Treats in the Basement Chapter 5: V

In the basement, the scene was
unfolding exactly as the sagely Dion had expected. After making sure that no
one was impaled, the nice young woman in the basement asked young Larmy if he
could still finish the task of painting and cleaning up the great mess before
he would have to leave. 

(html comment removed: block)Larmy only had twenty minutes
left on his research hours for the day, but not yet experienced enough to know
what he could accomplish in what amount of time, he enthusiastically committed.
As Larmy approached the paint cans to resume his task, he noticed that they
were unexpectedly missing. In the time that Larmy was receiving his new
instructions, the conniving pair of Flard of Dion had very skillfully snuck
into the basement lab, stolen the paint, and conspicuously positioned new cans
of paint tainted with a very strong corrosive. The pair had theorized that
Larmy would not inspect the paint, and go on with his task of painting with the
new paint, a perfectly reasonable action. Only in retrospect, and with the
correct paints returned, would the action seem like a careless blunder.

(html comment removed: block)They were right. Larmy quickly
found the new paints and brought them over to the rods, focused on finishing his
task before his time ended and not giving a second thought to the quality of
the new paints.

(html comment removed: block)Their plan, however, was not
foolproof. It was a good day for Benjamin Larmy, and his creativity seemed
boundless. Still inspired by the concept behind his earlier fiasco, Larmy saw
that his key mistake was in stacking the rods. Instead, he conceived, he would
pour the paint into a large container, and dip the flattened rods into the
paint after reordering them. This would still be much faster than the
meticulous painting of individual flatteners. He quickly poured the paint out
into 3 bins as he anxiously eyed the clock, which said that he had only 12
minutes left, and went to sorting the flatteners. Over the next 10 minutes,
Larmy efficiently organized all of the flattening rods. Sweating and satisfied,
he began bringing the flattening rods over to the bins. To his great
discouragement, and to the dismay of Dion and Flard, the bins were gone. They
had dissolved. In addition, the floor had dissolved, and the paint had
disappeared into the hole in the floor.

(html comment removed: block)Larmy walked over to the nice
young woman in the basement and explained the situation. “So, I was able to
organize all of the flattening rods, and I prepared some bins filled with paint
to dip the flattening rods into.”

(html comment removed: block)“A bit of a waste of paint, don’t
you think?” inquired the somewhat perturbed, nice young woman in the basement.

(html comment removed: block)Larmy blushed. He hadn’t
considered the cost of his strategy, but then quickly returned his mind to the
matter at hand. “Well, when I went back to the bins that I had prepared, they
had fallen through some holes in the floor.”

(html comment removed: block)“What holes in the floor?” asked
an incredulous, nice young woman in the basement.

(html comment removed: block)“These holes,” young Benjamin
responded, pointing. “Anyway, I have to get going. I want to stay, but I have to
get through my stats homework before 6.”

(html comment removed: block)The nice young woman in the
basement stared at the holes blankly, occasionally blinking. Benjamin Larmy
began his trek to his dorm to play Xbox.