"Have you got your speech?" Meghan whispered.

Katie patted her pocket. "Ssh. Quiet now. We need to hear when Klink leaves."

The two girls stood there in the near darkness at the dead end of a tunnel. Their eyes were turned upward, as if to help their ears to catch even the slightest sound of what was going on above them. All they could hear were some muffled sounds of someone moving around. A dull snap, and then a soft bang - and then it grew quiet.

"He must have left," Katie breathed excitedly. "Now we just need to get this stove out of the way."

Together they pulled at the handle that was supposed to move the stove over the tunnel exit in the Kommandant's quarters. It wasn't quite as easy as it looked though: the thing was heavy, and it was difficult to get a good leverage on the thing.

"Pull - harder!" Katie said - and finally, the heavy thing inched aside.

"Quick!" Meghan pushed the last corner aside, and pushed herself up on the rim. Katie followed, while her friend was already looking around.

"I think we need to be in the office."

"Quick then. And we better lock it."

They tried the door, and ended up in the bedroom. No, the other door then. Yes, that one led directly to Klink's office.

"Repooooort!" they heard the Kommandant yell outside. Hopefully, he'd be busy for a good while. With one of his gloating lectures or something.

But... "It's not here!" Katie exclaimed under her breath.

"Maybe in the other office, where Hilda and Helga work," Meghan suggested. She already eased the door open and peeked around it. The office was as deserted as Klink's.

On tiptoe, the two girls searched the room. By the sound of it, Klink had indeed started on one of his endless speeches - but for how long would Hogan let him get away with it?

"Here - this must be it!" Katie pulled out a microphone with a special switch to it. "We need to plug it in. See an outlet somewhere?"

Meghan had already found one and plugged it in. "Go ahead. No, wait!" She hurried to the door leading outside, and turned the lock.

A deep breath, and then Katie pulled the switch. "Here is a message for the prisoners and guards of Stalag 13!" They heard the words booming in an echo outside - together with a sudden frenzied silence the moment Katie's sentence was finished. But she plunged on, "Tomorrow at midnight Hawaii time is the deadline for your beloved Papa Bear Awards. You have about thirty-six hours to cast your votes in this election. And word to the wise: you better get your votes in, for where would you be without all these diligent authors writing about you?"

That was when the door was kicked in...

.

Author's note: Remember: you have about 36 hours left to send in your votes - and please do, because so far, we've had more people nominating than voting this year. That sure is a first! Now come on and let us know what your favourite stories are! It needn't take you ages to participate - the PBA survey can be taken in the scope of some 5 minutes! The address:

www surveyplanet com / 54e0ebef55d320046c7b3b1e

Remember: Friday night, 23.59:59 Hawaii time is the deadline!