Author's Note - I'm so sorry for not updating for so long! It doesn't really feel like it's been that long, though... Oh well. To make up for it, here's a seven-page long chapter for you. :) If you want to listen to the Nutcracker song (for a scene later on in the story) go to wavcentral(dot)com(slash)sounds(slash)unknown(slash)nutcracker1(dot)mp3 :D
Happy Halloween!
Happy (late) 31st birthday, Dee Caspary/Snitch (October 21st, 1975).
Happy (late) 38th birthday, Mark David/Specs (October 27th, 1968).
Disclaimer - I do not own any of the "Newsies", the song "Wait on the Sun" by Michele Williams, the "Nutcracker" song, or the song "Superstar" by Toy-Box. I do own Kaitlyn and Brittany Andrews. Sarah, Kristina, Taylor, and Mittens (the cat) belong to themselves.
Shout-Outs -
RibbonHeidster - Thanks! Yes, this is going to be one crazy and fun story! ((Laughs))
xLittlexItaly - Thank you! I really hope you enjoy this chapter! It's not quite as funny as the others (in my opinion), but it'll get even funnier as the story progresses!
Socks5454 - Yah... I thought it would be funny to have the cars seem like "big bus" to them, since they are from the 19th century... :)
SusieMinnesota - I'm glad you like my story! I hope you like this chapter!
Chapter IV - The Magic Cheese
The cluster of newsboys stood silent as stones as the "bug" crawled away.
David wrinkled his brow in uncertainty. "What just happened here?"
Spot looked over at him. "Just what ya saw."
"Okay..."
"What's with all these wild bugs?" Race inquired quietly, mentally praying Spot wouldn't hear and whack him for a second time.
"I dunno," Jack admitted, "But we'se better be careful 'round here."
"If any of 'em try to mess with us, I'se gonna soak 'em good." A devious grin formed Spot's wet face as his lips curled up into a sneer.
Jack gave him 'the look'. "No, you'se not gonna. We'se gotta stick together. We gotta be careful the bugs don't get to us, so we have ta find a place to-"
It was then that they became aware of a black '01 Chevy Astro van. It was pulling up in front of houses, one at a time, then halted abruptly. Each time the "insect" stopped, a young person would rush out with something small and orange in his hands, then scuttled back inside.
Mush opened his jaw a little. "Uhh, why's dat person getting' in and outta the bug?"
"Look! It's gettin' closer," Blink stated as the "bug" inched closer and closer.
"Whadda we do?" A panicked expression adorned Mush's face. He was rocking back and forth on his feet impatiently.
"Uhh..." They all stood there, looking around at each other for a suggestion, but no one spoke up.
Kid Blink said in a nervous singsong voice, "It's gettin' closer!"
The sleek dark van was getting nearer... And nearer... And nearer, still...
It was pulling up in front of Kaitlyn's house, approaching the newsboys. Each boy felt his hair on the back of his neck prick upward; their bodies tense up with alarm.
The van was two mere yards away from them when it hit the brakes again.
"Oh. My. God." Racetrack whispered under his breath.
They were all silent for a moment. Then...
"TAKE THIS, YA DIRTY ROTTEN SCABBER!!!" shrieked Spot suddenly, hastily loading his weapon with ammo, which was a small gray marble. He swiftly pulled slingshot back and aimed it. Spot crinkled up his nose as if he had just gotten a whiff of the Bronx Newsboy's Lodging House bathrooms. "NOBODY MESSES WITH SPOT CONLON!!!" And with that, he let the ammo fly. It whizzed over straight into the "bug's eye", shattering it to billions of pieces. Right when the guy was climbing out of the bug, too...
"WHOA! What the heck do you kids think you're doing?!?" hollered the man who climbed out of the bug in a knit wool cap and coat. His face flushed the shade of a hot pepper, as did the face of the older man inside the bug.
"You tryin' to break our car or something, you little punks?!?" He quickly tossed some small orange package onto the doorstep of Kaitlyn's blue house and jumped inside the car. He said something to the other man in the car, but the boys couldn't hear what he was saying. The bearded one nodded hastily and grinned mischievously, a dark gleam in his eyes.
"Hey, uh, fellas," David said, vigilantly backing up. "I don't like the look of this... We better get out of here..."
Jack's teeth chattered again. This downpour was getting on his nerves. "Yah... Dave's right."
The short Irish boy scoffed. "I can take 'em! I'se Spot Conlon!" he smirked.
Racetrack began to step backwards. "You ain't gonna be 'Spot Conlon' any more 'less we get outta here..." He pointed his index finger at the humongous bug, which was now growling and roaring with rage.
Suddenly, the black creature charged directly towards them with an astonishing velocity.
For a split second, they all stood there. Each had the expression on their face like a deer in headlights. Their mouths felt dry, and tasted like pennies.
"...Oh God," Race muttered under his breath. No one else had heard what he had said, but every single newsboy was thinking the exact same thing. Their eyes had expanded to the size of a set of car tires as they felt their bodies grow colder.
The newsies swiveled around and scampered down the street, away from the bug. They zipped along the streets like video game character, Sonic the Hedgehog, which Kaitlyn's little brother, Taylor, was obsessed with.
"AAAAHHH!!!" cried Blink and Mush in unison. The boys were pushing each other out of the way to escape the vile, man-eating creature. The newsboys swiveled into the street, avoiding passersby who were taking their sweet time strolling along the sidewalk with their umbrellas.
They didn't care where they went, as long it was away from that... that... carnivore... thing...
David was near the back of the group, since he was not as speedy as the rest of the boys. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he shoved past a few people who were crossing the road.
A four-way intersection lay close ahead of them. Since it was about six-thirty in the morning, each of the four intersections was crammed with a long line of cars, with citizens inside their vehicles waiting anxiously to get to work early.
The man in the passenger seat of the angry bug held a tiny silver rectangular object out the window for a moment, it flashed a small light, then he quickly put it away.
"HEY!!!" the guys in the black bug shouted as the boys' paces sped up more rapidly. They didn't take their glinting eyes off of the young men. "YOU KIDS'LL BE PAYING FOR THIS BROKEN WINDOW!!!" the driver screamed, waving his fist at the boys as the bug inched closer and closer to the boys, who were now running on the sidewalk as fast as their feet would carry them. "YOU OWE US TH-" The bug screeched to a loud halt abruptly, colliding sideways with into the back of another insect. CRASH! The bugs' outer shells indented, some paint was chipped, and the van had tipped sideways onto the back of the car from the abrupt stop.
"HOLY – MMMPHHHHHPPHH!!!" he screamed through a bulky, swollen, white object that had just popped up from the bug, covering his face.
"HEY! YOU! Like, watch where the heck you're going, dude! That's not cool at all to crash into someone's new car! And you smashed my trunk! It's full of new Juicy, Gucci, and Louis Viutton clothes! And my new cashmere sweaters! Agh! I hate you! I'm so going to smash you into the ground, you turd!"
"MPPHHHHH!!!"
One of the red lights on the traffic light changed to a lime green, and the vehicles in the front began rolling forward.
"Once more," the newsboys whispered to Spot.
He gave them a funny look. "...Fine." With that, he shot another marble at the bug, and it made a small dent on the top of the car. Luckily, no one really seemed to notice. Especially because there was a bigger problem to worry about.
"Know what, loser?" the blonde teenager in the car called again. "I just got this Mustang, like, two weeks ago! I'm, like, so, totally gonna sue you!"
Honk, honk, honk! "Come on, people! We have to get to work, too, you know!" called out the irritated drivers behind them. The line of cars was piling up. "Come on! We can't wait all day! I'm going to be late for an important staff meeting!"
"WHAAA?!?" He shoved the white poofy object down from his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration, his lips were shut tight together, and his whole body was shaking with rage. "You can't sue me, little missy!"
"Like, I so totally can, you brainless jerk!" The blonde girl stepped out of the car, pulling up the hood of her designer jacket.
"It's not my fault!!"
"Hmm... Then who else could have badly dented my new red car, hmm? I don't see any other person in the driver's seat!" She kicked the black bug hard with her tall platform shoes, creating an impression of her shoe print in the car's roof.
A man poked his head out of an automobile. "Helloooo? We need to get to work here!"
Now's our chance to get outta here, Jack thought, edging away. "C'mon, fellas, let's go!" Jack hissed at his friends, motioning away from the havoc.
Whrrrr, whrrrr, whrrrr! A siren rang out through crisp summer air.
The girl sneered as she made her way back into her red Mustang. "Good," she told herself. "It's the police. Now they can arrest this thick-headed loser."
"Shoot!" the men exclaimed when they heard the siren. A colorful rainbow of vocabulary words spewed from the corners of their mouths.
Jack, David, Spot, Mush, Blink, and Racetrack took off faster than you could say, "Carryin' the banner".
-:-
Sarah, Kristina, and Kaitlyn, all laid peacefully slumbering. There was the sound of the rain pouring down outside in addition to an occasional snore, but it was otherwise fairly noiseless.
Kristina rolled over onto her side, muttering in her sleep. "...Snzz... Uh-uh... You monkeys... are not going to... take over... my banana... island... Snzz..."
Sarah laid with her jaws half open, a tiny puddle of drool on her down feather cushion.
Kaitlyn was curled up in a ball on her left side, like a cat. "...No... No...!" She shook her head a bit, then continued. "...Taylor... don't... Don't burn my 'Newsies' DVD...! Uah!" Kaitlyn bolted upright in panic. She had just awakened from a horrible nightmare. Her younger brother always threatened to burn her most precious item, her 'Newsies' DVD, but never actually did. Only in her nightmares. But, if he did burn the DVD, his sister would probably kill him. Not literally, of course!
She shivered. "...That's so weird... It's freezing down here... Why is it this chilly in summertime...?" She hoisted herself up and flicked on the old-fashioned lamp on her father's computer desk. She stood on her tiptoes and reached up for the electric heater. She was a short five feet tall, but she managed to turn the dial of the radiator to medium warmth. Kate folded her arms across her chest, rocking back, then forth on the heels and tiptoes of her feet.
She lay down again, but couldn't to go back to sleep. Typically, when she was awake, she had a hard time getting back to slumber again.
"...Kristina...? Are you awake...?" she called softly.
"...Snnzzzzz..."
"...I'll take that as a 'no'..." Kate wiggled around in her sleeping bag. "...Sarah...? What about you...?"
Sarah merely grunted. "...Guhhh..."
Kaitlyn exhaled deeply. Now what should I do...?
"Mrow?" The whine was loud and clear as a whistle.
"Mittens!" she scolded under her breath, grabbing the cat and gently covering his mouth with a hand. "You turkey...! Shh...! Don't wake them...!" She sighed for the umpteenth time. ...What is wrong with me...? I'm so bizarre... I'm talking to my cat like he is actually listening to me...! Of course, I have always done that, but still... Agh! I'm so weird... I'm confusing myself right now...
She tenderly stroked his gingery coat of fur with her delicate hand. Mittens' fur was velvety soft and fluffy, like the pale pink and white fleece robe her mother had sewn and given to her on Christmas a few years ago.
"...Mmph..." Kaitlyn heard. It sounded like someone was stretching. There was another sound, as well... Something was growling softly.
"...Umm..." She bit her lower lip, not knowing what to do or say at the moment.
"...Oh, Kate... You're up, too," yawned Kristina as she extended her arms above her head and stretched like a cat.
"...Umm... Yes... You can't sleep any more either...?" She noted the dark circles around the bottoms of Kristina's eyes. I probably have some circles under my eyes, too, she thought.
"I guess I could sleep some more. I'm kinda hungry, though..." Just then, the low rumbling noise sounded yet again, causing the two to grin and giggle. Kristina pointed to her stomach. "See what I mean? It's saying, 'Feed me, Kristina!'"
Kaitlyn nodded, still laughing. She and Kristina made sure not to make too loud of noises, seeing as Sarah was still snoozing on the tan floral-patterned couch.
Kristina craned her head to view the numbers on the electric alarm clock. "What?" she hissed. "Eight-thirty in the morning? We only got three hours of sleep? That sucks." She spread her arms out in a T shape and allowed herself to fall backwards onto her sleeping bag and miniature mountain of pillows once more. Thunk. "BLECH. I'm gonna lay here a while, 'cause I feel like it."
"Okay... I think I will lay down for a bit, too..."
-:-
Tap, tap, tap! The newsies jogged a few blocks. Panting, they stopped for a short break. They weren't out of breath because they were tired from running... Back home, they ran away all the time. Like if they were being chased by the bulls, or when they improved the truth on headlines a little too much... Mental note: Customers can be very scary when mad.
But the boys were wheezing because they were so scared, and had no clue about what just happened.
"Well," Racetrack huffed, "Whadda... we do... now...?"
"Uh," David's teeth chattered together. He folded his arms across his chest in a poor attempt to keep warm. It wasn't much use, since it was raining as hard as earlier. David covered his nose and mouth, then made a funny face. "A-choo!"
Racetrack looked around for a minute. "Sure are a lotta buildings 'round here..."
"Hey, look! There's a buildin' across the street!"
"Well, ain't you got the high brow, Blink," Spot grunted.
"Yah, but it looks kinda like the grocery store by the Manhattan lodging house," Blink said.
Mush's face lit up. "You'se right! It does!"
"Looks like it's open, too." Jack took a step forward.
Spot stepped into the street. "Let's go, fellas."
-:-
"School's out, summer's comin'. 'Bout time we had some fun. Days with you, and nights with our friends, yah. We don't have very long. Two months, and you'll be gone. So we have got to make it last somehow. Take our memories and rang them, that's all we got to satisfy. Wait on the sun, 'till you can come. Time to be creative. Efficiently, wish it could be summer every day. I'll wait on the sun. I'll wait on the sun. It gets so complicated when we get separated. Four years, it's too long to wait, yah. Take our destinies and place them together for the end of time. Wait on the sun-"
"...Stop singing that Michele Williams song, you evil llama murderers..." Sarah groggily said. She rolled over to her side. "Whoa!" But instead, she ended up rolling onto the carpet... "Grr..." She rubbed her eyes and yawned sleepily. "You two should be listing to Linkin Park or Evanescence or something..."
Kaitlyn "...Oh...! You're up, Sarah... Good morning."
"'Morning, Sarah," Kristina said.
"'Morning... Can you change the CD? Sorry, but my little sister listens to this song all the time at home and it drives me crazy..."
"Okay... Umm... What about Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, or Namie Amuro...?"
"Nah... I'm not really up for Japanese... Maybe later... Is Evanescence okay for you and Kristina?" Sarah asked. She preferred American rock and gothic music.
"No, it's too depressing. Let's listen to something happy and upbeat!" Kristina was sitting Indian-style on her sleeping bag, grooving to the music playing in her head. "What about the 'Superstar' song?"
Kaitlyn clasped her hands together and smiled. "Yah! That'd be good...! What do you think, Sarah...?"
Sarah sat up and grinned. "Yah! Absolutely! That song cracks me up!"
"Okay, here it goes!" Kristina popped the Michele Williams CD out of the stereo and placed the Toy-Box band's CD in. "Mm-hmm!" She skipped to the 'Superstar' track, and they all sang along to the track.
"I am a superstar, with a big, big house and a big, big car. I am a superstar, and I don't care who you are. I am a superstar, with a big, big house and a big, big car. I am a superstar, and I don't care who you are. Got many money, honey, I'm a superstar. My life is funny, honey, have you seen my car? I know a lot of people, I'm a superstar. Everybody knows me, right from near to far. I got a plane. I love the fame. You know my name, and I just want you to know, I am a superstar with a big, big house and a big, big car-"
"Hey! What are you doing, Kaitlyn?" Kristina and Sarah asked, referring to Kaitlyn spinning the volume of the CD player off.
"...I was just thinking... About last night... Do you think it was real...? Or did the cheese really work...?"
Crinkling her brow, Sarah said, "Cheese? What cheese?"
"What do you mean 'Was it real'? I think it was the cheese." Kristina shrugged. She began swaying back and forth to some rhythm only she could hear.
"What cheese?!"
"...Well... Don't you remember last night...? Before we all went to bed...?"
"Uh, no. Not really..."
"...Kristina said that she read in some book that if some friends all eat cheese before they go to sleep, they'd all have the same dream..."
"Oh yah! Duh," Sarah rolled her eyes at herself. "Sorry. I kind of forgot..."
"Hmm..." Kristina bit her bottom lip and looked up at the ceiling. "I think it was a dream. That was way too weird to be real. We were all really tired, as well. Besides..." She gazed back at her friends with a grave face. "The mystical power of the cheese is real." This made her and her friends burst out into gigglees.
-:-
"So this is the grocery store?"
"Yup."
There were people inside, bustling about. Mothers were filling their shopping carts full of food for their families, the staff was stocking the shelves, and some random teenage person in a store vest was doing the chicken dance.
The six boys stepped up to the large building. It was tinted a depressing gray, had abundant windowpanes, and a neon store trademark sign hung above the doors.
"Wow! The letters are glowin'!" Mush referred to the sign in awe.
"Let's go inside, fellas." Jack motioned them to follow him.
They sauntered up to the entrance of the store when something very peculiar occurred...
"WHOA!" Everyone leapt back and tensed up. They stared hard at the doors for a short while.
What just happened here? they pondered.
Cautiously on his tiptoes, Racetrack stepped up to the doors again. As soon as it happened again, he leapt back.
"OH MY GOD!" Race's left eye twitched, making him look a bit insane. "The doors are openin' by themselves!!!"
"Strange," David noted inquisitively.
Blink glanced around uncomfortably. "Whadda we do now?"
Silence.
"...Uh... Anybody got any ideas?"
"Hmm..."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Dave?"
"Nothing."
"I wanna see that again." Spot stepped up to the doors. When they opened, he jumped back, but recovered his coolness quickly.
"Leeme try." Jack stepped up to the entrance. He bolted backwards when they opened. "Whoa!"
"They open when we stand in front of 'em, an' close when we step away from 'em," Blink observed.
Mush looked up at the gray cloud-filled sky, and the aquamarine drops falling to the earth. The rainfall hadn't let up too much, but a little less rain was better. "Well, now what?"
David's ears perked up. He gazed up at his friends. "We could hurry and run through the doors when they open up. That would mean that someone has to stand in front of the doors so they can open, though... But at least we could go inside and dry off..."
"Good idea, Dave. Who agrees with David? Then we can go in there," he pointed to the store, "And dry off an' warm up."
A chorus of many "Yah!" and "I do!" responses resulted.
Jack nodded. "Okay, are we ready?"
"Yah!"
"Okay." Jack clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Now... Who's gonna stand in front of the doors and make 'em open?"
Silence...
Dead silence...
"Well, I'se goin' in last. I don't like that thing..." He glared at the doors spitefully.
"Okay, then, Race. I'll stand in front of the door," Jack shrugged. He didn't look too nervous, but deep down, he was freaking out. What's this thing that opens the doors? What if it hurts us...? What if-...? What if-...?
Spot's expression hardened to a solemn look. "Let's do this, men."
-:-
"...I don't think that's necessarily true, Kristina..."
"Yah, it totally is!" Kristina snapped.
"Well, just because Kaitlyn and I are not that good at this doesn't mean we'll never be," Sarah said, trying to be helpful.
"...Um..." Kaitlyn could feel sweat beads forming on her upper brow. Her eyes kept transfixed on her bare feet. Her waist-length hair fell around her face. She felt her face redden. "...Truly, I don't think I could cook to save my life..."
"Yah, you could!" Sarah said, using the back of her hand to brush her black bangs out of her emerald eyes. "Now, let's help our 'Chef Kristina' here cook. It's not fair if she has to make breakfast for all of us by herself."
Kaitlyn nodded warily.
Kristina raised an eyebrow. "Uhh, Kate?"
"...Yes...?"
"Remember last month when you were helping Sarah and I bake and decorate that cake for my sister's thirteenth birthday?"
"...Yes...?" She felt her face burning.
"Remember how when it said in the instructions to add two egg whites, you added the whole eggs, yolk and all?"
Kaitlyn said nothing. She just let more hair fall into her face.
"Remember how you added way too much flour, so we had to add more of everything else to even it out? ...It turned out all nasty and slimy..."
Silence.
"And when we asked you to help make the frosting color instead, you, by mistake, turned it puke green?"
No response.
"Well, I think you better not help cook this time," Kristina laughed.
Kaitlyn was quiet.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything..." She was just joking. It was true that Kaitlyn was a horrible cook, but Kristina didn't mean to upset her friend.
She noticed her timid friend begin to shake a bit. A small sound escaped her lips.
"Seriously, Kate... Are you okay...?"
"Katie?" Sarah frowned.
But... She seemed to be giggling, not crying. She lifted her head up, brushed the hair from her face, and smiled. "...I'm a horrible cook, unlike Kristina... But not everyone can be perfect...!"
"So true!" Sarah laughed along with Kaitlyn and Kristina. "So true!"
-:-
"All right... Are we ready?"
"I guess..."
"Okay... On my count," Jack said. His stomach felt like it did when he ate Kloppman's cooking at the lodging house. And that was really, really, really bad.
"Brace yourself," he whispered. Jack ran up to the door, and its doors opened. "GO!" he shrieked to his friends, his voice cracking a little.
"Squeak, squeak!" Race mocked him jokingly.
Jack was ticked off by this snide comment. "JUST GO!"
"Right!" they nodded. "HUUUAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Most of the boys dashed through the store doors as fast as their feet would carry them. "WhoooooooOOOOO-AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" It seemed as if gallons of water dripped off of them onto the sleek black and white floors. As they ran, they flailed their arms around like anime characters that were angry or frustrated, trying to keep their balance. Water dripped off of them and they slid across the floor like beginning ice skaters a skating rink. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" You could just hear the oh-so-elegant Nutcracker theme playing in the background...
"Comin' in!" Jack shouted as he followed suit into the store. "Wha-? WHHHHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!!!"
And so there it was... The store employees were gawking in shock at the chaotic scene, jaws dropped, eyes ogled out.
Five boys dressed as newsies slipping and sliding across the slippery floors, screaming and thrashing their arms and legs about. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" They glided across the newly polished floors like pucks on an air hockey table. "WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Mush and Kid Blink had slid and crashed into a large shelf of neatly stacked canned corn. "AAAAHHHHHH!!!" They used their arms to cover their heads as the canned goods began falling down onto them. "OWW!!!"
"WWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" David, Spot, and Jack were all sliding on their backs and fronts, bowling over people in the isles. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Another scream rang out, too... One that they knew very well...
"RACE?!?" Jack hollered, still spinning in circles down the slick floors of the aisles.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!! THANKS A LOT FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP, GUYS!!!" Race screeched.
The boys attempted to stand up, but kept slipping. "WE'SE COMIN', RACE!!!"
"AAAHHHH!!!"
"WE'SE COMIN'!"
Blink and Mush tossed the cans off of themselves, then raced over to the door.
Sure enough, the door had caught the bottom of Race's pants and part of his vest in the doors!
Four newsboys danced around in front of the door uneasily, trying to get it to open.
Nothing.
The employees just stared, stunned by this... Umm... Unusual event.
David stood back a little. "Why won't it open?"
"AAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!!!" Blink and Mush tugged on Race's arm to pull him from the door.
Pop!
Racetrack bit his lower lip. "Yah, ya hear that? THAT WOULD BE MY ARM! OW!!"
A piece of Race's vest and pants were still caught between the doors.
"UGH! IT'S EATIN' RACE!!! DON'T WORRY RACE! WE'SE GONNA GET YOU OUTTA THERE!" Jack pulled and tugged on Racetrack, whose clothes were still stuck in between the tightly closed doors.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS THIS THING?!? GOD! GET ME OUTTA THIS THING!!!"
"WHOA!" Spot slipped again and fell down on his bottom. He felt fury pulsing through his veins, and he was shaking. He began to grind his teeth in aggravation.
Meanwhile, David had made it over to Racetrack and helped Jack, Mush, and Kid Blink pull his clothes out from in between the doors.
"THANK GOD!" Race cried in relief, stumbling forward, slipping, and colliding into the pile of corn cans Mush and Blink had crashed into. "OOF!"
No one said a word. All the mothers had covered their childrens' eyes, as well as their own.
Then, over the intercom came a deep, monotone voice...
"Cleanup on aisles four through seven... And maintenance needs to be done on the doors, which are not working properly..."