Chapter 16As Alex walked the ten blocks to the museum the next morning, he held the box with the silver plate wrapped up inside close to his chest. His mind was so full of other things he barely noticed any feelings given off by the people around him. He checked in at the front entrance, showed Homer’s letter of agreement to the guard, who read it, made him fill out and sign a short form, and waved him through. He hurried up to the American Wing offices, shed his coat, hat, switched his sunglasses for his regular glasses, and let himself into the object study room where the bowl was stored.
He set the box on the padded table and removed the plate, unwrapping it and setting it on the quilted surface. It was only then that Alex remembered his lack of protective gloves and pulled a pair from
