Saving the Museum

Maria was entering the art museum. She always loved art, and after high school, she knew which college she wanted to be enrolled in. Always the thought of colors, paint, brushes, strokes, canvases, and the thought of putting anything down on the paper and making it look beautiful made her get very excited. 

"Ah, this is where I can follow my dreams," she whispered to herself as she walked inside the museum.

Her father worked in the museum, so she was allowed to see all the expensive pieces of art up close, and more pieces that others weren't allowed to see. Seeing all the abstract works inspires her to draw.

"Hey daddy!" she said sweetly as she walked inside.

"Oh, hello honey. Why did you come here so late?" he asked her.

"Well, you know, I have an essay due pretty quickly. I spent some time at the local library. Though I still have more research to do, I remembered that I promised to come and visit you! But, the place looks the same. As aspiring and beautiful as always."

"You're right. Now, come inside, I have something to tell you," he spoke sternly, which made Maria a bit curious about what he had to say.

"Ok, I'll come." she followed.

They both took the elevator to the fifth floor.

"Why the fifth floor, daddy? The artwork stops at the fourth floor." she points that out to her dad.

"Yes, I–I know, honey. But I want you to meet the owner of the museum. All the staff is on the fifth floor. No one else is allowed to come. Since you are my child, I wanted to show it to you." he replied.

"Umm, ok, I guess. I am excited to see how the fifth floor looks like!" Maria exclaimed, and soon before they knew it, they reached. 

"Now, carefully step outside of the elevator," he instructed.

Maria did as she was told. She saw how clean the floor was. How white the entire place looked. She swore she could even see her reflection through the white wall. The floors too were sparkling clean. 

I wonder who the janitor is! If I ever meet them, I'll ask them to work at my school too. We need some of this pure air back there! she wondered as she walked.

The quiet and eerie sound though spooked her a bit. She could only hear their footsteps and the sound of her breathing. 

"So, daddy, are we there yet, or do we have to walk more?" she asked.

"No, no! We are here."

As her father carefully knocked on the door, she heard a very low and grumpy voice.

"You may come in," the voice echoed.

"Thank you. Now, come in Maria," she escorted her to her seat.

"So, this is your child, huh?" he asked in a disgusting way.

"Yes,"

"Very well, then, she doesn't know, correct?"

"Well, that's why I brought her here, she doesn't know."

"Good."

Huh? What do I not know? Are they hiding something from me? Maria was dying to know what those two were talking about.

"Umm, Mister, what do I not know? What are you two talking about?" she exchanged glances to her dad and his boss.

"You are quite the inquisitive little girl!" he mumbled to himself, though loud enough in which Maria could hear. "Let's get down to business."

"What business? What are you saying?" she continued to question him.

"You see, it is very difficult to explain in a matter of simple words. You might not really understand right now, but I'll give you the gist of it." 

Maria noticed that he looked very upset. He put his fingers on his forehead, squeezing it. 

She feared that something was wrong

"This museum...it's going to be shut down." he started crying in front of her.

"WHAT?! N...no! Th-this can't happen! Why?" she was flabbergasted, angry, scared, shocked, upset, all at the same time.

"We can't pay the debts, Maria. We actually wanted to wait for a couple more months, but...it's getting worse. So this museum will only be open until next week. I'm sorry. Your father didn't have the guts to say it to you, because I heard that you fancy art." he continued to explain.

"But can't we save the museum? Please, there has to be some way! This is like my second home! You just cannot do this! There are so many people who love to visit here! Please! There just has to be some way to save it from closing forever!" Maria argued.

"Life isn't always a fairytale. Sometimes it can turn into a tragedy. I am sorry, but we have tried our best." 

He sighed and looked into Maria's desperate eyes. He knew that she was upset, but sadly there was nothing he could do about it. 

"But, why did you say that we had to get down to 'business'?" Maria asked.

"Well, there is only one possible way I can think of to save our museum. But I don't know if it is going to work," he told her.

"No! Whatever it is, just...please tell me. Every idea counts."

"Ok, as you say, Maria. My plan was for all of us to join a sit-in. We could all protest and fight for our dear museum. Though it might take some effort, maybe...just maybe we can get some supporters to help us." he explained his idea.

"Why that's an amazing idea! Please tell everyone in the museum to round them and join the sit-in while I'll call all my friends to help save the museum. Now go!" 

She had told the plan and everyone listened. 

＊＊＊

After a couple of hours, there had many hundreds of people outside the museum, all protesting to save it.

Maria walked with her friends and saw her dad.

"So, do you really think this is going to work?" she asked him.

"Well, you are the mastermind behind it, so, of course, Maria," he said, as they both joined the sit-in.

~The End~