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Stanley&039;s Journey

On MidWinter Feast Day, Stanley oken by his wife He had an urgent e from the Rat Office

"I don&039;t knohy they can&039;t at least let you have today off," his wife complained "It&039;s work, work, ith you, Stanley We need a holiday"

"Dawnie dear," said Stanley patiently "If I don&039;t do the work, we don&039;t get the holiday It&039;s as simple as that Did they say what they wanted ruain"

"They&039;re not so bad Even the ExtraOrdinary Wiz - oops"

"Oh, is that where you&039;ve been?"

"No"

"Yes, it is You can&039;t hide anything froive you one piece of advice, Stanley"

"Only one?"

"Don&039;t get involved with Wizards, Stanley They are trouble Trust me, I know The last one, that Marcia woman, you knohat she did? She stole sohter and ran off with her No one knohy And now the rest of the family - as their name? Oh that&039;s it, Heap - well, they&039;ve all upped and gone looking for her Of course the one good thing is we&039;ve got a nice new ExtraOrdinary out of it, but goodness knows he&039;s got enough on his plate sorting out thehim for a while And isn&039;t it awful about all those poor homeless rats?"

"What poor hoet off to the Rat Office and see what his next job was

"All the ones froht we got the new ExtraOrdinary? Well, Sally Mullin left so and burned the whole place down There&039;re thirty rat fa in this weather"

"Yes, terrible Well, I&039;ll be off now, dear I&039;ll see you when I get back" Stanley hurried off to the Rat Office

The Rat Office was at the top of the EastGateLookoutTower Stanley took the quick route, running along the top of the Castle wall, over The Hole in the Wall Tavern, which even Stanley did not know existed The rat quickly reached the LookoutTower and scurried into a large drainpipe that ran up the side Soon he eed at the top, jumped onto the parapet and knocked on the door of a s the words:

OFFICIAL RAT OFFICE

MESSAGE RATS ONLY

CUSTOMER OFFICE ON GROUND FLOOR

BY RUBBISH BINS

"Enter!" called a voice that Stanley did not recognize Stanley tiptoed in He didn&039;t like the sound of the voice at all

Stanley didn&039;t care much for the look of the rat ned the voice either An unfa pink tail was looped over the desk and flicked impatiently as Stanley took in his new boss "You the Confidential I sent for?" barked the black rat

"That&039;s right," said Stanley, a little uncertainly

"That&039;s right, sir, to you," the black rat told him

"Oh," said Stanley, taken aback

"Oh, sir," corrected the black rat "Right, Rat 101 - "

"Rat 101?"

"Rat 101, sir I deet it We start with nue Rat is to be known by number only A numbered rat is an efficient rat where I come from"

"Where do you come from?" ventured Stanley

"Sir Never you mind," barked the black rat "Now, I have a job for you, 101" The black rat fished out a piece of paper from the basket that he had winched up froe order, and Stanley noticed that it ritten on headed note paper froned by the Supreme Custodian no less

But for soe he was to deliver was not from the Supreme Custodian, but from Silas Heap And it was to be delivered to Marcia Overstrand

"Oh, bother," said Stanley, his heart sinking Another trip across the Marra that Marsh Python was not what he had hoped for

"Oh, bother, sir," corrected the black rat "The acceptance of this job is not optional," he barked "And one last thing, Rat 101 Confidential status withdrawn"

"What? You can&039;t do that!"

"Sir You can&039;t do that, sir Can do it Have, in fact, done it" The black rat allowed a s sot all her Confidentials And I came top - "

"And I came top, sir Too bad Confidential status revoked End of story Dismissed"

"But - but - " spluttered Stanley