Thought of this idea one day at work, and figured I'd go ahead and write it out. Ended up being short, so I put it here. Hope y'all enjoy!

This, That, and Etc.

Ron had pretty much gotten the handle of things working at Smarty Mart, but there was still one aspect of the job that he had just a little trouble with… the Stockroom.

"Aww Mann… I knew I shouldn't have drawn straws with Mr. B. to see who straightens up this place this week. I swear, I think he…"

In the middle of ruminating, a deep voice interrupted the young boy's thoughts. "You think what, Stoppable?"

Spinning around, Ron had to think fast. Curse this thinking aloud thing. "Oh h… hey there Mr. B. I… I was just thinking that you are one of the fairest guys that I know! On this planet! In this… stockroom. Heh heh." As he spoke Ron was unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeeeaahhh right." The teacher, now Smarty Mart employee said with a sideways glance. "So… you do have a better plan of attacking this mess than the last time, right?"

"Plan of…" The tow-headed teen started to say with a confused look on his face, but then suddenly realized what the large man was saying, and started to point out things in the immediate area around him "Oh, yeah… I do. I'm going to put this here, that there and… those over…"

Mr. Barkin grumbled. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you." This was definitely not a question, but a statement of fact, and the nervous look on Ron's face confirmed Mr. B's assessment.

Before he realized what he was doing, the part-time Smarty Mart employee and full-time teacher started… teaching. "Let me suggest you put this here, that there, and those up there." Like Ron had done previously, Mr. Barkin was pointing out everything he was talking about.

At this point Ron was starting to understand the concept of what Mr. Barkin was doing, so he began to make a few suggestions as well. "So what if I put this over there, those inside here, that over by that, and these under there."

"Where?"

"Under there." Ron made a half-hearted attempt at indicating the location.

"Under where?"

"Ha!"

"What?" By now Mr. Barkin was confused.

"hee hee… I made you say underwear."

"Stoppable…" The large teacher grated through his teeth.

"Sorry Mr. B. So if I put this here, that there, those over there, these up there, those… thingy's in this, the whatchamacallits in the doohickey and the thingamabobs next to the whatever that is… I should be golden, right?"

Not having any idea what Ron was talking about or referring to, Mr. Barkin just nodded as he walked out of the stockroom backwards, all the while keeping an eye on the boy. "Tell you what Stoppable, I'll come back in two hours and see how you're doing, OK?"

"OK Mr. B. See you in two!"

…x x x x…

Two hours later, Steve Barkin was standing just outside the swinging doors of the stockroom. He really didn't want to see what kind of mess Ron Stoppable made of the area, but it couldn't be worse than getting locked in a crate and being flown over seas, could it?

With a deep breath, Mr. Barkin pushed his way in, and immediately he couldn't believe his eyes. There was Stoppable, placing one thing on a shelf, and everything else was… organized perfectly! His jaw dropped, and for once in his life Steve Barkin was almost speechless.

"How did you… what did you…"

"Oh hey there Mr. B." Ron said while wiping his hands on his pants. "Whataya think? I just took your suggestion of how to start, and I went from there. It was actually pretty easy once I figured out your system."

"My… sys… system?" Confusion reigned on his face.

"Yeah! You said, and I quote… 'Let me suggest you put this here, that there, and those up there.' Once I got the hang of what you were saying, every thing else just clicked and fell into place." He finished with a big smile.

"But I wasn't telling… I mean, I only suggested a couple things and I wasn't specific." The large man shook his head in complete confusion and disbelief that this kid took a simple little non-specific suggestion and used it to organize a stockroom of over 1200 items.

Still not quite believing what had just happened, Mr. Barkin shook his head and turned around to leave the now pristine stockroom. He heard Stoppable call out as he pushed through the doors, "So ya think I'll get Employee of the Year for this?"

The End…

Hopefully this will get my thinking cap fired up so I can finish "Possible Manipulation" and work on other things I've wanted to write.