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worry about that.’
Officer JJ Jeffrey drifted into a kind of trance or reverie. Whilst taken, he
mindlessly twiddled the fork attached to Delilah’s finger, as if for
inspiration – causing her great discomfort. Upon return he said, ‘I’ve
decided. It was easy. I ran it through my mind. Weighed up the pros and cons.
When the answer came I knew I had it. I’m not a man given to foggy thought. I
am like the law in that respect, I know my own mind. While the law might not
know its own law, it does, unequivocally, know its own mind. I’ve decided no .
We can’t just let her go, just like that. She’s not ready yet. Not at all. It
is out of the question. Not that there ever really was a question.’
    ‘And she stole your egg, sir.’
    ‘That she did. If you had mentioned that at the
beginning, there would have been no need for me to waste time deciding.’
    ‘She had away with your cup of tea, too, sir.’
    ‘ No ? That I did not notice at all. Who can this
man in Authority Welcome possibly think he is, attempting to bail such a
recidivistic and dangerous criminal.’
    Delilah wondered this too. She wondered also why this
person wanted to bail her. This why was bigger than that who . But
biggest of all was the when  – the when that went with the When
will I get out of here?
    JJ Jeffrey said, ‘That’s it then. I’m going to the
toilet. You. Yes, you, you edit the film. No, you do it, I do not like
the look of you’s face. It is like an inside-out vegetable. Then show it to the
audience of ten, don’t give into their demands of popcorn, and then send them
along to the Center of Disinformation to chat about what the film was about.
Tell them to pass on its key points as best they can.’ He rubbed his hands. He
clapped them. ‘When all this gets back to Upstairs in a few weeks or so, I
should be looking at another promotion, and the Decorating Officer will come
looking for me. I’ll certainly deserve it. Am I still here …?’
    And then he was gone.
    ‘What should we do with her now?’ the one subordinate
officer asked the other. Both resembled each other and Delilah had trouble
telling them apart.
    ‘It wasn’t made clear, was it,’ said the other. ‘I
could not interpret Officer Jeffrey’s expression at all. I failed all my
expression-reading tests in the Academy.’
    ‘I shouldn’t worry about that. I passed mine, every
single one of them, with flying colours, and still couldn’t decipher Officer
Jeffrey’s expression. It is a special ability he must have, something we can
but aspire to. You can see what separates the top officers from the merely
mediocre, like us.’
    Delilah spoke up, ‘He was just desperate to get to the
toilet, that’s all.’
    ‘Quiet.’
    ‘Quiet!’
    ‘So what should we do with her?’
    ‘We could feed her?’
    Delilah’s heart gave another of its leaps. But this,
she thought, I must learn to control. I mustn’t get my hopes up. But it’s hard,
not to want .
    ‘What, food? Do you think so? Let’s have a look, see
if any instructions were left. Lift up that chair, look underneath. I’ll do the
table.’
    ‘Mind you check under that plate too.’
    ‘And in the teapot.’
    ‘There’s a bag in it.’
    ‘What kind of bag?’
    ‘This kind. Do you think it’s a clue?’
    ‘Do clues usually drip brown liquid over tables?’
    ‘You’re right. I don’t think it’s a clue. But I do think
it would be allowable for us to give to the prisoner.’
    ‘But what would she do with it?’
    ‘I thought she could eat it.’
    ‘What a splendid idea. She could have it with some
eggshells. I know where there are eggshells, lots of them.’
    ‘Well that’s that problem sorted.’
    ‘We make quite a team, you and I. We should open a
restaurant.’
    The two officers shook hands. Delilah settled down to
her breakfast. Or was it her tea, or supper, or lunch? She didn’t know. She had
no idea. All she knew was that what she ate was the worst meal in the world .
And as