• “…And with Cleopatra’s death the New Kingdom period of Egypt ended, and the Egyptian empire fell. This artifact here is the golden, jeweled, death mask of an Egyptian Pharaoh; it was placed upon his mummy to give him a head to take to the after life. This particular mask is almost 3000 years old, for it’s age it is very well preserved. Let’s move along shall we?”
    The tour guide led the children away from the Egypt room slowly, letting the children enjoy the artifacts one more time. As they left each child Ohh’d and Ahh’d at the great mask’s ‘shiny stones’. Soon only a young woman was left in the room and she slowly walked up to the mask. Like the children she too was entranced by the mask’s beauty.
    The gold it was made of, only slightly dulled by the ancient sand, radiated an aura of power and wealth its creators were famous for. The top pf the headpiece was covered in a small fortune’s worth of rubies that shone a deep, blood red. Thou both the gold and the rubies lent to the beauty of the piece the true eye catcher were the sapphires that were used as eyes. The sapphires were a deep, deep blue normally found hundreds of feet below the surface of the Caribbean Sea. “Beautiful,” she whispered airily and with a slight smile turned and left the museum.

    As the Museum curator locked up for the night he turned and looked up at his old companion on his long walks home. The moon tried to shine through the thick clouds to help light up the cool March night, but couldn’t find the strength. “Well,” the curator sighed as he descended the museum’s front steps “looks like I’m walking home alone tonight.”
    Houre crept by as the area around the museum remained the same, not even a car passing by on the street. Then a small unknown figure decked in black ran across the street to the museums steps. With skills that came only from years of experience, the alarm system panel was opened and the system deactivated. Picking the door’s lock the figure walked calmly in to the museum and right into the Egypt. Smirking about the weight sensor they just remembered, the figure, or robber if you prefer, pulled out the weights they brought along. Walking over to the mask’s case they slowly lifted the safety glass covering and set it down on the floor. Looking at the uncovered mask they close their eyes for a moment, preparing themselves for the switch. It was done in the blink of an eye, a million dollar mask replaced by ten dollars worth of lead weights. Pulling off her mask the young woman looked smugly at the priceless mask, her priceless mask. When she saw it earlier that day she knew it had to be hers. Looking into the mask’s sapphire eyes she chuckled to herself. Still looking into the eyes of the mask she laughed again, and didn’t stop. Laughing louder she started spinning, slinging the mask in a random direction. Slinging out her arms she spun around the room, breaking thousands of years of history and millions of dollars worth of artifacts. Finally slowing down and falling to the floor she stopped laughing with a contented sigh. She stared blissfully at the ceiling, as the museums alarms blared around her.