I have played around with the chronology for this one. After the salad at the Mailbox Grille, everything (if you look at costume) happens on the same day. I would imagine that driving to army bases would take a bit of time, not the mention going from there back to the DLO, going to the College, then back to Fort Platt, going to see Peg (and you would assume that them would have needed to warn her?) going to see the guy running the outreach programme, finding Buzz, getting him cleaned up, going to the ceremony (which was on a Sunday apparently) etc. etc would all take lots of time. It just seemed too much for one day so I have split it up (and will imagine that everybody changes clothes at some stage). Thanks to Martha Williamson too, for I have borrowed not only characters, but also some excellent turns of phrase from her.
A New Day
Well today began not atypically for the Denver DLO, with cyphers and onions! (Yeah Diary, I know!) Teresa Capadiamonte certainly has a unique turn of phrase. Sometimes I feel like I am trapped in some sort of weird game show, where contestants are given unrelated words that they get points for working into the conversation. The only person not playing is me.
Diary, some days you can be just a model of restraint and team player-ness. Today, was almost that day for me – almost. Ms Capadiamonte was holding our fearless leader's feet to the fire over workspaces. Watching Oliver squirm is entertaining, but somehow, I found myself throwing him a lifeline (not sure why?) saying that I was happy to float throughout the DLO as required. My small stretch of the truth gave Mr O'Toole time to come up with a bare faced lie – he intimated that Norman was happy to be creating a new workstation for me – which clearly he was not, but, does that mean that now he will? Lord knows what Norman will come up with. I remember watching a scifi series from the BBC that had some half human, half machine creature stuck in a rolling desk with metal protuberances and a joystick to drive it. If Norman comes up with something like that I am out, although I think it had a small laser canon – might be useful?
Anyway, back to the blatant manipulation that came next. Oliver should have learnt by now, that for every action there are consequences. He cornered me into doing, or saying, what he wanted, so the unintended consequence (unintended for him) was stealing a letter out from under him, completely deflating his self-satisfied balloon and basically getting what I wanted – taking our dead letter to Fort Platt personally. Never let it be said that I ever let a chance pass me by.
Speaking of consequences, I knew that I was in for a little bit of an O'Toole special – a reprimand where instead of using one word he finds several of the multi-syllabic variety. 'Blackmail', 'brazen manipulation', and 'the very fabric of our existence as an effective unit has been frayed'. Those are all going into the little book of 'Oliverisms' that I shall self-publish any day now!
Probably the bit about lying to government officials was possibly fair.
Can one be 'brazenly manipulative' and honest at the same time though? Really, pushing Oliver's buttons is, I think, my new favourite hobby. I was sincere when I said I didn't think that Captain Hopper would act on the message from Samila, and that I was putting my faith in him (Oliver). I did choose to use Oliver's own words against him, however, just for fun. I knew then that I had reached new heights of provocation. I do believe Oliver growled at me! The car ride back to the DLO was a little frosty, but who cares for that? We needed to regroup and come up with our new plan of attack.
Norman and Rita were with Ms Capadiamonte, still completing Oliver's evaluation one assumes upon our return. We all agreed that we needed to read Samila's letter for Buzz. We just had to try and find him.
As Oliver read the letter, we all could feel the power of the words. This girl poured out everything in her desire to thank the friend who saved her life. It truly was a moving piece of prose. I wonder what it was about it that made such an impression on Oliver? He really seemed connected to it somehow. We are back to onions and cyphers again. Mr O'Toole is a 'a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma' as Churchill once said.
Tomorrow is a new day, and we are going to begin it with a trip to Colorado Vista College to find Samila Nicholson. Oliver is right, putting a stamp on a letter to mail it is an act of faith. Keep faith Samila, for we have a license to deliver.