“I guess everything turned out rather well, didn’t it?” Sam mused as he riffled the metallic notes.
Brill nodded happily. “Most assuredly. Townrrr is happily married and Pops will soon be the proud grandfather of a dozen or so sprat when Townrrr erupts. I’d say that things worked out rather well, wouldn’t you?”
Sam was unsure of how he was feeling. “Erupts?” he asked absently, not sure that he had heard Brill correctly. “Well, if you mean that we managed to keep Mardnnn unaware of the condition of his accounts until after I’d replenished the account and, in the process, inadvertently solved Town’s little problem with her love life, then I would say that we had.”
“Not only that, friend Sam, but both Ahbbbb and Ah were very impressed at the way you led them to a solution. I think you will go far.”
Later, as he headed for the office he reflected that, all in all, it wasn’t a bad ending for something that started out to be such a disaster. Now if he could clear up the matter of Mardnnn’s hissed-off little Kittchikoostrans he’d be completely out of trouble.
When he arrived he found Mardnnn in excellent spirits. The Crumptonian was so effusive about his daughter/son’s forthcoming issue that he said not a word about the angry little pussies.
Instead Mardnnn tossed him a thick envelope. “I want you to personally escort some new arrivals to Disney World. It should be an easy job for you,” he assured Sam. “No trouble at all.”
Sam agreed. This way he’d get away from town and have his little vacation after all—and on Mardnnn’s money as well. He began whistling as he left the office, tore the envelope open in the cab to the airport to find out who Mardnnn wanted him to accompany this time. He looked in the envelope.
There were fifty-five tickets and a note: “Djef and Dorth are anxious to meet you.”
Editor’s Note: This story takes place before “Sam Boone’s Appeal to Common Scents” (July 1996) and “Sam Boone and the Thermal Couple” (October 1995).