“I object to that on principle. She doesn’t have a valid case. Why reward her?”“Would you bankrupt NIKA to defend a philosophical principle?�...“I suppose it depends on the principle. I wouldn’t ever cheat a customer or lie.”“My advice is that you do this as a purely financial decision. That is what you pay me for.”“It is. OK. Let me talk to Jamie. And of course the Board would have to approve something like that.”“They will. If you can make this go away for a few thousand dollars, they’ll jump on. Your physical condition should be improving rapidly, along with your strength and endurance, and it isn't happening." Do I need to go back to Sweden?"Hawk looked at Polly and said, "We think so, and so does Doctor Abrams."Polly mistook my silence for fear and said, "We will not be using the palace anymore after you were poisoned, so you won't have that to worry about. Your father promises to send plenty of protection to make sure you are safe, but you really need to go spend some more time. His folks were away, and we raided the fridge for some beers while watching some dumb monster movies on TV----Godzilla fucks Rodan or something like that.Well, at that age, a few beers has a strange effect, and eventually he invited me to stay over, rather that going home, so I said OK. No big deal. I'd bunked with buddies before, right?Climbing in his bed wearing only our orthodox white Jockey briefs, typical of teen athletes at the time, I had never anticipated what was going to happen.. " 'Gaspar'?? You mean just because he's calling himself Gaspar, now, he's taking girls away from 'Mr. Perfect'!?!" Would that I were 'Mr. Perfect' again!" lamented the most perfect example of male of his species that Dobie had ever had the misfortune to meet. "But I am now the Emperor Without His Clothes. All that it took was for somebody to point out my one flaw. A man with a flaw can no longer be a 'Mr. Perfect'!" And that, er, "one" flaw is your name? Milton!?!" Dobie asked for confirmation.