"Hey, duuude, slow down!" the custodian hollered as yet another child rocketed past him at approximately too many miles an hour. "No need to run, this isn't gym class! I don't want to have to put you together again if you fall down, duuuude!"

The kid snickered a little at the comical elongation of the word dude, but he did slow down to a walk. Subhas Mukherjee allowed himself a moment of satisfaction- at least until the student caught up with his friends and began speaking in a stereotypical, slightly racist Indian accent. One of the little brats shot a glance back at Subhas- then, with a smirk, deliberately dropped several dirty napkins on the floor before walking away with a laugh.

Subhas shook his head, still forcing a smile on his face as he walked over and slowly knelt to pick up the trash.[i] I have a PhD. I'm better educated than most of these teachers- better paid, too, there's only so many licensed boiler operators in the state of Oregon. And I'm still picking up after these racist little shits.[/i]

He dropped the napkins in the proper receptacle, before having a look around the place. At least the kids seemed to be in good spirits. He had followed the news of Pandora's spread first with interest, then with concern. A lot of the children didn't seem to fully grasp the gravity of what was going on out there- for that matter, a lot of the adults didn't either. The lockdown was a hardship, but probably not a bad thing on the whole.

He walked up to one table, the children there merely picking at their food instead of eating it. "Hey, c'mon, duuuuudes," he said, tapping on the table. "I know it's not great, but you growing kids gotta eat if you want to get big and strong!"