This piece is inspired from my writing group last week after given the prompt in italics below. I originally planned to start from the prompt, but ended up creating a backstory instead.
Sebastian had been working at the museum for almost a year now, having quit computer programming to follow his dream. He had always had an interest in archaeology since he was a young lad and had stumbled across the museum whilst exploring the back streets of Bath on a quest for a famous Bath Bun.
The moment he bowed his head to step inside the dim lit room, he grinned, saluted the Legionary, then immersed himself in the treasure trove of Roman artefacts overflowing dusty and cluttered shelves. It was like stepping through time as he inhaled the sweet oils and musk of the leather, the tang of metal coins and armour, and earthiness of the pottery and wares. Every piece steeped in history and culture, his imagination whisking him away to the cobbled streets, bustling markets and amphitheatres of the era. He felt like a kid in a candy shop that afternoon, finally plucking up the courage to ask the curator for a job, no matter how small.
Finally! Sebastian licked his lips with anticipation, it had been three weeks since news of the find. The workshop door creaked open and Sebastian stepped into the cramped and musty room, passed shelves stacked high with boxes, dusty worn books littering the far wall. The only natural light spilled in from a small window, creating dappled patterns from the overgrown ivy across the scratched and gnarled workbench below. Finally resting on their target, his beady eyes pulsated greedily at the wooden crate beside the desk lamp and he rubbed his hands together in glee.
The box contained one hundred and three fragments of Roman roof tiles from a villa discovered on the outskirts of Bath. The collection had already been washed, but now it needed cataloguing – Copyright: Jenny Kane ‘Imagine’ 2019
Copyright © 2019 Lottie McKnight. All rights reserved.