VIII: Baldeye’s Chamber of Malice
Once they were at the entrance to Baldeye’s office, Lutid hurtled Tom and Peter into the office with one thrust, causing them to land upon the floor with their bodies slightly bruised and rubbing their ears. To their left there was a desk where there sat a young woman, Baldeye’s secretary.
“Troublemakers?” asked the secretary as she filed her nails.
“Who is not one in this school?” asked Lutid. “Where is Baldeye?”
“He is on the phone with a student’s mother over why her son was not accepted this year. You know Mrs. Denson.”
“Oh yeah,” said Lutid. “The woman who wants her son who cannot even say theology correctly into a school in which theology is meant for toddlers.”
“That is the one. He is yelling at her, threatening to sue her if she keeps on harassing us.”
“I wish we could. I just hope it works this time too. The boys in the cafeteria had an urge to play with their food. I guess they forgot to have their afternoon nap and went to the wrong school. If I have my way these two would be packing their bags back to Day Care and waiting for their mommies to come pick them up since they do not have the mental ability to even understand what Day Care means.”
“Really?” asked the secretary.
“You never know,” said Lutid.
Suddenly Baldeye came out of his office to see Lutid with some potato in the creases of his face. Looking to the floor he saw Tom and Peter and smiled. “Come in,” Baldeye said to Tom and Peter. To the secretary, Baldeye said, “Hold all of my calls for an hour, I shall have fun with this one.”
Tom and Peter walked into Baldeye’s office, which was very dark except for the minimum amount of light that entered the room through the dark shutters. Every item in the room was dark in color adding to the room’s gloominess. As they sat down at the chairs, Baldeye closed the door and talked to Lutid. As Baldeye and Lutid talked outside, Tom looked to Peter who seemed as if nothing was going to happen.
“Peter, what are they going to do?” asked Tom.
“Probably yell and scream at first, but soon everything will be fine.”
“Are you not worried about what your Mom will say? We will not be able to talk to each other after school for at least a month, and you are saying everything will be fine?”
“Do not worry Tom,” said Peter. “Everything will be fine, you will see.”
Suddenly Baldeye opened the door to see Tom and Peter facing in the opposite direction. Baldeye looked to Lutid with a smile and said, “Wait here.” Baldeye closed the door and walked to his desk. Tom and Peter both stood up. “Good morning, gentlemen.”
“Good morning Principal Baldeye,” said Tom and Peter at the same time.
Baldeye sat down, and was followed by Tom and Peter. “Stand up,” said Baldeye. Quickly both Tom and Peter did so. “When I saw that you two were in trouble with Lutid this morning, especially after this new boy had his head problem of earlier this morning, I knew that I would see more of you this school year. However, I did not know that it would be so soon. I am glad that you have chosen to see the inside of my office. To your left is my bookcase filled with books that I have never read. Why? Due to boys like you wasting my precious reading time. To your right is a water fountain that I use rarely as well due to my office duties. Behind you are the two chairs you sat on before, which usually the parents sit on when we talk matters over. Behind these chairs are four seats where the boys sit in these conferences, squirming as I give them an evil look or two. Behind me is a window that overlooks the rose garden. I like the rose garden a lot, it is where most boys like to be when they do bad things like smoking illegal substances or reading materials not subscribed in the curriculum. They believe that I am so busy that I do not notice. Well, they are right, but Lutid knows better. That is why Lutid is around, to especially take care of you boys who do not receive enough attention at home and need more by bothering with me. I must say that I am honored that you deemed me in such a high honor as to want to spend your time with me. However, I must say that I do not want my attention on you. To show you this I must punish you so that you may understand. Now I know that even with this one warning you will not understand. For weeks you may be quiet, trying not to utter a word and act like angels, but I know better. Within a few weeks you will feel that muscular twitch in your arm, the notions of youth in your head, and the pulse running through your feet, needing you to do something to grab my attention again. Then again you will be here, just like today, still acting as if you were angels, hoping to retain my friendship again only to do your mischief again. Experience has taught me that boys are very different from girls. You see I have two daughters, so I am unskilled in the understanding of boys. When I first took this job I was happy to have such a high position – the caring of a prestigious school with its very prestigious students. However, I learned quickly. Over the years I have perfected my principal technique. I feel that now it is perfect, so perfect that I will tell you what is going to happen to you today.
“Before I used to let the pupils go with a warning, however I soon learned that this was not good enough for their want to attract my attention. So, in the perfecting process, I have devised something great. Today you are going to clean the entire hall by yourselves until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building, as said by the great authoritarian Mrs. Hannigan in the movie about the wicked, disgusting orphan Annie. Then, you are going to come back here and your parents will be waiting. You will see by their eyes they have already been informed of your mischief and will have a wonderfully biased opinion that cannot be refuted by yourselves. Then, for the next month, you will have the pleasure of cleaning the hall every afternoon, and helping out the lunch ladies at lunchtime. They have been overworked, so you will work as they take a much-needed vacation. If any of the food is burnt it will be billed to your accounts, and I do not think your parents will be paying for that. So, if I were you, I would get used to a life of having your hands soaked in detergent and clothes smelling like mashed potatoes with slightly rotten cheese. Oh, and remember, that means cleaning the dishes too without missing any of your classes, and having an average of at least 65% or you will be expelled from this school without the hindrance of even a plea. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir,” said Tom and Peter at the same time.
Suddenly a tap was heard at the door. “Come in,” said Baldeye. Lutid entered, “What is it?”
“Two pupils to see you sir about the lunch incident.”
“Who are they?”
“Porting and Riply.”
Looking to Tom and Peter Baldeye said, “Let them in.” Porting and Riply entered the office but did not look at Tom or Peter. “What is it?” asked Baldeye.
“Mr. Baldeye,” said Porting in his formal voice, “we came here as soon as possible when we learned of whom you had detained for this grave offense of starting this food fight. It was quite appalling what had occurred to our beloved lunch room and of the tons of food lost in that moment.”
“What is it?” asked Baldeye again slightly vexed.
“Well sir,” said Porting. “I have an eyewitness for your help in this matter, the first person to suffer the blow of the food fight and at the scene of the incident, Riply.”
Walking forward, Riply said, “Principal Baldeye I was the first to be hit by any food. You see Richard Hampton threw at Thomas Reed, the new boy before you, some jelly, but Tom moved out of the way and it hit me. Hampton then said several comments at me that were very rude. After this our house head Kevin Quinsley came over to see the jelly on my face and was arguing about it when the house head of the Silver Dragons, Gregory Tund, came over and put onto Quinsley’s face some jelly as well. Tund, Hampton, and his friends Sean Williams and Harold Miller were laughing, Hampton slipped on a piece of jelly on the floor. His tray fell onto Big Ben. Big Ben then threw his tray at Hampton, but Hampton moved out of the way hitti
ng the lunch ladies. The lunch ladies, very angered by our attitudes, began to throw the food at us and the other boys began to throw food at each other as well. Then, after a while, Lutid entered seeing Tom and Peter Wilson trying to leave the hall. Miller and Williams said, falsely, that it was Tom and Peter, even though they were there when Hampton threw the jelly.”
Baldeye looked at all four boys, but still was not sure of the innocence of Tom and Peter. Seeing this, Porting said, “This was a crime like no other and not one that should be taken lightly Principal Baldeye. Tund gloated to Quinsley and us others there that he could do anything he wanted because he was the head of the Silver Dragons. That is why he smoothed the jelly over Quinsley’s face. He voluntarily defied our code of conduct, showing he does not care for the authority of you and others at this prestigious institution. Such insolence must be punished now before it gets too out of hand. A severe punishment for this team of rogues would be to have them clean the school for a week with only a toothbrush and bucket of water like in the good old days. Only then will these cads learn that they should no longer grab your attention so that you may reach more noble pursuits like reading your novels.” Tom and Peter were shocked at how Porting knew what Baldeye had said about the novels.
Looking to the back of his office, Baldeye said, “Porting you are a born politician, a born liar and a born weasel with your tongue. However, you are good with what you say, and your persuasion is very good. However, I must hear it from someone else’s voice if you are telling the truth by swearing – Riply.” All four looked to Riply, “Riply, I need you to swear that these friends of yours had nothing to do with starting the food fight.”
“Of course sir. What must I swear on?”
“Your ability to become a mathematical genius.”
Even though he said nothing for a while, thinking about how best to phrase his sentence, Riply said, “I swear Tom and Peter had nothing to do with starting the food fight.”
Seeming to be satisfied with this answer, Baldeye said, “Lutid.” Lutid entered the room. “These two boys,” said Baldeye as he pointed to Tom and Peter, “are not believed to be our main suspects. They are in liberty. Bring Sean Williams, Harold Miller, Richard Hampton, and Gregory Tund to me. I must have a thorough chat with them.”
With a smile at more pupils to come in, Lutid said, “Yes, Mr. Baldeye.”
After Lutid had left, Baldeye said, “I do trust what Riply has promised, but even I know that at times a person is weak around their friends. I have a test I often have of students when they enter this office. If they cry, they are guilty. If they protest, that means they are trying to get out of their mess. If they are quiet, then they are smart, too smart, and will know that it means that they are innocent, which I know they are not. We will see what these four will do. If they are all quiet then I will know that you are all a bunch of liars and you will be part of the janitorial crew until the day you leave Sudbury High. If you have any retraction to make say so now or I will not be so kind.” The four boys said nothing as they looked to one another. “Well then Mr. Reed and Mr. Wilson you may leave. I feel that your presence in the room along with the others will be too much. You may go into the cafeteria where I feel you shall feel right at home with all of the food on your clothing.” As Tom and Peter left the room they heard Baldeye say, “To be or not to be, that we shall find out about too soon for thee.”
As they were walking out of the office Tom said to Peter, “What is going to happen?”
“I think it will be all right Tom, but it was pretty lucky of us to have Riply and Porting come to our rescue.”
“You mean you did not know if they would come or not?”
“Of course I thought they would come, but you cannot always be too sure of this stuff Tom. Look who’s coming!” exclaimed Peter to Tom as Lutid dragged Ric Hampton, Gregory Tund, Sean Williams, and Harold Miller by the ears. All four were crying out loud, causing Lutid to make the pain even worse.
Seeing Tom and Peter Lutid stopped and said, “You might have gotten away this time, but next time I do not think you will be so lucky.”
Lutid then continued to Baldeye’s office dragging the four boys as if he did not hear their screams or did not care. Soon a loud thump was heard to have come from the floor - Lutid had dropped them down.
“Lucky for us that we are not them,” said Tom.
“They deserve it Tom,” said Peter. “They wanted to give us the blame for that fight.”
“I know Peter,” said Tom, “but what they are doing here is not right, especially if with all of this punishment going they continue to act bad.”
Suddenly Tom and Peter heard a screech through the hallway coming from Baldeye’s office.
“I do not know who he is,” said Tom, “but he is evil.”
“Who, Lutid?” asked Tom.
“No, not the dog, the master, Baldeye.”
Soon Tom and Peter returned to the lunchroom. They saw that everyone was sitting at their tables and were quiet as Mrs. Carchy was talking to them. All around the hall there was food in thick piles. Even to the left the lunch ladies were listening to her speak, ashamed of the waste of food they had created. As they were walking in Mrs. Carchy stopped speaking to the boys and looked at Tom and Peter. All of the other boys in the cafeteria also looked back to the two of them.
“Look who has come to see the mess that they started,” said Mrs. Carchy.
“We did not start it,” said Peter.
“Please,” said Mrs. Carchy. “That is not needed now after the deed has already been done. I hope that you see the work you have done. You have created such a mess it will take the janitorial staff all day just to get the food from off of the ground. Potatoes with cheese! The worst thing you could have thought of throwing. Well, I hope that you are ashamed of what you have done. Turning a beautiful hall like this into a pig sty. Do you get it? A pig sty! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” said Mrs. Carchy as she laughed at her joke alone. Remembering the situation that she was in, she stopped laughing and said in a serious tone, “I hope you remember this day when you changed the most jovial part of this school year into a food fight episode causing me not to have my free food!” Suddenly all of the boys looked to her understanding why she had volunteered to come. “Well, you would come for that reason too. Isn’t that why you all came?” Looking to each other the boys nodded in agreement and looked to the floor in sadness over not eating the free meal, perhaps the last free meal ever to come into their possession in their future school years at Sudbury High.
Suddenly Riply and Porting entered the hall and saw that Tom and Peter where in the spotlight. Smiling Porting told everyone, “Everyone it is all right, the perpetrators of this food fight are in Baldeye’s office right now. It was not these two, Thomas Reed and Peter Wilson.”
“Oh, I am sorry Thomas and Peter,” said Mrs. Carchy red from her mistake. “Who was it then?” asked Mrs. Carchy of Porting.
Suddenly Lutid reappeared holding Ric, Sean, Harold, and Gregory, who were crying, by the ears. They were wearing aprons, hair nets, and donning buckets of water, which they made sure not to spill – perhaps a warning of further harm if they did spill it from Mr. Baldeye. All of the boys in the hall, except Peter, Tom, Porting, and Riply began to laugh at them. Lutid let go of their ears, causing them to rub their ears. Suddenly Lutid looked at all of the boys with his stern right eye causing them all to be silent.
“As for you boys you are not just going to have a good laugh all day. You are to write by the end of the day 10,000 times: Food is for eating due to its nutritional benefits in my worthless life brought to me by my worthless, rich, snobby parents whom I shall become happily once my time comes. I do not care when you start it, but it must be finished by 5:00 this afternoon by everyone excluding Thomas Reed, Peter Wilson, William Porting, John Riply, and the others of the Brown Brownies team as they were the ones being offended and treated unfairly by the other house
s.” Suddenly throughout the hall a loud sound of groans was heard, but was over within a few moments. “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided food was for throwing and not eating like normal people do. Oh, and you have to do it everyday for the rest of the week. Now, either you work on your pages or you get out of my hall!”
“I think we better leave,” said Peter.
Quickly the Brown Brownies left the hall and went to their classrooms as the boys of the other three houses did their work. Looking back Tom saw Lutid say to Gregory, Ric, Sean, and Harold, “Remember, you have to do those sentences 10,000 times too by the end of the day or I am going to give you something else to do 10,000 times each day that makes this work look like that of playful otters!”
Lutid then walked out of the hall and looked to Tom and the other Brown Brownies. He saw Tom looking back at him defiantly.
“Tom,” said Peter. “Do not provoke him.”
“He is not a human, just an ego with power.”
“It is true,” said Porting, “but remember that power part. We do not want our luck to change so quickly.”
The boys left with Lutid standing behind continuing to look in their direction with his evil glance.