Nobody is irreplaceable, or so were told, but some people become so involved with their positions it would seem so. It took forever to become a GS-11, but in his seventy years of life Magna had earned his stripes. Even with computers, nobody knew the department as well as he did. There were hundreds of names, companies, and contracts running current that never seemed to find their way into the data banks. The Government wanted it that way. Some secrets are best kept in ones own head.

The work never seemed to end. He had been at it for more than forty-five years. There was no end in sight. The telephone rang constantly. Magna yearned to retire, but it was not to be. He was consigned to this lifestyle, and to insure he continued to serve steps were taken to assure his longevity. Two hundred years was the record. His familys troubles would be taken care of should that day ever come.

On one particularly busy morning that day came. The phone was annoying him almost incessantly. He couldnt seem to get going on the stack of papers in front of him and his last fading action was to scream for his secretary, Carol, as the floor rushed up to meet him.

Message edited on: 06/17/2004 20:08