What they've bean up to

Each year it becomes harder and harder to top the last, and Mrs. Hall was hoping to come up with something out of the ordinary for the children's Easter treats. But the only thing she could think of was how much she missed the egg cracking contests that used to take place at home. Her imagination being the wanderer that it was, her brain was filled with images of the children vainly attempting to re-create the same game with their friends. Unfortunately, every time she tried to conjure that scenario, it always ended the same way: the aggressive nature of the game escalating into a full fledged food fight, with eggs flying all over the room. Suppressing a laugh, she looked around the office to make sure no one had seen her, and then upon reflection, tried to consider the possible down sides of such an event.

Colored eggs should probably come with some sort of warning, she thought, to prevent that. And that's when she thought of an idea for their boxes. Downloading all manner of warning labels, she printed off the more humorous ones and using some common white household glue, pasted them all over the eggs. Mailing boxes were loaded with grass, jelly beans and peeps and off they went, to the post office. Mrs. Hall was sure that there would be such an infusion of sugar into their little bloodstreams within a week, that she'd be able to hear their heart arrhythmias clear back at the Hall.

Happily, when word got back to her that they had received them, the children all had updates to report.

Master Christopher had achieved Airman First Class, but the local scuttlebutt was he was in line for a promotion to Senior Airman by June. He was enjoying his work in the Honor Guard duty, but still was finding time to get away for some side trips in his little blue convertible.

Mistress Colleen was busy sending off applications for internships all around the country, in the hopes she could land one during her summer break. Because of her work supporting the Students of Color Coalition on campus, she was invited to join them on a special tour of the Pixar Studios in Emeryville. Pixar is notoriously secretive about its workings and rarely allows outsiders in, so Colleen was thrilled to have scored such a coup.

Master Ian was continuing his education at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. His classes had begun in earnest now and he was really hitting the books. He must have impressed someone with his work, because he happily announced that he had been recently promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

The troops having reported in satisfactorily, Mrs. Hall was able to relax. "Everything's fine," said Mr. Hall. "Now, I'm a little bit hungry for a snack- how 'bout cracking some eggs with me?"