Free Decadent by Elaine White Page B

the way. Tonight he was going to bring her favourite ice cream home and hope that she understood about Cormag. “I love you , Mum; I don't tell you enough. I'll see you tonight,” he promised, before hanging up.
    “Everything all right?” Cormag asked as he left his office.
    “Yeah. Fine.” Lachlan had no trouble admitting than everything was going well. With the exception of Konnor.
    “Well, we got the go ahead so let's go do this tour.”
    Lachlan put his phone off and shoved it in his jean pocket, following Cormag into the main exhibition room; there was a glass door dividing it from the reception area where a group of ten people were hanging around. He was surprised to see that they were mostly of his own age, all with bags, notepads and eager looks on their faces.
    “The group is a scheduled tour from the local college, Briarwood. These kids are taking a History lecture thi s year, based on the World Wars,” Cormag explained quietly, before opening the door and walking into the reception area. He caught everyone's attention immediately; the chatter died down and everyone turned to stare at their guide expectantly.
    “All right everyone, we're going to start the tour in a minute. I'm Cormag and I'll be your guide. Please remember that the museum is open to the public today so I'd like to keep the noise to a minimum. Before we go anywhere I need you all to switch off your mobile phones and put away any cameras you've brought.” He made the announcement like a real professional.
    Lachlan was surprised to see the change in him, from lonely, intellectual history buff to calm and collected tour guide. He was even more surprised when he spotted Konnor standing at the back of the tour, switching off his mobile phone. He was the only one who had to since the college kids seemed to know the routine.
    Once everyone was abiding by the rules , Lachlan got a quick glance of surprise when Cormag spotted Konnor. Then, as if it had never happened, he turned to the receptionist who handed over a stack of ID visitor tags and a clipboard.
    “Thank you. Now, if you want pictures for your presentations there is a machine in the shop. You select the object or display that you want an image of, from a list of provided photographs by the museum and pay a pound for each set of ten p hotographs you order,” Cormag talked as he handed out the tags. Most of the students tagged them to the strap of their bags or their jacket lapels. Lachlan clipped his on his jean pocket.
    “It's like any ordinary photo printing machine. It's all instant and you can take them away with you when you leav e to do what you want with them,” he explained as he opened the door and ushered everyone through it. “You can have as many copies of each item as you need as long as you pay. The museum is community funded, so we need all the help we can get,” he reminded them that all donations were greatly received. Then, with everyone looking eager and cheerful, he let the door shut and began leading the way to the first exhibit.
    “Now, as we go through the tour, I don't doub t you'll have questions,” he said, as he walked backwards through the room. “But if you can contain them you will have a chance to ask questions after each stop on the tour. If I miss you at one stop don't forget to catch me at the next. We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it,” he explained, weaving his way skilfully through the displays and public visitors.
    With the tour under way , Lachlan made his way to the back of the group and pulled Konnor aside. He didn't want some angry college kid shouting at him for interrupting the tour or getting in Cormag's way, so he dragged him over to the side of the room where it was quiet.
    “ What are you doing here?” he asked, worried that he was going to try to ruin the tour on purpose or that he was going to go all crazy stalker on him and try to prove his theory that Cormag was useless and a user.
    “You're my