My first Tumblr ficlet post here:
Penny, sitting at her workspace and filling out documents, suddenly remembered an old joke that she herself had fallen for. She decided to try to test it on someone very gullible and clueless, and that someone was a lad with a funny ponytail and a hardworking character, who was walking past her right at that moment with a stack of papers.
The perfect victim.
“Hey, Craig!” she called out to him. “Can you come over to me for a second?”
Craig Raisins, hearing his name being called, walked over to his colleague.
“Yes, Penny?” he asked, carefully setting the stack of papers down on the edge of the desk. “How can I help?”
At the sight of the unsuspecting and beaming youth, Penny flashed an innocent smile that masked her inner intent.
“How about we play a little game? It’s almost lunchtime, and it won’t take long. Mr. Business won’t have anything against it.”
Craig instantly beamed at those words.
“Ooh! I love games! What is it about?”
Craig agreed like a fish taking the bait. Excellent.
“You’ll find out in a moment,” the woman smirked slyly. “Answer me, Craig… What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
The lad immediately and confidently blurted out, putting his hands on his hips.
“Yes!”
Penny continued to smile, repeating again.
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
At the repeated question, the man tilted his head a bit to the side.
“Yes?” his tone wavered slightly. “Didn’t I already say that?...”
At this confusion, Penny almost giggled, but restrained herself, continuing the playful torture.
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“...Yes?” Craig said, now visibly awkward, slumping his shoulders and dropping his hands from his hips. He didn’t understand whether Penny couldn’t hear him or if he himself was doing something wrong.
At this bewildered and confused look from the young man, Penny couldn’t hold it in anymore and laughed. This made Craig feel even more uncomfortable.
“What’s... going on?” he tilted his head to the other side, peering into the woman’s face, trying to understand what was happening. “Did I misunderstand the rules of the game?”
The secretary, hearing how unsure Craig now sounded, quieted down, letting out a soft giggle.
“No.. hee-hee.. You’re doing everything right. It’s just.. hee-hee.. you’re saying the wrong word.”
“The wrong... word?”
Penny, seeing how bewildered and puppy-like Craig looked, calmed herself, stopped giggling, and cleared her throat.
“Okay. Let’s try one more time... What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“Yes.”
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“Yes?” Craig’s voice rose a little, laced with growing hesitation.
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“Yes!”
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?!”
“YES?!” Craig practically squeaked in utter confusion, having absolutely no idea what the hell was going on.
Penny couldn’t handle the tension and burst into laughter again, while Craig Raisins just stood there, looking completely lost and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
All of a sudden, the office door burst open. Guy Business stepped out and it was clear that Penny’s loud laughter from behind the door had caught his attention. He glanced at her.
“Penny? What is going on here? Why are you laughing?”
“He-he... Nothing like that, sir,” the woman tried to stop giggling, but she was struggling. “It’s just... he-he... Craig and I are playing a game.”
“A game?” Guy asked, bewildered. Out of habit, he wanted to scold them for playing games during work hours, but remembered just in time that lunchtime had started. “What game?”
“You’ll see in a second,” Penny finally managed to stop giggling. She made an intriguing pause and turned to the lad. “Craig, what does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“Yes?”
Hearing this, Guy immediately got it and cracked a faint smile, watching to see what would happen next.
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?”
“.....Yes?”
Penny burst into laughter again, but this time, Guy Business joined in. Watching his colleague and his boss laugh together, Craig didn’t find it funny at all. He felt completely out of place. As someone who was practically the right-hand man in the company, capable of handling complex business and sales, he simply couldn’t fathom what Penny was getting at, seeing that she was practically crying with laughter.
“Why are you crying?” Craig asked, visibly embarrassed, a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes that they would finally give him an answer.
But the red-haired woman had no intention of stopping just yet.
“What does E-Y-E-S spell?” she asked once more, joining her boss in watching the young man’s pupils dart nervously back and forth.
Craig didn’t answer right away, carefully mulling over Penny’s question. He stared down at his palms, nervously fidgeting with his fingers like a child being scolded by his parents, completely clueless as to what he was being punished for.
“E… y…”
Penny and Guy both held their breath.
“.....y-yes?”
And they lost it again, laughing until they cried. The old man couldn’t help himself, bursting into fits of laughter alongside his secretary, while Craig, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor in utter confusion. This went on for about a minute until the two of them finally calmed down, and Penny said.
“Craig, you’re on the right track. Just think about it a little more. Come on. What does E-Y-E-S spell? Take your time, think.”
Craig didn’t even want to play this game anymore, but he kept going just to get an answer and find out where he had messed up.
“E… y…” Penny’s question loomed ominously in his head, and he replayed it over and over, freezing completely for a few long seconds. “E… y… e—”
And then, it finally clicked, and his gaze cleared.
“Eyes.”
Penny and Guy burst into laughter again, though not as loudly as before, clapping for Craig now that he had finally figured it out. Still, the young man couldn’t help but feel like a fool for not reaching this conclusion sooner. As he stared sadly down at the floor, out of nowhere, his boss’s hand came to rest on his shoulder.
“Good job, Craig. Good job,” the old man praised. “You managed it faster than Penny did back then.”
“Faster than… Penny?” Craig looked up.
“Yeeeah,” the woman said, stepping out from behind her desk. “I was guessing until the end of the workday, trying to understand what the joke was. So you did great, Craig.”
Feeling two encouraging and supportive hands on his shoulders, Craig Raisins beamed with a radiant smile.