Chapter 16: Début

As they approached the common room, she knew something was very different. Girls who had stared in fear (and sometimes awe) earlier in the day were barely hiding giggles as they passed. Others looked puzzled, sometimes whispering to the gigglers. Linda had a pretty good idea what was going on.

As usual, their approach quieted the room. Once it was clear that no adults were coming, the sounds of enjoyment returned. She noticed that the girls were passing around books by Baum, and a variety of others. She went around behind one of the apparently reading girls, and found what she had expected. The cartoons were nestled unobtrusively in the books.

Victoria winked and led her to the computer in the corner. She showed her what certain biographical references brought up. Now that she got a better look, the third panel was more recognizable, and more embarrassing, than she had expected. Even Blue Boy was fairly detailed. He was also positioned in a way that covered nothing.

Linda gave a brief half smile, then gestured to Victoria to follow her. They quickly made their way to her office, where they could talk.

"That last panel was more than I expected," she began. She had to wait a moment, as her friend let out a long suppressed laugh.

"I thought they captured that blush rather well."

"Along with altogether too much else. Oh, well. Done is done. And they seem to be doing what I wanted. Now comes the hard part. After another day or so, all of the known copies will need to be deeply hidden or destroyed. We don't want them falling into the wrong hands. The same with the on-line versions. Thank the girls, and feel free to describe my reactions."

"Has anyone told you that you get bossy when you are behind that desk? Even when you're saying something good?"

Linda stuck her tongue out at her. "Don't you have some homework you need to get done?"

Victoria saluted and left, giggling as she closed the door.

Linda waited a moment, to make sure she was gone. Then she got up to take care of another matter.

Linda took the short way, up the front stairs, and found her way to the utility closet. It took her a few tries to find the right key, but once she did, she found her way into the monitor room with no further difficulty. The woman at the monitors turned to face her.

"Since you can't find me, and I'm obviously not here, I'm probably in my office. Wouldn't you say?"

"That sounds reasonable to me. What can I do for you, oh hallucination of mine? And where can I get more of whatever brought this on?"