As it turned out, finding the proper place to poop wasn't so difficult. The school didn't have washrooms or plumbing; instead, anyone who needed to void themselves went to a certain spot along the river bank. Jon and Karyn simply followed the crowd. Voiding themselves came naturally. The weird stuff that came out was a bit shocking but no one else seemed to find it unusual. There was no privacy to speak of; it was just a spot along the river where everybody went.
The second class of the day was in a different room. Jon and Karyn knew the subject was Construction, but nothing could have prepared them for what transpired.
The room contained twenty-five workbenches and twenty-five sets of tools, one for each student. Following everyone else's lead, Jon and Karyn each coiled themselves near one of the workbenches, but without limbs neither could imagine putting the tools to any use.
A few minutes after everyone was coiled and waiting the teacher arrived. Jon recognized him right away; it was Mr. Simpson, who taught shop in Jon's human world. Simpson extended his snake body about fifteen feet upward and pressed his shoulder against a plate above the door, apparently locking it.
"All right, everyone," Simpson hissed. "In an order fashion, please fetch your apes."
Neither Jon nor Karyn could believe what happened next. A few at a time, the students uncoiled themselves, slid to a spot along the wall, extended themselves upward, and pressed their shoulders against a plate like the one that Simpson had pressed near the door. Each of these plates, however, unlocked a cage that contained one ape. The apes scampered out immediately, then stopped as if frozen in time. Then, each student watched their ape intently as it jerkedly walked toward that student's workbench.
Jon and Karyn went last, hoping they'd figure out what to do. Their apes, however, didn't stop and freeze once they were out of their cages. Instead, they raced wildly around the room.
"Jon, Karyn: get your apes under control," Simpson hissed sharply. Then, when Jon and Karyn did nothing, Simpson shouted, "Concentrate! Have you forgotten everything you've learned in this class? Concentrate!"
Jon eventually got the idea. Foolish as it seemed, he tried thinking about his ape and making it stop. Then, after a while, he became aware of Joseph's presence: Joseph's mind. Jon sensed Joseph sending mental command to the ape, and watched in awe as the ape obeyed them. Joseph couldn't keep it up, though; he was losing control of his own ape. Joseph looked over at Jon inquisitively.
"I wish Karyn and I had the same sort of mental control powers as the rest of the class, and knew how to use them," Jon hissed softly. "In fact, I wish we had the best powers of any naga."
After that, Jon easily got control of his ape, and so did Karyn. In a strange way, they had to grip the ape's mind while imagining themselves walking in their human bodies. Eventually they got their apes positioned in front of their workbenches. Simpson, who was about to kick them out of class, calmed down and returned to his place at the front of the room.
"All right, class. Now that we all have control of our apes," he hissed with a special glance in Jon and Karyn's direction, "let's proceed with today's exercise: using a hammer. To begin, make your ape open the toolbox and then wait. Don't get ahead of the lesson."
Jon found it awkward to manipulate the ape's back, arm, hand, and fingers so that the animal leaned forward, unlatched the tool box, and flipped open the lid. He could have done it easily in his human body, of course, but controlling the ape's body while watching from the side required a whole new perspective. Nevertheless, he and Karyn were the first ones finished.
"Now, make your ape grasp the hammer and remove it from the tool chest," Simpson hissed. "Make sure the fingers are gripping the hammer tightly enough so it doesn't fall, but not so tight that the ape injures itself. Make the ape lower the hammer onto the workbench, then make the ape release it. Remember, nagas, these are very expensive animals. Your families may be charged for any injuries or deaths."
It took about ten minutes, but everyone finally managed to control their ape into removing the hammer and setting it on the work bench. After that, Simpson talked everyone through the process of making the apes lift the hammer, bang the workbench for a while, put the hammer back into the toolbox, and then latch it. Then, a few at a time, the students controlled their apes back into the cages and pressed their shoulders against the locking mechanism. Simpson watched Jon and Karyn like a hawk but they had no further problems. Finally, Simpson unlocked the outside door and the class was over.
"That was bizarre," Karyn hissed quietly to Jon.
"Yeah, I feel sorry for those apes," Jon hissed. "I wanted to give my ape a pat on the back, or a rub on the neck, or something before I locked him up but there was no way."
"I know. I felt the same way," hissed Karyn. "Well, maybe tomorrow we can have our apes scratch each other for us."
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow we're back to normal," Jon hissed.
"Do we have to?" Karyn hissed. "I'm beginning to like it here. I'm so powerful in this body! And horny! I'm pretty sure that's what's itching. It's further up than my poop hole. Do we have time to slither before the next class?"
"I don't think so," Jon hissed. "Look, everyone is hurrying along. We'd better follow."
"Well, OK," hissed Karyn, "but only because the next class is..."
