M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link By Robert Asprin

The manager peered at her. “Oh, yes. I remember,” he drawled. “What I don’t recall is your saying anything about submitting a claim for payment. There was some mention made of a bank robbery, though. Wasn’t there?”

“You were moving a bit fast there, little sister,” I chided gently.

“You mean to say you were working legit, Tananda?” Weasel chimed in. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

“I did! What’s going on here, anyway. Weasel?”

“Mr. Hoos is a very rich man,” the bank manager said. “He is also quite generous . . . sometimes too generous for his own good.”

“It’s my money, ain’t it?” Hoos retorted. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes.”

He started shoveling handfuls of coins into a paper bag.

“… We were talking about interest on this bill. What do you think would cover the trouble I’ve caused missing payment the way I did?”

“See what we mean?” Weasel said. “Mr. Hoos, any interest due should have been set at the time of the debt. Paying any more would be just giving your money away.”

The bank manager gave us a weak excuse for an understanding smile.

“As you can see, many of us in this dimension who owe our good fortune to Mr. Hoos have taken it upon ourselves to protect him from unnecessary expense . . . not to mention from those who would seek to take advantage of his generosity.”

“… After you’ve benefited from that generosity yourself,” I added innocently.

That got a cackle of laughter out of Hoos.

“That’s right. Big Fella,” he said. “Don’t think too harshly of the boys. though. There’s nothing quite as honest as a reformed criminal. Would you like me to tell you what the manager here was doing before I bailed him out?”