Number One Apprentice - Randall Ascot

Luke sat on one of the many benches that littered the museum, watching his own feet as he swished them back and forth in a vague attempt to keep himself amused. Sadly, nothing could detract from the fact that he was very bored right now.

It wasn't that he had to come to these talks very often, as usually his dad would leave him at home, but sometimes his mum would be away and there'd be no one to look after him, so he'd have to come. Which is what had happened today.

He didn't understand why his dad was still so obsessed with listening to famous archaeologists blather on about what new facts they'd discovered after looking at some fossil that someone else had dug up a decade or more ago. Clark was the mayor of a town now, not an archaeologist. But apparently he'd been one of the best students in his year when he was at college and still wanted to show a keen interest.

This was an interest that Luke did not share. Having been to this museum so many times that he practically knew every exhibit by heart, nothing here really appealed to him any more.

“Ah, there you are!”

Glancing up from his examination of his feet, Luke saw a confident-looking man with red hair staring down at him. From the way the man had spoken, it sounded like he knew him, but Luke was certain that he'd never seen this person before.

“Yes?” Luke hesitantly replied.

“You're Clark Triton's son, aren't you?” checked the man.

“Yes, I am,” answered Luke, and then feeling like more was expected of him he added, “My name's Luke.”

“And I'm Randall Ascot. It's an honour to meet the son of one of Dr. Schrader's finest student,” said Randall, offering out a hand for Luke to shake.

Oh. He was one of those guys. Luke should have known. Almost every time he was brought here he ended up being subjected to some stuffy former student trying really hard to be nice to him, because they admired his dad's grades in college. Most of them wanted to know if Luke took after his father when it came to archaeology and were disappointed when they learned this wasn't the case.

Still, you had to be polite.

“It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Ascot,” assured Luke, reaching to take the hand, “What in the-?”

Before Luke could take the hand a dove appeared on it in a puff of smoke, before disappearing up into the rafters. Both Luke and Randall stared after it as it made to settle, looking dangerously like it intended to leave a mess on top of one of the exhibits.

“Ah, I'll have to get that back later,” Randall sighed.

“Are you even allowed to bring those in here?” asked Luke, looking back at Randall now.

Randall dismissed this with, “Young man, you are allowed to bring magic anywhere, it cannot be banned.”

Okay, so this guy was potentially crazy, but he was still the most interesting person who'd spoken to Luke today.

“Um, is that why you're here? To perform a magic show?” Luke checked. He'd seen posters saying that the museum sometimes put on different displays for kids, so that seemed like a safe assumption.

“No, no, magic is just something I do for fun. I'm hear to listen to Dr. Schrader's lecture like everyone else,” corrected Randall.

“Were you a student of his?” Luke questioned. He was certain that he'd never seen him here before. None of the other archaeologists stood out quite as much as Randall did.

“I was indeed, in your father's very year,” Randall confirmed, “But I've been away for a long time, off on digs and trying to discover things. I'm usually too busy to come to these. However, your father talked me into it this time.”

“Are you the friend that he always mentions?”

“Depends, what does he say about me?”

“I don't think this is very nice, but dad used to talk about someone from his school called Randy Bratscot who used to cause all kinds of trouble,” mumbled Luke.

If he was worried about offending Randall this fear was soon put to rest, as instead Randall erupted into laughter.

“Randy Bratscot! I'd forgotten about that! Clark should know by now that only Angie's allowed to call me Randy,” chuckled Randall. Then, before Luke had a chance to ask who Angie was, he went on, “You must be really bored here, Luke.”

“Y-yes, I am,” Luke admitted.

“Me too. Sitting around listening to old men talk is the worst part of archaeology. It should all be about adventure! Danger! Discovery!” proclaimed Randall, punching the air with each point he made.

Luke looked lost; “Is there really much adventure and danger in archaeology? I know there's a lot of discovery, but it doesn't seem to be that much fun.”

“Not much fun? How do you think the discoveries happen?” Randall gasped, “Archaeologists don't just sit around and have ancient artefacts fall into their laps! They need to trek through unknown ruins, fighting off traps left there by ancient civilisations and braving the dangers cause by the decay of time.”

“That does sound like a lot of fun,” Luke agreed, “But I can't really imagine any of the archaeologists here doing that.”

“Well, that's because most of the archaeologists here are boring. They're mainly just professors who teach from a classroom. That's not real archaeology if you ask me,” replied Randall, with a wink.

Luke couldn't help but laugh a little.

“My dad and Dr. Schrader would be very cross if they heard you say that,” he said.

Randall huffed, “Then they're boring too! And they're the reason I had to come here when I could be out examining that tunnel that was unearthed during a cave-in a few days ago.”

“But why didn't you go do that? If you've never been to any of these talks before then why come now?” said Luke. He couldn't seem to help himself from asking Randall questions. He'd never come across an archaeologist who behaved like this before. It was almost as if Randall had jumped straight out of an adventure storybook.

“I kind of felt that I had to,” Randall replied, with a definite note of sulk to his tone, “There's a position opening for a university lecturer soon and your father really thought I should take it. Of course, I said that I wouldn't be interested in a dull job like that, but he told me that I used to enjoy learning about archaeology when I was younger, so maybe I'd like helping other people to learn about it as well. He talked me into coming here, because if I liked listening to this talk then it was probably a good sign that I'd like the job.”

“I'm sorry to let you down, but these things are never any fun,” said Luke, “Maybe it's because I'm a kid and I don't understand half of it, but it all just sounds like blah, blah, blah to me.”

“That can't be right! When I was your age I was already in love with archaeology!” Randall proclaimed.

“Maybe I would be if I knew it was all about going on adventures,” argued Luke, “But all I ever hear is that some dinosaur bone has a curve on it that no one noticed before and that means that maybe that dinosaur couldn't fly after all.”

“Hmm, this is no good at all,” mused Randall, who suddenly started pacing the room quite purposefully. He was frowning deeply and staring off into space.

Before he could wear a hole in the floor, Luke cut-in, “What's not good, Mr. Ascot?”

“That archaeology seems boring to a child like you,” Randall informed, “If lecturers keep on making it dull, then soon enough archaeologists might end up being as extinct as the dinosaurs they study!”

“Um, I'm not sure that would happen...” mumbled Luke.

“But it might! And I can't risk that!” yelled Randall, causing several of the museum's visitors to look in his direction and then swiftly ignore him again, in case they accidentally caught his attention, “Archaeology is the best thing in the world. But from the sounds of it these stuffy old professors are making it seem like it's as boring as afternoon tea! Luke, you have made me reach me decision!”

“I-I have?” stammered Luke, who was quietly wondering what was wrong with afternoon tea.

“Yes! I'm going to become a lecturer of archaeology and teach the next generation just how fun it is,” he insisted, “I'm going to take my class to dig sites every week, show them how to disarm ancient traps and how to tell which plants are dangerous, for if they're ever lost in a forest and want to know what they can eat. I'll be the best lecturer that there ever was! Just you wait and see!”

Before Luke could say another word, Randall had dashed off through the door that lead to the 'staff only' part of the museum, where his dad had gone earlier to talk to Dr. Schrader. For a moment, Luke considered going after him, but then he decided that Randall had seemed so full of purpose that it would be wrong to get in his way.

Plus, he really didn't want to explain to his dad that he was the reason that Randall had gotten so worked up.

That, however, turned out to be a conversation that was unavoidable. Although thankfully it didn't occur until the car ride home after the lecture.

“I saw an old friend today,” Clark started, without looking away from the road ahead, “The one I told you all the stories about, Randy Bratscot.”

“Did you?” murmured Luke, shrinking down in his seat.

“Yes, and he said that he spoke with you before the lecture,” Clark continued.

“Oh, well... we might have talked for a little while, yeah,” Luke answered.

“Whatever you said to him I'm glad of it. You pretty much convinced him to take that job,” said Clark, “His wife will be very happy. She's been wanting him to settle down for a while now.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” Luke replied. Personally, he couldn't imagine Randall settling down for anything, even after just talking to him for a short time. There was a pause, as neither of them knew what else to say on the matter, but then Luke decided to speak up, “Dad?”

“Yes, Luke?”

“When I get older, can I go learn archaeology at Mr. Ascot's class?”

“It's funny you should mention that, because he did say that, if you wanted to, he'd offer you a place as his apprentice. I actually told him that you weren't interested, but he seemed to think you might have changed your mind about archaeology,” answered Clark.

“I have changed my mind,” assured Luke, “I want to be a great archaeologist who goes and has adventures and discovers stuff and everything.”

“Sounds like we have another Randall in the making,” sighed Clark, smiling and shaking his head.

Luke didn't reply to that, as his head was already too busy filling up with ideas of going to uncharted lands and searching through dangerous ruins. Imagine him being an apprentice to a great adventurer, who made lots of discoveries. That sounded like a lot of fun!

Maybe he was being too much like Mr. Ascot by rushing into a decision, but right there and then Luke knew that this was exactly what he wanted to do with his life.