Sunny and the Copier Demon

Once upon a time, in an office far, far away...

-{Like really far, and away from all the things...}-

There was a beautiful, intelligent and extraordinarily modest Receptionist named Sunny.

Sunny was the best receptionist in all the land.

-{Except she would never say so. She was far too modest for that.}-

Sunny loved her job and the people who worked with her, for they were all very sweet and very kind and only said nice, intelligent things.

And sometimes they would all break into spontaneous song together.

-{Like a musical, but better because they would sing about real-life stuff, like how the coffee was cold and the fan in the men's room was broken.}-

And other days they would play dress-up, and Sunny would be their Queen.

-{But like a nice one. Not the mean kind that orders beheadings and stuff.}-

But sometimes, when it got really boring, they just worked.

-{This was mostly when someone was watching.}-

And the EngineerFriends would engineer...

And the DrafterFriends would draft...

And Sunny would tootle about to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Sometimes she would do the filing.

-{When she did this, she would put away every piece of paper... sometimes even an important one with a phone number on it that she had written down quickly, but then forgotten what she wrote it on so when she needed to find it there was a little bit of a hassle because it could have been anywhere in the silly cabinets...}-

Sometimes she answered the phones.

-{And when she did this, she was very peppy and happy even when it wasn't a musical day because the clients were always considerate and friendly and fun to talk to.}-

And sometimes, if it was a very *very* good day, she would do invoicing.

-{Because invoicing was something that she really enjoyed, and she liked to celebrate it properly on only very *very* good days.}-

One day, Sunny was walking around her office singing softly to the plants (to achieve optimum lush- and green-i-ness, as was common with her superior gardening skills and powers of foliage), when she heard her phone ring.

"Sunny?" a voice called out. "Sunny, are you there?"

"I'm here!" Sunny bubbled to the speakerphone. "How can I help you?"

"Our copier downstairs has broken, and you're the only person in the whole world who knows how to fix it! Please, oh please, won't you come and help us?" pleaded the voice.

"Of course!" Sunny smiled wide (but they couldn't see that, because they were on the phone) and ended the call.

Down the stairs Sunny swooped, humming merrily as she descended flight after flight of stairs to go rescue the EngineerFriends from their plight.

-{As she swooped, she thought about getting a cape... But decided that would be far too ostentatious, and so she settled for swishing her hair mightily instead.}-

Sunny arrived in the copy room with a flourish. "Ta da!" she announced. "I'm here!"

And all the EngineerFriends applauded her grand entrance, for they were very afraid of the CopierDemon.

-{Sunny was a little afraid too, but she could be brave. Or at least braver than the Engineers.}-

Indeed, the copier tried to be very scary:

It flashed its red lights...

...It growled an angry growl...

...And every time Sunny touched it, it destroyed another piece of paper.

But she would not be dismayed!

She pushed the buttons!

She restocked paper drawers!

But still the CopierDemon would not submit.

It's flashy lights flashed brighter!

It's angry growl got angrier!

And now, it started destroying two pieces of paper every time Sunny touched it.

The crowd started getting more anxious. Sunny had never let them down before... But this battle was very intense!

Finally, Sunny decided that she had played the CopierDemon's silly games for long enough.

With a mighty pull of her strong (but not grotesquely muscled) arm, she opened the belly of the beast.

And then, with a smile to her audience, she plunged in her hand.

First to the wrist...

Then to the elbow...

Down, down, down into the deepest darkest corners she reached.

Finally, when there was no arm left to be plunged-in, Sunny felt something at her fingertips.

She stretched out her fingers as far as they would go, reaching in as far as she could.

And then suddenly, she screamed!

-{But not very loud, because this was an office first-and-foremost and Sunny was a respectful sort of person who thought about others and didn't want to disturb anyone who might be working, even though they should have been watching her amazing act of bravery.}-

"Oh no!" she cried.

"Oh no!" gasped the crowd.

-{Which was silly, because they couldn't possibly have known what they were gasping about.}-

The tension grew thicker and thicker as the crowd fell to silence.

Was Sunny okay?

With a worried grimace she bit her lip, and slowly began to pull her arm free of the beast.

First to her elbow...

Then to her wrist...

And then finally...

After many moments...

-{Many MANY moments...}-

Out came her hand!

-{And the thing she had grabbed, which was an errant piece of paper in case you were wondering. It was all crinkly and wrinkled and gross, but Sunny didn't mind because of her remarkable bravery and amazingness.}-

Sunny was okay!

The crowd broke into smiles and started to cheer.

Sunny had saved the day!

And the EngineerFriends rejoiced.

One of them even made a hat for Sunny out of the errant piece of paper, which she thought was very thoughtful but she didn't think she would wear because it was crinkly and wrinkly and gross... But she said thank you anyway, and told the EngineerFriend that she would keep it in a very special place because it was a very special hat.

And that was the tale of How Sunny Saved The Day.