Dear Readers,
Okay, okay! I give in to you all. Judging by the fact that so many people have read and loved this fic, I have decided to continue it. Much love to all of you who read, and even more to those who REVIEWED (hint, hint). Especially to DarkOnister, who suggestedthat I include some of Suzy's adventures as Monday's Tierce in her diary. Geez, I feel like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--cuz he killed off Sherlock Holmes until everyone complained, and he started writing the mysteries again. Sigh> oh, well. I guess we all have to follow the crowd sometimes...
But seriously, thanks for your support, I had no idea this fic was that good. I, to say rather bluntly, thought it sucked.
Best Regards to a Bookworm,
Miss Pookamonga :-)
PS: Sorry for the mixup with the last chapter--I accidentally uploaded both Chap. 1 and 2 in the same file. I fixed it though. Sorry again.
Chapter 3
I didn't have time to fantasize 'bout anythin' today. Stupid old Dame Primus put me to work! Urrgh! She annoys me worse now than when she was that icky frog in my throat. I wish she'd stayed a frog. Woulda been a lot easier to control. Coulda put her in a cage and taped her mouth shut. But,she ain't a frog, she's a woman with wings that takes over every time Arthur--ARTHUR! Oh, that beautiful, wonderful boy--leaves the House. Dangit, Artie, I really love you, but didya HAVE to leave her in charge?
Anyway, today she called me into what we in the Lower Atrium call "The Board Room" (cuz that's where everybody has meetin's and stuff) to talk to me--or rather, give me her list of chores.
"Suzanna," she said matter-of-factly when I came into the room. I hate the fact that she insists on callin' me that stupid girly name.
"Yes, Dame Primus," I answered, tryin' to act all dignified as I was straightenin' my hat.
"I have a list of chores for you to do today and I expect that each and every one of them will be done by the end of the day. Do you understand me?"
"Yes--yawn--Dame Primus, ma'am."
"And do NOT yawn in my presence, Suzanna."
"Yes, your majesty."
"And stop being fresh with me!"
"I ain't bein' fresh."
"YES, you ARE."
"No I ain't."
"Yes, you are!"
"No, really! Don't you like bein' treated like royalty?"
"SUZANNA!"
I let go of the joke. But it was really funny seein' her fume like that. Her face gets all red and it looks like she got a real bad sunburn."All right, all right, I'm sorry. Where's the list?"
She thrust (rather angrily) a piece of paper toward me and I gingerly picked it up with my thumb an' forefinger, as if it was a diaper. She gave me a disgusted look, but heck, what do I care? She's Dame Primey and she deserves to be teased.
I stopped bein' in a jokin' mood, though, when I looked at that cursed paper. Outta the corner of my eye I could see Dame Primey smilin' all smugly, like she really was Queen of the Universe.
"A-a-all this?" I choked. On that darned paper was a list of twenty-five chores I had to do that day.
Dame Primus kept on smirkin'. "Yesss," she said. She sounded an awful lot like an evil witch plannin' some horrible plot for world domination. "Oh, and it gets longer," she added in a sing-song voice. She sounded amused, too. "Pull on the bottom of the paper."
With a sick feelin' of dread in my stomach, I pulled on the paper and it instantly grew longer, to reveal--lo an' behold! Another twenty-five chores!
"Fi-f-ty," I said, feelin' even sicker. "Fifty chores?"
"Yes. Fifty. But I'm sure, that with the talents Lord Arthur claims that you possess, you'll be able to finish all of them. Today."
Now that statement there made me flare up inside like a huge bonfire. Ohhhh, how dare she insult me like that! But I didn't show my anger coz that woulda made her feel real proud, and oh boy was I not gonna let her have that satisfaction.
"Oh, sure. Of course. I can finish it all today. Don't you worry, Dame Primus, I'll be right on task," I said, smilin' big and lookin' as calm as the blue sky on a clear day.
She looked a little disappointed, as if she'd been expectin' me to throw a tantrum or somethin'. But she didn't get angry. "Well, off you go then. Get to it," she said lightly, wavin' me off with her hand. Stupid prissy old prat.
So I backed out of the Board Room and went directly to Monday's Anteroom through a secret weirdway Monday's Noon (formerly Dusk) had shown me. When I got there, I found Noon sittin' in a chair, readin' some book. In a glass-covered wooden case that jutted up from the wooden desk next to him lay the First Key in a cushion of red velvet. It made me think of Arthur--but I knew I couldn't afford to get distracted now.
"Hey, Noon!" I yelled loudly on purpose, just to startle him. Sure enough, he jumped up a foot out of his chair and dropped the book on the floor.
"Aaah! Oh, Suzy, it's just you," he said in relief. Poor guy, he looked like he'd just seen someone die. Maybe I'd scared him too much.
"Sorry," I said sincerely. I usually only am sincere when I'm talkin' to Noon coz he's my only real friend around here.
"That's--okay. What are you doing here?" he asked, puttin' that book on the desk and sittin' back down.
"I've got chores. Fifty. Old Dame Primey wants me to do 'em all today."
"FIFTY? That many for just you?" he said in shock. "But--"
"She really hates me, I told you. She's jealous coz Arthur relies more on me than he does on her."
"Well--of course--but...fifty? That's not reasonable for a child."
"I know it ain't, but I gotta do 'em, and I need your help."
Noon sighed. "Come here and sit down," he said, motionin' to a chair in front of him. I sat down and handed him that accursed list.
"What in the name of--!" he exclaimed when he saw it. "Why do you have to file all the reports on the inventory from the Pit that got here yesterday? There's millions of those reports! This alone will take all day!"
"Wait a minute! She wants me to file all that?" I yelped and snatched the paper out of his hands. Sure enough, right there in plain ink was written, "30. File all reports on the inventory that arrived in Monday's Dayroom yesterday from the Pit." "But...I thought we weren't even gettin' inventory from the Pit anymore!"
"Well, we still are. In order to fill the Pit, all the bits of Nothing that can be put to good use need to be fashioned into stuff like ink. That way, those filling the Pit will have less Nothing to deal with."
"But that's stupid!"
"I know, but Dame Primus"--here he made a face--"ordered for it to be done." He sighed real heavily this time. "Look, I can do that for you, if I can remember the right spell for filing things."
"Really? You'd do that?" Wow, I always knew Noon was nice, but I'd never known he was that nice.
"Sure," he said, smilin' broadly. "I'll do that. And all that other stuff she has on there about--" he took the list from me an' peered at it, "--cleaning up places, writing letters to people, and computing how much stock we've compiled in the Safehouse--I'll take care of all that for you.With sorcery, of course."
I was stricken with joy. Whoopee! That left only half the chores for me to do! "Oh, Noon, you're the greatest!" I cried, an' I gave him a big bear hug.
"Uh--ah--you're very wel-come, Su--zy--ow, you're crushing me."
"Oh. Sorry," I apologized, lettin' go of him. I realized guiltily that I'd been enjoyin' that hug too much. I didn't know why, though. Noon wasn't old, but he was a lot older than me. But still...somethin' about him made me feel strange. I almost kicked myself then, coz I'd forgotten about my dearly beloved Artie.
"Now, run along and get your other chores done. Don't worry about me, I'm sure I can get these things all done," Noon said with a reassurin' smile. Was it just my imagination, or did he actually look handsome at that moment? I mentally kicked myself--I was supposed to be devoted to Arthur, and him alone. Even...even if he didn't like me back.
"Umm, oh yeah, thanks again," I stammered. Then I scrambled back through the weirdway as fast as I could before I could start feelin' weird again. Stupid you, I thought. He's too old for you and you know it. But for the rest of the day, I couldn't help but feel real confused about that mornin'.
Okay, just for clarification, Suzy continues this entry in the next chapter because she fell asleep from exhaustion while writing it.
Suzy: Na, she'sjust tired of writin'. (points at me)
Me: Well, there's no air conditioning in this room and I'm hot!
Suzy: So?
Me: Heat makes me tired.
Suzy: Slacker.
Me: Oh, shut up.
Suzy: SLACKER!
Me: Stop it!
Suzy: Lazy bones.
Me: grrrr...
Suzy: Ha ha ha!
