He opened his drawer and presented me a folder

He opened his drawer and presented me a folder containing more than just a few pages. "The higher ups already made their decisions. All you have to do—all you can do—is sign it.”

I knew I had to. He knew that I knew too. Still, the game had to be played. "No!" I crossed my arms & turned away. "Sign it...here." He tapped the pen. "There is only one way

...to play this game" he said. "you must...jump up and down and...moo like a cow" I looked at him quizzically. "You then must...hop on one...foot and exclaim that you are...the

king of dirty underpants. Gnome the Oddball eyed me waiting for me to comply with these ridiculous instructions. I held my breath dignity be damned under the circumstances. If he h

ad turned away I surely would have killed him on the spot. I knelt at his feet, stared him down and spoke. "I'll do it," I said, "But only if you promise me one small thing." There

was a single tear forming in the corner of his eye. It trembled in the lid, threatening to spill over the lash at any second. I leaned in and whispered, "Promise you will leave."

Then the damn broke just as I'd planned. Boris had never cried in his harsh manly life. The drier they are the wetter they wail."I caught his tears in my tea mug, a good dram &

chips was my dinner.." Lutfisk appeared on the table, producing a true smorgasbord. The lutfisk knocked at the front door and the handmaiden answered. She let him in. Lutfisk's

eyes followed the handmaiden around the room from their plate as she prepared the chips. The lutfisk's eyes accused her of murder, but she had not killed them. She just wanted to

finish cutting them up, then deep fry them. The farmer killed them, she thought, indignantly. She was just making the best of the situation. Its what the potatoes would've wanted.