The Move

Chaos looked at all the boxes in the room he'd chosen to be his home
office. Moving had been more chaotic than even Chaos had imagined. It
seemed like all the electronics had broken down, even with careful
handling. After a few minor (in Chaos' opinion) flip outs and
meltdowns, most of the electronics had been repaired and Aether had told
Chaos to get his office set up, while he unpacked the kitchen.

Taking a deep breath and fortifying himself to unpack the bazillion
boxes, no that's NOT an exaggeration, Chaos pulled the tape off the
nearest box. As he fought the tape that had become a living, breathing
animal determined to capture Chaos's fingers, the two ends of the
cardboard box popped open.

After he victoriously defeated the tape, Chaos saw a paddle laying in
the box. Oops, he thought, that must have been labeled wrong, that's
definitely a bedroom box. Pushing that box aside, Chaos opened the next
box. Damn! He thought as another paddle lay right on top. Aether must
have labeled these two, I would never mix bedroom boxes with my office
boxes.

Chaos pushed the two boxes together and turned to the third box in the
line up of bazillion and bazillion of boxes. Chaos jumped back when it
too revealed a paddle laying proudly on top. Frantically, Chaos fumbled
around the room, opening boxes, fighting the tape, and gasping in
horror.

"Aether!" Chaos yelled. "Did your mother help you
pack?" Chaos peeked out the door as he heard Aether's footsteps down
the hall.

"No, she did not," Aether said in his big booming voice.
"And you don't need to yell, this isn't that big of a house."

"She must have!" Chaos cried. "Look at all these
paddles." Chaos gestured to all the opened boxes; every single one
had a paddle laying on top.

"Oh, is that what has you all upset?" Chaos was dumbfounded at
the question-who wouldn't be upset to see all those paddles! There were
bazillions of paddles, and no that is NOT an exaggeration.

"When I knew we were moving, I went shopping at the GAP (Greeks
Acquiring Paddles) and picked up a few more paddles," Aether said.
"I know how stress gets to you. More importantly, I know the best
way to calm you down."

Chaos stared in disbelief as Aether bent down and rummaged through a
box.

"And look what else they had," Aether said, as he unfolded a
large object, hooking latches, slipping tab A into slot B, and presto!

"What is it?" Chaos asked looking at the object. It was tall,
over 7 feet tall, and had walls that came out about 4 feet.

"It's a portable corner!" Aether told him. "The sales
representative at the GAP said they had all our discipline needs under
one roof. So if a corner wasn't available, we can make one in just
minutes. They even had pocket size bars of soap."

Chaos gasped in disbelief. Turning quickly, he tried to run from the
room. Falling over boxes, the tape had once again become a living
being, and wrapped itself around Chaos. Thrashing around trying to get
loose from the tape monster, Chaos heard, "Chaos. Sweetheart, open
your eyes."

Opening his eyes, Chaos saw the concerned look in Aether's eyes.
"What? Where am I?"

Aether leaned down and kissed Chaos's forehead, "You are in bed,
apparently having a horrible nightmare."

"A nightmare," Chaos sighed in relief. "Morpheus sent me a
nightmare!"

"I knew this move would be upsetting to you," Aether said. And
knowing that hot chocolate soothed all nighttime troubles, he continued,
"Come on. I'll make you some hot chocolate and you can tell me all
about it."

As Chaos and Aether drank their hot chocolate, in another house on Mt
Olympus, Morpheus was hard at work, trying desperately to cover his
nighttime shenanigans. Quickly, closing the top of his laptop, he
turned and saw his top standing in the doorway.

"Come along, Morpheus," his top said in that tone. "The GAP
had a sale, and I've a new paddle for just such an occasion."