promised to fund any project I want in the future! That is important to the Institute and will benefit you too! And it is just an assistant! It could actually be really helpful to you if you give it a chance!" Darby finally dropped her sweet act, rolled her eyes and said
"He always does these things! This is my first expedition and he is interfering! Also, you fine with hiring someone unqualified?" Director Mortimer scoffed and hissed
"It is just an assistant position! It's not like we are handing him 1,000-year-old artifacts on his first day! It is running errands and doing random jobs, you will get to boss him around and he will do jobs that you don't want to! How is this a bad deal at all?!" Darby hissed back
"Well, obviously I've decided to do all that! It's the principle of the matter. I have my archeology degree now and I can handle myself. I should be able to go on an expedition without a chaperone!" The Director sighed and whispered
"I know more than anyone how capable you are and how hard you've worked for this. But you need to understand that your father is very worried about you and your safety! And as a woman traveling, it isn't a bad idea to have someone there in case you need them. Your father only wants to know that you are safe. That is the only reason. He knows you can handle yourself." Darby whispered angrily
"I know that he is worried! But he needs to trust me! Everything will be fine!" Director Mortimer glanced over at Jack who was going over his forms with Ms. Kenny and then looked back at Darby and glared, whispering
"And you be nice to Mr. Clemins! I know the things you like to pull on people!" Darby's eyes widened in fake shock and horror and she gasped lifting a hand to her mouth dramatically,
"Why Director Mortimer! I have no idea what you are talking about! What ever do you mean?!" Darby briskly turned around and clapped her hands loudly and said "Well Mr. Clemins! We will be departing on our trip soon and we have such a lot of work to do! Since you are officially assigned to be my assistant, I will be keeping you very busy! I hope you can handle it!"
Jack, who had been slightly startled by the sudden noise, turned his attention to Darby and smiled warmly at her, saying
"I will work hard, and do my best!" Darby stared at him for a moment "…..."
And she lifted her hand to her forehead and looked away as the corner of her mouth twitched for just an instant and then it was gone. She looked back at Jack and said with a calm voice
" Alright then Mr. Clemins, let's get started, shall we? Follow me please." Darby led him out of the lobby and down a long corridor, through a door and down an even longer corridor. The further they went, the older and dustier it became, some of the lightbulbs flickered or were broken all together. Jack was starting to wonder how far they would go when Darby finally opened the door to an old storage room filled with crates and trunks of every size, and Jack followed her inside.
"Here we are, Mr. Clemins" Darby said as she gestured around the room "Since you are ready to work hard, you can start here. All these crates need to be moved from here, through that door, to an outside loading dock where they can be loaded onto a truck. This is all the equipment and supplies for the expedition, so you need to be very careful." Jack nodded with a determined look on his face, ready to work hard, and he made his way over to the nearest crate. He bent over and lifted it carefully. The contents were quite heavy so he had to use some strength to hoist it up. Just as he lifted it fully and began taking steps towards the outside door, he heard a quiet creaking from the crate and suddenly all the heavy contents came thundering out of the bottom of the wooden crate with loud thuds, landing sharply on Jack's feet.
"Ah!" Jack yelped out in alarm and pain. Darby gasped and said in concern
"Good grief! Mr. Clemins! Are you alright?! I said you would need to be very careful!" Jack had pulled his foot out from underneath the pile of books and was massaging it gingerly over his shoe. Right away there was an
"Ahem!" heard from behind them. They both turned to see Director Mortimer standing in the doorway with a serious expression on his face. "Darby, a word?" He said sternly. Darby's eyes narrowed and she made her way out of the storage room.