Episode 22

As he backed away from the podium, President Woodhed checked to see where the pot of petunias had gone, and was surprised to see that it had vanished. Never mind, he thought, it had done its job. He opened the note and was overjoyed to read that Sprilznick's agents had selected a prime suspect in Nebraska's disappearance. Hot dog! His joy vanished abruptly, however, when he saw Sprilznick's next piece of news: "We are investigating the possibility that Hard Drive is your son Elwood. We have him under surveillance, and have learned that he plans to give up Nebraska if the U.S. agrees to give him one of the Hawaiian Islands. The exact island is negotiable, though we learned that he would prefer Molokai or Lanai. Fewer residents live there, so he won't be as likely to blow his cover."

"Sounds plausible," Wilhelmina said after Woodhed showed her the note. "He always did like surfing more than studying. But if he's capable of snatching Nebraska out from under our noses, he can take Hawaii as well if we try to get him to settle for a different plan. Why didn't he take Hawaii instead of Nebraska? It would have saved us all a lot of grief."

"He's just like his Uncle Elmo," Woodhed said, "cantankerous and stubborn."

"Ah, so he gets it from my side of the family," Wilhemmina exclaimed with more than a trace of sarcasm. "And what about your Aunt Natalie who gave everybody grief about being invited to the wrong Virgin Island for Christmas?"

"To get back to the Hawaii-for-Nebraska issue,"President Woodhed said, tacitly conceding Wilhelmina' s point, "Sprilznick isn't specific about Woody/Hard Drive's motives. I'm going to have to call Irving and ask him."

Paulh

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