The Pledge Mistress Copyright 2006 by EC EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/ (warnings: erotic discipline, sex between adults, medical fetish, public nudity, sexual hazing) Chapter 21 - Tracy's strategy After the pledges had slept only four hours, Tracy stormed into the pledge room with her usual: “OK, sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! Let’s go…let’s go…let’s go!” Lisa was so tired that she had largely forgotten the sympathy she had expressed towards the Pledge Mistress only a few hours before. However, with a groan she got out of her cot and immediately felt the sharp sting of a hard slap on her unprotected backside. What made matters worse was a cold look from Bernadette that clearly stated: OK, Lisa, so you still feel the same way about this bitch that you did last night? Because the pledges had upper-body PT with the sophomores, they only had to put on their shoes and socks. It was apparent that Tracy would be leading the exercise group, because she was dressed in the same manner as the pledges, completely naked except her shoes and socks. As soon as they had used the toilet and brushed their teeth, the sleepy pledges knelt in a row as their mentor strutted back and forth just like an officer from one of those old World War II movies. They were too tired to see the humor in their situation, their sharp-tempered Pledge Mistress moving about as though she were a naked drill sergeant. Momentarily the group would have to go upstairs for morning PT, but Tracy wanted to lay out what was happening during the rest of the day. “We’ve got house clean-up today. The whole house, and guess what? The Triple- A’s aren’t bringing their pledges over like they were supposed to, so it’s just us. When I say ‘us’, I’m including myself, because we just can’t be spending the whole day doing the house. I still want to get you guys over to the library to study after lunch, so we need to have the cleaning done before noon. After PT we got a very busy morning ahead of us.” After PT, showering, and breakfast, President Alexandra rounded up the sophomores and juniors for a mandatory sorority trip to the library. The trip served two purposes: first to force everyone to study for at least several hours that weekend, and second, to clear the house so the pledges could clean it more easily. The seniors were not required to go to the library, but they were expected either to leave the house or completely stay out of the common areas. After she cleaned up, Tracy returned downstairs carrying a clipboard and wearing nothing but pair of work shoes. That surprised the pledges, because she was among the more conservative members of the sorority and normally undressed only for PT and swimming. However, because she was to participate in the house cleaning, she felt that it was necessary to comply with the rule about the pledge uniform, i.e. that while in the house pledges could not wear any clothing. The Pledge Mistress made it very clear that the only concern on her mind at that moment was doing the clean-up as quickly as possible. She was not interested in having any of the pledges show initiative or memorize anything out of the cleaning manual. Instead she organized the clean-up herself, ordering Lisa and Cherine to clean the bathrooms and sweep upstairs while taking Bernadette and Kathleen outside to do yard work. Tracy immediately pulled out a lawn mower from the tool shed, checked the gas, and began jerking on the cord to get it started. When she noticed the two freshmen staring at her, she snapped: “Get started on that hedge, unless you want to push this mower around instead of having me do it!” Lisa looked out a bathroom window to see Tracy behind the mower while Bernadette and Kathleen were working on one of the hedges. She began to wonder if the clean-up had been something the Pledge Mistress had not anticipated, something thrust upon her at the last minute. Were that true, was it possible it was Heather who had ordered Tracy to clean up the house? Was it possible that the promised help from the male pledges had been canceled because Heather had told the fraternity not to bring the guys over? Bernadette’s hostility towards Tracy was tempered by seeing her at work in the yard. Tracy took all of the most difficult jobs for herself, because she was the one who edged after mowing and then dealt with chlorinating the pool. As the two freshmen finished their trimming, Tracy came by with a bag and rake to clean up, while ordering the two younger women to get started on the kitchen. Bernadette noticed Tracy sweating as she worked, a detail that motivated her to work harder once she went inside. As Tracy scrubbed down the garden furniture, the pledges finished up the kitchen under Lisa’s direction. Tracy took out a ladder and yelled at Kathleen to hold it while she hosed the windows. Lisa snapped at her two remaining companions to “keep moving”. Bernadette glanced out the window at the frantic Pledge Mistress. “What’s going on with her? Why’s she gone off the deep end with this clean-up?” “We weren’t supposed to be doing this, that’s why. The Triple-A’s were supposed to have their pledges come over, and guess what? They’re not here, and that’s messed up her plans for us. She wanted to take us to the library this morning so we could look around, and she’s still trying to make sure we can get over there today. That’s why she’s gone off the deep end, as you say it! Now, you move your ass so we can get out of here!” Incredibly, after only three hours, the training group had the entire house cleaned to inspection standards. While the freshmen showered, Tracy and Lisa conducted the walk-through and corrected a few minor deficiencies. Tracy signed the cleaning log and ordered Lisa to get her companions dressed into their uniforms and ready to “move out!” Lisa noticed Tracy seemed to calm down considerably once the group was safely in the library. The freshmen had expected to be told to study, but Tracy passed out lists of books she wanted them to find and bring to her. The books covered every topic imaginable and came from every single shelf in the building. As soon as the pledges presented the books to her, Tracy ordered her charges to return to where they got the items and reshelf them. At first the exercise seemed extremely stupid, but the pledges later realized that Tracy wanted them to memorize how the library’s entire collection was organized. For example, if they needed to find a book about pig farming, they would know that the agronomy books were located on the third floor on shelves 3-H through 3-J. Already it was late afternoon when the women left the library. The next stop was the Student Memorial Center. The pledges had some juice and fruit salad before being ordered to explore the building. They had a very good piece of fortune when they came across an alumnus guide leading a group of parents through the center. The pledges joined the group and received a guided tour, complete with trivia and explanations about the building and its history. The final stop was the University Fitness Center. The five women signed in and toured the weight rooms, squash courts, and aerobics rooms. Tracy actually ordered her group to do a round of exercises on all the machines, passed out fresh T-shirts and towels, and directed the pledges to go into the women’s locker room and shower. All the while Lisa noticed her looking around, as though worried about who might be watching what she was doing. Just before the sun began to set, Tracy led her group through Old Campus to let her pledges see the same area during the day that they had seen the previous night. As dusk settled and the university got darker, the women continued walking around to see how the area compared during daylight and when it was dark. They finished around midnight. When they finally left campus to return to the sorority house, Lisa and her companions had memorized in detail the area set aside for the scavenger hunt the following night. The group walked along the detour that by-passed Pageant Street and Fraternity Row. As they approached the park where they had changed the previous night, Tracy frantically whispered: “Behind the bushes! Quick!” The five women hid just in time to hear Heather’s voice coming up the sidewalk, accompanied by the sound of a man’s voice crying and the crack-crack-crack of a leather riding crop hitting bare skin. “Come-on, you fucking little wimp!” Crack! “Ohh…hoo…please…” Crack! “Don’t you ‘please’ me, you pathetic little shit! Now, keep running! The next time you stop without my permission, it’d better because you’re having a fucking heart attack!” Crack! Crack! “Ow!” “Here! In the park! Let’s give your legs a rest and have you do some push-ups!” While Tracy and her group held their breaths and watched from the darkness, Heather forced the fattest member of the Tri-Alpha pledge group to struggle through several sets of pushups. He seemed already knocked out from his exertions, his sweaty naked body trembling from fright and fatigue as she continued to savagely flog him with the riding crop. Lisa noticed one interesting detail about the pledge: that he was somewhat thinner than he had been the previous week. Heather forced her unhappy companion to exercise until he was barely able to move. As he lay on his back gasping for air, the Four-Beta Sergeant-at-Arms astounded her hidden audience by pulling off her running shorts and squatting to piss in the grass, right in front of prostrate victim. In the darkness the pledges could tell that he was watching her with alarm. Apparently he knew what was coming next and what would be expected of him momentarily. “OK, fat-bitch, you know the drill. Get on your knees. Clean me up and make me come!” Heather placed her shorts on the ground under her bottom and lay back in the grass with her legs spread. The male pledge obediently moved between her thighs and began licking, first to properly clean the sweat and urine off her vulva, and then to give her an orgasm. She came very quickly. It was obvious the orgasm was no big deal to her; that its main purpose was to establish her dominance over him as opposed to giving her real pleasure. She climaxed, casually put on her shorts, and stood up. She savagely struck him across the thigh. “OK, blubber-boy! UP! Let’s see about running some more of that fat off of you!” She slammed the riding crop against his bare bottom a couple of times as they exited the park. Lisa heard Cherine comment: “Jesus H…he isn’t that fat…” Tracy drew a deep breath, partly out of relief that her group had not been caught by the Sergeant-at-Arms, but mostly from the distress that her pledges had seen something she wished they had not seen. Once the Pledge Mistress was sure that Heather and her victim were out of ear- shot, she shouted: “OK, Let’s move out! Quick step, move!” As the pledges began running, Tracy’s voice barked out: “Pledge Bernadette!” “Yes, ma’am!” “Call cadence!” Following Bernadette’s lead, the women started clapping and chanting: “Left…right…left-right-left!” “Left…right…left-right-left!” “Runnin’ that midnight Four-Beta left!” “Runnin’ that midnight Four-Beta left…” ---------- The pledges returned to their cots and collapsed from exhaustion. They were not at all reassured by what had happened to them that day, nor by the knowledge that apparently Tracy did not fully trust the other officers of the sorority. Bernadette in particular was very uneasy over what she had seen. She now suspected what Lisa already knew: that there was a rivalry or on-going fight between Tracy and Heather and that the Sergeant-at-Arms was not supportive of the Pledge Mistress. Bernadette’s dislike of Tracy had led her to wonder how she could side with Heather and perhaps ingratiate herself at the expense of Lisa and Tracy. Her hatred of the Pledge Mistress had led her to assume that anyone plotting against Tracy could count on her support, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. However, watching Heather’s treatment of that male pledge in the park frightened Bernadette and made her question whether Tracy was really as bad as she had assumed. Bernadette glanced at Lisa. She disliked Lisa almost as much as she disliked Tracy. She continued to resent Lisa’s role as the “leader” of the pledge group and her apparently close relationship with the Pledge Mistress. On top of everything else she resented Lisa’s sexual relationship with Kathleen. Not only did she think the relationship was inappropriate, but the very idea of being intimate with another woman totally grossed her out. And especially with Kathleen…Yuck! Why would anyone normal even want someone like that around, let alone…get intimate with her…Gross! Totally gross! Bernadette was not at all thrilled about having to pledge alongside Kathleen, who she found very weird and gave her the creeps. She took a deep breath as she contemplated her dislike of the skinny girl sleeping next to her. Bernadette had known a couple of girls like Kathleen in high-school, whose fidgety gestures, shifty eyes, nervous way of talking, ignorance of fashion, and interest in things not normal for high school students made them total social rejects. Were it up to Bernadette, no one in the Four-Beta pledge program would have been nice to Kathleen. Instead, the group would have cold-shouldered her and let her know that she was not welcome in the sorority. The only reason she had not dared to express her dislike of her strange companion was because she had been afraid of Lisa and Tracy coming down on her. Bernadette sat up in the darkness, as her assumptions about life, what constituted a worthwhile friend, and how she should deal with the people around her abruptly shifted under her. Suddenly she felt awful, because in a flash she understood that her hostility towards Kathleen was totally unjustified. Why did she dislike her fellow pledge so much? Yes, the girl was kind of creepy, but had she ever done anything bad to anyone else in the pledge group? It was obvious she had feelings, and that she had already endured more than her share of unpleasantness in life. It was obvious that she had endured a hellish time in school, at the hands of girls just like Bernadette. She always had taken it for granted that people like Kathleen deserved whatever ostracism and insults were inflicted on them because they were so creepy, but was that really true? Bernadette’s thoughts drifted to her own recent years in high school, and then back to the present. She realized that how she had behaved in school was not something she should be proud of, and anyhow, her time in high school no longer had any relevance. As much as she hated to admit it, she was in a new environment and starting her social life from scratch. She now was an adult and in college. Her old peer group had scattered and her life had changed. She would have to learn how to relate to others differently if she hoped to move ahead. Really, who was Bernadette to judge someone like Kathleen? Or even to judge Lisa, for that matter? Bernadette felt that her need to change was especially true regarding her perception of Lisa. Whatever her personal faults, it was obvious that Lisa was trustworthy, not particularly selfish, and that her primary interest was getting herself and the others through the pledging process. Bernadette’s thoughts drifted back to that first night at the Tri-Alpha house, when Lisa had jumped to her defense when the others were blaming her for making the group get punished. From the first night Lisa had pointed out something that later proved correct, that the pledges’ willingness to stay together and stand up for each other would be constantly tested. Lisa had been right about that, and since that first night had been right about many other things. What if Lisa was right about Tracy; that of all the sorority officers, the Pledge Mistress really was the only one who was concerned about the pledges? The truth was that Bernadette knew what to expect from Lisa and Tracy, but did not have a clue about Heather’s personality or how trustworthy she really was. What she did know, from having seen it with her own eyes, was that Heather was capable of being quite vicious. She wondered: would I really want someone like that as my friend? Finally Bernadette lay back down with a better understanding of her immediate future and how she had to change her perceptions about her social life. She did not think she would ever feel any warmth towards Lisa and Kathleen. However, she knew that even if she could not force herself to like them, she needed to treat them with the respect. She might dislike the Pledge Mistress even more than Lisa, but now understood that she could not possibly do herself or anyone else any good by taking sides against her. She had to accept Tracy’s leadership if she hoped to stay in the sorority and be a successful member. Bernadette finally went to sleep. She did not yet realize, during those few restless moments she took a hard look at herself; that she had matured considerably. ---------- Pledge Mistress Tracy had two concerns on her mind for that Sunday. First, the pledges had to spend a good portion of the day studying, given that they had not spent any time studying on Saturday. Second, they would have to get some sleep during the day so they could be alert during the scavenger hunt. She decided that it would be best to have the pledges spend the day outside the Four-Beta house and began to wonder where she could find a quiet location where they could study and sleep. There were only two locations she could think of that would meet the group’s needs. For studying the pledges could go to Burnside’s office in the Economics Building. That was fine, but what about sleep? There was a place that at first glance looked promising, Lisa’s dorm room in Huntington Hall. Although Lisa was not allowed to stay there during the pledge training, she still had her stuff there and in theory access to the room. Would it not be possible to grab some sleeping bags and have the pledges crash there? Tracy then thought of a better option: Ruth Burnside’s house. Burnside’s house would be about as secret a location as she would be able to find; a quiet and controlled environment where the pledges could sleep uninterrupted until nightfall. Tracy then would take them back to the sorority house, producing her group well-rested and ready for action. She decided to e-mail Burnside and see if the professor was amenable to the idea of putting up the pledges in her house Sunday afternoon. Burnside shocked Tracy by responding immediately. It already was 1:00 in the morning, but the insomniac professor was still on her computer catching up on her professional correspondence. Her answer relieved Tracy: that she could take the pledges over and keep them at the house all day. The only problem was that Burnside had to leave at 5:00 in the morning to go on a day-long boating trip on Lake Michigan with Halsey and some of their mutual friends. The pledges were welcome to stay at the house, but Tracy either needed to pick up a key or bring them over before 5:00. Tracy opted for the latter. She would have the pledges at Burnside’s house at 4:45. Tracy decided to make the pledges walk over to the professor’s house, which meant getting them up at 3:30 a.m. She decided to do something else to psychologically prepare them for the scavenger hunt; they would have to walk from the sorority to Burnside’s house in the nude. Tracy figured there would be very little danger walking the four-mile route, given that the bars already had closed and it was extremely unlikely they would run into anyone walking in the dark at 4:00 in the morning. Upon getting to Burnside’s house she would order the group to go to sleep and then return to the sorority house to pick up their clothes and textbooks. At 3:30 a.m. the light in the basement went on and the pledges heard Tracy’s dreaded: “OK, sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! Let’s go…let’s go…let’s go!” The incoherent pledges staggered out of their cots, staring at the Pledge Mistress in disbelief. It was 3:30 in the morning! “OK, lovely ladies! Dump your bladders and get your shoes on! NOW!” The pledges knew better than to question the Pledge Mistress, in spite of the fact they were almost delirious with fatigue. They came very close to crying as they took turns on the toilet and struggled to put on their shoes. They trudged up the stairs and moved towards the door, too tired to even care that they were about to go out on the street wearing only their shoes. Tracy led them along the dark streets that passed the small park and bypassed Fraternity Row. As the cool night air caressed their bodies, the pledges woke up somewhat and realized what a lovely night, or early morning, it was. The streets were totally silent and devoid of cars, the parties had ended, and Pageant Street had long since cleared of drunken students. The women dashed across the main street to get onto Old Campus and quietly walked along the dark sidewalks towards the Student Memorial Center. At first the pledges assumed that Tracy was taking them for a “dressed” rehearsal of the scavenger hunt, but then she ordered Lisa to find that hidden path that led to Huntington Hall. Bewildered, Lisa obliged and the women disappeared into the bushes. As they neared and passed the library, the pledges realized that Tracy was taking them outside the Old Campus area and leading them towards the dorms. They wondered if this was another test or hazing ritual, now that they had walked for over a half an hour and already were nearly two miles away from the sorority and their clothes. Tracy showed no sign of turning around as the lights of the dorm area shined between the trees. She had a question: “When you guys came through here on the three-mile streak, where did you cross?” “Over there, about half-way between the two stoplights, past the duck pond.” “OK, let’s try to get across so no one will see you.” “Uh…we’re leaving campus, ma’am?” “Yes. We’re leaving campus! Now stop arguing and move your ass!” Tracy punctuated her statement with a hard slap to Lisa’s exposed bottom. The four pledges dashed across the deserted street, followed by their Pledge Mistress. They became very nervous, because they still did not know why they were being taken on the naked walk and assumed they would have to return to the sorority the same way they had come. There would be no way, even now, that they could get back before it started getting light outside. That would be nice, to be seen running naked along Pageant Street by the early church-going crowd. The pledges’ anxiety increased as Tracy led them along the quiet suburban streets towards the park where she and Heather had dropped them off for the streaking adventure. Their nervousness really increased when they passed the park and drifted even further from the university. If they went much further, daylight would catch their exposed bodies, not on campus, but in a residential neighborhood and literally miles from their clothes! Finally, after more than an hour of walking, the pledges noticed they were on the street where Dr. Ruth Burnside lived. They sighed with relief upon realizing that the purpose of their walk had been to travel one-way to the professor’s residence, not to make a round trip to the sorority. They saw Dr. Halsey’s car parked out front and the two professors loading life jackets and other boating supplies into the trunk. The pledges sank to their knees in the driveway while Tracy greeted their hostess and her lover. A minute later the professors got into the car, while the four naked women gratefully filed into the house. Lisa glanced at the sky before going through the door. Already it was just beginning to get light towards the east. The pledges took off their shoes and knelt in Burnside’s living room. Tracy finally explained the purpose of the strange outing. “We’ll be staying in this house until 7:00 p.m. tonight, and then we gotta head over to the Tri-Alpha house. Between now and 7:00 tonight I expect you to be doing one of two things: sleep or study. When you don’t want to sleep, I want you to study. When you’re too tired to study, I want you to sleep. That’s it. No music, no TV, no Internet. Sleep and study. When the sun comes out you can grab a towel and use the yard, but if I see you out there in the sun, you’d better either be asleep or with one of your books. Get it?” “Yes, ma’am.” “OK, shower up in the guest bathroom and get to bed. As soon as you’re up, what are you gonna do?” “Study, ma’am.” ---------- Cherine and Bernadette collapsed in Burnside’s bed as soon as they had cleaned themselves up. The bed was king-sized and there was plenty of room for two women who were not intimate with each other to sleep comfortably. Lisa and Kathleen took the much smaller bed in the guest room. That bed was only a double, but given that they were planning to cuddle, its size was adequate. As soon as they were cleaned up from the walk and had dried off, Lisa and her lover locked the door to the guest room and crawled into the small bed. Kathleen nestled her body against Lisa and promptly fell asleep. Lisa heard the front door open and close, and footsteps going down the sidewalk to the street. Undoubtedly that was the sound of Tracy leaving to go back to the Four-Beta house. In the silence of her professor’s guest room, she relaxed for a few minutes as the sky lightened outside. She was dead tired, but it would take her a few minutes to actually fall asleep. Still, Lisa was content at the prospect that she and the others could sleep as long as they wanted, a luxury sure to be denied to them had they stayed behind in the sorority house. Tracy really had thought ahead, wanting to make sure her group not only was familiar with Old Campus, but also well-rested and alert for what was likely to be a very stressful night. Lisa stroked her lover’s hair for a few minutes and finally fell asleep herself. For once she felt that she did not have to worry about anything. Hopefully Tracy had everything under control. ---------- Lisa did not wake up until 3:00 in the afternoon. She looked at the clock in disbelief, realizing that she and Kathleen had slept more than nine hours. She eased herself away from her lover, not wanting to wake her up before she had a chance to leave the room. She knew that Kathleen would be desperate to make love to her as soon as they got up, but decided that with Tracy in the house and the other pledges already awake that having sex with Kathleen probably was not a good idea. Lisa stepped into the hallway, trying to shake out the unpleasant tingling from her left arm that had “gone to sleep”. She was surprised to see Tracy asleep on the living room sofa in her gym shorts and T-shirt. It occurred to Lisa that, however little sleep the pledges had enjoyed over the past several days, their Pledge Mistress had even less. Lisa found her backpack near the front door and slung it over her shoulder. She found Bernadette and Cherine already sitting out on Burnside’s patio, each of them quietly studying in a lawn chair. Each of them had a large glass of orange juice, which reminded Lisa that she was hungry. Lisa went to the kitchen, filled a glass for herself, and took a bagel to snack on. With that she joined the others and began reading for the classes she had the next day. The final member of the group to wake up was Kathleen. She didn’t get up until 4:30, having slept nearly 11 hours. She was sorely disappointed that Lisa was not still in bed with her, but otherwise felt refreshed and better than she had felt in days. Yes, adequate sleep really can make a difference. She picked up her backpack and joined the others on the patio in the late afternoon heat. At 6:30 Tracy woke up and told her group to clean up the house and get ready to “move out!” As the pledges made the beds and cleaned the kitchen, Tracy turned on her cell phone and called the sorority. Lisa overheard her part of the conversation: “…yes, of course I’m with the pledges…yes, they’ve studied…look, I understand that…OK, let’s get something straight here, Alexandra…No…No…No, my job was to get them ready for the scavenger hunt, that’s what you told me. You told me yourself that I’m responsible if they lose. Those were your words, and to me that means it was up to me to decide how to get them ready…yes, they’re ready….I understand that, but you didn’t say anything about me keeping them at the house…you did not specify that, Alexandra…I took them off-campus so they could rest, that’s why…Yes, they’re rested, and I’m just about to bring ‘em back…Look, I don’t give a shit about Heather, I really don’t! Those pledges are my responsibility, not hers! Alexandra, you know what? If her feelings are hurt, tough shit…now, either you want my group to win, or you don’t! Which is it?” ---------- Tracy and the pledges made their way back to the sorority house on foot, a trek of nearly four miles in the heat of an early summer evening. They calmly crossed the street back onto campus and passed the dorm parking lots. The five women contemplated dozens of cars blissfully occupying spaces without parking permits; vehicles that would be on their way to a towing company’s impound lot later that night. The massive parking enforcement operation was a ritual that took place Sunday night of the second week of every semester. It was Campus Security’s hard lesson to the arrogant freshmen who cheerfully assumed that university parking regulations did not apply to them. Later that night the lot would be full of tow trucks and the exits would be blocked to prevent frantic dorm residents from getting their vehicles off campus before they could be towed. A few days later most of the cars would be back in the lots, but this time properly adorned with parking permits. The event would be a perfect time to conduct a naked scavenger hunt, because the attention of the entire university would be focused on the dorm area. As word of the operation spread, frantic students who had not bothered to purchase permits would be rushing back to the dorm lots, while the more compliant students who already had bought permits would be standing around watching the fun. The police would be on hand in force to make sure no one interfered with the tow trucks, so it was certain that Old Campus would be completely deserted. The group was left the university just as the sun was setting. Tracy stopped to give the pledges one final set of instructions: “Alright, you’ve got a rough night ahead of you, but I’m sure you’re a lot more ready to do this than the Triple-A’s. This’ll be it for me, because I’m gonna be spending the night with their Pledge Master, running around Old Campus and making sure all of the scavenger hunt items are where they’re supposed to be. I’ve done what I can to get you ready and the rest of it’s up to you.” “Yes, ma’am.” What I’m telling you now will be explained by President Alexandra when you’re ready to move out, but you might as well hear it from me first, in case you have questions. There are going to be two kinds of items you’re looking for. One’s gonna be a list of things you’ll need to take pictures of with a digital camera, items that are part of the university and cannot be picked up. That’s where I expect you to beat the Triple-A’s, ‘cause you know where everything is. You understand that part?” “Yes, ma’am.” “The other list is of stuff you need to find and bring back to the judges, who’ll be set up at a table behind the Alumni Clubhouse. Your list is gonna be different from what the Triple-A’s have. I haven’t seen either list yet, but I do know there’s gonna be stuff on there like library books and flyers out of the Student Center. You might be bringing back something weird, like a toilet seat or a typewriter, but I don’t know that for sure. A word of warning: once you bring your items back to the judges, do not leave until you’re absolutely sure they’ve been logged. Get it?” “Yes, ma’am.” “I would recommend that two of you carry items you’ve already picked up, while the other two retrieve new stuff, and to take your findings to the judges several at a time to save trips. Now, one more word of warning. No matter how rushed you think you are, do NOT separate! Stay within sight of each other, always, even if you’re inside a building! Stay together and work together! I cannot emphasize enough what I just said. No matter what, you’ve got to stick together! Get it?” “Yes, ma’am!” “So, who do you think’s gonna win?” “We are, ma’am!”