Part 2: May 22 - The Trip to the Super Store

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Nancy watched the children as they ate the second breakfast of their new lives in their new home. She continued to make mental notes about how the children clustered in groups, watching for any changes in behavior and who clung to whom. There were nine sibling sets and then the classmates who had been friends since their first years at school. Now they all clung to each other for support.

The little café was almost silent; if this had been the school cafeteria, you would not have been able to hear yourself think for the boisterous talking, laughing, and giggling. But the children were very subdued as their emotional grasp of the depth of this situation continued to sink in. She wondered what, if anything, she could do to prepare for the torrents of grief that had to be coming. She knew that a stable routine could help the children feel safe, plus making life as normal as possible. However, her idea of normal was the classroom routine, and yesterday had shown her that she had to break away from that habit—and fast. She needed to develop a completely new way of thinking.

I just need to develop a new curriculum. The pets had been a brilliant idea; I’ll have to thank Sam for that one. I can use the pets as one way to set up a new daily routine. Now I need to learn all I can about taking care of pets. She had never had time for a pet. She had had a fish tank in the classroom once, but the science teacher had helped her set it up and did all the dirty work for her. Now there were dogs, cats, guinea pigs, ferrets—and who knew what else Sam had unloaded yesterday. And here I am out of my element again.

She turned her attention back to the Three Musketeers—Jayden, Ryan, and Randy—and wondered what they could possibly be planning now. They kept glancing at her over their breakfast. I know that look, you little twerps. What are you three up to now? She shook her head. I’ll have to find some way to keep those boys very busy.

It would be absolutely impossible for her to watch those boys as much as they needed to be watched. In the safe environment of the school, there had been nineteen elementary teachers plus support staff. Everyone knew the boys, and they all kept a close lookout for their mischievous antics. It was a full-time job keeping the boys—and everyone else—safe from their schemes. This new environment offered the boys far too many opportunities to get into trouble, especially with so few adults available to protect them.

Nancy covertly watched the three troublemakers with her peripheral vision. She was aware that they were watching her back, and that was the dead giveaway that they were up to something again.

Jayden glanced up at Mrs. Jackson. “She’s watching us,” he stated. “And she knows we’re watching her.”

“Then stop looking at her, you little dumb-shit,” Randy growled. “We need her to not watch us, or we’ll never get back into that building. She’s suspicious now.”

“It’s not like I was staring at her, I just looked up fast. She’s just always looking at us when I do,” Jayden complained.

“Just finish breakfast, and when we get outside, we have to find a way to get friendly with that old guy—Carl?” Ryan said. “We get on his good side, and then we get to go wherever he and that Tim kid go, and we’ll get a chance to get back in that building. Jay, did you see any science labs when you were in there?”

“Naw, I told you last night. I ran like hell to get down the stairs to unlock that window we found behind the bushes. That’s when I saw the other old guy coming, and I screwed back upstairs to climb back out the window. Remember, I just barely made it,” Jayden retorted. “I told you that all I could see were some vending machines in some areas, and it looked like they were all full of good stuff—you know, like candy and soda, all the stuff we don’t get at school or home or here.” He poured a spoonful of cereal from his bowl back in with a splat.

Randy leaned across the table and whispered. “Look, those two go to the barn or farm or whatever it is several times a day.” He glanced at Tim sitting with Carl. “The old man milks the cows and feeds the chickens. So, we get friendly with that Tim kid or the old man, and we go help them at the barn. How hard can it be to feed chickens? We feed the birds, tell them we’re done, and then take off to check out that building.”

“Should we split up and follow them around?” asked Jayden.

“No, stupid,” Randy hissed. “You keep your eyes open for an opportunity to be a good little boy and just help out. If we follow them around, you’ll just make ole Jackson even more suspicious. Okay, you two dickheads, everyone is getting ready to go out.” Randy stood up and picked up his cereal bowl. “Now we go out and look for an opportunity to butter up that Tim kid or the old man. Remember to ask questions like you’re really interested in the farm or the animals or whatever. Once we’re going back and forth from the farm to the dorm, then we’ll have time to get out from under Jackson’s thumb and get back into that building. I want to find the science labs. There’s gotta be some really cool stuff in there to mess around with.”

The other two boys grinned and nodded. Ryan and Jayden followed Randy like a couple of loyal puppies. Randy was older than his two friends by one year. It had been Randy who had attached himself to Jayden, the class computer whiz. Randy had encouraged Jayden to find ways around the computer safety blocks so they could gain access to the restricted online games. Whenever the boys got into trouble, it was always Randy who was in the lead, with the two younger boys tagging along on the misadventures.

Randy had been looking forward to getting his first implants this summer and had planned for Jayden to help him bypass all the parental blocks so he could access the web games that were so popular with the teenagers.

“Now remember to go out and play nice. Don’t give Jackson any excuse to ground us—it’ll take days to get back on her good side, or at least to the point where she’s not watching us like a hawk again.” Randy paused. “We need to make her think that we’re not up to something, you know, get her guard down so she’ll stop watching us. We just have to be good little boys for a while.”

The two younger boys nodded and smiled as they left the food court and followed the rest of the children outside.

“Now remember, if you get a chance, ask the old guy questions about the animals in the barn. Get him to think that we’re really interested. You know, butter him up.” Randy waited for Jayden and Ryan to think this through, then added, “Then we’ll be free.”

Ryan suggested, “I was thinking that we might need to collect all the food from the vending machines and stash it somewhere else. Then if we do get caught, at least we’ll have a backup. It’ll just be a matter of time before someone else discovers the supply of snacks, and our stuff will just be taken away by Jackson for everyone to share.”

Randy shook his head as they picked up their dishes. “This chore shit is growing old. You know, we could use some of the stuff we don’t like from the vending machines to bribe the little kids to do our chores.”

Ryan and Jayden nodded as they followed the group outside.