Annie XVII: Egg Project

Annie XVII: Egg Project

(Chronological index: High School (1st time for Raymond, 2nd time for Annie))

Raymond slumped in the desk of his 7th grade English class. They were diagramming sentences this week and it was an absolute bore.

Annie sulked in his pocket, waiting for the class to begin. She wasn't a big fan of English, outside of the Poetry section, but she had to learn as well as the kid did, or better.

If she couldn't be a useful study-buddy, he'd find something else for her to do in the afternoons. Also, she was trying to groom him for the college prep courses they'd start taking the next year. That's where the more popular kids would be, and she wanted her owner moving in the better circles. [i]She [/i]wanted to move in the better circles.

"Okay," Mr. Vail said, shutting the classroom door. "There's something different today. Someone in Administration, and his initials are Principal Torres, has found this wonderful project in some trade magazines." He picked up a stack of papers and started handing them out.

"The article uses a lot of buzz words, but it mainly comes down to thinking in a new way. Find some lifestyle that's different from your own current one, start living it."

"I'm going to be an astronaut!" Dorian shouted.

"Not quite," Vail said with a chuckle. "It's got to be something you can do. The most popular one is the egg. You guys get an egg, carry it around with you. You have to protect it, not lose it, not eat it. Not let your pet snake eat it. Then bring it back in two weeks-"

"Two weeks?" Jennifer protested. "Won't it go bad!"

"This is why we don't eat it," he told her. "Anyway, that's one idea. You become a protector, responsible for something outside of yourself.

"Personally, I would prefer that you carry around a five pound sack of sugar or flour. They're a little bit more robust than an egg, so if there's a sharp learning curve…. Well, anyway."

He held up a copy of the handout. "Bare minimum, carry something around with you for two weeks and pretend it's a dependent." He held up a hand, palm outward, without looking. "No, Rocky, nothing of steel construction. And no, Veronica, nothing that's currently in your purse counts. It has to be new, it has to be vulnerable."

Several students voiced disappointment. Annie figured that the local toy stores just lost a chance to sell quite a few Star Wars action figures.

"Now, some of you want to be in the accelerated learning classes next year? You need to do something more."

"More?" Mary asked.

"Yep. Show some effort. Some creativity. I'll accept, and give you a passing grade, for anything that takes you out of your comfortable little ruts and makes you look at life in a new way."

"Like what?" Kevin asked.

Vail shrugged. "Hit me with your best shot. Something you can actually do, but doesn't prevent you attending class."

"A balloon!" Dorian said. "I'll carry a balloon around with me."

"How will you keep it inflated for two weeks?"

"Like any loving parent, I'll put its daily minimum requirement of helium in its bottle." The class laughed, Vail nodded.

"Okay. Okay, that has possibilities. What else?"

At the end of the hour they had discussed a few possibilities for the extra credit efforts. Spending two weeks in a wheelchair would be acceptable, while two weeks walking on crutches would not.

Kids wanting to be blind or deaf would have to prove to Vail that their blindfolds or deaf-folds were sufficiently preventive. And they'd only have to keep them on during actual school hours.

Raymond suggested that he get a grade for taking care of Annie, and extra credit because it was a round-the-clock effort.

"Then that's your actual life, Raymond," Vail pointed out. "What would I be grading you on?"

"He has a point," Annie said

"Whose side are you on?" Raymond grumped. She didn't bother to answer.

-------

She sat in her cage, staring at her captor staring at the ceiling. "Maybe if I got an ostrich egg?" he suggested.

"Where can you find one by Monday?" she countered.

"I dunno," he muttered. He started to swing his mini-bat around. She retreated to the middle of the cage, away from the bars. He'd only lost his grip on the thing once, but once was enough.

"Maybe you could put a wig on the bat," she said. "Carry little Battina around?"

"I carry you around, I don't think I'll get extra credit for doubling my load." He swung off the bed and stared around his room. "Too bad we can't trade places for two weeks."

"That would be…different," she said cautiously. She'd certainly pay the bastard back for every indignity. "But how would we get you down to my size?"

"I'd wear platform shoes," he said. "I'd just wear them upside down." She laughed politely at his little joke. Otherwise he explained them to her, sometimes with little drawings until she 'got' the humor. He'd never quite grasped that it was possible to understand where the humor was but not to find it funny.

She suspected he was a victim of laugh tracks. Where it was funny, you laughed. Just like the TV told you to-

"Oh!" he said, pouncing to his bookcase. There were about ten books on it, and forty zillion action figures. He picked one up and carried it over to the cage.

She saw he had the Skywalker figure when he stood it outside of her door. "Hey? How'd you like to go steady with Luke for a fortnight?"

"You just said…"

"No, no. I'm not going to take care of him. I'm going to be him."

"Oh." She looked past his shoulder. "Then I'd rather date Dracula," she said, pointing. "Man's got better style."

"Fine!" he said, turning around to the figures.

-----

"You're going to what?" Dad asked.

"I'm going to be a sylph for two weeks," Raymond repeated as he took a slice of meatloaf.

"Are you going to be naked?" Mom asked.

"No!" he said.

"No," Annie agreed from her little table by his plate. He served her a pinch of meat. He was careful to use his knife and fork under parental scrutiny. At school she got literal pinches. "No, he's not going to examine the social or self-image ramifications of sylph status, just the really steep point of view."

"Ah," Dad said. "How are you going to get around?"

"Walk?"

"You're going to carry Annie around and pretend you're her?"

"Oh, no. No, I'll have an action figure. I'm going to put him on a stick. Like that invisible dog on the leash?"

"What'll keep you from going too fast?"

"Annie."

Dad shook his head. "No. No, but I have an idea of something we could put together after dinner."

"So," Mom asked, "two full weeks or just ten school days?"

"Just school hours," he said.

"Hmmmmm," Dad hummed. It was his significant hum. Everyone's gaze snapped onto him, but he didn't say anything else. For once, though, Annie thought that the man's thoughts might be amusing to her. He winked as he spooned a pea onto her plate.

------

Raymond stepped down from the bus and started to slowly traverse the parking lot. He moved straight from the bus to the curb. He didn't step up over it, though. He followed it to the ramped portion in front of the doors and then climbed the shallow slope.

His sluggish progress drew the attentions of several students. When he approached the doors a crowd waited.

He held a golf putter before him. Five wheels had been attached to it by an Erector set assembly. Four rubber wheels rolled over the cement. A fifth one, much larger, was attached to one side, looking kind of like the paddle wheel on a riverboat.

Opposite the big wheel stood a tiny figure in a tuxedo. Raymond concentrated on moving towards the doors. "Could someone open those for me, please?"

"Your hands aren't full," Jeri pointed out.

"No, but for the next two weeks, I'm much too small to open them myself."

"Much too small," Annie said from his shoulder. The crowd followed him as he negotiated the halls to his first class in the morning. Those that shared the class let him lead the way in. A few other students were already in place, including one in a wheelchair.

Mr. Vail looked up from his desk to see Raymond and his parade. "Oh, this should be good."

The bell rang and everyone scampered to their seats. Raymond started to step more quickly. Annie slapped his ear even as the putter started to sound a mechanical ratcheting.

"What is that?" Patty asked.

"Speed limit. If I go faster than my dad thinks Annie can go, the governor thing rattles and I have to slow down." Everyone waited more or less patiently until he reached his seat and sat down. The whole class took a deep breath in relief.

"Okay," Vail said, shutting the door. "I guess we start with Mr. Foster? I take it you're a sylph for the project?"

"Not exactly, sir."

"He'd be naked and up for grabs," Annie pointed out.

"Eugh," a few of the students said.

"Interesting. Okay. Do you have any classes on the second floor? How are you getting up there."

"Hitchhiking," he said with a shrug.

"Depending upon the kindness of strangahs," Annie said in a rather horrible Scarlet O'Hara imitation.

"You could use the elevator," Mary said, rocking in her wheelchair. "That's how I'm getting up there."

"I believe that would be allowed," Vail said. "Although you'd still need someone to push the buttons for you."

"We'll figure it out," Raymond said confidently.

"Or we'll miss Latin," Annie said cheerfully.

Most of the rest of the class had gone with the flour or sugar sacks. There was already one casualty. Sara's Little Sweety had fallen into a puddle in the parking lot. Vail provided tape to reinforce the wet sack before the life force leaked out.

Gary had home-made earplugs that he swore reduced his hearing to that of a brick wall. Vail picked up two big metal trays from the kitchen and had him sit in front of the class, facing the wall. Instead of banging them together, though, Vail just said, "Young lady that's inappropriate. I can see your panties."

Gary spun around to find himself face to face with the teacher. "Busted."

Dorian's balloon had a carefully sketched face on it, with a little paper suit hanging down from it. A spoon tied to the ribbon kept it from drifting away.

Vail recorded everyone's choices, signed the balloon and the bags of ingredients and wished them well.

Raymond went through the library to get to his next class. He wasn't supposed to, but the shortcut was the only way to cover the distance in time.

Mrs. Daggel came around a carrel to lecture the offender and came to a complete stop. A young male was carefully pushing a Dracula figure on a golf club in a beeline between the North and South double doors.

On his shoulder, a female sylph made whipping motions, shouting "Faster, you fool, faster!"

The Librarian looked from the Dark Prince, to the 7th grader, to the pet. "Overdressed, underdressed and not dressed," she muttered. "I guess on average you're within the dress code." She turned around and left them alone.

By the time he got to Algebra, two of the students had moved his desk as close to the door as they could get it. He slid into place just as the bell rang, nodding thanks to his friends.

Mr. Coupe was shaking his head as he handed out the schedule for the class field trip.

"Um, sir?" Raymond said as the man drew near. "Could you put that on the floor, please? Otherwise I can't reach it."

"Of course," Coupe nodded. "Have you considered how you're going to get on and off the bus on the field trip?"

"Uh…"

"It is going to be during school hours," Annie pointed out. "And it's a school function."

"Uh…."

"Think it over," the teacher said, turning back to the front of the class. "On and off the bus, around the exhibits, through the cafeteria… Now, class, before we leave on Thursday, I want everyone…"

"Welcome to my world," Annie said with relish.

"At least I'm only visiting," he muttered. She turned her back on him and stomped to the edge of the desk. She sat there with her legs dangling for the rest of the period.

-------

"FINALLY!" Raymond yelled as he stepped off the bus. For the first time in hours he could take full steps, stretching his legs.

"I still say you cheated."

"I wasn't going to pee on the floor, Annie," he said with an exaggerated eye roll.

"Hey, kid, if no one is going to lift you up to the toilet, or the sink, you're left looking for wet spots."

"Why would I look for wet spots to make a wet spot?" he asked, actually curious.

"If the plumbing leaks, and I pee where it leaks, no one yells at me for making wee in the cabinet," she said. He held her up to his face, looking at her closely.

She seemed sincere, but he couldn't always tell… Over her shoulder he realized that he saw his parents' cars. "What the hell?"

Annie turned around in his grip. "Both of your folks are home already? Is it a holiday?"

"Anything that would get them a day off would get me a day off," he replied. He put Annie in his pocket, grabbed the club with both hands and ran the remaining distance.

"Who died?" he asked as he came into the house.

"No one," Dad said from the sofa. "Just had some things to do around the house."

"Mom always says that's what your weekend is for," Raymond said.

"Well," Mom said as she came out of the kitchen, "I had some things to do, too." She held two glasses of iced tea and gave one to her husband.

"Um…okay. Were you guys making out all afternoon?" he asked. Annie slapped his shirt. Mom winced.

"Yep," Dad said. "That's why I need to rehydrate." He drank deeply as his wife slapped his shoulder.

"I have to…change," Raymond said. He scampered up the stairs to his room. He opened his door and was halfway to his bed before he realized it wasn't there.

The only things in the room were the dresser, which still held Annie's bird cage, beside the hamster cage with Thrud the Fluffinator; and several plastic garbage bags full of something where his bed had been. There was nothing in the closet and no drawers in the dresser.

He bent down to feel the bags, discovering that they were filled with drinking straws. "What the hell?" he repeated.

That's when his door shut and he heard the sound of the lock. He turned and ran but found that the lock had been reversed. There wasn't even a doorknob on this side any more.

He pounded on it for a while but nothing happened.

"Quiet! Quiet! QUIET!" Annie shouted. "What is going ON!?"

"I've been robbed," he said. He lifted her out of his pocket and showed her around.

"So, you're locked in a tiny space, have nothing to do, and you're sleeping on straw." She shrugged. "Seems like you're a proper sylph, now."

------

"Why?" he asked after a hundred hours or so in the room. He'd done his homework, then arranged the bed bags six or seven times.

Swept out both cages and done what he could for the occupants. There was a pitcher of water and two bags of kibble left on the table for his pets. Nothing for him, although Annie had graciously offered half of her food. Well, 'graciously' might be a bit strong, what with that sneer she'd been sporting.

"Why not?" Annie snorted. "They've been trying to tell you for months that you've been treating me… Aw, forget it." She went back to snaking a ribbon through the bars to decorate her cage.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, you remember that day you went to the beach? And I was still asleep when you left? Your mom thought I was with you, so she never came in here to see if I was okay. I had nothing to do, nothing to eat, nothing to drink…" She waved to indicate the room around them. "This. Nothing but this. All day. You bastard."

"You can't call me a bastard," he said.

"I think the reason you're here is to SHOW you what a bastard is," she said. "Be glad you're not naked."

His response was interrupted by a knock at the door. He sprang over to it. "Yeah? What? Can I come out, now? Can I have my radio?"

The door swung open a crack. He grabbed it and flung it wide. And found a wall.

A sheet of plywood covered the doorway. He pushed but it didn't budge. A panel opened in the middle. He bent down to look out it but saw only blackness.

"Here," Dad said. A paper plate was thrust into sight.

"What is that?" Raymond asked. After a second, Dad dropped the plate.

"Dinner," he said. A bare fist holding a handful of mashed potatoes and gravy stuck through the hole. The teen scrambled to grab the plate before that was dropped. He just caught it.

After that he got a chicken leg, with all the skin missing, and a slightly mushed piece of cornbread. Then the panel closed. "Shut the door," a muffled voice commanded him. He obeyed.

He retreated to the side of the dresser and showed Annie what dinner was. She looked it over, wrinkled her face at the fingerprints and shook her head.

He ate slowly, wiping his hands on his pants. Whenever he reached up to take a drink from the pitcher, he would pause, staring at his sylph for a moment or two.

-----

The plywood was gone in the morning. The door swung open at six sharp and a change of clothes were flung inside. "You have an hour to be human," Mom said. "Breakfast will be ready in ten."

He showered quickly and dressed. Just before he ran out of the room, he grabbed Dracula's stick and his backpack, then slowly placed his hand in front of Annie's open door. "Would you care to join me, Annie?" he asked.

Stunned at the unusual courtesy, she stepped out and climbed aboard. "Honored, kind sir, honored."

They went down to breakfast.

------

Tuesday afternoon, Dad offered Raymond one possession back.

"Um…the tape deck, please?"

"Alright. Aaaaaaaand, let's see. I'll give you five tapes. Which ones do you want?"

"Oh, Kansas! Gotta have Leftoverture." Annie stood in his pocket, nodding. That's the first one she'd have guessed he'd pick. She wasn't surprised by Billy Joel or the Star Wars soundtrack. But his fourth choice stunned her.

"Captain and Tennille?" she asked. "You hate that tape!"

"Yeah, well, if we're both going to be locked up in there…" She couldn't see his face from where she was. But she saw Dad's nod and smile.

"Well… then, uh, thank you, Raymond. Thanks a lot. What's the fifth?"

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Um. One of the James Bond tracks, if you don't mind?" she asked.

"I'll bring them right up to your cage," Dad said happily. "Now g'wan, get."

Raymond scurried.

Dinner that night was actually on a plate. Still no silverware, though there were two paper towels. He let Annie take her pick again. She smiled at him and carefully worried a bit of meat and batter off of the fish.

"I, uh, guess they're making a point," he said as they ate.

"They made the point the month after they met me," Annie pointed out, waving her sliver of fishstick. "Right now they're driving the point home. The question is, do you GET the point?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, holding his hand up as one taking an oath. "With great power, and leashes, comes great responsibility."

"Ass," she muttered. But she smiled as she did.

-----

On Wednesday, the class held a brief memorial service for Veronica's bag of sugar. Her older sister had needed to provide something for a bake sale, and forgotten until the night before.

Sugar Betty had given her all for the cause of a pet shelter, and everyone agreed that her optimism and sweet personality would be missed.

Veronica said she'd be going to the sugar shelter after school to pick out a replacement, but it wouldn't be the same.

Vail made a brief speech on how your responsibility for a dependent didn't go away, even if you were surrounded by responsible people

Raymond nodded along with the rest. Then he noticed Veronica looking wistfully at Dracula. He started to open his mouth.

"You're not," a voice whispered in his ear, "going to loan me to the younger sister of a cannibal, are you?"

"No," he said. "That probably wouldn't be smart."

-----

Wednesday night, Annie woke to a knock on her cage. Dracula was at the opened door, banging the bars stiff-armed.

"What do you want?"

"I vant to suck yur blud."

"Go away, Raycula," she said. "You may be nocturnal, but we have to be up early tomorrow."

"I order you, as yur Lord unt Mastah, come out, come out, unt be my blud bride."

"Oh, children of the night," she muttered as she got up. "What silly music you make."

She climbed out and stood on the dresser. She couldn't quite make Raymond out in the darkness. Dracula's face, hands, shirt and collar shone in the moonlight. "Okay, Count, I'm here. What do we do next?"

The figure crowded her against the cage, face scraping against her shoulder.

"ACK!" she shouted. "Dammit, kid! What are you trying to do?"

"Be a sylph," he said. The figure pulled back a bit. She rubbed at the hollow of her throat. "Come on. If I were your size, we'd be… I dunno. We'd be doing SOMEthing together, right?"

Puberty, she thought. It wasn't bad enough to experience it herself, now she was at the mercy of a horny teen. She winced as she found a tender spot on her clavicle, about the same shape as Vlad's chin. Worse, a teen that didn't quite know what horny was or what he wanted.

"Look," she said. "If you were my size, you'd be a sylph. Which means that you'd have been caught by someone. We'd probably both have been caught by the jocks that were chasing you. You think you'd have liked being Meat's little pet?

"Or Ted? If you shrank after egging Ted's car, what would he have done with you?"

"Huh," the kid said. Damned if Dracula didn't suddenly look thoughtful. Then the toy went away.

The hand came back empty, scooping her up and laying her gently down on her bedding. "I'm sorry, Annie," he said. "Get some sleep."

The bags of straws rustled as she stared out at the darkness. "I'm probably going to have nightmares about a giant Ted for a while."

"Sorry," she called over to him.

"Um…. Don't be," he said. "I probably deserve a few."

She didn't bother to agree with him. Not out loud, anyway.

-----

Thursday morning, Raymond determined that school hours wouldn't start until the field trip was well out of town. At six o'clock, he walked briskly across the lot and took a seat.

Dracula sat by his foot while Annie fumed on his shoulder. "You're not getting into the spirit of things," she complained.

"I vant to suk-"

"NOT THAT SPIRIT, ASS!" she screamed. Everyone on the bus turned to stare. Annie waved. Through a wide smile she whispered, "Do the Dracula imitation now, why don't you?"

Veronica came to sit beside him. Sugar Lizzie rode in her extra large purse. Raymond complimented her Smilie Face button pinned to the top.

"It's so even my stupid sister won't rip her open," she said. She pulled out a book and ready poetry to Sugar Lizzie until the bus started to drive off. "I can't read while we're moving," she explained. "I get carsick."

"I never used to," Raymond said. "Until my grandmother found out that I read on long car trips. She said she was sure I'd get car sick, so on the drive back from her house, I got car sick."

They chatted a little bit about problem family members. She noticed that he kept watching the time, but didn't comment.

Finally, at eight o'clock, he pulled Dracula up and put him beside Annie.

"What's that?"

"It means," Annie replied, "that station Cheat-Ting-Jerk is ready to commence broadcasting of their sylph program, which should have been already in progress."

"She's mad at you?" Veronica asked Raymond.

"No, why do you ask?"

"She's using a tone-"

"A tone people use when people refer to them in the third person?" Annie asked. "When they talk OVER a person who's right there? SHE wouldn't be upset by being ignored or left out of OUR conversation would she?"

Raymond shrugged. Annie grabbed his hair to keep her balance. "She's her normal self," he said.

"Wait," Veronica said. "Are you saying you're officially the size of this figure right now?"

"Officially, I am this figure right now."

"Huh," she said. She reached over and plucked Dracula into the air and dropped him into her purse. "Well, now you won't have to walk at 1/12th speed. You just have to go wherever I do."

"Hooray!" Annie cheered. The younger kids looked at her questioningly. "Well, it's just that he's been taking me into the boy's room all year."

"That's right," Veronica said, patting her purse. "Everywhere I go."

------

Raymond dutifully dogged Veronica's heels through the tours. When Mr. Coupe tried to divide the groups, he pointed out that he had to go with the girl, because he was trapped in her purse and couldn't get out.

Veronica seemed to enjoy the power. If he started to look at a piece of equipment or a photo, she trotted off. She also lifted Dracula out and commanded him to read plaques to her.

When they got to the outdoor gallery of rockets and satellites, though, he froze at the base of a three stage rocket.

"Come on, Little Ray," Veronica cooed. "I want to get Sugar Lizzie out of the sun."

"That line," he said, pointing. "Where the black line stops before the lettering starts? Right there?"

"What?"

"If I was Annie, and this rocket was me, that line ends where my knee would be." The three of them stared up and up at the looming missile.

The tour of Kennedy Space Center was different for Raymond after that. He started to evaluate the huge buildings for as rooms of giants.

An old rocket assembly building was about the size of his family's garage, on a sylph's scale.

The gantry they toured reminded him of the scaffolding used to paint a new mascot on the gym wall.

When Veronica led him to the cafeteria, he actually had a moment of disorientation. He realized that he was trying to compare the steam line here to the very similar steam line back in his school.

He shook his head. Annie noticed the smile. "What?"

"Later," he said. For about the first time, she seemed to accept it as a promise. He realized it was a promise, not just putting her off like he did sometimes.

"Wait here," Veronica said. She put Dracula down on the edge of a water fountain, picked Annie off his shoulder and stepped towards the women's room.

"What? I have to go!" he protested.

"I'm using a ladies' room!" Annie called back happily. "Your ass can wait!"

He stood by his representation and waited impatiently. If she'd left him on the floor, he could at least have walked toward the bathroom. But he was trapped three feet up off the floor.

More than a few tourists came out of the restrooms and saw him twisting in place. "There's open stalls in there," most of the men pointed out.

"Thanks," he said. And didn't move. He certainly didn't try to explain. They mostly shook their heads and moved on.

"Okay," Veronica said as they finally came back out. "Did you use the water fountain drain?"

"NO!" he replied. The two girls gave each other a look.

"All right, then," his classmate said. She picked up Dracula and pinched his head. Her fingertips covered his eyes. "I'll hold you blindfolded over the sink in here, you go over there. And go."

He was off like a shot. Inside the stall, he actually found himself missing the now-familiar weight in his shirt pocket. He even missed the usual commentary.

Something must have been worked out between the other two before he came back out. For the rest of the tour, Annie seemed to be in charge. She picked the meal she and Raymond would share. She led the search through the gift shop.

Raymond was amazed that he wasn't feeling very annoyed by the change of roles. He followed along, stood where he was told and paid when directed.

It sounded a lot like Dad's description of the man's role in a wedding. Was Annie his wife, now? He couldn't afford a wife.

Then again, it wasn't like he was going to have to provide her a wardrobe.

-------

On Friday, neither parent could get home before he got off the school bus. He took the opportunity to do no more than to steal a cookie that his sylph-self could never have reached, then retreat to his cage.

Annie sat beside his Algebra I textbook and nibbled at her portion of the loot. Her silence was sometimes rather easy to purchase.

"So, why aren't you watching TV?" she asked.

"We don't have one in here."

"Yeah. Why aren't you downstairs, sprawled in front of the boob tube until the folks get home?"

"You'd tell on me," he said. He turned the page and stared at the story problems.

"Not if we watch what I want to watch," she suggested.

"I'd rather do algebra and-" He stopped suddenly. She looked up from her piece of cookie.

"What?"

------

Mom was home first. She heard the television as soon as she opened the door. "Young man!" she shouted. Then the bag of groceries she held snagged the handle of the door. Her indignant march was brought up short.

Once that was put to rights, and the vegetables recovered, she stomped into the living room. "You should know that we intended for you..."

Mom's voice drifted to a stop as did her walk. The room was empty. She stepped across to turn off the TV.

"Excuse me! Mom? Watching that!" Annie waved from the coffee table. She stood beside the remote. Her plastic GI Joe drinking bucket was on the table with her. As were a few suspicious crumbs.

Mom sat on the sofa and looked around. "So where's Dracmond? He run hiding when I drove up?"

"No, ma'am. He's in his room." Mom merely raised one eyebrow. "He, uh… He's not allowed to play music while he's doing homework. So I can't play any, either. But he decided… Well, he said that I shouldn't have to suffer while he does what he has to. So he said I could watch TV until you came home."

Mom gazed down at the sylph. Raymond usually treated his pet like a talisman, never more than an arm's length away, usually confined to his pocket.

And it was usually a major concession on his part to let her pick one Saturday morning cartoon for them to watch. Letting her all alone, to enjoy TV while he slaved away on homework…

Well, it did a mother proud. He was starting to think about other people, and not just a day or two before Mother's Day or Christmas.

Annie twisted under Mom's view. The woman realized that the pet was interpreting the long silence and stare as a sign she was in trouble.

"Okay," Mom said. She smiled. Annie smiled back. "Dinner will be in about an hour. You and Raymond will be eating at the table tonight." She stood up and turned for the hallway, then paused. "Do you need anything, Annie?"

"I could go to the little ladies' sink," she admitted.

Mom scooped her up and carried her into the downstairs bathroom. She set her down in the sink and stepped out for a moment.

On the way back to the table, she gave the sylph a kiss on top of her head.

"What was that for?" The girl twisted in her grip.

"Oh, just, glad you're part of the family, Annie."

"Great. Now I'm a member, I'm going to get displays of affection in my hair!" She ran a finger through her locks. "Got enough lipstick on, lady?"

"You're welcome, dear," Mom said as she put the sylph down.

------

Sir Floats Up High was looking pretty ragged on the last day of the project. Tape covered a multitude of embolisms, but the weight dragged the balloon down. Still, the signature was intact and Vail recorded a passing grade.

The bag children were a bit worse for wear. One girl had tried to use the oven to dry a rained-on bag and scorched it. "Well, Gwen," he said, "I'm pretty sure even you wouldn't use 'broil' on a child. Pass."

Two failed for having forged signatures on pristine bags.

One had a valid signature on a flour bag. Unfortunately, Vail had recorded the boy as carrying a bag of sugar around. The conversation was deferred for Detention.

"Okay, vigilance time," Vail said, stepping to the front of the room. "Has anyone seen Mary get out of her wheelchair to lift it up over the curb or down the stairs? Did she always use the handicapped stall?"

No one offered to rat her out, so he marked her as a pass.

"Has anyone seen Raymond pick up his sylph-self and run?"

"He used the urinal," Dillon pointed out. "He shouldn't have been able to."

"Would you have held him over a sink?" Vail asked. "Or used the sink afterwards?"

"I held him over a sink," Veronica admitted.

"She did," Annie shouted. "It was very generous of her, holding a teen in her hand that was going number one."

Vail smiled, Raymond and Veronica winced and the rest of the class made gagging sounds and gestures.

"Well, that's going the extra mile, I'd guess," the teacher said. "Pass."

-----

"Hey, thanks," Raymond told Veronica in the hall. She slid books into her locker and smiled at him. "I think you clinched my passing grade."

"It was fun," she said. "Maybe I'll have a sylph of my own to take care of some day." She spun and walked off towards the gym.

He turned towards his Algebra class. "Hey?" Annie called. "Are you going to follow that up?"

"What, Veronica? I can't follow her. I don't have Gym until 6th period." He shrugged and walked through the hall, reveling in his long, stretched steps.

Eh, it'll come with time, Annie told herself. She kept forgetting that the big giant kid carrying her around was so much younger than she was.





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