------------->

Did it!

Foom! Fired!

Released, anyway. It's all the same thing.

Bill and Terry's supervisor, a little Hispanic woman, slipped over very quietly and told me I need not return. I tried to catch my breath and torture my smile to make it polite.

Fired!

Terry Lynn looked pleased. Were it not for keeping my head down to look despondent, I'd have blown her a kiss.

My deskmates passed around email addresses - Earl's idea, and it surprised me - the first time we'd done so, at least that I've noticed. I considered forgery, but why would LISA need my email to follow me? I wrote it out well and firmly a half-dozen times.

johnhenryhancock@shootme.org

My batch was done by three-thirty. With no chance of photocopying anything, the work felt light. I took a special luxury in having it before me and dawdled til 4:45.

As I walked out to the bike, Earl asked for the phone number as well. "We may all need connection soon," he said, though I think he appreciated that job hunting was furthest from my mind.

Free.

And I didn't get caught -- which I suppose amounts to one and the same thing. I go. I call a news service. I let them hash this stuff together. Au revoir et adieu.