David looked up to see Spot still messing with the door to the library.
"Conlon, that's, that's school property there.you know, it doesn't belong
to us. It's something not to be toyed with." David started to lecture when
suddenly the door slammed shut. Spot sprinted back to his seat and stat
down.
" That's very funny. Come on, fix it!" Jack said looking at him and then at
the door.
" You should really fix that!" David agreed.
" We better stop this game," Race said picking up the cards and turning
around. " Bonehead here's gonna get us in trouble."
" Yea," Curly Fry sighed looking over at Spot and shaking her head.
" Am I a genius?" Spot laughed shaking his head.
" No, you're an asshole!" Jack shot back.
" What a funny guy!" Spot smiled at Jack.
" Fix the door, Conlon." Jack ordered.
" Everyone just shhh!" Spot demanded turning back to the door. Pulitzer
walked back towards his office, and stopped to listen through the closed
doors. " I've been here before, I know what I'm doing."
" No, fix the door. Get up there and fix it!" Jack ordered again.
" Shut up!" Spot screamed.
" God damnit!" Pulitzer's voice echoed from the hallway outside. The doors
swung open as he stormed in looking around. " Why's that door shut?" he
asked not getting a response. " Why is that door closed?" he asked again.
" How're we s'posed to know? We're not s'posed to move, right?" Spot asked
with attitude.
" Why?" Pulitzer asked Rave who was squirming in her seat.
" We were just sitting here, like we were s'posed to." she agreed not
wanting to get in trouble. Pulitzer looked at Spot, not believing Rave.
" Who closed that door?" he asked again.
" I think a screw fell out of it." Spot notified him.
" It just closed, sir." Jack lied, staring straight ahead not making eye
contact with Pulitzer.
" Who?" Pulitzer asked looking back at Chord. Chord let out a squeak and
slammed her face onto the table, hiding in her jacket hood.
" She doesn't talk, sir." Spot informed him.
" Give me that screw," Pulitzer demanded coming closer to Spot.
" I don't have it," Spot answered looking at Pulitzer in the eyes. Curly
Fry's eyes went wide as she started to bit her bottom lip.
" You want me to yank it you outta that seat and shake it out of you?"
Pulitzer threatened.
" I don't have it. Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect
place." Curly Fry started to giggle and laid her head on the table to keep
herself quite.
" Give it to me, Conlon." Pulitzer demanded again.
" Excuse me, sir. Why would anybody want to steal a screw?" Rave asked as
Pulitzer glared at her.
" Watch it young lady." He pointed at her and turned back to the door. He
walked over opening it and trying to put a folding chair in front of it to
keep it open.
" The door's way too heavy, sir." Spot tried to warn as Pulitzer let go of
the door. It slammed shut despite the chair and throwing it half away
across the hallway floor. Racetrack and Curly Fry tried to cover up their
laughter as Denton started to laugh and shake his head.
" God damnit!" they heard Pulitzer's voice outside, the whole room starting
to laugh now. The door opened and they all sat up straight, trying hard to
keep in their laughter.
" Jack Kelly.get up here. Come on, front and center, let's go." Pulitzer
ordered as Jack got up looking around reluctantly.
" Hey, how come Jack gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll
be anarchy!" Spot complained rudely.
" Anarchy." Curly snickered. " That I could handle." Pulitzer pointed to a
steel magazine rack and the two attempted to move it in front of the door.
" Okay, now watch the magazines. Watch those papers as well!"
" It's out of my hands.." Spot shook his head. The two finally made it to
the doorway, and set it down, as it blocked the entire door.
" That's very clever sir, but what if there's a fire? I think violating
fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at the
juncture in your career, sir." Spot said smartly. Pulitzer looked at him
and thought about it, then turned to Jack who was struggling to get out
from magazine rack and the door frame, knocking a few magazines and papers
off the rack.
" All right, what you doing with this? Get this outta here for God's sake!
What's the matter with you? Come on!" Pulitzer blamed Jack on the whole
thing. Jack picked it up with the help of Pulitzer as they moved it back.
" You know, the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the
library." David informed, using his hands like a traffic controller to show
where the exits were. Spot glared at him and he looked down.
" Show Dick some respect!" Spot mocked at David. Jack and Pulitzer made
their way back to the main section of the library where everyone was
sitting.
" Let's go.go! Get back into your seat." Pulitzer hurried him as he quickly
sat down and looked back up into Pulitzer's face. " I expected a little
more from a varsity letterman!" He turned to Spot. " You're not
fooling anybody, Conlon. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you!" he
threatened as the turned to leave.
" Eat my shorts," Spot muttered under his breath. Pulitzer spun around in
his tracks and faced Spot once again.
" What was that?" he questioned.
" Eat.My.Shorts!" Spot yelled in his face.
" You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister!"
" Oh Christ."
" You just bought one more right there!"
"Well, I'm free the Saturday after that.beyond that, I'm gonna have to
check my calendar." Spot shot back angrily.
" Good! 'Cause it's gonna be filled, we'll keep going. You want another
one? Say the word, just say the word. Instead of going to prison, you'll
come here! Are you through?"
" No!" Spot replied.
" I'm doing society a favor!" Pulitzer smiled at him. By now everyone was
turning to look at what was going on.
" What's he doing?" Curly Fry mouth to Race whose mouth was wipe open.
" So?" Spot answered.
" That' another one, right now! I've you for the rest of your natural born
life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?"
" Yes!"
" You got it! You got another one, right there!" Pulitzer yelled as Spot
rolled his eyes. "That's another one pal!" he said as Spot mocked him
again.
" Cut it out!" Rave turned to Spot, then mouthing the word 'stop' to him.
" You through?" Pulitzer asked him.
" Not even close, bud."
"Good! You got one more right there!"
" Do you really think I give a shit?"
" Another." Pulitzer snapped as Spot glared at him. Denton was scribbling
in his little notebook again, and looking around the room, looking up at
Pulitzer and then at Spot. " You through?"
" How many is that?" Spot asked.
" That's seven, including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr.
Pulitzer here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet." David
answered holding up seven fingers, using his thumb and his index finger to
count out the rest of seven.
" Now it's eight." Pulitzer added turning to David. " You stay out of it!"
" Excuse me, sir, it's seven." David tried to correct him.
" Shut up, Peewee!" Pulitzer yelled at David. He turned to Spot a smiled.
"You're mine, Conlon.for two months I gotcha. I gotcha."
" What can I say? I'm thrilled!" Spot mocked at him throwing his hands in
the air.
" Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe. You
know something, Conlon? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do
something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people.
You might be better off." He looked at Spot who was starting to show that
what he was saying was hurting him. " All right," he said turning to the
rest of the room. "I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time
I hafta come in here. I'm cracking skulls." He said as Spot mouthed, "I'm
cracking skulls" at the same time he said it. Pulitzer turned and left the
room, the door slamming.
" Fuck you!" Spot screamed the moment the door slammed shut.
