She was not the only one. To escape the attention of the other guests, Soapy drew his wife aside with a gulp, looking like a new inmate seeing his prison rations for the first time, and jerked out news of the latest catastrophe.
“Oh my Gawd,” she wailed. “What do we do now?”
Soapy looked around apprehensively. “I wasn't expecting this.” As he said it, he realised he'd made the understatement of the evening, and added quickly, “We'll just have to speed things up a bit.” Seeing her panic, he urged, “And for Pete's sake, that doesn't mean spilling your booze – everyone's watching. Listen, this is what we'll do. Wait till everyone's settled down, and the old man's sneaked off to his study again, and then we'll pounce. Get it?”
“You mean to say, after all that, I've got to go through this al
