The Hopeful Ray
It was a chilly January in New York City. The leaves have long fallen, Christmas has long passed and a new year has come.
Today though hasn't been a good day for one young man.
Brad Stanford, aged 26 has just been fired from his newest job, one that he's been trying hard to keep. He has short dirty blonde hair and teal eyes and he's standing outside of a restaurant that he's been fired from. He tried to be a waiter but he just couldn't seem to do a good enough job, tripping himself and spilling food all over, giving people the wrong order and always messing up. He just wasn't cut out for it.
He sighed in self disappointment.
"Sam's gonna kill me." He muttered to himself. He then started to head back to his apartment, fearing what his girlfriend would say. Brad has been fired from 10 jobs beforehand, this now being the 11th and his girlfriend, Samantha Grace has been disappointed in him, which is straining their relationship, one that Brad wants to keep because he loves Sam with all his heart.
When he reaches his apartment after a slow and excruciating walk, he's dreading to open his apartment door to see Sam's stern glare. After several seconds of preparation, he opens the door and the first thing he sees is his girlfriend standing there, arms crossed, looking at him with a stern glare. She is a year older than him, the same height as him and has her long dark hair tied up in a ponytail down her back, full lips and green eyes.
"You're fired again, aren't you?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.
Brad sighed and nodded.
"Yes." He replied, walking past her, looking down to avoid eye contact as he walked to the sofa.
"This is the 11th one, Brad. Why can't you hold on to any of them?" Sam asked, groaning in frustration.
"I don't know, okay? All I know is that I ain't cut out to be a waiter." Brad said, looking at the bookshelf, which was full of books on history and prehistory as he's been obsessed with those subjects ever since he was a young child. It was the only good thing in his life right now.
"At this rate, you'll end up being homeless. Do you want that?" Sam asked him.
"No. But it might've been better if we weren't together." Brad said. As much as he didn't want to admit it, things might have been better for Sam if they just broke up so that she wouldn't have an embarrassment of a boyfriend.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam questioned, taken aback.
"You know what it's supposed to mean. You have a successful job, you manage to pay the bills and the food, all I am is just a waste of your time, affection and energy." He scolded himself, which made Sam immediately by his side, eyes watering and holding his hand.
"Hey… please don't say that. I love you, Brad, it's just that… you need to find the right job for you." Sam started to try and argue.
"But what if there isn't one? What if I'm too irresponsible or unqualified to do any job at all?" Brad asked her. Sam sighed as she didn't know how to answer him and just looked over at the bookshelf, knowing how much he loves history. That was when an idea popped into her head.
"What about the museum?" She asked.
"What about it?" Brad asked.
"Have you checked there for any jobs?" She questioned. Brad frowned as he was recollecting all the times he tried to get a job.
"No, I haven't yet." He admitted.
"Well, why don't you go to the employment agency and see if they have any jobs available at the museum?" She suggested.
"I don't know…" He said with hesitancy.
"Oh come on. You love history. That alone could warrant you having a job there." She pointed out. And Brad had to admit she was right, his love of history was so strong that at least his knowledge of it could get him a job there.
"Okay, I'll see if there's a job there that I can do." He finally caved.
"There you go." Sam smiled and kissed his cheek, which made him grin slightly as he leaned his head on her shoulder.
The following day, he went by himself to the Big Apple Employment Agency and sat with a middle aged woman by the window.
"You again? Isn't it about time you just gave already?" She asked him, having met him all the 11 times beforehand.
"Well, my girlfriend managed to encourage me to keep going, at least one more time." He told her.
"She must be worth it then if she's able to keep you going." The woman remarked.
"Mmm hmm. Anyway, are there any jobs available at the Museum of Natural History?" Brad asked, sounding very hopeful.
"Well… there's one. Mind you, they've turned down everyone I've sent over there, but…you just might get lucky." The woman said, writing down something on a slip of paper.
Later in the day, Brad was walking across a road and stopped in front of the Museum of Natural History, a place that Brad considered his second home for many years as he would always come here when he was younger and stay there until the museum closed. The last time he was here was right after he finished high school.
After looking up at it, he walked in through the entrance of revolving doors and the first thing he saw was the full skeleton of his favourite dinosaur, the .
As he walked around it, he saw that there weren't that many people here, which meant that there's a decline in popularity here, which made Brad saddened as he always found the museum cool. He made his way up to the circular desk of the museum where a woman with long dark hair, wearing a red shirt and a skirt was sitting, typing on a computer.
"Excuse me. I'm Brad Stanford. I have a job interview with Cecil Fredricks." He said to the woman.
"Oh, right. He should still be in his office." She said, looking at her watch.
"Alright." He nodded.
"I'm Rebecca Hutman. I'm a docent here." She shook hands with him as she introduced herself.
"Nice to meet ya." He smirked.
"Let me point you in the right direction." She then said, standing up and leading him elsewhere. As they walked, Brad saw a familiar wax figurine on a horse.
"I see they still have Teddy Roosevelt here." He pointed out and they both stood in front of the display.
"Yes, a great visionary." Rebecca noted, looking at the man who became the 26th President of the United States.
"Yeah. Despite all that he's been through, he became one heck of a president. 26th if I remember correctly." Brad said, remembering what he read about the man. That on the same day, he lost both his wife and mother, leaving him devastated and he went out into the wild where he started his growth into the man he became.
"Mmm hmm." Rebecca agreed.
"Excuse me, don't touch the exhibits please!" A man spoke loudly. The two turned to see a boy touching part of the skeleton before being pulled over by his dad and a man in a suit walking towards them. The man had grey hair, though he looked like he was in his late 30's and bold blue eyes.
"Miss Hutman, I can't tolerate this. This is a museum, not some neighbour's house. So if you can, try and work it out, please?" The man told Rebecca in the most respectful way possible.
"Yes, sir." She nodded.
"Thank you." The man said before he walked off.
"That's Dr. McPhee, the museum director." She told Brad.
"Hmm." He hummed before she led him down and gave directions to where Cecil was.
He walked down a hallway until he came across a door that had a security sign on it, which he was told where Cecil was. He rang a bell that was there and instantly, the door opened to reveal an elderly man in the uniform for night guards.
"Hello?" The man greeted him.
"Hi. I'm Brad Stanford, Are you Mr. Fredricks?" Brad asked upon seeing him.
"Mr. Fredricks was my father. I am Cecil. Good to meet you, Brad." Cecil greeted him as they shook hands.
"Nice firm handshake. I like that. Tells a lot about a man. Come on in." Cecil then said, letting Brad in and he walked up to his desk and sat in the chair.
"Let's talk turkey here. The museum is losing money, hand over fist. I guess kids today don't care about wax figures or stuffed animals." Cecil explained to him.
"That's unfortunate. I was when I was a kid." Brad noted.
"Yeah. Anyway, they're downsizing, which is code for firing myself and the other two night guards. They want to replace us with one new guard." Cecil continued.
"Right."
"Well, what are you gonna do? I'd like you to meet my two colleagues here." The older man then said as he stood back up and stood next to Brad and they looked to two other elderly men, one black and one white, sleeping. The black man having a cane.
"Reginald? Gus?" He called their names out loudly to wake them up.
"Where is he? I'll beat him with my fist?" The one named Gus growled as he woke up.
"Gus, this is Brad Stanford, the kid who wants to be the new night guard." Cecil introduced him to Brad. Brad himself didn't mind the idea of being a night guard. At least he'll go around the museum on his own and without anyone bothering him.
"He looks like a weirdie." Gus mocked Brad.
"Wanna have a go, shortie?" Brad mocked back.
"Now listen, lunch box. Don't try anything funny. I once went nine rounds with John L. Sullivan." Gus threatened him, Cecil mouthing his words, clearly showing that Gus said this over and over.
"You never fought John L. Sullivan in your life." Reginald called him out.
"Gentlemen, we have a job candidate here. He's got an excellent resume, a winning attitude and I say let's give him a shot. What do you say?" Cecil pointed out.
"Well, I'll take it as long as it's here in the museum." Brad told the three.
"Alright then. Welcome to the night guards, Brad." Reginald said, shaking the young man's hand.
"Brad, meet me up on the second floor. I'll slip into my orthopaedics and give you a little tour. Arthritic knees. Not fun getting old, my friend. Go on." Cecil told Brad and so he left with a nod.
"You really think he's the one?" Reginald asked Cecil in a suspicious tone.
"Oh, yes. He's the one." He replied, so sure of his decision.
Later, Brad waited until Cecil met him up on the second floor.
"Gotta keep it moving, Brad. I'm pretty spry for an old man." Cecil said as he led the young man to a circular room full of exhibits of miniatures and figurines showing the Aztecs, Romans and the Wild West.
"This is the Diorama Room." He said.
"I remember this room. Awesome." Brad commented as he looked at the Roman exhibit as he is a big fan of Ancient Rome. He looked at it for several seconds until he walked off to catch back up with Cecil.
"Cecil?" He called out as he entered a hallway when the lights turned off suddenly. This made him on edge as he walked past an exhibit of African tribesmen wearing masks and robes.
"Cecil!" He called out again, unaware that one of the figurines moved and creeped up behind him. It tapped him on the shoulder, making him turn and scream at the top of his lungs in fright. But it turned out to be Cecil as he took the mask off, laughing.
"Did I get you good?" Cecil asked as he was laughing.
"Oh, you got me. I would've had a heart attack!" Brad muttered, hating the fact that he got jump scared. Cecil was able to stop laughing as he took the robe off and placed a staff and the mask on the display.
"Seriously, though, no fooling around in here. This stuff is really old." He warned him with a serious tone before he led Brad up some stairs.
"Alright, then. As you can see, it's pretty quiet in here these days. On your left there is Attila the Hun." He said, pointing at the display of wax figurines depicting the famous Hun and a couple of other Huns. Brad, being a fan of Ancient Rome knew a lot about him. He was an enemy to the Roman Empire and was a big believer of sorcery and magic.
"And here we have our Easter Island head." He then pointed at said head that was pressed up against a wall.
"Hey, Cecil." A worker greeted the older man as the pair walked past a sign saying Africa and they entered a large room full of stuffed animals.
"And this, of course, is the Hall of African Mammals." Cecil stated as they stood in front of the display of a lion and a couple of lionesses.
"I remember this room very well." Brad said before he looked to his left and saw two familiar wax figurines of a chimp and gorilla next to each other.
"Hey… I remember these two. I wrote all kinds of stories with them when I was little." Brad recollected with a smile on his face as chimps and gorillas are his two favourite animals.
"Yeah, we call the chimp Marcel and the gorilla, Chewie. They're fun chaps." Cecil commented, as though they were living creatures.
"Moving on." He said before Brad could say anything about that.
The older man continued giving the tour until their final stop, which had to be Brad's favourite part of the museum.
"And, finally, this is the temple of the Pharaoh Cleopatra." Cecil said as they entered a large and foreboding room with dim lighting that had its walls and pillars covered in hieroglyphs.. Brad already knew of this place as he would just look around and soak in the atmosphere of this room. Cecil pulled out his flashlight from his belt and turned it on, shining it at one of the two large Anubis statues that stood as though they were guarding the room.
"And in that tomb right down there, the pharaoh herself." He told the young man, shining the torch down at the room at the other side where a tomb was and a wall that had an object on it.
"Very familiar with this room." Brad said as they walked to the tomb and wall.
"And hanging on the wall behind her was her most prized possession, the Ankh of Khonsu, the god who she worshipped." Cecil said, shining the torch on the object on the wall. It was an ankh the size of a large print book, all gold with hieroglyphs on it except for the large white gemstone on it. Brad knew that Khonsu was the Egyptian God of the Moon.
"24 carat gold and a pure white gemstone. It's worth a fortune." Cecil pointed out.
"Very cool." Brad muttered in pure awe of the object, having always been fascinated by it for as long as he could remember.
"It is indeed, Brad. Very cool." Cecil agreed with him and the two stared at the ankh for a bit until Cecil patted Brad's shoulder.
"Alright. Report here at 5:00 tomorrow. We'll walk you through your duties." He told him as he walked him out.
"Okay." Brad said as they continued on.
Later, back at the apartment, Sam was on the sofa watching some TV when she heard the door open. She muted the TV and walked out to see Brad with a fresh night guard uniform in his arm.
"Well, I got the job of night guard at the museum." He revealed to her and she squealed before launching herself into his arms and kissed him.
"There you go. That should be easy to do. When do you start?" She grinned at him.
"5:00 tomorrow." He informed her.
"That soon? Damn, they must have confidence that you can do well." She said as she led him in and started to cook a meal.
"I just hope I can do well." He muttered quietly to himself.
If you're familiar with the films, you'll see that Ahkmenrah is replaced with Cleopatra and the tablet is replaced with an ankh that has a gem on it. Don't worry, Ahkmenrah will show up when I adapt the second film. And of course, there's no Dexter. I wanted for the main OC to have two friendly animal companions and not make his life a living hell. Plus there's gonna be changes with the diorama figures and their leaders. Plus Sam is based on early 2000's Angelina Jolie.