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Once we delivered our clients to the El Paso airport, I realized I didn't know what the plan was for the next couple of days. Chance was used to making the travel arrangements for his business so he always handled the planning for our trips. "Where are we headed now?" I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot.
"It's a surprise," he said, reaching for my hand. "I want to show you something that I think will help us figure out the plans for the museum."
"Great. We really aren't making much progress on that. Once you have more time in Wilkins' Gap, we need to work our way through the rest of the stuff in Harry's lab."
"I know. It's going to take some time, but we really need to go through it all. Who knows what we might find?"
"Yeah, that's the part that worries me."
We stopped for gas after an hour on the road and loaded up with junk food for our road trip. For the next couple of hours, we snacked and talked about everything. We didn't work on a list or try to find a solution to some problem. We just talked. It was great. One of the things that attracted me to Chance was the way we could banter back and forth about almost any subject. I'll admit, in a battle of words, Chance was usually the winner, but I enjoyed it immensely.
We parked on the main street of the downtown area of some small southwestern town. "Do you know where we are?"
"Not really. Should I?"
He got out and came around to my door. He offered his hand to help me out of the high vehicle. He closed the door and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. With his other arm he pointed to the street lights. I looked up but didn't see what he wanted me to notice. "Sorry, Chance. I'm not getting it. Where are we?"
"Roswell, NM," he said as though that would explain everything. I saw the realization hit him. "Have you ever heard of Roswell?"
"I don't think so. Should I have?"
"You really have led a sheltered life."
"Is it famous for something cryptid related?"
"Not exactly. Come on. This will be even more interesting than I expected."
We walked across the street to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. "I thought this place might give us some ideas for the cryptid museum," Chance said, holding the door open for me. "I didn't realize you knew less about aliens than you did about cryptids."
"Hey, I've seen Star Wars."
We spent the next couple of hours roaming around the museum that is focused on the crash of an alien spacecraft near Roswell in 1947.
"What did you think?" Chance asked as we headed back to El Paso.
"I'm not sure what to think. Remember, I'm still skeptical about cryptids even though I've seen bigfoot. Do you believe an alien spaceship crashed here?"
"I believe it could have happened. As big as the universe is, I can't believe Earth is the only place with intelligent life. What did you think of the museum?"
"It was nice."
"I thought it would give us some ideas for our museum. It would be similar in size and be focused on an issue that some people don't believe in. We'll want to attract believers and skeptics alike."
"I guess I was so caught up in the alien story, I didn't look at it that way. I can see that it might be a good museum model for us. What about the research piece?"
"I'd like to be able to set up a research center, but we'd have to find a sponsor or donors to fund it. We could setup a pretty extensive library with what's in Harry's lab."
We talked about ideas for the museum all the way back to El Paso. At the hotel, we settled in and enjoyed our time together.
XXX
A couple of days later, we were at another airport. "Be sure to call or text when you land in Little Rock," Chance said.
"I will. I'm just going to a lawyer's office. You're the one who'll be out chasing wild animals in the forest."
"I'm always careful. I love you, Babe. I'll talk to you tonight," he said as I got in the security line. Chance stayed until I passed through security and turned to wave to him.
I was still apprehensive about Dr. Bellamy's will, but there was nothing I could do but wait to see what information it contained. Chance and I had a great trip together, and we'd see each other back in Wilkins' Gap in a couple of weeks.
I used my time on the flight to review our visit to the UFO museum and make notes of things we should consider for the cryptid museum in Wilkins Gap.