Ending C of 3

Opening Night

The moment you commit, the great clock somewhere below strikes midnight at last. Every light in the Halloran comes on at once. The dust sheets fall away by themselves, and the lock on the front doors turns with a sound like a held breath let go.

Outside, the street is full. People from the town stand in the cold in their best coats, holding tickets printed forty years ago, as if they had been waiting on the steps all along. They nod to you as they come in, and they say thank you.

At dawn the building is ordinary. The plaque by the door shows today's date. Your shift is over, and for the first time since you took the job, the museum lets you walk out through the front.

You opened the Halloran at last.