Free Piper's Perfect Dream by Ahmet Zappa Page A

and recording Olivia’s voice.
    Olivia gestured for Piper to follow her into the kitchen, then stopped by another workstation. “This area is for roll-ups,” Olivia explained.
    Hmmm, roll-ups.
Piper knew about push-ups and pull-ups from Physical Energy class. Perhaps roll-ups were another form of exercise. But truth be told, she’d never paid much attention. She’d discovered a starmat hidden behind some equipment in the gym, and if she wandered slowly to that corner, no one noticed. So while everyone else jumped and ran, she just meditated quietly. She was pretty sure Coach Geeta knew what she was up to but never called her on it. Most likely, the coach understood that Piper got more energy from meditating than from playing star ball.
    â€œSo,” Piper said to Olivia, “you keep in shape while you’re working by rolling up?”
    â€œNo!” Olivia giggled. She grabbed a napkin. And before Piper could even blink, she had rolled a knife, fork, and spoon inside the napkin in such a way that it stayed wrapped even when she flipped it in the air. It was almost like magic.
    â€œThis is part of side work, and for now you should just focus on this kind of stuff. Roll-ups, refilling ketchup”—she pointed to squeezable containers that came to a point, filled with an unappetizing red liquid mixture—“and sugar dispensers. No waiting on tables. Not yet, anyway.”
    â€œOkay.” Piper kept nodding as if she understood. Hopefully, it would all make sense when she studied everything later. It turned out, though, there wasn’t time.
    â€œYou can start right now and refill the sugar dispensers,” Olivia said. She took out a tray of empty dispensers. Then she waved toward a high shelf where a dozen large containers stood in a line.
    Piper opened her mouth, about to explain how clueless she was, when the phone in front rang. Olivia backed away to answer it. “Okay, you’re on your own,” she told Piper.
    Piper paced in front of the containers. Which one held the sugar? She glanced around helplessly and looked straight through the cabinet door above the containers. There were unopened jars labeled MUSTARD and PICKLES , plus bags labeled SALT , PEPPER , and—Piper grinned— SUGAR !
    She took out the bag, then used her sunray vision to see what sugar actually looked like. Okay, now she realized the sugar dispenser was the third from the right. When she lifted the container off the shelf, though, she had to laugh. It was labeled on the lid!
    Now Piper had the dispenser. She had the sugar. She’d even found a scooper. She mentally patted herself on the back for that one.
    It should be simple from here on,
she thought. The dispenser had a hole on top, and the sugar should slide right in.
    She ladled out a heaping scoop from the container and poured the sugar over the dispenser. Sugar granules bounced off the top with a
ping ping ping
and scattered all over the floor. Only a few granules actually made it into the dispenser. Piper tried again and again with the same results.
    â€œThis is going to take a starday and a half,” she told herself. But she had to do it. She would acknowledge these negative feelings so they would pass like drifting clouds; then she’d get back to work.
    She reached once again for the scooper. But then Pete walked in, holding another sugar dispenser—this one with its top screwed off. “Here’s one more for you,” he said.
    After that, it was easy to fill the dispensers. She just took off each lid, poured in the sugar, then closed it up. A short time later, she was done. But the table and floor were still covered with sugar. Piper gazed down, dismayed. Why couldn’t the floor be self-cleaning?
    â€œThat’s okay, honey,” Alice said, coming over to inspect the mess. “But it always makes me me feel better to leave a workstation as clean—”
    â€œAs you found it,” Piper