"So this fella" said Nock, "how will I recognise

"So this fella" said Nock, "how will I recognise him?" Nick sighed "Because, Nock, he will be wearing a hat styled like a guitar amplifier".

Nock hesitated and Nick could just see he still didn't get it. "Dammit, Nock, just get yer ass to the station, wait for the man with the big hat and thank him when he hands you the

fucking cage". "But Nick, what's in the cage?" Nock asked unsure of himself. "That's not for us to know. We're just playing our part in this hand-off. Now go! call me when the man

with the Lavender Limp arrives. Remember the signal and tell the Others. Remind them also NO PICKLES. The messenger left and Nick reached for another roach. Damn, he was hungry.

Roach pie, stuffed roach (delicacy as it is so hard to make) creamed roaches. The things Nick could do with them! But the others had forgotten NO PICKLES & Lavender Limp arrived

at the hospital later that evening due to the pickles contained in Nick's famous deviled roach dish. (Scoop out a boiled roach and re-fill it with itself plus pickles. Lavender was

looking green when she left the party. I should have realized what was happening. Nick's pickles were icky. That's why I tossed mine into a potted plant when he turned away.

Those pickles became a vine-like plant nobody could identify, not even Professor Linnaeus the botanIst.they grew all over my house and my cats feasted on them like catgrass. Quite

greenish and vinegary, but they all seemed happy and content, so that was fine by me.