16

"What building is it?" I asked as I leaned forward.

"It's the Burton Mine Exhibit and Tours building. I guess that an old tunnel that caved at the entrance a long time ago was left uncharted. It is close to the surface so when they were starting to place beams to start building a replica of one of the tunnels, the ground caved. It left a major hole in the floor. I do not know yet if it has compromised the structure of the building or where it is located." he said as he leaned forward and ran his hands over his face, then through his hair. I could see that he was stressed.

I did not like the look of stress on him, which kind of freaks me out a tad bit. I was gratefully for the caramel latte on the table between us to distract me. As I was about to get up, I remember that the mine was supposed to open in two and a half weeks. So I decided to stay and ask him a few more questions.

"I thought that the opening is in two and a half weeks. Are the rest of the exhibits done?" I asked as I fiddled with the napkin in front of me.

"Yes. This was the last one because it was so huge. It is supposed to be on the ground floor on the main area. It's the main attraction since it is an interactive exhibit." he replied.

I remember what it is supposed to look like and where it's located in the building. As I recalled, the exhibit had around a twenty foot gap between the walls of the building and it to allow any employees to get around or fix things within the exhibit. Most mine tunnels from when the mine first started were not very big at all. So at most, the hole was the width of the exhibit. If they wanted, and if the tunnel was preserved well enough, they could turn the cave-in into the exhibit. They just had to put up strong enough glass for people to walk on, or railing with glass covering the hole, and they could stage the hole to be interactive with projectors to simulate the miners. They could easily fill in the remainder of the tunnel to make sure it doesn't cave any more. Then reinforce the exhibit. So with the way that the building is built, it would take them exactly two weeks to finish everything this way instead of back filling the hole and tunnel, relaying the floor, and then assembling the exhibit. That would take them…

"A month." Leo finished for me. I blushed as I realized that I had been thinking out loud and even drew a mock up of how the exhibit would look on the napkin with the option of people walking on the glass.