A Pocketful of Stars (Applied Topology Book 1) by Margaret Ball

Author:Margaret Ball [Ball, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Galway Publishing
Published: 2018-04-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Dr. Verrick chose this time to call a staff meeting.

“I have a seminar,” Annelise claimed, and fled the building.

Sensible girl. She had the right attitude towards meetings.

Ben thought the purpose of the meeting was for Dr. Verrick to retroactively okay Annelise’s hiring and possibly thank him for having done something productive about our staffing crisis.

I don’t think Ben and Annelise have a future; she’s a realist and he, as you can tell from the foregoing paragraph, is an incurable optimist.

It turned out that the purpose of the meeting was to lacerate our sensibilities, offend our finest feelings, and remind us that we had all the status and freedom of slaves. In chains.

Or, as Dr. Verrick put it, to remind us that the Moore Foundation’s annual May Fiesta was tomorrow night, and for us to brush up on the finer points of formal attire and behavior.

“Mr. Sutherland, despite the fact that the Foundation calls this a fiesta, a sombrero is not appropriate evening dress.”

“Miss Thorn, you are not and never will be a Viking Shield-Maiden. You are particularly warned to lose the authentic sword.”

“Miss Kostis, ladies do not wear cut-offs. You will dress like a lady tomorrow night. That means wearing something with a skirt, if you follow me. Preferably one long enough to cover the tattoo on your… upper leg.”

I poked Ben. We’d both predicted that the outline of the State of Texas on the outside of my left thigh was going to be mentioned; Dr. Verrick really didn’t like my favorite pair of cutoffs, which were frayed up to the point where you could see all the way to the Panhandle. But I’d bet Ben five bucks that Dr. Verrick wouldn’t be able to bring himself to use the word “thigh” in public. It’s a sin to pass up easy beer money.

He probably wouldn’t use the word in private either, but there was no way we were ever going to be able to test that theory.

Lensky, the rat, was leaning back in a chair at the far end of the table, tilted so far back he could rest his feet on the table, and grinning as he heard our sartorial deficiencies listed.

“Now, as to conduct appropriate to a formal party. You will all, of course, make eye contact with the other guests, smile, and reply courteously when spoken to.

“Miss Thorn, ‘Hojotoho!’ is not an acceptable greeting or response to a greeting; nor is ‘Heiaha!’ With all due respect for Wagner, you will please confine yourself to English tomorrow night.

“Mr. Sutherland, not only is your Mexican hat inappropriate, but so is any attempt to perform the Mexican hat dance. Particularly as badly as you do it.”

“Miss Kostis, ‘There are a lot of numbers larger than four’ is not an excuse for being found on a balcony with no fewer than four inebriated trustees, one of whom is attempting to drink champagne out of your sandal and flooding the balcony. Please wear shoes that do not leak this time.”

“Mr. Lensky….”

Lensky’s feet swung off the table and his chair crashed forward.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.