Night at the Museum. Leslie Goldman

      CHAPTER 1

      Larry Daley was having a bad day. Lately, he’d been having a string of bad days. They added up to not just a bad week or a bad month, but actually, a fairly bad few years. Yet, today was even worse than usual. Today, they’d shut off his cable.

      Larry hadn’t paid the bill, but was that any reason to deny him television? He didn’t think so, which is why he called the cable company to try and reason with them.

      “Hello, Delores, this is Larry Daley. You guys shut off my cable yesterday. I know the bill is late, but we’ve just had some minor organizational problems over here.”

      Larry was stretching the truth. His problems were major, not minor. He wasn’t organized in the slightest. His apartment was a huge mess. It was filled with a jumble of books and papers, hockey equipment, and boxes. One look at his apartment and a person would think he’d either just moved in or was about to move out. In fact, neither was the case. Larry was just a big slob.

      As he pleaded with the cable lady, he paced back and forth in the small living room. When he walked past his latest invention, The Snapper, he glanced at it. The front of the box showed an old woman with a big smile on her face, snapping her fingers to light up a room. You’ve heard of The Clapper? Well, that was a successful invention. The Snapper, which Larry invented? Not so much.… Of course, that was small potatoes compared to his other failures.

      “The thing is,” said Larry, “I’ve got my son staying with me tonight and we were gonna watch the Rangers game, but if there’s no cable, I mean it would really…I’d just hate to disappoint him. I’ve already mailed the check. So, can you please turn it back on?”

      Larry pulled back the dingy curtain that led to his son Nicky’s room. It was the best-looking part of the whole apartment. The walls were freshly painted and hockey posters hung from them, neatly. The bed was made. The shelves were stocked with board games and model jets. Larry was always careful to make sure that Nicky’s room didn’t get messy. Mostly, he did this by staying out of the room when Nicky wasn’t around. For some reason, it seemed like whatever Larry went near turned into a disaster.

      Yet, perhaps his luck was about to change. It sounded like the cable lady was actually buying his story.

      “Oh, that’s great. Thank you so much, Delores. You’re the best. Good-bye.”

      Larry hung up the phone and realized he was late for a very important appointment. He grabbed a folder from his desk. Inside were the plans for his latest business idea. He wanted to open up a restaurant called The Daley Grill: An International Dining Experience.

      Larry checked himself out in the mirror. He smoothed down his dark brown hair. He flashed his pearly white teeth. In jeans and his best button-down shirt, he was looking good. Larry put his folder in his bag and headed to his meeting.

      No way could this go wrong.

      As he headed to his car someone called his name. “Larry?”

      Turning around, Larry found himself face-to-face with Miguel, his super. “Hey, Miguel. Como estás? You get that CD I burned you?” Larry asked.

      “Yeah, man, I like it,” said Miguel. “Thanks.”

      “Good. I thought you’d be into the Gipsy Kings. All right, I’ve got to run.”