She spent that night in the Tunnels, and came Above mid-morning to check messages, not really expecting any. The first message, left at 9:30 am, was from Mark Reynolds. He sounded absolutely panicked.

"Cathy! Cathy call me back, asap! I took another look, and by golly, I really think they over-valued that Thomas property we were talking about! I think there's some flexibility in what kind of offer they would consider. Call me!"

There was another one at 9:45 am, also from Mark. "Cathy! Cathy, are you there? Hey, I'm going to call the DA's office and see if you're there. This is urgent, call back asap, please!"

It was a few minutes before 10:00 am. The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Cathy! Thank God! This is Mark! You weren't at your office!"

"I'm on vacation. What's wrong?"

"Cathy…I'm calling about the Thomas property. Cathy, can I trust you?"

"Absolutely."

"We had heard a terrible rumor that some crazy political extremist radicals were interested, and we were trying to look into it. And then, you will not believe this, these nuts show up in my office! They were crazy, Cathy! There was an old guy who was a fruit, pardon my language, one guy was in drag, Cathy! In drag! In my office! Oh, my God…it was awful. That's not all. There were two kooks, a man and a teenage girl, who were yelling about starting a revolution, a revolution for God's sake, they wanted to know where was the Bastille in Quebec! I'm still shaking, Cathy! Then there were these two women who, Cathy, please forgive me for saying this, but dear God, they kissed! Kissed! I feel like I want to vomit…and they have money, Cathy! They have money! They said they were represented by your dad's firm!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember Dad telling me about them."

He moaned. "Oh, God, oh, God…this can't happen, this just can't happen. Cathy, tell me about your interested party."

"Well," she sighed, "let me cut right to the chase. Money is going to be the issue. They don't have anything like 90 million, not even close."

"What have they got?"

"Well, Mark, they have some money, but after they buy the place, they have to fix it up. I haven't seen the property, I have talked to Paula, but you've talked to Paula, so you know whatever she told me is only about 15% accurate. I'm going to be honest with you, Mark. They have about 75 million, total. But they're going to need, I'm guessing, maybe 45 million to fix it up. So that's 30 mill to purchase it. 30 mill, what's that sound like to you?"

She could hear the sound of retching. A moment later, he mumbled, "I don't know…"

"Mark, I'd say you have to stay focused on the big picture, which is Traders coming in with their purchase. And what about this, what about if you guys hurry up and do a two for one split?"

Silence. Then, "Can I get back to you?"

"I've got a meeting with my party in twenty minutes."

"Let me put you on hold."

She set the receiver down, went to the kitchen, made coffee, poured herself a cup, fished a few cookies out of the cabinet, and returned to the desk. She made herself comfortable, and picked up the receiver. Hold music still playing. She finished her coffee and cookies and waited a long time before Mark came back.

Below, almost the whole Community was gathered in the Hub to see Mouse's costume. It looked like a dress from the 50's, short sleeved, belted, Buster Brown collar, the edges of tulle petticoats showing, white cotton gloves and high heels. He made a convincing woman, until he spoke.

"All I said was, 'can you show me to the ladies' room'?" he said, deepening his voice. The room erupted in laughter.

"And then I thaid, yeth, where are the men'th fathilitieth?" said Father, lisping and looking around nervously. His costume was flamboyant, a Nehru jacket, gold chains, tight jeans, sandals.

Olivia fell to necking with Lena. Lena was dressed very scantily, and had overdone her make-up. She pushed Olivia away, and said, "No freebies, bitch. You know my rates." She looked around seductively and said, "If anyone else wants a date, we can talk about my" she pushed out her chest and rump, "fee schedule." Scott stepped forward quickly, took off his jacket and covered her with it. She laughed and dropped her hooker persona. "Sorry," she murmured.

"You took one for the team," Scott answered.

"That's all well and good," yelled Cullen, fists clenched at his side, a very angry man, "but I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

"Workers of the world, unite!" yelled Jamie.

Olivia's long hair flowed down over her shoulders, only slightly restrained by her headband. She wore a flowing maxi length dress, covered by a shawl. She closed her eyes, stretched out her arms and started swaying, singing Kumbaya.

The Community was roaring with laughter. Suddenly Vincent gasped.

"We got it! We got it! We're in!"

Above, Catherine hung up the phone, danced around her apartment and screamed, "Wooo—hoo-hoo! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! We got it! We got it! We're in! We're in!"