Page 10 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Three

buttons to call home and tell the Bells where their children were
trapped. Ma and Pa Bell were embarrassed. They came and rescued
Handset and Cradle. But things had changed at home: The Bells had
new Baby Bells and needed money. This time they sold Handset and
Cradle to a third-world hazardous waste recycler. The rat never got
his cheese.

Little-read Riot Act

One dark and gloomy afternoon, Little-read Riot Act walked
through the mean streets to Grandma’s house, carrying a large basket.
Behind her in the shadows followed a menacing figure. When she
arrived at her destination she went right in without knocking.
“Who’s there?” said Grandma from her bedroom, in a quavering
voice.
“It’s me, Grandma. I’ve come to protect and preserve you.” The
girl took a sheaf of papers out of her evidence basket and began
filling it with Grandma’s books and magazines, computer hard drives
and mobile telephone, even the old lady’s high-school yearbook.
“Why are you in bed?”
“I’ve got a bad back,” said Grandma. “I can barely move, but I’m
coming in there.”
Little-read Riot Act consulted her papers. “That’s not what you
said on the phone, Grandma. According to this transcript, you told
Henny Penny that you were going to get back at the government and
fix them good.”