Charlie resisted the urge to squeal. "Course you can," she told him with a bright smile. She gestured around at the empty room. "As you can see, I'm not terribly busy at the moment, so I think I can squeeze in a tour."
She peeked at the kid from the corner of her eyes. His blue gaze swept the room, and seeing it's profound emptiness, even smiled a bit. An encouraging reaction. Not a laugh, but she'd take it.
"Right then," she said, sweeping out a hand in a grand gesture. "This way, if you please? I'm afraid we don't have much at the moment. I think we have an owl, a fox and some city dogs. But you're welcome to look at them, though."
She lead the way toward the hallway, pulling out her keys for the back door and sweeping to let the newcomer walk by. There was a tiny spark of excitement in his eyes she noticed when he was close enough to see, and her smile widened. "I'm Charlie, by the way. What's your name?"