Page 6

“A-hem,” his neighbor coughed. “Well Maurice, I do hope you get some rest. You look positively exhausted.” And with that he trudged off to his bright red barn.

The dream bothered Maurice. Why did not the giant recognize him? Was he really hidden from his view? One thing was certain-‘getting back to nature’ was for the birds and the furry woodland creatures who regularly visited his backyard garden during their nocturnal shopping trips. Another thing that was certain was his need to be at work in a couple of hours looking like he had a good night’s sleep.

At exactly 7:58 A.M. Maurice walked through the double-paned glass doors of Z-Tech Pharmaceutical, Industrial, and Culinary Consultants, Inc.

“Good morning Maurice,” came the cheery voice of Candy Skipper.

“Any messages?” he asked.

Candy Skipper, fond of chewing-gum, mini-skirts, different hair styles, and Celtic pewter jewelry was his secretary. She was his complete opposite, yet for obscure reasons unfathomable to her creative mind, she had developed something similar to, but not quite exactly like a crush on Maurice. It was more like the affection a cave-woman feels towards a large woolly mammoth sweater with a hole in the shoulder. A sweater that keeps one warm on those cold Ice Age nights during college basketball season, but lets in just enough cold drafty air to act as an irritant. Whether he knew this is a matter of some debate, but Candy, due to her unique mindset, felt it would be a serious social faux pas to come out and tell him.

In celebration of pay day, Candy wore green hair, gold shirt, and silver skirt.

“The techies have been calling all morning. They’re down in room 312…”

The drone lay on a white table. Its insides spread out like a bad car wreck.
“What have you found?” asked Maurice.


“Nothing.”

“At all?”

“To speak of. All the systems were working properly, at least until we completely disassembled everything.”


“I want a test run.”

“We’ve done that.”

“And?”

“It went perfectly. Killed all our test rats in one fell swoop. Even Smart Sparky got zapped.”

“Sparky’s dead?”

“Tragic, I know boss…but science is science.”