“Not with all males,” I pointed out. “Relax, though. You should know me well enough by now to realize it’s not my style to go running to the Queen with reports or complaints. Just don’t push it so hard in the future. Okay?”
“Thank you, Lord Skeeve. I … Thanks. I’ll make a point of it.”
“Now then,” I said, starting to rise, “I assume we’re done here? That the report on the collections and budget was what you wanted to see me about?”
“No, that was just a casual update,” Grimble corrected, back on familiar ground now. “The real reason I had to see you was this.”
He reached somewhere on the floor behind him and produced a large bag which jingled as he plopped it onto his desk.
“I don’t understand,” I said, eyeing the bag. “What is it?”
“It’s your wages,” he smiled. “I know that normally you let your assistants handle these matters, but realizing the amount involved due to your promotion, I thought you might like to deal with it personally.”
I stared at the bag uncomfortably. It was a very big bag.
Even though I had been persuaded by Aahz and Bunny to accept a sizable wage for my services, looking at a number on a piece of paper was a lot different than actually seeing the equivalent in hard cash.
Perhaps it wouldn’t seem like so much after I had paid the others their share . . .
“Your assistants have already picked up their wages,” Grimble was saying, “so this is the last payment to complete this round of payroll. If you’ll just sign here?”
He pushed a slip of paper across the desk at me, but I ignored it and kept staring at the money bag.
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