mbarker | Kindergarten Sticks? (900 words)

This week, my prompt at https://moreoddsthanends.home.blog/2020/06/24/week-26-of-odd-prompts-halfway/ came from Rachel Gavris “I don’t think children should have teeth that big.”

So, back to Gil, the Monster Hunter Chef...

Kindergarten Sticks? (900 words)

by Mike Barker

Gil tried to do some of the deliveries from the kitchen, to help him learn about the different parts of the company. Most of them were pretty obvious, the armory, the building engineers in their basement shop, even the security team with a wall of monitors. Today, though, he had grabbed the cart tagged for the kindergarten. What were they doing with a kindergarten in the Monster Hunters headquarters?

He pushed the cart along, looking at what was on it. Packed snacks, plenty of fruit drinks, napkins... there was a big box on top labeled sticks. He flipped the top up, saw what looked like Lincoln logs, and shrugged. Maybe it was for the kids to play with?

He glanced at the map, and took a left. There it was.

When he knocked on the door, he heard someone inside unlock it. As he stepped in, the doorway flashed white. Then it went back to a steady green. Huh...

He smiled at the woman who was looking at him. She was obviously a teacher. And standing beside her was a teenage troll. Okay...

"Hi. I'm Gil, the new face in the kitchen crew. I thought I'd bring the snacks today."

She nodded. "Oh. I'm Phyllis. Is it snack time already?"

Then she turned and whistled at the children around the room. Gil looked at the room. Bright pastel walls, with plenty of odd cartoon figures painted on it. And scattered all over were playthings. Bright plastic stairs, a slide, balls. Yep, it was a kindergarten.

"Line up for snacks!"

The kids shrieked and headed for the cart. But they lined up nicely. Gil grabbed a snack pack and a bottle of fruit juice. Then he looked at the first child in line, and almost dropped everything.

The teacher shook her head. "Didn't anybody tell you? These are the troll kids."

Gil took a deep breath, and nodded. "Ah! No one mentioned that. They just said take it to the kindergarten."

She shook her head. "Well, I hope they sent plenty of sticks."

Gil opened the box on the top of the cart. "Yep, they told me I needed to bring these sticks. But what are they for?"

She frowned. "Oh. William? Show the man your teeth."

The first child let his jaw fall open. Gil already knew the trolls had tusks, but he hadn't paid as much attention to the other teeth. Those front teeth were like white shovels! Sharp, and big.

Gil gulped. "I don’t think children should have teeth that big, should they?”

The teacher shrugged. "They are big, aren't they? Still, all the troll kids have big teeth. So they chew on the sticks to help keep them worn down."

Gil thought for a moment. "Wait a minute. You mean they keep growing, like a rabbit or something? Aha, now I understand the sticks."

William whined, "But they're so bo... ring!"

Gil smiled at the little boy. "Boring, are they?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. Mom and the teacher and everyone tells us we need to chew on them, but they are just so boring. But if you don't chew, then your teeth hurt."

Gil grinned. "Okay. Let me think about that."

He handed out snacks, drinks, and sticks to the children. Then he unloaded the box, and promised Phyllis that he would bring more tomorrow.

Walking back to the kitchen, he shook his head. He remembered when some of the boys in his school went through a phase of chewing on toothpicks. A candy store had sold them, as he remembered. Flavored... now, what did they use?

He came back the next day. And William lined up first, again. With a big smile.

"So, what've you got for us today?"

Gil reached into the box, and pulled out several sticks. Red, green, brown. He handed a red one to William, and said, "Try that. Tell me what you think."

When William started to chew on it, his jaw fell open. "Wow! It's flavored! Like, like, cinnamon apples or something."

Gil smiled at William, and nodded. "That's right. I steeped the sticks in the strongest flavors I could find, and colored them with food coloring so you could tell them apart. Now, what I need you to do is try chewing on them, and tell me which colors you really, really like. I'll keep making different ones, and you can try as many as you like, but I need you to tell me which ones I should keep making, and which ones to just quit making. Okay? Can you help me with this?"

William smiled. Man, those were big teeth! "Yeah, I can do that. Maybe the teacher can keep a list somewhere, and we can vote for the best ones?"

The teacher laughed. "That's a good idea, William. We'll do that!"

Everyone picked up a colored stick to go with their snacks and drinks. Phyllis promised she would drop today's vote by the cafeteria later, and Gil told her they would make sure there were plenty of flavored sticks for the kindergarten. Looking around at the kids busily chewing on the sticks he had brought, he bit his own lip and said, "Actually, I'll send you up another box this afternoon. It looks like you'll need it."

She chuckled. "Good! I think you just solved one of my problems, getting these kids to wear down their teeth so they can pay attention. Thank you!"

Gil walked back to the kitchen, thinking about how to keep track of the flavors and try new ones on the troll sticks. Then he chuckled. It was nice having a challenge like this now and then.

Wait until he had a chance to encrust the sticks with rock candy! He didn't think William would find that boring!

(to be continued, maybe!)