Chapter 7

TUESDAY 9:00 A. M. CST Henry Donaldson's Office, Chicago, IL

Alice was just sitting down at her desk and beginning to go through her overflowing IN box when Henry stepped through the door looking for all the world like that 'thing' the cat dragged in.

Alice gasped in surprise and blurted out, "Oh my God, Boss. Think some coffee will help at all?"

Tossing out a sheepish grin while rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Henry replied, "Well, it certainly couldn't hurt. Some Aspirin might help too if you have any on hand." Heaving a sigh, he added, "You know, I don't have a clue how full time politicians keep it together. The demands on your time are just mind boggling."

Hearing 'that' tone of voice coming from her adopted dad kicked Alice's mothering instincts into high gear, as she responded with, "Boss, you need a buffer. You know, someone to screen the demands of the office to a workable level. I need to apologize for not doing that already, but you can bet it will get taken care of from here on out. Oh, by the way, you'll be in a meeting for the next forty five minutes."

A slightly puzzled expression spread across Henry's face, as he said, "What? I don't recall any meeting this morning. Am I just totally losing it?"

Placing two Ibuprofen tablets and a mug of Marga's love in Henry's hands, while that mischievous little girl look crawled over her face, Alice said, "No, you're not losing it. The buffer just came up to full strength and is scheduled to last at least forty five minutes if not longer. Now go sit down and relax. I'll hold the fort for a bit."

Even through the weariness, Alice could feel the 'thank you' radiating from Henry's soul, as he bent over and lightly kissed the top of her head while murmuring, "Thanks Alice, you're just the best."

"I know," Alice replied, "Now scoot in there and don't worry about a thing for a while. I'll take care of the scheduling from here on out."

As Tina made her way toward her second period class, she was mildly curious when she heard her name paged to the office. Heading that way she mulled over what the reason for the call could be.

Once she'd arrived and notified the staff she was there she was moderately surprised this time to be sent immediately into the Principal's office. As she neared his door, she stretched out her Mage sense to get an overview of what was going on. What appeared on her Mage radar was one very frustrated administrator that was wondering how this issue had gotten so blown out of proportion. 'OK, this is pretty weird, ' she thought.

Opening the door, she poked her head through and said, "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Miss. Samuelson, please have a seat and I'll explain."

He then launched into his prepared intro with, "We have received a few complaints from one of your teachers regarding classroom disruptions by you. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

You could almost see the light bulb come on over Tina's head, as she replied with, "Let me guess. Those complaints wouldn't have originated from 'Sieg-Heil-McCreedy', would they?"

A dawning respect began flowing over the Principal's face as he nodded yes.

"You do know that woman is a complete menace, right?" asked Tina.

With a sigh that seemed to originate in his ankles, the Principal answered, "Yes, but she is tenured in and there is nothing I can do about it."

The last thing the Principal had expected this statement to produce was the answering giggle, as Tina said with a chuckle, "You could always have a budget crunch happen. Nothing you can do about that either except trim the staff."