Week 9: The best part of this story is the part I can't tell....

I'm seated in a blue arm chair at the Union, the warmth of a new cup of hot chocolate blazing away between my hands. Idly I blow on the contents as my friend Rick squints at me from across the small coffee table. He's a stocky kind of fellow with short cropped hair forming a prominent 'V' in the center of his forehead. I smile at him as I spin the cup slowly in my hands.

"So, how did you manage to do that? Seriously that was something else."

"It's simple really...but if I told you I'd ruin the secret."

Rick glowers at me good naturedly but holds his questions as I take another sip of my drink.

************

"Word through the grape vine says you got away with murder the other night." This is my friend Kevin, jabbing at me while we work. Hot fry grease vaporizes and rises slowly into the air as I drop another fry basket into the vat. I look up from my work and quirk a brow at him coyly.

"Maybe I did. What do you think?" my cryptic response gets me one of those goofy, shit-eating-grins Kevin is well known for when he thinks he's on to something. I can't help but smile a little myself in return.

"I dunno man...everyones been talking about it, I'm just trying to figure out if you actually did anything."

"Well I guess you're going to have to wait and see, eh?"

************

"No, seriously, how did you do it?" I look up from my book and glance of at John. I'm in the Union again, killing time before having to go to work. You'd think I'd spend less time in college if I actually was going. I simply smile up at John and set my book down in my lap.

"So you guys figured out it was me then?" John nods and flashes me one of those lop sided smiles of his.

"Yeah, we just can't figure out how."

"Well you know what? It's amazing what you can get done by simply asking the right questions." And of course this brought about the perplexed look on John's face I was looking for.

"What'd you ask him?"

"Ah...now if I told you that I'd be giving away trade secrets..."