One of the security guards took the pack from the girl before she went in. And as I advanced a few feet, I could make out October’s hands on the table. I saw the girl sit down and set her hands directly on top of October’s. It was impossible for me to know if the girl spoke or not. Five minutes later she walked out wiping her eyes and smiling.

Upon entering the museum, I took out my earbuds and put away my phone.

The Roberts Family Gallery was a huge space, and the glass house was in the center of it. At the back of the room, a wide, stunning maple staircase led to the main lobby of the museum, and also provided bleacher-like seating for visitors who wished to sit and observe what was going on in the gallery below.

After Yanmei and I both made it through the metal detector and were standing inside the building, she turned around and gave me a sweet, gawky, double thumbs-up. I was about to give her at least one proper thumbs-up in return, but a familiar voice coming from the staircase froze my heart.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, the tone like bullets being shot in my direction.

I looked up and saw Rae racing down the steps, dwarfed in a long black blazer over a black oblong skirt and heavy black boots. She was heading right for me, seething. There were no snacks in her hand, and her hair was back to what I guessed was its natural color, black and shiny like wet tar. She had a museum staff nametag clipped to her lapel.

“Absolutely not,” she said, her hand reaching toward my chest, halting me. “You’re not going in there.”

Yanmei’s eyes widened and she looked back and forth between Rae and me. Jessie stepped to the side so he could see what was happening.

“Nice to see you too,” I mumbled sarcastically.

“I’m not kidding, Joe. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Waiting my turn like everybody else.”

“You know, I honestly didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to show up here, but since you are, consider yourself banned. No need to make a scene. Just turn around and go back to wherever you came from, yeah?”

Yanmei looked worried. Jessie seemed to have a newfound respect for me. “Dude you’re banned? I talked about my cock and didn’t get banned; what the hell did you do?”

“You can’t keep me from going in, Rae.”

“I can and I will.” She pulled a device from her pocket. It looked like an old flip phone but wasn’t. A museum walkie-talkie, maybe? “I’ll call Security and tell them you’re a threat to the artist, which you are.”

“Please don’t do that.”