No Dice

"No, absolutely not." Todd's response to our inquiry of leaving the desk as it is. "That is your mess. You have to clean it up." He continues. "But I can assure you that as long as it doesn't break or crack it should be fine." Olivia pleads. Todd leans back in his chair. "You can assure me? That makes me feel so much better." He says, sarcastically. I attempt to stand. "Wait." Olivia says to me. She directs her attention back to Todd. "The only way it would break is if someone deliberately tried to do so." "What about that shield? That broke?" He informs. "That's because I smashed it with a hammer." I chime in. Todd squints his eyes. "Why the hell did you do that?" "That's another story for another day. The fact is that it will not break unless someone intentionally tries to." Olivia states. "I want to believe you two, but this information doesn't alleviate any concerns I have." "Why not?" I ask. "Because now I have to worry about some Bozo smashing the desk with a hammer because they wanted to see what would happen." "Why would that happen?" I ask. "I don't know, but I do know that up until recently that wasn't even a remote possibility." "You don't like us much." Olivia says. Todd takes a deep breath. "I'm just doing my job. Part of that is preventing catastrophic events from occurring. You say that there is a slight chance that someone, I don't care who it is, but that someone could break the desk. I can't have that. Get rid of whatever that thing is. I don't care how it's done, but do it." Olivia and I absorb Todd's speech. Todd walks to the door. "Now, if we're done, I have work to do." Olivia walks to the door. I stay back for a moment. I notice a heavy paperweight near the edge of his desk. I glance over my shoulder. His back is turned. The paperweight is too wide to slip into my pocket. I particularly lift my shirt and place the paperweight between my stomach and my waistband. "Hey!" Todd shouts. "Yeah?" I respond, shakily. "Are you coming?" He questions. "Yeah, of course." I try to walk normally. Todd notices my funny limp. "Looks like you haven't quite healed." "No, I have not." I say, smiling like the Chesire cat. Todd examines me. "At least you're wearing clothes this time." Todd eyes both of us. "Get this done. I know you can."