The Gift Exchange
Sarah frantically looked around her apartment. In half an hour Ellie would be coming over with a present. Sarah was also expected to have a present. The problem was Sarah didn't have a present for Ellie. She had meant to get one, but she was busy taking down an international drug cartel.
Finally Sarah saw a ball-point pen. She was always stealing them from the bank so she could replace the ink cartridge with a tranquilizer dart. This one was new, so it should make a perfect gift. Sarah threw the pen in a box and wrapped it. She had just put a bow on the box, when there was a knocking on the door. Sarah quickly hid the wrapping paper and opened the door for Ellie.
"You ready?" said Ellie. She was carrying a large box that was wrapped in paper covered with snowmen.
"Yeah. I've had your present wrapped for the last three weeks." Sarah led Ellie to her couch. Sarah handed Ellie her present. "Here."
"I wanna see you open my present first," said Ellie as she held out her present.
Sarah tore away the wrapping paper and then opened the box. Inside was a cylindrical dish. "Wow, Ellie...I don't know what to say."
"It's yours. When we first met you, you brought dessert-"
"Which Chuck burned," said Sarah.
"Right, well you left the dish at our house and I figured that I should return it to you," said Ellie, "Kind of a lazy gift-"
"No it's thoughtful," said Sarah, "It's sentimental, you know. A souvenir of the first time we met."
"Sure, let's go with that," said Ellie.
Sarah looked down at the dish. She knew the pen was nowhere near as thoughtful as Ellie's gift. A pit formed in her stomach as she reached for her present. As Ellie unwrapped the present, Sarah quickly thought up an excuse. "You know, you're always complaining about how there are no pens around the hospital when you need one."
"Yeah," said Ellie, "The interns always take them." She held the pen in her hand inspecting it. Her finger pressed down on the button. "Plus, when you find one they usually-"
Whoosh. When Ellie pressed the button a tranquilizer dart flew out of the pen and hit her in the shoulder. "Oh my god!" said Sarah. Ellie stared at the dart, dumbfound. Then the drugs kicked in.
"Whoa," she said as she fell over. Sarah caught her. Drool began to run down Ellie's chin. Sarah wiped it off. "Why are my boobs numb?" said Ellie.
"I'm sorry Ellie. But look at the bright side: When you wake up you won't remember what..." Sarah thought about her current opportunity. While Ellie was sleeping she could run off to the store, buy a thoughtful gift, come home, wrap it, give it to Ellie when she woke, and she wouldn't know the difference. Sarah propped Ellie up between two pillows and got her coat.
Ellie was disoriented. She was sitting on a couch, but she didn't know where she was and she felt like she just had a twelve hour nap. She had a splitting headache and there was drool on her chin. Then she heard Sarah's voice. "Wow, Ellie...I don't know what to say."
She looked at Sarah, who was holding a cylindrical dish. Ellie remembered that she was exchanging gifts with Sarah. "It's yours," said Ellie, "When we first met-"
"I brought dessert, which Chuck burned, and I left the dish at your house," said Sarah.
"Right."
"A souvenir of the first time we met," said Sarah, "How thoughtful."
"Sure," said Ellie.
"Here's your present," said Sarah. Sarah handed Ellie a small box. She unwrapped it to find a pen. "You know, you're always complaining about how there are no pens around the hospital when you need one."
"Yeah," said Ellie, "The interns always take them. Plus, when you find one they usually don't work.