Early this morning the Imaginarium's siren rang over Wonderland, alerting everyone to the fact that something had gone terribly wrong at the universe's largest imagination accrediting agency. I grabbed my notepad and pen and was out the door and in my car. I wanted to be the first reporter on the scene to cover the story.
"I was asleep at my desk when the siren rang right outside my window," explained Cyrus Keppel, midnight shift manager of the Imaginarium's editing department. His expression changed when he realized he'd misspoken. "I shouldn't have said that I was asleep. Do me a big favor and scratch out that bit about me sleeping on the job." Cyrus turned uncomfortably in his heavily cushioned, burgundy leather office chair. "My boss..... you know...... never misses an edition of The Troubadour and.... well.... "
"I understand," I replied. Mr. Keppel looked relieved. He shouldn't have; my meaning was that I understood his comment was inappropriate and would get him into trouble, not that I would remove the worrysome comment from this story.
"Whew, dodged a bullet on that one. I owe you one."
"Maybe not. Let's get to the early morning siren."
Cyrus cleared his throat and explained, "Well, apparently our censors and editors didn't catch a comic with an inappropriate hand gesture designed to look like a catapult. One of the The Troubadour's readers found the comic in our section of your blog and contacted our switchboard.
 |
| Olivia Newton. Midnight Shift Operator at the Imaginarium. "I triggered the alarm and would do it again without hesitation. The good name of the Imaginarium was at stake" |
Olivia took the call and pushed the alarm as she is trained to do in an emergency. The alarm triggered the siren outside the building which alerted all of us. She called me and explained the situation. I had the censors find the offending material and remove it right away."
As I listened I wondered how such a thing could happen at The Imaginarium, known world wide for promoting clean and wholesome imaginations for all age groups and demographics. "Who was the censor that missed it?" I asked, thinking perhaps the comic's posting wasn't a mistake. Maybe it was a disgruntled employee wanting to get back at the management. Cyrus was expecting my question.
"We've dealt with the situation. The person has been properly admonished for his obvious blunder.
He was careless and feels very bad about it. It was not intentional."
"He is on duty right now?"
"I said we've dealt with the situation."
"No, what I heard you say was that you were asleep at your desk when the alarm rang. That's what I heard you say. Am I wrong?" Cyrus stood up angrily. He was going to ask me to leave. I turned to a clean sheet of paper in my notebook. 'Chaos at the Imaginarium as editor sleeps at desk' I spoke as I wrote. Cyrus sat down, his face transitioned from red to pale white. He looked at his watch.
"Mr. Bittle was the censor on duty that night. He's on his break right now. You'll find him outside the Imaginarium's south door."
"Thank you." I stood to leave.
"He's old and a sneeze away from senile and too cheap to buy himself a new pair of glasses. Have some compassion. It really was a mistake."
"Compassion? I'm with The Troubadour, or have you forgotten?"
"No, I haven't forgotten." My conversation with Mr. Keppel was over.
I found Mr. Bittle outside the south door. He was shaking, nervous and not surprised when I approached him unannounced. He quickly put out his cigarette. "Mr. Bittle?" I asked.
"You must be the man from The Troubadour," his voice creaked like the hull of an old 17th century tall masted ship. He immediately started to explain. "I didn't know how it got by me. Things like that never get by me. I know what your readers expect. I know our reputation. I just wasn't careful." He paused and examined my face for signs of compassion and understanding.
"Or you need new glasses."
"Yes, I need new glasses. It won't happen again. I'll make sure of that - if they don't put me down for early retirement over it."
"Early retirement? Come on Mr. Bittle, why are you still here? You were here when I started with The Troubadour as a junior reporter."
"Has it been that long?"
Mr. Bittle and I spoke for some time. My final conclusion was that it was a regrettable oversight and not an intentional lowering of The Imaginarium's standards. I could find no evidence that the offending comic was purposely stamped for publication. There was no scandal, and therefore no story, except to give our readers an apology and Mr. Bittle's promise that it will never happen again.
More Mission Posters from The Discovery Space Center
The Discovery Space Center has more of the cool mission advertising posters I posted about recently. I found them during a quick stop at the DSC yesterday afternoon. I asked their creator, Andrew Mallory, to send copies to me for publication here on The Troubadour.
Contact The Discovery Space Center if you're interested in booking one of these private missions for you and your friends. Discoveryspacecenter.com. You can also register for one of the DSC's awesome summer camps. Lots to do at the Discovery Space Center this summer.
Megan Warner, Director of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, Released from Jail after Posting Bond
Megan Warner is free from jail thanks to her generous staff and volunteers, and to the Space Center's many fans for contributing to her bond and donating to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
"I never thought jail could be so horrible," Megan explained in an interview with The Troubadour.
"Wasn't the MDA's 'jail' housed at Utah's famous Chef's Table Restaurant in Orem?" The Troubadour asked.
"Well, I ...... I still couldn't leave until I had my bail posted."
"A few hours trapped at The Chef's Table. I couldn't think of anything more horrifying, and here we had visions of you pacing a cell 6 feet by 4 feet and sleeping on a vomit stained mattress inhabited by five varieties of tropical fleas."
"Can we change the subject?" Megan knew she'd overplayed the sympathy card. "I want to thank everyone for contributing to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Every dollar donated will help these kids have a better life. We all did a good thing and I was happy to play my part."
Thank you to all our readers who contributed.
Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary (and thank you Mr. Bittle for ensuring the quality of this edition)
 |
| Everyone enjoyed the party except Frankie |
 |
| Three countries in one photograph |
 |
| A good lesson to learn. Don't give up because of failure. Failure is a part of success |
 |
| The cloud tree |
 |
| The name of this window display. The Bored Child Shopping with his Mother. |
 |
| You have a 50/50 chance of looking a fool. |
 |
| I wonder how much was spent on that research. Common sense is a good partner to imagination. |
 |
| Three guesses what this is. 1. No. 2. No 3. No Its a clock! |
 |
| A sick child desperate for his medicine |
 |
| Paris' chrome dinosaur |
 |
| Of course you'll find this maze in England |
