Swing

My name is Henry Griffin.

I spent my whole life living in exotic places.

And I learned a great many things.

I also had a habit of getting into trouble...

A lot of trouble.

So to keep me safe, my anthropologist parent

shipped me off to the one place I never lived ...

America.

Now I live with my uncle and cousin

trying to fit in at Smithson High,

a school inside the National Museum Complex

I work in the school's basement

where they store all kinds of weird stuff

Where were you raised? In a cave?

Only for a year.

Want to know what I learned so far?

No matter how hard I have waited

trouble always seems to find me.

Aah!

Guess I am not the only one leashed to a noise machine.

Attention students. Just a reminder next week the

language club has been moved to Thursday.

Okay, if I can read hieroglyphics I can follow

simple instructions.

Mm, not so bad.

Come on, come on.

Why can you not just get your work-study credits

the normal way; by actually doing the work?

This belongs in a helmet, not a hairnet.

Hunter we only have to run the café for another week

then you can do whatever it is you want to do with your do.

Jaspar, your project manager; sign my time card

so I can get to practice.

No, I already said no.

Well how about I stuff you in a locker and let you

think it over?

Keep your hands to yourself!

I have seen that kind of aggressive behavior in

low land apes.

What was that all about?

Oh, if Hunter does not get at least B in practical econ he

is off the team, but I have no intention of being his alibi.

It's good you stood your ground.

Yeah, I was not on the ground, but thanks anyway.

What is with the kitty cat toy?

I am weaving a hammock for my expressive hands art

class - sleeping in your old toddler bed

isn't very tranquil.

I thought your parents were shipping your old hammock?

Still have not heard from them?

It's monsoon season where they are working; there is

no way we could reach each other.

This is not over jungle boy - not by a country mile.

How far is that?

It's the same as a regular mile, 1,609 meters.

Please pick up your eclipse glasses.

Looking forward to Friday's eclipse?

Only for the last 8 years.

Do not forget these; your eyes will thank you when

you are my age.

I am set, thanks professor DeGrut.

Hang on there bro, the e-reader too.

I dumped all the assigned reading material on it.

Well you know my class is a tech-free zone.

Jaspar, hope you do not mind holding a book with

actual pages.

Hey Maggie.

Hey.

Oh sorry Greta, accident.

Not according to Freud.

As we learned in the last lecture, Herodotus is the

Greek writer known as the father of history.

Can anyone tell me another not so nice name he was

also called?

No one; not even the brilliant Ms. Winnock?

Maggie!

Sorry, some people thought he made up too much

history and called him the father of lies.

Correct. Thoughts class?

Well who might have called him a historian and who might

have called him a liar?

Are you okay?

Of course.

Julie?

Smart choice professor Tulin the turkey mango

club is superb today.

Oh double latte on the house.

I do not mean to be the food pyramid police but

just one of these sandwiches contains over

500 calories, 50 grams of fat and...

And 100% of my daily protein.

Stick that in your quinoa salad, you

vega-totalitarian.

Hey what kind of prayer circle is that?

Oh it's texting circle.

They are talking to each other on their cell phones.

But they are right next to each other.

You city dwellers have strange customs.

Sorry, but where I lived in China that is

considered a compliment.

News flash beast from the east, you are not in China.

Hi Maggie what's up?

Hopefully not my lunch and stop eating up our profits.

Professor Gardenhire will lose it if she finds

out we are managing this place like a Wall St. hedge fund.

A walrus hedgehog?

I just want to know what you are so upset about.

I never said I was upset.

Your shoulders are hunched; you have been

pulling at your hair and biting your nails.

You are acting just like Rebecca.

Who is Rebecca?

A baboon friend of mine in Tanzania.

She is a nervous wreck whenever anything

unexpected happens in her territory.

Okay it's about the new plunder of the ancient world

exhibit - this is going to sound crazy...

Which is why you are only telling me.

Yes.

So there is this ruby...

The fortuna, the one that is cursed.

It's not cursed, but some troubling things have

happened since the exhibit opened.

Troubling as in...

As in a fossilized bison horn fell off the display

and cost a dentist his front teeth.

A steam heater broke and French-fried some

Parisians and a bunch of rats attacked just when

the Jonas Brothers were getting a private tour.

Mommy.

That doesn't sound cursed to you?

The only curse is that the museum is losing customers

every day because of the accidents.

You know what; never mind, forget I mentioned it.

Hey do not be so quick to dismiss to intuition.

It can be a roadmap which tells the mind where to go next.

We got a free period, we could come by and check

things out.

Okay, but only if you promise not to touch anything.

Last week there was a line to get in here.

Obviously the situation has gone viral.

Well they should quarantine the museum.

Oh no, viral as in bloggers are warning

people to stay away.

Bloggers as in journal...web as in...just

tell us everything you know.

This ruby is called the fortuna after the Roman

Goddess of fate.

Its origins are unknown but over the centuries it

has belonged to Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,

Marie Antoinette...

We all know what kind of life they had - poisoned,

stabbed, beheaded.

And what happened?

It was lost during the Russian revolution and

resurfaced 25 years ago.

The people who found it were killed the next day

and in a freak accident.

That does not sound cursed to you?

Nut jobs make the same 'it is cursed' claim about

the Hope Diamond, Tut's tomb and the Chicago Cubs.

There is never any proof to back up those claims.

Maybe it's just simply a matter of being at the

extreme end of the bell curve; some things like

some people are just born unlucky.

Stones are not born Jaspar, they are created

by pressure and thermal activity...

What about my kidney stones because when I

passed one it totally felt like I was giving birth.

So you would never consider that the

relentlessly bloody history of this ruby may

be something beyond explanation?

I would consider it when I am 100 years old wearing

a diaper and calling you mommy.

Of course the day you guys show up is the day nothing happens.

Sorry I wasted your spare period.

Don't sweat it; what are you doing for the eclipse?

Watching it like everyone else who wants to witness

the greatest natural phenomenon of the decade.

Yeah, I know right.

I actually meant like where and with whom?

Where is a secret and with whom, we are in the same

class; I think you can figure that one out.

He won't touch it will he?

No, he is not completely uncivilized.

Security, grand lobby exhibit, Security grand

lobby exhibit.

I am sorry, I am sorry, I slipped.

It was just an accident.

There is no need for that Officer.

My cousin is new here; he is not used to wearing

shoes or whatever those smelling things are.

What are those?

Well if the Dean's son and Ms. Winnock both vouch for

you - false alarm.

It's all clear.

From now on please pay attention to our simple rules.

Yes sir, it will not happen again.

Where did it go?

You touched the case, it drops into a biometric