Long after the students and teachers left for the day, Principal Benbrook sat in his office. He ignored the hunger pains in his stomach crying out for dinner. Usually he never stayed this late at school, but there was something that had to be taken care of.
A custodian moved by his door with an industrial powered vacuum. He heard no pings or pangs as debris was sucked up into the vacuum.
Clean, he thought.
Principal Benbrook stared at his desk again and reread the letter one more time. The request so ridiculous that he couldn’t believe it was real.
Dear Principal Benbrook,
We would really like a class pet. Spiders are too scary. Can we have a hamster?
Love,
Kindergarten
Principal Benbrook thought back to the science fair and pushed the letter off his desk. This was going too far.
The motto at Edgeview Elementary had always been that a clean classroom leads to a clean mind. All of this trouble with Bob would lead to low test scores for the school.
“This ends tonight,” Principal Benbrook said getting up from his chair.
Principal Benbrook strolled down the halls of his school as a leisurely pace. Outside of the kindergarten classrooms dozens of pictures of hamsters were taped to the wall. Several were named Steven. At the very end of the pictures was a black blob with eight straight legs. Only one word labeled it: Bob.
Principal Benbrook put his hand up to pull down the picture, but thought better of it. It was one thing to go after fourth graders, but kindergartners didn’t know any better. Principal Benbrook walked on, holding his hands behind his back.
He passed by the library and grit his teeth. After Kat had been picked up early by her uncle who had to turn sideways to fit in the door, Mrs. Connors had a family emergency. Fiona, her pet bulldog, spent the afternoon curled up in the picture book section after eating some underwear.
Edgeview Elementary was out of control.
Finally Principal Benbrook reached Ms. Catarinas’ classroom. He peered inside the window, but the classroom was dark. He pulled out his keys and slowly unlocked the door.
“Alright Bob,” he said as he slowly walked in. “Time’s up!”
Principal Benbrook left the door open in case he was cornered by Bob and had to make a mad dash to safety.
The classroom was a completely different scene with the children gone. Chairs were stacked nicely by tables and the floors had been swept clean. This was a room for learning. Minus one small creature.
Principal Benbrook headed straight for the window. It was still open, slowly letting in cold aphids and excited moths. He shut the window and locked it tight. Now Bob had no escape. Principal Benbrook smiled devilishly and looked up to the top of the window. Where Bob should have been was an empty space. Principal Benbrook huffed and began to flow the line of aphids.
“Come on out little bug,” Principal Benbrook said sweetly. He crouched down and peered under bookcase after bookcase. The aphids were there, but no Bob.
“You know you won’t win this Bob,” Principal Benbrook said to the empty classroom. “I’ll find you!”
Principal Benbrook continued to search, but could find nothing. No cobwebs, no dead aphids, no detached legs. It was like Bob had disappeared.
“You know why you’re vile and disgusting Bob? Because you’re just like the spiders I met out at my grandfather’s house.”
Principal Benbrook pulled down a chair from the stack and made himself comfortable.
“I was five and we were blueberry picking. Papa had told me that the darker the berry, the sweeter the taste. I remember running around stuffing blueberries in my mouth until the juices stained my clothes.
“After nearly half a day of berry picking I found the darkest berry I had ever seen. It was enormous and I knew I had to eat it. I plucked it form the bush and brought it to my mouth. Inches from my open mouth the berry bust open and showed me what it really was.
“Spiders. A whole nest of baby spiders. They limbed everywhere. In my hair, in my clothes, in my mouth. Cockroaches are nothing compared to you eight legged monsters!”
“That’s a creepy story, Mr. Benbrook,” a late night custodian said from the doorway.
Principal Benbrook jumped out of his chair and stood.
“Jordan,” he said with a squeak in his voice. “I thought that you had left for the night.”
“No sir,” Jordan said. “Finishing cleaning up the trail of glitter from this afternoon.”
“Good. Carry on,” Principal Benbrook said fixing his tie for no reason.
Jordan smiled and left with his broom in hand.
Principal Benbrook quickly scanned the classroom again. He felt like a spy sent on a mission to take out the enemy. He checked inside of every student’s desk until he came to Lily’s. It was covered in books about insects.
“Ah ha,” Principal Benbrook said. “Hiding with your insect brethren!”
Principal Benbrook shifted the books around, trying to see if Bob had snuck in amongst the books. Near the bottom, he found the same book that Kat had chased Lily around the library with. On the cover was the enlarged face of a very unfriendly spider.
“Ah!” Principal Benbrook screamed.
He jolted so violently that the rest of the books toppled to the ground. The books opened and pages upon pages of insects stared up at Principal Benbrook. The one that sent him over the edge was the hissing cockroach that seemed to be laughing at him.
“This isn’t over bug!” Principal Benbrook yelled as he left the classroom and the books all over the floor.
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