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dave, mona, edgar, and herbert agreed to let herbert, at least on the first day, attempt to contact the authorities about henry.
if he was unsuccessful, edgar, dave, and mona, in that order, would try on the next successive days.
when herbert got up the next day he looked up the address and phone number of the department of missing persons.
after checking his e-mail he called the number and got a recorded message, telling him to leave a message and he would be called back.
he decided , if he did not hear back by noon, he would walk over to the department of missing persohs, and, if he had to, give up on looking for work for the day.
*
after a two hour wait, herbert was summoned to the desk of a functionary.
the functionary was short, round , and bald, and wore a red bandana around his neck, along with an i d card on a cord. the id card indicated that his name was victor quisp.
herbert decided that victor was probably a human.
i like your red bandana.
thank you.
do you play a cool piano?
no.
i thought since you wore a red bandana, you might play a cool piano.
i do not play any kind of musical instrument.
i saw in the news that more people are playing musical instruments these days.
that may very well be.
victor nodded at his screen. i have your personal information here.
you have some of my personal information there.
of course. you are herbert hoover , i d number last six 639503, resident at the cedars, city section 765-fd, is that correct ?
correct.
and you wish to report a missing person.
also correct.
is this a person listed at the same residence?
it should be.
i see five persons listed, including yourself, of which three are employed, and one, yourself , self-employed, impressive!
i am happy you are impressed.
and the missing person is -
my brother, henry hoover.
ah - the unemployed one. always the way.
always?
almost always. is the aforesaid henry registered as a drone, and receiving a drone subsidy?
as far as i know,
'
if he is reported as missing, the subsidy will have to be suspended. if he is missing for more than 120 day, it will be permanently rescinded and have to be reinstated if he ever returns.
whatever.
do you want me to process the suspension now? it will save you contacting the disbursement office - not aways the easiest entity to deal with.
yes, please do that.
herbert glanced at his phone. he gave up on looking for work that day.
he just hoped he could get to sammy’s fried chicken for the early bird special.
and then for some reason, he thought of holly.
to be continued
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