Bea left Hortensia to help Miles collect his official government information. She was sure they could manage without her help, and besides, she really needed to investigate this latest wrinkle\u2014Bean-Tek as \u201cOfficial Sponsor\u201d of NSU alumni weekend. What could this possibly mean? Something bad, Bea was certain.<\/p>\n
\n\tShe dodged around the students clustered in the lobby, and past the bright green koo-bar vending machine.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBea!\u201d called Nola, as Bea stepped outside. \u201cI just had lunch in the cafeteria, and guess what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShe didn\u2019t wait for Bea to answer.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ll tell<\/em> you what. Now they\u2019ve got koo-bars next to the salad bar. It\u2019s everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis is starting to NOT surprise me,\u201d replied Bea. \u201cDid you know that Bean-Tek is now the official sponsor of alumni weekend?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHey,\u201d said Odin, catching up with Bea and Nola, \u201cDid you hear that Bean-Tek is the official sponsor of alumni weekend?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYes Odin, actually I have heard that,\u201d replied Bea. \u201cAnd I have a very bad feeling about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d asked Odin. \u201cDon\u2019t you like green?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat I don\u2019t like,\u201d said Bea, \u201care crooks who care more about money than people, and that\u2019s<\/em> who\u2019s sponsoring alumni weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHey,\u201d said Odin. \u201cI\u2019ve gotta go make a class switch, from Advanced Algorithms to Independent Study. Who feels like coming to the registrar\u2019s office with me?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ll come,\u201d replied Bea. \u201cMaybe I can find out whether Bean-Tek has taken over the whole school!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe registrar\u2019s office was located on the first floor of the University\u2019s main administration building\u2014a crusty old brick structure around the corner and down a block from the Mervin Frostly Science Building. The only building on campus which had been around longer was the one-hundred year old clock-tower, rising high above the campus skyline behind the new science building.<\/p>\n \n\tNola tagged along, doggedly quizzing Bea on the components of the human respiratory system while Odin went to submit his request. But Bea shushed Nola in the middle of a question about alveoli and bronchioles when she heard what by now was a disturbingly familiar voice coming from the dean\u2019s office across the hallway.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut surely, Dean Pegwell, you and the rest of the University administration can appreciate just how un-beneficial Miss Flannery\u2019s research might be to Bean-Tek…just as we\u2019re poised to become one of the school\u2019s major financial sponsors?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tBea kept her finger to her lips, and turned to face a bulletin board on the wall, so her face would not be visible to anyone walking into the hallway.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat\u2019s Hiram Scalmo,\u201d she whispered to Nola. \u201cObviously he\u2019s determined to stop Hort\u2019s research, one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t help you, Mr. Scalmo,\u201d<\/em> replied a second voice from the office\u2014Dean Pegwell, no doubt. \u201cBut graduate students select research topics with their advisors. It\u2019s not a task of the administration.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m done!\u201d called Odin, returning from the registrar\u2019s office. \u201cGoodbye algorithms, hello independence!\u201d <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOdin!\u201d whispered Bea harshly. \u201cHuddle. Now!\u201d She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into their cluster where they pretended to be scrutinizing a list of apartments for rent.<\/p>\n \n\tHurried footsteps clopped into the hall behind them, and Bea peeked discreetly to verify that it was actually Scalmo leaving the dean\u2019s office. But before Scalmo could get far, his phone emitted a piercing trill, and he slapped it to his ear.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYes,\u201d he said into the phone. \u201cNo, not good. There\u2019s a place up the block on Crotchett Street…Spiro\u2019s, no..Tri, um, Tylo\u2019s. Meet me there. Fifteen minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tScalmo clapped the phone shut and tucked it into his pocket, then hustled down the hall and out of the building.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve gotta tail him,\u201d said Bea. \u201cBetter yet, get there first. You guys with me?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSure,\u201d said Nola, \u201cbut I\u2019m not sure why.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ll give you two good reasons,\u201d replied Bea, as she ushered Odin and Nola out the side door of the administration building. \u201cOne: That guy, Hiram Scalmo, is trying to sabotage Hort\u2019s research, and we\u2019ve got to stop him, and two: it\u2019s him and his stupid bars that are turning Kitty, Gordy, Bob the pony, and everybody else scarfing those things into freakazoids.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBea, Nola, and Odin scurried around the block in a direction opposite to the route they thought Scalmo was most likely to take, and entered the tea shop to see Tylo engaged in an animated exchange with a saleslady wearing a kelly-green blazer.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut it\u2019s such an easy<\/em> sale!\u201d said the lady, plunking a large jar of koo-bars down on the counter next to the cash register. \u201cThey practically sell themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSplendid!\u201d said Tylo, handing the jar back to the saleslady. \u201cLet them sell themselves somewhere else! I sell a unique line.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut everyone<\/em> carries koo-bars!\u201d insisted the lady, as she returned the jar to the counter.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cExactly why I don\u2019t need to!\u201d insisted Tylo with equal determination. He handed the jar back once more, then turned toward Bea, Nola, and Odin.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat can I get you hard-working people today?\u201d asked Tylo.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeach bubble tea,\u201d said Nola.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSame for me,\u201d said Bea.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMocha frap,\u201d said Odin.<\/p>\n \n\tThe lady in the green blazer said nothing, and stomped out with her nose in the air.<\/p>\n \n\tAs Tylo whipped up their refreshments, Bea talked out the plan.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cScalmo knows me,\u201d she said, \u201cso I need to keep out of sight.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHow about this then?\u201d suggested Nola. \u201cWhen we see them coming, you sneak out the side door, and Odin and I will go sit near their table.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd,\u201d continued Odin, \u201cI\u2019ll record their conversation on my laptop while pretending to study music theory.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cExcellent,\u201d said Bea. \u201cNo time like now! Here he comes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBea stared intently at a puppies-for-sale sign on a bulletin board near the side exit, while listening to Scalmo order a black coffee from Tylo. Then, as Nola and Odin casually situated themselves at a table, she sneaked a final glance at the neighboring table where Scalmo had just pulled out a chair.<\/p>\n \n\tA man had been sitting at that table the whole time, since before Bea, Odin, and Nola had come in, but aside from the fact that he looked somehow out of place in New Stirling, Bea hadn\u2019t paid him any special attention. Not good. She wished she could kick herself without attracting attention.<\/p>\n \n\tThe man nodded in greeting as Scalmo took a chair, but Bea could see only the back of his head, under a fedora hat. But when the man removed his hat to reveal stringy waxed red hair, she wanted to stare, but knew she couldn\u2019t risk Scalmo spotting her.<\/p>\n \n\tBea quietly exited through the side door, then hurried to the front of the building.<\/p>\n \n\tBill and Bob!<\/em> Parked, at that moment, just in front of the tea shop. Bill was busy with pumpkin sales, so it was perfect cover as she waited for Scalmo\u2019s meeting to end.<\/p>\n \n\tBea positioned herself so that she\u2019d be obscured by Bob as she stroked his small, but now perfectly formed, wings and looked toward the tea shop entrance. She could roughly make out Odin punching computer keys, Nola flipping flashcards, and at the neighboring table, Scalmo standing up.<\/p>\n \n\tScalmo nodded curtly at the other man, whose face, from Bea\u2019s point of view, was now obscured by a poster in the shop window. Then the unidentified man stood, took a last long swig of his coffee, and ambled toward the front exit.<\/p>\n \n\tCuriosity overcame her sense of caution, and Bea now stared outright at the front door of the tea shop. Scalmo\u2019s table-mate pushed open the door.<\/p>\n \n\tEven with the fedora back on his head, the afternoon sunlight glinted sharply off the twisted wisps of red hair sticking out below the man\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n \n\tPrince Nerl, chief trade counselor of the North Waddo Islands, caught sight of Bea\u2019s gaping stare and winked right back at her.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bea left Hortensia to help Miles collect his official government information. She was sure they could manage without her help, and besides, she really needed to investigate this latest wrinkle\u2014Bean-Tek as \u201cOfficial Sponsor\u201d of NSU alumni weekend. What could this possibly mean? Something bad, Bea was certain. She dodged around the students clustered in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}