Toby knocked on Josh's doorframe. "Josh—"
"No asking Toby!" Josh quickly yelled.
Toby walked into the office with a frown. Donna was hunched over Josh's computer, while Josh paced behind her. "Do I want to know?" he asked.
"I'm about to demolish his score, so Josh is trying to distract me with inane trivia questions he probably just made up." She leaned back for a second. "Who cares how many words start with 'Dw'?"
Toby smirked. "You're stealing the President's trivia?"
"It's not 'The President's trivia'. Trivia can't belong to anyone. I gained knowledge of these facts and am now sharing that knowledge."
Toby raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Okay."
"Yes!" Donna interrupted. "I got eight in two Snoods!"
"No way!" Josh whined.
Donna did a little victory dance in Josh's chair. Josh glared at her. Toby sighed. "God knows I'll regret asking, but what the hell are you talking about?"
"It's a…" Josh paused. "It's part of this game."
"Come look," Donna said, waving him towards her.
Toby walked around the desk and looked at the computer screen. "Oh. This is why CJ wasn't paying attention when I was talking to her?"
"Yeah," Donna nodded.
"And why Sam's practically locked himself in his office?"
"You showed Sam too?" Josh asked.
"He came by during lunch and saw it." She hit the desk. "Damn!"
"What?" Josh asked excitedly.
"I just missed a shot. I'm still alive. And I will beat your score."
"Yeah, but do you know what fruit has its seeds on the outside?"
"Oh, God," Toby groaned. "You could at least use interesting ones."
Josh waited a second in silence. "It's the strawberry."
Donna rolled her eyes. "No one cares, Jo—NO!"
"YES!" Josh screamed as the Snoods turned to skulls.
"No way!" Donna raged. She entered her name, and when it appeared right under Josh's, a new wave of shouting started.
"Yes! I'm da man! Undefeated!" He somewhat danced his way to the desk, collapsing in his chair with his arms above his head. "I'm the winner, still champion, and I know that the three words starting with 'dw' are dwarf, dwindle and dwell."
Donna glared. "How about 'dweeb'?"
Josh and Toby froze, their mouths hanging open slightly.
"Dweeb," Toby said quietly.
"That…that's…" Josh stuttered. "How did you miss that?" he asked Toby.
"Why am I the one who missed it?"
"You're the speechwriter. I don't specialize in language."
Donna snorted. "Sure, Mr. 760 Verbal."
Toby raised his eyebrows slightly at Josh, who grumbled. "You know, Sam really should have gotten it," he replied.
"Don't pick on Sam," Donna reprimanded. "Now hurry up and lose so I can really beat your score."
Josh glared and started a new game as the phone rang. "Why don't you do your job and answer that?"
Donna rolled her eyes and picked up the phone. "Josh Lyman's office. Hey, Charlie." She paused a second. "Yeah, he's over here, you want to…" She bit her bottom lip slightly as she listened. "No problem. Bye." She hung up and turned to Toby. "He said to tell you it'll be a couple more hours before the President's ready to look at the speech."
Josh looked up from the game. "The President's back?"
Toby blinked at him, then turned to Donna. "Did he say why?"
Donna shook her head, walking behind the desk to hover over Josh's shoulder. "He just said the President would be busy for a few hours."
Josh tilted his head back to look at her. "So, if the President's back, does that mean I should be working?"
"Nah," Donna shrugged. "No one else is."
"Uh, I am," Toby added from across the room.
"You've been standing here for about ten minutes," Donna pointed out.
"That's because I came here to get the HUD report, and somehow got dragged into this whole…Newt mess."
"Snood," Josh and Donna corrected together.
"Whatever! Can I have the damn thing?"
"Uh," Josh half-heartedly shuffled papers around on his desk. "I'm not sure where I put it. Can you wait until I finish this game?" Toby glared. "You have time," Josh pointed out. "Just wait."
"Fine," Toby sighed, sinking into Josh's visitor chair.
He took out a notebook and flipped through it. That occupied a few minutes of his time, but then he was done, and Josh and Donna were still enthralled by the game. He glared at them, but they didn't notice. He stood, pacing around the room. They still didn't notice. In fact, they were in the middle of a heated argument.
"You have to bank it!"
"I've been banking it, Donna! It doesn't work!"
"That's 'cause you're banking it in the wrong spot." Donna pointed at the screen. "You've got to shoot over there somewhere."
"No, I don't! All I've been doing every time I've played this level is shoot over there. I've tried fifty million different angles, and no Snood has gotten through."
"Well…just keep trying!"
"You know, the definition of insanity is—"
"I know the definition of insanity!" she snapped. "But there is no other way. There are skulls all around except for that one path. We just have to find the right spot."
"So you want me to just keep trying, moving a tiny fraction and shooting again, and again, and again, and—"
"Oh, for God's sake!" Toby exploded from behind them. Both Donna and Josh jumped at his voice, having mainly forgotten he was there. He moved forward, commandeering the mouse from a frazzled Josh. "If you want the ball to hit the wall over there, you bounce it off this wall here so that it hits that wall at that angle, sending it up…" he hit the mouse button, launching the Snood on the path he described. It hit the desired point, knocking out all the snoods and completing the level. "…there."
Donna laughed and picked up the phone. Josh sat stunned, blinking several times. "You…you did it. You did it."
"Yeah. Now move," Toby grumbled, already surveying the next level. Josh complied readily.
"CJ!" Donna said into the phone. "Toby figured it out! You gotta come here!"
