The SVE Club

26. Punishment

    It was six o'clock, a stormy Monday morning, when Midas trudged into the empty school office, bleary eyed and sleep deprived. Taro was already waiting for him, sitting in one of the chairs. Both had been doused by the rain, and their shoes squeaked with every motion.

     Taro held up a slightly wet plastic bag. "I stopped at Taco Bell on the way here. Breakfast burrito?"

    Midas, who had skipped breakfast, accepted the burrito. He dragged another chair over and sat next to Taro. "Where's our taskmaster?" he asked.

    Taro pointed at Mrs. Hayes' office. "She's on the phone. Told me to wait," he said between bites. "Did you guys ever find Willow last night?" While the rest of the SVE club had opted to stay out and search for Willow, Taro had decided to go home.

    Midas shook his head slowly. "We still have no idea where she went. She's not answering her phone for anyone. And nobody knows her very well yet; we don't even have her address. It's like she fell off the face of the earth."

    Taro considered this for a moment. "Well, I hope she's okay. You don't think anyone would try to... you know..."

    "Kidnap her?" Midas asked. He shrugged. "Anything's possible."

    Taro let out a nervous laugh. "You sure know how to put people at ease."

    "It's what I do," Midas said sarcastically.

    Just then, the door to Mrs. Hayes' office opened. The principal stepped out and smiled warmly at the two students in the office. It was clear that the gloomy weather outside was having no effect on her mood.

    "Good morning, gentlemen," she greeted. "Welcome to Office Bootcamp."

    Midas stood up reluctantly. "Alright, let's get this done. What do you have us doing?"

    Taro bounced up. "Who cares? Compared to detention, this'll be quick and easy."

    Mrs. Hayes raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about this being quick?" she asked, glancing at her watch. "Class starts at eight. I have you both for a little less than two hours. During that time, you'll be helping me go through loose papers."

    "That doesn't sound too bad," Midas mused.

    "Wonderful," Mrs. Hayes said, stepping into her office for a moment. "You can start with these." She came back out and dropped a huge stack of paper on a nearby desk.

    Midas and Taro stared in defeat at the white mound. It was at least as tall as a cereal box, if not taller.

    "If you finish this stack, there's more. Now," Mrs. Hayes said, clasping her hands together, "Everything with a date prior to the twenty-first of September gets shredded. Anything else, put it in a pile and return to me. If you have any questions, I'll be in my office. Have fun."

    The door to her office clicked shut and the boys walked towards the paper stack the way one might approach a large cockroach.

    "Okay," Midas finally said. "I'll sort. You shred."

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    The task turned out to be neither quick nor easy, as Taro had implied. Yawning and sighing the entire time, Midas and Taro went through several paper stacks. An hour and several paper cuts later, they were still at it.

Taro was mechanically shoving paper into the shredder when something in the stack caught his eye.

"Hey, Midas?" he asked, pulling a sheet out of the pile. "Did you mean to throw this away?"