Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
The following Monday, Oliver arrived on campus an hour before class.
He merged smoothly with everyone else headed to the student union, and got in line for coffee.
He and Robin had started to meet there before class and spend time afterward to discuss assignments, gossip about the other students, and get to know each other.
Oliver ordered his medium dark roast and carried it to a table.
Right when he sat down, his phone buzzed on the tabletop with a text from Dave.
Oliver grinned and sent back two groom emojis and two eggplants. After placing his phone on the table, he saw Robin enter the student union. They waved as they got in line, and it wasn’t long before they sat across from Oliver, a large latte in each hand.
“I have a great idea.”
Oliver sat back. “I’m not robbing a bank with you.”
“No, not that.” They paused, considering. “At least not yet. I haven’t figured out a good entry point.”
“Again, no.”
They laughed. “My idea could possibly help you launch your TikTok presence.”
“Oh?”
Robin furrowed their brow. “Are you always this reluctant to hear ideas?”
“It’s not reluctance. Maybe it’s guarded curiosity. I’m all about riffing on ideas with people. When I was a reporter, I used to toss story ideas around all the time with the other reporters. But I’m skeptical until I hear the pitch.”
“All right.” They took a long drink from a latte, and Oliver casually moved the second cup a bit farther away. “I have a friend who’s an Anthropology major with a specialization in archaeology. She’s working with this professor who just returned from a dig in Egypt.”
“Wow, that would be an amazing class trip.”
“Right? Anyway, this professor…what’s her name?
” They thought a few seconds. “I can’t remember, sorry.
But not important. My friend’s professor was working within this site in some place called, like the valley of tombs or something, and she found a previously overlooked burial chamber, right?
Inside of it was this, like, coffin, or whatever it’s called, and the professor has said it’s, like, one of the servants or something of the person sealed in the bigger tomb. ”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” They lifted the cup again. So much caffeine.
“That is pretty interesting, but what does that—”
“Dude! It’s more than that, it’s, like, completely epic shit. A university this size receiving the coffin or whatever it is—”
“I think it’s a sarcophagus?”
“Whatever. But something like that finally discovered after, what, like, seven billion years?”
“Before Earth was formed?”
“This is going to be a big deal.” Robin leaned in over the table. When they spoke, Oliver could smell the cinnamon flavoring on their breath. “There is an actual fucking mummy being brought to our university and opened up. Wouldn’t that bump up the views for your TikTok neediness?”
“I don’t really think of it as neediness—”
They sat back, slouching a bit, and looked out the window. “If you’re not interested, I can tell my friend thanks for you, but I’ll just be needing a single ticket.”
“They’re selling tickets?”
They snapped back to attention, excitement burning in their eyes. “No, but wouldn’t that be fire? Like, look at us, we scored front row tickets to this awesome mummy reveal.”
Oliver considered the opportunity. A mummy would blend well with the cryptids and paranormal creatures he’d blogged about in the past.
“Okay, okay, I’m in. When’s this sarcophagus being opened?”
“Tomorrow at eight.”
“In the morning?”
“No, bro, in the evening. I guess it’s being delivered tomorrow morning, but the graduate archaeology group is busy all day with classes and dissections or translations or whatever, so they’re getting together tomorrow evening.
And my friend thought I’d find it pretty cool, and I asked if I could bring you and she said she didn’t see why not.
” They sat back again and drained their first latte.
“This is going to be epic. Like, The Lord of the Rings expanded edition trilogy level.”
A beep sounded from their phone. “Ten minutes to class.”
Oliver finished his coffee and stood, watching as Robin leaned to grab the full latte from where he’d moved it. Once they’d grabbed their belongings, the two of them headed off across the quad.
It was going to be an interesting class.
Oliver didn’t have classes on Tuesdays, so he spent the day on class assignments and familiarized himself with a tripod he’d recently bought online to hold his phone while making videos. He’d also purchased a Bluetooth microphone, and made sure it connected to his phone. In for a penny…
Dave was working from home and helped him with the setup a bit before he needed to join an online meeting.
Once Dave had closed the door to the spare bedroom where he’d set up his office, Oliver made a few short test videos.
Each time he played one back, he winced and wondered how much it would cost to have his voice altered.
He also needed to learn a lot more about video filters.
After stowing the tripod and microphones in his bag, he checked out what they had in the refrigerator and pantry. Hamburgers and tots sounded good and simple, so he got busy making dinner.
By the time he was lifting the burgers out of the skillet, Dave came to the kitchen doorway.
“Burgers. Mmm.”
The oven timer went off. Oliver stepped to one side of the stove and asked, “Can you get the tots out?”
“Oh my God, tots too? Have I told you I love you?”
Oliver laughed as he transferred the final patty to a plate.
They each prepped a burger and scooped tots onto their plates.
Oliver squeezed a generous amount of ketchup into a ramekin and set it in the middle of the table.
Once they had both sat down and taken a few bites, Dave asked, “Are you nervous about seeing a mummy tonight?”
Oliver dipped a tot in the shared ketchup and thought about it as he crunched. “No. I mean, I’m imagining it’ll be kind of all dried up, you know?”
“Think it’ll be covered in bandages like in the movies?” Dave widened his eyes as he popped a tot into his mouth.
“God, I hope so. That would make for some great video, you know?”
“Does your phone have enough memory for the video?”
“I have an SSD that plugs into it.”
Dave nodded. “Sounds like you’ve thought this through. I wish I could go with you.”
“Me, too. But I think it’s going to be inside a pretty small space. I’m just hoping I don’t get there and the professor isn’t expecting us and kicks us out.”
“It was nice of them to arrange this. Sounds like you two are becoming good friends.”
Oliver dunked another tot. “We are. They’re a good kid. Way over-caffeinated most of the time, but fun to hang out with.”
“I look forward to meeting them.”
“We’ll have to arrange that sometime soon.”
Dave told him he would handle the kitchen clean up and, after they had double-checked Oliver had the equipment needed in his bag, walked him to the door. “Don’t look the mummy in the eyes. Just in case.”
“Do mummies have eyes?”
Dave opened the door and gently pushed him out onto the walkway. “Tell me when you get back tonight.”
“But how will I know if you just told me not to look it in the eyes?”
Dave smiled, leaned out for a final kiss, and closed the door.
The drive was much easier in the evening, and Oliver made good time. He parked in the lot he used during the day and sent Robin a text to let them know he’d arrived. A few seconds later, they responded they would be right out.
Oliver got out of the car and adjusted the strap of his bag across his chest. The sun was on its way down, casting long shadows. Students crossed the quad, alone and in small, chatty groups. Birds bounced around a trash can, pecking at the remains of a lunch that had missed the receptacle.
“Hey!”
Looking over his shoulder, Oliver saw Robin approaching from the other side of the quad. They walked at a fast clip, and he wondered how many lattes they might have had that day.
Oliver shouldered his bag and approached. “How are you?”
“I’m good, yeah, doing okay.” Robin stopped in front of him and stuffed their hands in the pockets of their jeans. They sighed and repeated, “I’m good.”
“What’s going on?” Oliver felt a whisper of concern. “Did something happen to the mummy in transit?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think so. It’s just…” Their eyes flicked off to the side and a blush colored their cheeks. “My friend didn’t tell her professor she’d invited me. And the professor definitely didn’t know I invited you.”
A chill went up the back of Oliver’s neck like a whisper. “Oh. We’ve been disinvited?”
“No, we can still attend. But we might need to, like, I dunno, sign an NPR or something.”
Oliver cocked his head. “National Public Radio?”
“What? No. Like one of those contracts that say you can’t tell people about stuff.”
“Oh, an NDA. A non-disclosure agreement.”
“Yeah, that. I guess the professor wants to, like, write up a paper or something about all of this herself, so she doesn’t want anyone spoiling the surprise or whatever.”
Hand pressing hard against the side of the bag, he clenched his jaw. He’d gotten his hopes up about the mummy helping him quickly generate some momentum on TikTok, but now he’d have to start brainstorming from scratch. The strong and childish impulse to stomp off was difficult to suppress.
Moving past his initial response, Oliver dredged up a tight-lipped smile. “Okay, I get it. I’m sure she’ll be making a video for her own records.”
“Yeah, sure, of course she will.” They looked up and grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about this happening when I suggested it.”
“It’s not your fault.” Oliver was surprised to discover that deep down he did understand. If he had discovered a mummy before anyone else, he’d want first dibs at the story as well. “I should have anticipated it. As long as we’re still able to attend.”