Several weeks has passed since Adoption Day, and nothing much has changed for Fernando and his gang.
They were sitting outside on the orphanage picnic table, feeling hopeless.
"This is just great, no one will ever want me." Fernando sighed, irritated.
"Don't feel bad, buddy." said Logan. "I mean, maybe your destiny is right here at the orphanage and you don't even know it?"
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Fernando deadpanned.
At Fernando's deadpan, Logan's face flushed red.
"Uh...that was a poor choice of words." He said.
Just then, a truck arrived at the front of the building.
"Well at least we're in luck." said Logan. "The charity donations truck is here. Maybe we will get some nice new stuff."
"That is, if Strickland didn't hoard all of the stuff." Fernando grumbled.
"Well I have a plan this time!" said Logan. "What if we take the box before he does? That way, he won't be able to take it from us, cause he'll never know it came!"
"No that won't work..." said Fernando. "But what if we take the box before he does? That way, he won't be able to take it from us, cause he'll never know it came!"
"Of course." Logan rolled his eyes. "Thought you never say."
1"Now all we need is a plan to get them." said Fernando. "We can grab the box, but we need somebody to distract Strickland while we get it. After all, I can't carry that box on my own."
"But who?" asked Logan.
"Well, what we need someone who is naïve and willing to obey what we say." said Fernando. "Like, one of the younger kids."
"Sounds reasonable." Logan nodded thoughtfully. "Who do you have in mind?"
Fernando turned his eyes to a 5-year-old little boy with blonde hair and glasses doodling with some sidewalk chalk on the ground.
"Pierre?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
"Of course!" Fernando folded his arms. "He's always trying to make us put him in our club and play with him, so it only makes sense to have him as our pawn."
"If you say so." Logan shrugged.
The two boys walked over to Pierre to put their plan in motion.
"Oh Pierre..." Fernando sang.
Pierre turned around. "Oh. Hello Fernando. Hello Logan. Do you want to play tiddlywinks or draw with me?"
"No. But we do want you to play one of our games." Fernando said. "If you do what we say, we might let you into our club."
"Oh goody!" Pierre jumped for joy and giddily clapped his hands. "What is this game called? And how do you play?"
"Well, it's called..." Logan shared looks with Fernando as he paused briefly.
"Give and Take!" Fernando exclaimed.
"How do you play?" asked Pierre.
"Okay, so you see..." Logan began, though he wasn't exactly sure how to continue.
Fernando managed to notice the look of uncertainty on Logan's face and quickly cut in.
"It is pretty simple!" said Fernando. "You have to give a lovely performance to Mr. Strickland while we take something from his office! If you perform for him long enough to avoid us getting caught, you win!"
"Sounds like fun." Pierre remarked as he nodded thoughtfully.
"It is fun." Fernando smirked. "Now let's play."
"Hooray!" Pierre cheered.
The three boys went back inside and saw Strickland doing something on his desk.
Strickland was busy reading some accounting figures on his desk, and the frown on his face tells them that it's no happy matter.
"Hello, Mr. Strickland." Pierre happily said to the orphanage director.
"What do you want?" Strickland said rudely. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I noticed that." Pierre replied. "Which is why I think you need to take a break and see what I've got."
Strickland took off his reading glasses and glared at the boy. "Is that right? In that case, what have you got?"
"I have a lovely song and dance to cheer you up!" Pierre smiled.
"I don't have time to see you sing and dance! I'm too busy admiring myself!" Strickland barked.
"Please..." Pierre begged.
"Oh fine..." Strickland sighed. "But make it snappy!"
"Oh yes I will sir." Pierre jumped for joy.
Strickland grunted as he turned his full attention to Pierre, which was a cue for Fernando and Logan to act.
While Pierre was distracting Strickland, the duo pushed the donation box past the office, hoping that Strickland wouldn't spot them.
"You sure this is gonna work?" Logan whispered to his friend.
"Of course." Fernando whispered. "My plan is perfect! Nothing can go wrong. Once we get this past Strickland, the other boys are gonna love us."
"If you say so." Logan shrugged. "In any way, let's hurry up before Strickland gets bored."
Fernando nodded as they kept pushing the donation box, passing by the office door as they went.
Pierre kept singing. "...so turn that frown, upside-"
"Alright, I've had enough!" Strickland barked. "Stop that singing and get out of my office this instant, or its the timeout box for you, Mr. Monroe!"
"Uh...yes sir." Pierre said meekly.
He ran away and went into the bedroom, where the other boys were gathered up to see something that Fernando and Logan were showing.
"Hola folks! Fernando Joaquin Diaz Rodriguez is the name and making y'all happy is my game!" Fernando boasted. "Boy, do you ever feel lonely? Do you ever want something new in your life? We'll have I gotten something for you! Logan, the curtain!"
Logan took a blanket off something and revealed the donation box they took from Strickland.
"Ooh..." said the other boys.
"How did you guys managed it?" One of the other boys asked.
"It's called a boy's intuition." Fernando smirked. "Now, who wants some new stuff?"
The boys all cheered and raised their hands.
"Good! Now line up if you do!" Fernando added.
The boys all lined up in front of Fernando, Logan, and the box.
"Alright, here goes." Logan smiled as everyone lined up in front of them and the box.
Fernando opened up the box and inside were stuffed toys and clothes for everyone.
"But it's not gonna be that easy..." Fernando smirked. "First, you guys have to give me, Fernando, something in return."
"But we don't have any money." said one of the boys. "What could we possibly give you?"
"Yeah." Another boy added. "What do you want from us?"
Fernando thought. "How about all your biscuits at snack time and giving me your turns for the TV on Saturday?"
The boys shared looks with each other, then one by one, they reluctantly nodded.
"Now that's more like it." Fernando smirked. "But only one item per person. If you want more things, you have to pay extra."
The other boys all groaned.
Over the next couple of days, Fernando, Logan, and Pierre were sitting on the couch watching TV and eating everyone's biscuits.
"This is the life, Loggie." Fernando told his friend. "Just lying down, watching Space Ghost, and eating delicious chocolate biscuits. Maybe when the next shipment comes, I can get them to do my homework."
"But what if we get caught?" asked Pierre.
"What could happen?" Fernando scoffed.
"You know what could happen if we get carried away, Fernando." Logan said.
"Yeah! Mr. Strickland will send us to bed with no dinner." said Pierre.
"Or he'll put us in the Box of Shame for the rest of our lives." Logan added.
"That big dope doesn't know anything, and we are going to keep it that way!" Fernando said as he ate another biscuit. "We'll just keep giving him the old flim-flam!"
"I hope you're right." Logan said. "Because sooner or later, that goat's gonna get wise to our racket."
"Logan's right." Pierre nodded. "We should never underestimate that man's intelligence."
The very next day, the new donations arrived at the home. Fernando and his gang knew this was time for another scam.
"Alright guys, the next shipment is here." He said. "Strickland is in the bathroom. Pierre, you keep him trapped in there while we bring the stuff inside."
"But how do I do that?" asked Pierre.
"Hmmm..." Logan and Fernando shared looks with each other.
A moment later, the boys went to the front door of the bathroom and put a bunch of boxes in front of it to prevent Strickland from getting out.
"There! That's ought to hold him." Fernando folded his arms.
"You sure, Fernando?" asked Logan.
"Of course." said Fernando. "As long as that those boxes and chairs hold him off, nothing can go wrong."
"I hope so too." Logan said.
The boys went upstairs to show the other boys the new stuff.
"Okay boys! Our new shipment has arrived!" Fernando boasted. "Now step right up and take your pick. All it'll cost you are all of your TV turns and chocolate biscuits. But if you want more than one item, you have to do my homework all week in addition to the previous two things!"
There was some frustrated grumbles from the crowd of boys as they shared looks with each other.
"What's with the long faces? Don't you guys want some cool new used stuff?" Fernando asked the grumbling boys.
"We do, but the price you're asking for is too much for us!" One of the boys grumbled.
"Yeah!" Another agreed. "We wanna watch TV!"
"Oh really? Well then I guess I'll just have to keep all this nice stuff for myself then." Fernando smirked.
"Sure, go ahead and keep 'em!" A third boy said. "When Strickland finds out, you're the one who's gonna be in trouble, not us!"
"Oh please, that old bat doesn't know anything." Fernando scoffed.
Just then, the door slammed open. It was a furious Strickland with toilet paper on his foot.
Seeing Strickland standing at the doorway huffing and puffing, Logan turned to Fernando, "You were saying?"
"You..." Strickland growler and pointed at Fernando. "My office...now!"
The other boys shared looks with each other.
"Busted." One of them hissed.
Strickland grabbed Fernando by the ear and took him to his office for a very unfriendly confrontation. He threw the boy on his desk while looking at him with a very menacing glare.
"So...I see everybody has been getting some new stuff lately...pretty weird, huh?" Strickland glared. "You don't suppose you know how they got them or how I could've possibly been locked in the bathroom, right?"
Fernando gulped. "Well, I uh...you see..."
"Yes?" Strickland's glare got more deadly.
As Strickland interrogated Fernando in his office, all the boys gathered by the door to listen in.
"Boy, Mr. Strickland sure seems pretty angry about Fernando selling all that stuff." Pierre whispered to Logan.
"Yeah, I wonder what they'll do to him?" Logan whispered back.
"Maybe he'll make him eat dirt." said one of the boys.
"Or maybe he'll have him clean the floors with his own toothbrush." said another boy.
"Either way, Fernando's not gonna be resting easy in the next while." Pierre remarked.
Back inside, Strickland was still interrogating the 8-year-old troublemaker.
"You know Mr. Rodriguez, when I first started directing this orphanage when my father-in-law retired, I knew you were something...special." Strickland quietly chuckled, then snapped. "This is no game, little boy! I have ways of punishing you that are worse than the Box of Shame! THIS...IS...NO...GAME!"
Fernando sank deep into his chair with fear.
"Now, what were you doing with that little box?" Strickland softly, but menacingly asked again.
Fernando swallowed as he stared blankly at Mr. Strickland.
"Well...I just figured the other boys could use some nice new stuff..." Fernando meekly explained. "That's all..."
Strickland snorted as he continued to glare at Fernando.
"People like you disgust me, Rodriguez!" Strickland spat. "And do you know what I do to people like you?"
Fernando shook his head timidly.
"I make sure they learn their lessons the hard way!" Strickland said as he grabbed a wooden paddle from his desk.
Seeing the paddle, Fernando swallowed.
Outside of the room, the sounds of painful yelping and spanking were all that was heard from the fear-stricken boys.
Pierre sniffled and buried his face into Logan's chest, who gently rubbed his back.
A short while later, Fernando emerged from the office rubbing his bottom while Strickland tossed the paddle back onto his desk.
"That oughta teach you rebellious swine!" Strickland barked.
Fernando sniffled. "Yes, sir..."
"And the same goes for the rest of ya!" Strickland pointed to the other boys. "If the rest of any of you even THINK about questioning me, you will get what Mr. Rodriguez here got! Capisce?"
The other boys nodded their heads in shame and then walked away. Fernando stayed silent for the rest of the day after what had happened.
That night, when the boys all went to bed, the other boys looked at Fernando with such great concern.
"Gee, Fernando sure has been quiet since Strickland punished him..." Logan remarked.
"Yeah, I hope he's okay." said another other boy.
"I wonder what he's thinking about?" Pierre added.
"Not sure if I wanna know." A fourth boy remarked.
After a while, Fernando stood up from his bed and went to the center of the room with a stern look on his face.
"We're busting outta here!" He boldly said.
Author's Note:
You heard it here, folks! Fernando is going to bust all his buddies out of this prison! But how will he pull that off? Will he convince his friends to go through with it? Stay tuned!
