I was considering this possibility as I wandered across the palace courtyard, when a voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Hey, Partner!”
I had to look around for a moment before I spotted Aahz waving at me from one of the palace’s upper windows.
“Where were you this morning? We missed you at the session with Grimble.”
“I had to talk to Chumley,” I called back. “Guido got hurt, and I had to ask Chumley to stand in for him.”
“Whatever,” my partner waved. “Go see Grimble. It’s important!”
That sounded vaguely ominous, but Aahz seemed chipper enough.
“What’s up?”
“Day of the eagle,” he yelled, and disappeared from sight.
Terrific!
As I redirected my steps toward Grimble’s office, I couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed. I mean, with all the other problems plaguing me, I really didn’t need the added distraction of talking to Grimble about some bird sanctuary.
“Hi, Grimble. Aahz said you wanted to see me?”
The Chancellor glanced up to where I was leaning against the doorway.
“Ah. Lord Skeeve,” he nodded. “Yes. Come in. This shouldn’t take long.”
I eased into the room and plopped down in the offered chair.
“What’s the problem? Aahz said something about eagles?”
“Eagles? I wonder what he was referring to. No, there’s no problem,” Grimble said. “If anything, quite the contrary. In fact, the new tax collection process is working well enough that we’re now in a positive cash flow situation. What’s more, I think that except for dotting a few I’s and crossing a few T’s we’ve got the new budget pretty well nailed down.”