Ships Ahoy!

The Scribbler

On the morning of the first day of September 2001, six-year-old Oscar walked into Ms. O's office and sat down heavily in one of the chairs by her desk. "What's the p-problem, Ms. O?"

Ms. O peered at him over the top of her reading glasses. "Um, why would you even say that? I never said there was a problem. I only called you in because I've found someone to be your new partner."

Oscar drew a sharp breath, his gloomy mood dissipating. This wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. "A n-new partner?"

"Yep. Here's her file." Ms. O opened it and held it up so that a photograph of a brunette girl looked back at him. "She's one of the four recruits coming later today from the Academy to finish training."

"But why—"

"Because Opal got promoted to Dr. O and she can't solve cases with you anymore, so you needed a new partner. Simple as that."

"No, I know that. Th-that's not what I meant," Oscar said, quickly shaking his head. "I meant, um, well, she's not qu-qualified or anything, is she?"

Ms. O glanced at the file report. "Hmm. Obfusco put no. He just said she's adequate at problem-solving and might be a potential leader in the future, but at the moment she's best suited for Investigation." She squinted and peered closer at one line of text. "That is, unless I mistranslated what 'raven writing desk' means."

"S-so she'll just be a normal agent. Ms. O, won't she n-need a partner for longer than the t-two years I have left until I w-work for the lab?"

But Ms. O merely waved his concerns away. "We can deal with that later. The fact is, she's coming in with four other new agents, two of whom I can partner together and one of whom I would prefer to work by himself. So she needs a partner, and right now you're our only opening. Later on when you finish your remaining two years, we can put her with another new recruit. It'll be fine, see?"

Oscar still wasn't so sure, but there was nothing to say. "Okay, f-fine. If you say so."

"Great. You'll meet her this afternoon, and start working with her next week. Here's her file if you want to look through it. Now GET BACK TO WORK!"

"Yes, Ms. O!" With an awkward little salute, Oscar hopped up, grabbed the file, and dashed out, forcing himself to push any imminent guilt to the side. The only problem is, he thought as he slid down the slide on the stairs, other than reading, there's not much work to do...

* * * * *

At least, there wasn't until he stopped by the newly-renovated lab to return a gadget.

Oscar stepped into the room and breathed a contented sigh. This was where he truly belonged. He could spend hours taking it all in, the green decór and the gadgets and the scientists scurrying to and fro, all of which he himself made possible. It wouldn't be too long before he'd be able to trade in his navy suit and red necktie for a white lab coat and green bowtie.

As he set the gadgets on the work table and started back out, he heard someone call his name. "Hey, aren't you Oscar?"

He turned to find a tall girl with three dark braids, clad in a lab coat and holding a clipboard. "Um, yes?" he answered.

"You hired me and you're taking over as Lab Director, correct?"

"Well, n-not for a few more years, b-but—"

"Then don't you need some practice directing the lab?"

Oscar hesitated. It wasn't like he had anything to do. "Yeah?"