Episode 37 Betty & Safety Get Jobs

Betty and Safety sit in class. At the blackboard, the teacher has written PACH CHIA MAIF HA!!

A man raises his hand. "Excuse me, what does that mean?"

She glares at him, and her light blue eyes are dark blue the next time the camera pans from the terrified student to her. When it goes back to him, he grabs his head and falls out of his seat. She says, "Pach chia maif!" and slaps a book on his desk. Merriam Webster's Elshar-English English-Elshar Dictionary. It is a very slim pamphlet.

Safety waves, and his TV sits on his desk. Then he points from the book to the TV.

Teacher says a phrase in Elshar, and the translation that scrolls across the screen is, "What are you doing?"

He replies in Elshar, and it scrolls, "Copying the book to my terminal."

"But, you already know Elshar. You speak perfectly."

"I know, but I might have missed a word."

"Which word?"

He frowns and taps the desk with a pencil.

The next scene shows the teacher leaving, and Betty hefts her terminal. Safety is still tapping the pencil. She speaks Elshar to him. "Why didn't you wave our terminals back in our pockets?"

He speaks Elshar to her. "I do nae know. I still try to remember which word I nae know, in Elshar."

She rolls her eyes, and they carry their TVs out.

The next scene has PACH CHIA MAIF on the blackboard, and Teacher points to the doorway. She speaks Elshar as she opens the accordion partition and reveals a clothing room. Keeps speaking Elshar for a few seconds, and students have puzzled faces. Then she points to the clothes and cries, "Pach chia maif! Ha Ha!"

Students run to the room and start picking out T-shirts with See Sunny Florida on them. One nerdy man holds up a Danger Service shirt. Teacher gets angry. "Esta esta ay ay!! Pach chia maif!!"

Safety picks out a men's suit, shirt and tie. Teacher smiles and points to him. Then zaps him. While he's holding his head, she jerks the maroon tie out of his hand and shoves a light blue one in it. Students laugh.

Betty picks out a light blue dress and Teacher gets light eyes. Again, the camera shows dark eyes, pans to Betty, then Teacher has light eyes.

Then, Betty puts the shirt on over Safety's gray sweats. As she puts an arm in, she puts his hand on his head again. Then, she pulls up suit pants and buttons his coat. His pants fall down. She blushes, pulls them up and cinches the belt tight. Camera pans up to Safety, who's still holding his head, but his face is bright orange.

"Sorry, Ba, but you have to be dressed for our interviews, right?"

He nods. Then she shrugs on the dress over her sweats. Drags him out.

They walk into a major library downtown in Atlanta. At the counter, they talk to a woman. "We want jobs! Who do we talk to?"

She points back the way they came. "Oh, you walk back out and go in where it says SMART HALL. Down the hall, go down three steps and you will be in Dell Hall. Take a couple ramps down, and you'll see a short hall to the right that leads past Campus Police to the parking garage. Take a left through the parking garage, and walk to Collins Street. Turn right and come out on Collins to Courtland. Walk one block up Courtland to Decatur Street, past the Urban Legends Building, and you'll see Personnel on the left."

They leave the library and come out on a wide plaza. Smart Hall is nowhere in sight. The nearest building is a good walk away, and when they get there, it says GENERAL CLASSROOM BUILDING. A student points back towards the library, and that building says STUPID HALL. Another student points, and this one says DELL HALL.

"Wasn't Dell where we needed to be?"

"Nae, Smart Hall."

"Are you sure, Safe?"

He groaned. "I have mind pain."

They walk further and bend down a stalk of sea oats planted in a raised brick planter. There, it says SMART HALL.

Scenes show them walking, and walking, and walking in a lot of diff buildings. Then walking, and walking, and walking on streets. Finally, they come to PERSONNEL.

Inside, at a counter, a nicely-dressed woman sighs. "Oh, they decided to lay us off and close our office. You'll need to go to the library to apply, if that's where you want to work."

They slump against the desk.

Scenes show them doing the same thing, only to have a diff lady send them back to Personnel.

A diff lady is speaking with them. "Oh, you didn't tell me you are here for the Head Injury Recovery Program! It's—"

Betty says, "But neither of us got hurt!"

Safe is still holding his head, and passes out, his twin-toed feet sticking up with tennis shoes swinging.

She looks at him.

"Trust me, that's where he belongs. And, they told me in the library that you failed your Personnel Test three times. You should apply for it, too."

Betty looks at the sleeve of her gray sweats, and powder makes a cloud. There are white streaks, gray streaks, blue streaks and red streaks. On her forehead are red lines. She gasps.

Safety gets up fast and acts drunk. "Where is this? Where is Dashing? Ejis, I should find the ship for him!"

Pitiful organ music plays.

The last scene shows them shelving books together. Betty takes one from him. "I think it goes here, Safe." She puts it on the shelf.

He takes it off. "But it has green tape. Should it nae go on the green shelf?" Safety puts it on the green shelf.

"That's for books that have been browsed. People look at them, or browse them, and they put them there."

Safety takes the book, leafs through it, then puts it back on the green shelf.

Betty takes it back, with a sigh. "We're shelvers, Safe! We are supposed to put the books up when people are through with them—"

An older woman with reading glasses and a bun comes through, backs up, and takes the book out of Betty's hand. "Did you take stats on that, Honey?"

"Stats?"

"You get a stats sheet and mark all the books on the green shelves as browses, under the Browse column—"

Both of them start to cry.

"Oh, don't cry. I'll show you again."

NARRATOR: Be sure to tune in next week, when Diplomat Dashing is found to be a slaver, and Diplomat's Aide Beautiful becomes an operative for Emperor Cevitron!

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