Further Adventures (29 page)

DR. OGILVY: Some do.

VENNEMA: I apologize for my appalling manners. They are the habits of a lifetime.

DR. OGILVY: That’s quite all right…I can’t place your accent Mr. Vennema. Are you from—

VENNEMA: You should know I do not represent myself in this matter. I act for a certain party who feels it is in his interest—and yours—if he remains…in the shadows.

The
thud
of a bulky envelope hits Dr. Ogilvy’s desk.

VENNEMA: He wants you to have this. It is $10,000 in cash. I am instructed to say—with his compliments to the worthy cause of GLOBOS—it is only a down payment.

DR. OGILVY: But this is incredible. I can’t accept such a large sum of money without knowing who it comes from.

VENNEMA: Principles can be such a hindrance sometimes.

DR. OGILVY: What does it mean—a down payment. Down payment on what?

VENNEMA: On a brighter day Dr. Ogilvy! A happy future!

DR. OGILVY: I see.

VENNEMA: No I don’t think you do! Forgive me. It’s the heat. Please let me continue. Of course my employer was relying on you to be the same man
of principle he heard give that wonderful speech on the Radio last night and he hoped you would prove your discretion by rejecting his suspicious gift. Congratulations. Would you consider coming with me to meet him?

DR. OGILVY: I might consider it.

VENNEMA: And he might consider increasing his contribution by a further…$90,000.

DR. OGILVY: You mean he’s willing to give GLOBOS $100,000?

VENNEMA: For this tax year.

DR. OGILVY: Oh. Now I understand.

VENNEMA: Come on. Be practical. Are his motives really so important to you?

Dr. Ogilvy’s footsteps cross the room—

DR. OGILVY: Don’t forget your envelope Mr. Vennema.

—and he pulls the door open very sharp.

VENNEMA: Maybe you can afford to be romantic…while the world burns.

DR. OGILVY: Louise—I’m going out for some fresh air with Mr. Vennema. It’s too hot to stay indoors.

LOUISE: Dr. Ogilvy! Wait a minute! Don’t go yet! I just took in our highest pledge!

Dr. Ogilvy is already out the door & halfway down the hall.

DR. OGILVY: Back in an hour.

LOUISE: He pledged $5.00! Can you believe it?

The only Answer she gets is the fading Echo of Vennema’s barking laughs as they ricochet around the empty staircase—until Organ Music buries them under a cloud of Suspense. The growl of a big car punches through it & the whitewalls mash the gravel on a deserted back road.

DR. OGILVY: Why do I have to wear this blindfold?

VENNEMA: You’ve been very patient so far. And very understanding. I promise just a minute longer and—yes. Here we are.

DR. OGILVY: In Heaven’s name where?

As soon as Vennema shuts off the motor & opens the car door Dr. Ogilvy can tell where he is by the Sound Effect of a diesel locomotive tugging passenger cars down the Tracks & the clanging Signal just a few feet away where the Caboose clacks to a stop.

VENNEMA: The time has come for me to say “so long” Doctor. I leave you—with regret—but leave you I must.

DR. OGILVY: So now I can—

VENNEMA: Keep the blindfold on please for the moment. A private railroad car is waiting for you. You will find Mr. Regis inside.

DR. OGILVY: Not with this cursed thing on I won’t! What am I supposed to do? Vennema? Mr. Vennema? Are you there? I’m not playing Blind Man’s Bluff anymore—you hear me?

ANNOUNCER: But what was this? A strange sight greeted the good doctor’s eyes. Yes strange even to a man who had peered into the heart of the Atom. A sleek black aerodynamic railroad car proclaimed
the end of the train the way a stinger proclaims the tail end of a wasp. As Dr. Ogilvy stepped inside and shut the door the train lurched & began to move—

The bump & grind of the train Tracks shakes his bones for now he is in the belly of this Shadowy Force hurtling him onward. He can not stop it nor he can not slow it down or change the direction it is going with him.

ANNOUNCER: All of his senses warned him that he was not alone—and yes: something else
was
in there with him…Call it ice cold dread—and it was clinging like fog to the dark corners of the long room. It seemed to reach out to him and seep into his very mind where it became the formula of his fear:
What thing in the shadows is not of the shadows…?

DR. OGILVY: Hello? Is somebody there?

MR. REGIS: Thank you for coming Dr. Ogilvy.

DR. OGILVY: I can’t make you out…It’s so dark in here…

MR. REGIS: Yes.

DR. OGILVY: Your man—Mr. Vennema—

MR. REGIS: (chuckles) Ye-es…

DR. OGILVY: He told me you are interested in contributing a hefty sum of money to GLOBOS. Or is this your idea of some elaborate practical joke?

MR. REGIS: The scientific mind! How I admire it! How you analyze suspicions and cut straight to the core!

DR. OGILVY: Signal the engineer to stop this infernal machine! I want to go back to the city.

MR. REGIS: Calm yourself Doctor. We
are
headed back to the
city. Enjoy the ride. I brought you here for a purpose. A purpose which will advance the aims of GLOBOS. But before we go any further I must have your word that whether you agree to my terms or not—you will never speak to anyone of this meeting.

DR. OGILVY: I am a man of honor Mr. Regis.

MR. REGIS: I’m an idealist myself! Like you. Perhaps a little more practical. I know you can’t achieve your ambitions by begging in the street with a tin cup.

DR. OGILVY: And what are
your
ambitions?

MR. REGIS: They’re the same as yours. Global Law & Order through the Brotherhood Of Science.

DR. OGILVY: You’re not a scientist.

MR. REGIS: That’s right. I’m a simple businessman. Don’t we share the same world? Breathe the same air?

DR. OGILVY: I suppose so. Yes.

MR. REGIS: Good. Listen. In a secret vault in my office in Baltimore I have certain blueprints. And in my warehouse 50 miles from there I have certain materials. With your expertise we can build a new—and more advanced—Atomic Bomb.

DR. OGILVY: This is staggering! Scandalous! How can you think such a weapon can advance the peaceful aims of GLOBOS?

MR. REGIS: It’s simple. I propose that we give the secret of the Atom Bomb to the entire world. By building one ourselves we can show the government bosses and the generals and admirals that only you scientists can be trusted to control the terrible power you’ve discovered.

DR. OGILVY: When you put it like that…

MR. REGIS: Your genie has fled its bottle Doctor! And the point is—who has the divine right to make 3 wishes? Who else besides a scientist has the wisdom to know what to ask for?

DR. OGILVY: I won’t do anything that can harm the work of my organization.

MR. REGIS: Heaven forbid! Are you forgetting my offer of $100,000? I wish GLOBOS great success! As the founding father of that worthy body shouldn’t you be interested in a plan that could be a shortcut to your highest goals? Think of it! You & I are going to build…the last Atomic Bomb.

Something maybe you Noticed i.e. I did not appear in that important Scene nor I did not put in a surprise Appearance for it was too early in the plot for me to turn the tide my way. Also before I made my move before I threw the rest of the Cast a curve ball & made up my own Scene on the spot I had to know if I could count on David or Bernhardt to follow the leader & give me the required help. Judging by the Teacher’s Pet performance Vaughan Cherry was putting in I was 100% sure what I could count on from him—namely nothing. Vaughan was going to do his duty & keep the Episode on the right track steering us straight down the line—

ANNOUNCER: When the urgent midnight conference with his stockbroker confirms his darkest suspicions Peter Tremayne sets up a secret meeting with Police Chief O’Shaughnessy. Extraordinary circumstances force the worried Crime Stopper to reveal a government Top Secret just to convince
the lawman these are no mere phantoms he’s chasing…

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Tell me again—what in St. Pat’s name does the world supply of Kikapoo nuts have to do with the price of tea in China?

TREMAYNE: Look—a little company in Maryland called Baltimore Brace & Bearing is cornering the market on Kikapoo nut oil. Hidden behind shell organizations they’re buying up majority interests in every cooperative farm in the Amazon. Here see for yourself—68% of this one—71% of this one—89% of this one—

I fan the pages of my Script under Bernhardt’s nose.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Don’t be wavin’ your facts & figures in me face Peter! I still don’t understand why this is a matter for the 89th Precinct.

TREMAYNE: Baltimore Brace & Bearing has a total net value of $250,000. But—since last April it’s managed to acquire shares in Brazilian Kikapoo nuts worth over 35
million
. What do you call that?

O’SHAUGHNESSY: I call that none of my professional beeswax.

TREMAYNE: Concentrate on the date. April. What happened last April…around the 15th…

O’SHAUGHNESSY: I paid my income tax.

TREMAYNE: What else happened then?

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Good Lord. Fort MacKinnon.

TREMAYNE: Bingo. On that day a truckload of Uranium—235 was stolen from the Army in New Mexico.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: But—but The Green Ray helped the F.B.I. solve
that case months ago. You—he—hauled in all that Uranium stuff—

TREMAYNE: No. Not all of it.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: What?

TREMAYNE: I said—not all of it.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: By all the saints this is—

TREMAYNE: Top Secret. Nobody wanted to cause a needless panic. I’m telling you Chief because
I need your help
…

I tried to signal Bernhardt by my eye twitches how I really DID need his help I beseeched him could I Rely on him later—but the Dramatic Pause turned into a cold gap which only made him nervous & all he signaled back was Panic since I still had another Line on the page.

TREMAYNE: Dr. Septimus Ogilvy has disappeared.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: That scientist fella you mean? Mrs. O’Shaughnessy made me listen to his speech on the Radio last night. Him?

TREMAYNE: The same. It doesn’t make sense. He makes a public announcement about his own worldwide organization and the next thing he ups & leaves his secretary in charge of everything.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: If it was anybody else tellin’ me this Peter I’d say he had bats in his belfry. A crazy scientist on the loose with radioactive uranium in his pocket. Don’t worry. My boys’ll have him in handcuffs before you can say Albert Einstein!

TREMAYNE: No Chief. I’m going to find our missing scientist. I know Dr. Ogilvy. I studied atomic physics under him at Harvard. Take it from me—he’s no
crazy man. He’s a gentle-hearted old goose with a brilliant mind & a sincere belief that he & his fellow scientists can lead Humanity to peace & enlightenment.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: I give up! A disappearing scientist…Stolen uranium…World peace…Kikapoo nuts! Where’s the connection?

TREMAYNE: I can only think of one man deranged enough to use his financial muscle to warp the good intentions of a scientific genius
and
control the world supply of Kikapoo nut oil. A man who only worships power because he wants power to worship him.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Lionel Horvath.

TREMAYNE: I’ll be on the 3:18 to Baltimore.

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Peter lad—

TREMAYNE: Yes Chief?

O’SHAUGHNESSY: Don’t do anything…The Green Ray wouldn’t do.

ANNOUNCER: Posing as a wounded war veteran out of work and out of luck Tremayne finds the manager of Baltimore Brace & Bearing in a helpful mood.

MANAGER: I’ll tell ya bud—yer comin’ around at a pretty good time. Never seen so much goin’ on here. Not since ’43. You say you was at Guadalcanal?

TREMAYNE: I saw some action against the Japs. Submarine Service.

MANAGER: That’s how you ruined your leg?

TREMAYNE: I can still drive anything that’s got a motor in it. Fix it too.

MANAGER: How’d you like to drive that forklift? We’re ex-
pandin’ all over the place. New owner. Wants to build us up.

TREMAYNE: That him? That oil painting on the wall?

MANAGER: That’s Mr. Regis all right. Queer fella. Nice though. Now look—I got a ton of scrap gotta get moved outta the warehouse and…

He kibbitzed away explaining about scrap metal etc. my inner thoughts echoed over the Airwaves—

TREMAYNE:
Such a flattering portrait of you—Horvath! Did you pay the artist something extra to add all that pretty hair to your dome? To melt the yellow fat from your cheeks and shrink your sagging belly? Well the artist’s brush paints deep Professor. You can’t disguise who you are. I recognize you! Vainglory in the cold glow of your smile…Contempt in the swagger of your pose…Catastrophe waiting in the touch of your fingertips
…

My time was ticking away for only 10 Minutes only 2 more Scenes stood between me and Oblivion. If anybody in Radioland expected I was going to sit on my keister & let them do away with me & not put up the Fight to end all Fights then I say he did not comprehend how deep my Character goes! For a trouper the 11th Commandment is THE SHOW MUST GO ON and I tell you if I was anything in this Life I was a red-blooded Trouper so watch what happens—

MANAGER: Pete! C’mere! Load that funny-lookin’ machine into Mr. Regis’s airplane. An’ get a move on! He’s takin’ off in 10 Minutes.

Inside the warehouse I recognized what that funny machine was waiting there next to the cargo bay of his war surplus DC–3—and I recognized who was tinkering with it. Dr. Ogilvy was completing the Final Assembly of his homemade A-Bomb.

TREMAYNE: The big boss told me to load it onboard.

DR. OGILVY: One more bolt to tighten…There. If I steady it on its cradle…

TREMAYNE: Dr. Ogilvy? Do you remember me?

DR. OGILVY: Bad with faces. Better with names.

TREMAYNE: Peter Tremayne. Harvard ’35.

DR. OGILVY: Ah yes of course! Plasma wasn’t it? And here you are working for Mr. Regis too.

TREMAYNE: I think you may be in great danger from him. He isn’t who he says he is.

DR. OGILVY: Pish-tosh young man. Oh I thought that at first—a little mysterious. Well he’s a millionaire and they’re all like that. When you get to know him better you’ll see he’s a man of vision.

TREMAYNE: I know him all right. He’s a monster. He’s using you for some secret purpose of his own. Secret even from you.

DR. OGILVY: The only secret is Mr. Regis & I are about to fly this “crate” up to Washington D.C. don’t you know! To show those smug bureaucrats they don’t hold all the aces. It was his idea—Mr. Regis’s—for the sake of GLOBOS don’t you know!

HORVATH: Are we on schedule Doctor?

DR. OGILVY: On the dot. Soon as we load Fat Lady onboard—

TREMAYNE: Fat Lady. That’s cute.

HORVATH: Well well well. Tremayne…

DR. OGILVY: Wh-what’s going on here?

TREMAYNE: Don’t expect a straight answer from “Mr. Regis.” I suppose it’s as easy to lie to Dr. Ogilvy about your real identity as it is about your true purpose.

HORVATH: I don’t mind telling him my name now. What have I got to lose? Ha ha ha ha ha!

DR. OGILVY: That voice! I recognize it…you’re Vennema.

HORVATH: Not quite Doctor. Vennema was me.

TREMAYNE: Try again.

HORVATH: Professor Lionel Horvath. At your service.

TREMAYNE: The most notorious criminal mastermind at large today.

HORVATH: Is that your puny attempt to embarrass me with my past? It won’t work. As usual Tremayne you’re a day late and a dollar short. Haven’t you heard the news? I’ve turned over a new leaf. I’m legitimate now. I’m in the Kikapoo nut oil business. I don’t have to rely on outsmarting you & your pet police captain—

TREMAYNE: Haven’t you heard the news? He’s the chief now.

HORVATH: They’ll bust him down to county dogcatcher when they find out what slipped through his fingers today.

TREMAYNE: Careful Horvath. Your toupee twitches when you lie.

HORVATH: Is that nasty habit of suspicion something you picked up from your friend The Green Ray?

DR. OGILVY: Please gentlemen! Mr. Regis—or Mr. Horvath—has donated $100,000 to my organization. He’s the most generous benefactor GLOBOS has got! He isn’t the first philanthropist in history
who disguised his identity so he could do good works.

TREMAYNE: Good works! Spare me!

HORVATH: Save your breath Doc. There are none so dumb as will not hear. Tell you what Tremayne—why don’t you come along for the ride? We can keep an eye on each other.

TREMAYNE: I’ve always wanted to see Washington from the air.

HORVATH: Washington? Did anybody hear me say anything about flying to Washington?

The mighty Sound of its twin propellers spinning hauls the DC—3 into the wild blue yonder—with Horvath in the driver’s seat & his explosive Cargo loaded onboard!

HORVATH: Here’s a tip Tremayne. If you want to make a financial killing invest in Brazilian Kikapoo nuts. The price is about to go through the roof.

TREMAYNE: Do you know something Wall Street doesn’t know?

HORVATH: Could be…Doctor—is Fat Lady locked in her cradle?

DR. OGILVY: Yes indeed. She’s safe & sound. How long before we get to Washington?

HORVATH: I think we’ll do a little bit of sight-seeing first. Look down there. Those luscious green fields are where half the world’s Kikapoo nuts grow…

I knew what was set to happen next thing. Then what I had to do about it jumped out at me from the dark of my inner thoughts.
Who
decides the Future? Who dares to do or die! Now the Nation expects me to fight back with all my Powers & give of my best and STOP THAT BOMB FROM BLOWING UP!

Thus my Counterplot hatches out:

If I do not feed David Arcash his cue i.e. if I do not give my line, “This will be a far better world without you in it!” then ipso facto Horvath can not reply, “It’ll be a simpler world without The Green Ray! Sing Fat Lady! Sing!” which line is Leon’s cue to explode the A-Bomb in our faces.

Therefore the Episode can end before I disintegrate in a fountain of radioactive Particles & voilà we avoid the violent Conclusion which means it is possible I can return next week—

HORVATH: Take the controls a minute Doc. I’m going to check on Fat Lady.

DR. OGILVY: I don’t know how to fly this contraption!

HORVATH: It’s just like driving a car.

DR. OGILVY: But I can’t drive a car!

HORVATH: Just keep an eye on things…It’s on automatic pilot.

TREMAYNE: Don’t do it Dr. Ogilvy.

DR. OGILVY: Mr. Horvath please! Come back!

TREMAYNE:
Does this gangster’s greed have no decent limit? Can this maniac’s madness be boundless in its hunger?

Very quick I got my answer: the Sound of the cargo door opening & air whistling into the fuselage—

DR. OGILVY: Wh-what’s going on? What are you
doing
back there?

HORVATH: Get back to those controls!

DR. OGILVY: What are you doing? That switch arms the detonator!

And tick-tick-tick starts ringing in our ears counting down the Last Minute to our Doom…

TREMAYNE: Don’t do it Horvath! There are innocent people down there. American citizens!

HORVATH: Shut up and watch me. You got a ringside seat. I want you to report it all to The Green Ray. He’s the only man alive who appreciates my genius.

DR. OGILVY: I won’t let you do it! Move back!

HORVATH: Drop that monkey wrench Doc. You can’t stop this. It’s too late.

Horvath takes a feeble punch on the shoulder and they snort & grunt they scuffle hard but Dr. Ogilvy is too weak to fight him off—the Enlightened Mind is no match for Ruthless Business!

HORVATH: Get off me you old fool!

DR. OGILVY: Help me! Tremayne!

TREMAYNE: The cargo door! Look out! Keep away from the door!

DR. OGILVY: Tremaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayne!

I hear his Voice fade away with him plunging out of the airplane down to his messy Death far below. Do you think Horvath cares? By him Dr. Ogilvy performed his job so now so what he is out of his sight & mind…

HORVATH: Get us back on course! We’re flying over the ocean!

TREMAYNE: That’s right Horvath. You’ve gone too far this time and I’m going to stop you for good!

The music of my glorious Fanfare surrounded him—my Blaze of Green Light flared up & blinded him—it Transformed me into his Arch Foe there I was as bright as a Star glowing indoors! I humbled him by the power of being The Green Ray—

HORVATH: It’s y-you! All this time! All along it’s been you!

GREEN RAY: Yes. I invented Peter Tremayne to protect my true identity. Yes Professor Horvath—I am The Green Ray. Your sworn and
eternal
nemesis.

At the Sound of a bolt from my Hand Blaster the control panel goes flooey with short circuits all over the place fizzing & popping. But the plane keeps ploughing through the Air with both motors purring very steady.

HORVATH: Smart move! You just wiped out the controls!

GREEN RAY: Yes they’re locked solid. At least America’s supply of Kikapoo nut oil is safe from your immoral hands.

HORVATH: It ain’t over till the Fat Lady sings. If you don’t turn us around I’ll reveal your secret to the world! You’ll be washed up as a Crime Stopper.

GREEN RAY: I’m almost sorry you won’t live to regret that threat. This is the end of the
line
.

Both of us hold our breath for a second & louder over the motors we hear the tick-tick-tick to Detonation…

HORVATH: Back off from that bomb!

He smacks me one & pulls me in to our Fight to the Finish—every punch lands with the flat thud of a Baseball bat whacking a horsehair mattress & we hiss at each other in the clinches—

GREEN RAY: You’re the one who’s all washed up!

HORVATH: If I’m finished…so are you! We’re brothers you and me…Both of us live outside the Law…We act as we see fit in the world…to achieve our own ends!

GREEN RAY: The only thing…you peddle in this world…is filth! The stink of vanity and greed!

HORVATH: It’s a free country…And what do you do? You make life easy for the weaklings…Crybabies who need you to dig them out of their miserable jams…Pathetic peons who can’t look after themselves—they have to count on you!

GREEN RAY: I fight against wrong wherever I find it.

HORVATH: You keep them weak so they have to depend on you. One strong man from above! You want things that way! That’s how you like it!

Right here David Arcash expected me to give him my Line about this is going to be a much better world without him in it etc. & stand by for him to Taunt me in reply with his fine Line about the simple world to come when The Green Ray is no more—and KABLOOEY!—Leon can hit the button & the Bomb can blow us into the Past. Except my mind stumbled back from this Fatal Direction & instead of my written Line I said something else—

GREEN RAY: My purpose on Earth is defending the defenseless & helping the helpless! And you better believe
I’ll be around to give them hope day after day—week after week!

David’s eyes rolled in his head and when they came back he aimed them at me very fierce. He had a personal Message for me which I decoded in a flash i.e.
You jerk what do you think you’re doing putting me on the spot? Trying to make me look stupid? Step on my famous last words? Pay me back for some slight? For Annie’s sake is it?

Except I could not get across my genuine Motive to him by eye signals & while David tried to wrestle me back to the correct Lines in the Script Leon kept going with the Baseball bat over his head now & my next powerful punch split the seams of his horsehair mattress!

HORVATH: Are you blind? When that ticking stops you’re going to follow me into Oblivion!

I saw how he was trying to box me in but I fended him off by some quick thinking. A Strike of Lightning in my mind so I was in control of Events for once—

GREEN RAY: If I can…get my hand free…I can neutralize the detonator…with my Hand Blaster…

HORVATH: Your Blaster fell out of the plane! I saw it with my own eyes! Say good-bye to the world Green Ray—nothing can get you out of this!

Tick-tick-tick…

GREEN RAY: You forgot something Horvath…my Reserve blaster! If I can just…. Reach…the secret compartment…in my…boot…

Did he despise me in this instant! Did he go sour! Oh he was not going to continue this game of Tick-Tack-Toe nor he was not going to let me ruin his big Exit either. We are still on the Air and David yanks me over by my shirt & he bawls me out by such personal words!

DAVID: Enough already! This stupid stunt of yours is making it worse for everybody! It’s just complicating our lives! Act like a man dammit!

ME: Yeah? Well this man is fighting for his life! Is that simple enough for you?

All of his worries melted into the Air & the hate that clotted up his grim Expression drained out of his face & he played out this moment in his Mind for his own enjoyment before he played it on the Air. David was in control now for I fed it to him on a silver spoon—

HORVATH: It’ll be a simpler world without The Green Ray!

ME: No! Don’t—

HORVATH: Sing Fat Lady! Sing!

KABLOOEY! Leon triggered the Sound of a thunderstorm echoing 100 times over—plus a Earthquake destroying 10,000 cities—plus the molten Heart of the Earth cracking the surface & gushing out—it was a boiling cloud of noise that wiped every other Sound off the Air until it dropped down to a growl a rumble under Vaughan Cherry’s undertaker Voice.

ANNOUNCER: The still of this empty dawn is broken by the roar of a thousand volcanoes—the dark is shattered by the light of a thousand Suns. The ground trembles & recoils from a fantastic release of energy—as the demigod we knew by the name
of The Green Ray disintegrates into the Atoms of his being…And for a single instant a pure green sheet of light flashes across the surface of the ocean from the horizon to the shore…For his final message blazes from the shadows to give hope to the hopeless just as he did before…The Green Ray lives on—yes!—the memory of his heroic deeds will remain on Earth as his voice mingles among the stars…And the green sea never shimmered so bright nor the night sky danced with so much light.

DA DOO DA DA DUM! DA DOO DA DA DOO! DOOM DOOM DUT DUT DUT DOOM! YOU HAVE JUST HEARD THE CONCLUDING EPISODE OF THE ADVENTURES OF THE GREEN RAY…YES LISTENERS HE MAY BE GONE BUT THE GREEN RAY LIVES ON IN 12 TOUGH WASHABLE PLASTIC STATUETTES AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY INSIDE SPECIALLY MARKED BOXES OF SPILLER’S HIGH ENERGY BUCKWHEAT BREAKFAST FLAKES! ASK YOUR MOM TO BUY SOME TODAY!

“Are you going back to the party?”

“What?”

Annie had a fragile smile saved up for me. “We didn’t get any chance to talk upstairs.”

“Looks like we’ll have something to talk about now.”

“I think it was brave what you did Ray.”

A knot of cramps twisted in my stomach therefore I handed her a dishonest excuse about how I had to sit down by myself somewhere & collect my Thoughts before I said my fond farewells. Not 100% dishonesty from me for as soon as Annie was in the elevator I went up by
the stairs to the Executive Washroom. This place is not a fancy affair like you may expect it is only 2 exclusive Cubicles for maximum executive privacy. Pilgrim woodwork & brass hinges on the doors. And this I never saw anything similar before: frosted glass Splash Guards in front of the urinals so the Liberty V.I.P.s do not also have to worry about pee splashing on their alligator loafers.