The new cultural centre was inaugurated with much burning of incese and the delivery of a large number of important speeches. Every foreseeable eventuality had been taken care of, or so the organisers thought. Sadly, however, there were a couple of unfortunate incidents that marred the occasion.

First of all, the incense that wasw being burned was impure. This led to a high incidence of cases of nausea among people attending the ceremony. Secondly, there was the incessant clutter of the new air-conditioning system that had only just been installed.

Mark brown, a member of the organising committee, felt a sudden impulse to deal with at least some of those problems.”we cannot do much about the impurities in the incense. We shall have to improvise some quick fixes,”he said.

The workman who was called in to inactivate the air conditioning was an impudent fellow.”the mechanism is quite inaccessible.” He said, “ what if I do myself an injury going in there and become incapacitated? I might even become inanimate—dead, in other words, what's the incentive for me to go in there? He demanded to know.

Mark brown was incensed. “your behaviour is highly improper!” he said angrily.” You are being much too impulsive! Don't think you can get away with this with impunity! Just go down there and do your job, my lad, if you don't mind.”

Reluctantly, the workman caved in , but not without a final sting:” are you imputing that it's me who is responsible for this situation? I certainly hope not , and, imcidentally, that will be 98 pounds, if I do go down there.”