Story in a Box

This story is about a man who gets a job selecting artifacts for a museum. When the museum becomes famous, its views and priorities about the artifacts changes.


The Change

Story-in-a-box

The Change




      The phone began to ring. Jake jumped up from his couch to answer the phone. When he heard the voice of the hiring manager he nearly screamed like a banshee.
      The hiring director then said, "All of us at the World-United Archaeology Museum would like to welcome you to the work team. You‘ve been selected as our exhibition designer over everyone else. We'd like to have you start as soon as possible, how about tomorrow?"
      "Sounds great, no problem!" said Jake in an excited manner. "Ok, I expect to see you there at 7:00 A.M. Have a nice night sir." said the manager. "You too." replied Jake, still shaking. For the last two years Jake has had to pay for a new car, apartment rent, and living expenses solely from his parents' pockets. The idea of being financially independent was exciting for Jake. However, he'll soon learn that money isn't as important as he previously had thought.
      After getting dressed in the morning, eating a satisfying breakfast, and dressing for the cold weather, Jake left early and began to walk to the museum. On his way to the museum, he saw quite an odd sight. He saw a man in his mid 30's, about 5'8" tall, lean set, with a South American nationality banging a drum while walking back and forth. He was wearing a green hat, yellow scarf, and dark jacket with pants. This kind of sight is so peculiar that Jake had to investigate. “What are you doing here?” Jake asked. The man stopped and looked at Jake.
      “I want something.” replied the man. “Well, what do you want?” asked Jake, now even more curious. “Change.” the man replied. Jake instinctively went to reach into his pocket, but the man stopped him. “No, that change is the problem.” the man stated, and went back to banging his drum. Jake was confused, but when he checked his watch he realized he was late.
      At the museum, his general manager Martin bumped into him.
      “Hello Jake.” said Martin. “Let’s get started right away: today your job is to sort through these boxes of items and pick the ones that will be in the general displays. If you have any questions, come and find me. Well, I’m very busy so I’ll be seeing you.” Martin then ran off into another direction.  So then Jake began to sort through the boxes of artifacts. Jake found some very unique ‘artifacts’ in these boxes, such as a coin book from Singapore, a handmade canoe, a statue of an African woman, a wallet from Mongolia, and a carved head. Since the curator wasn’t around and he didn’t know the background of the items, he decided to put them on display incase they had some unique historical value.
      After weeks of selecting items and organizing them, the museum opened and floods of people entered. Unknown to everyone working at the museum, including Jake, the famous historian Howard Zinn would come to the museum and publish a post about it on his blog. The post had glorified the museum and as a result exploded the museum’s popularity. One afternoon after this, Martin came to talk with Jake.
      “Jake, we need to talk about your organization. I’ve found some items that aren‘t historical: a used ruler, some chestnuts, a plain jar, a stamp, a purple cloth, and a Spanish farm model. Since our museum is under the radar now, you will need to throw these items away. Less people will come and that means less money.” Jake began, “But Sir I-”. “No but’s Sanders. Money is the main objective, and nothing else matters.” Jake began to think: how are some things historical when others aren’t? Isn’t ‘important’ and ‘historical’ in the eye of the beholder? Also, why did the museum care about money that much? Jake slowly realized what he joined. “Then I quit.” Jake said as he tore off his nametag and left. On the way home he saw the man with the drum. “You’re right, but what can I do ?“ Jake asked.
      “Nothing at all.” the man sighed.