A Perfect Crime (TWS)

"Now hold on," I began. "You know you can't just walk in and see the Managerial Officers at any time. There's a whole process..."

Of course, the kid immediately produced a filled-out Managerial Officer Tagging Along For Re-Educational Purposes form. It was starting to get more than a little creepy how good ??? was with forms.

"Unfortunately, I only have enough bus credits for myself," I continued. "And I'm pretty sure you don't qualify for provisional credits yet."

Actually, I had no idea if ??? did, but I figured it was worth a shot.

"Don't you have a vehicle in the vehicular adjunct chamber?"

"Yes, but..." I strained for an explanation. "I'm pretty sure it's strictly coded for personal use, not occupational. Plus, its presence on Council-owned property would probably violate several good-taste directives."

I was half-expecting the kid to pull out a form proving me wrong, but ??? just seemed disappointed.

"I'll have to stay here on my own, then. Of course, there's always a risk that without supervision from a law-abiding citizen, I'll resume my foolishly rebellious ways. In which case, of course, the law-abiding citizen who should have been supervising me would naturally be held responsible. But hopefully I'll be able to avoid such temptations."

Ugh. Well, the kid had a point. I made up some excuse about remembering how my vehicular operation license had a special legal enforcement provision covering this exact situation and we drove off.

But getting to the office wasn't the end of the trip. I just had to keep the kid out of the actual meeting with me. Maybe by making that permission form conveniently disappear.

Of course, that would require me to get the form away from the kid first. How was I supposed to do that?