Sacred Honor

I knew that Joseph wouldn't have risked our anger in starting another job while he was working for us. He was that honest.

Several weeks went by and Joseph had finally finished repairing our structural wooden

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beams. He did ask me if he could buy some more lumber on the credit that I had previously established. I nodded yes and he came back from Woody Lumber with the receipts not only for wood, but for dirt, sand, glass, and wood shavings. That afternoon, I heard him again in

the garden talking to his imaginary ant. Of course, I realized that he was carrying this charade a little too far, but since he wasn't hurting anyone I didn't interfere.

Joseph knelt on the ground and brought his lips level with Unonumo. I heard his normal voice first and then his deeper voice answering himself.

"You've got the blue prints?"

"Of course I do. The Queen Mother made some minor adjustments but I think it speaks for itself."

"Let me see it," as he reached down and brought his hand back to his eye. "Hmm, very nice. You sure you want the glass placed that way. A bit awkward don' t you think? No? Okay, it's your Queen's mind set, not mine. Don't blame me if it doesn't work out." Joseph walked towards the basement while he continued staring at his empty hand. This time, I reeled from Joseph's calm acceptance. He was far beyond my help. He needed a psychiatrist!

I didn't see him for the rest of the afternoon, but I knew he was busy because I heard the sound of hammering and humming coming from the basement. At the end of the day, Joseph came up to our back door and asked if he could speak with me and my wife. I let him in and then summoned my wife. Both of us were extremely curious as to what Joseph wanted, but we

waited. Sometimes, Joseph was slow in explaining his ideas. Although this time, he had it all

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figured out.

"It's like this. I need you to go away for the weekend until I finish this new project. There's gonna be a lot of stench and noise cuz I need the jackhammer. Do you mind?"

Although we were reluctant to leave, we gave Joseph permission to proceed. My wife and I wanted to see the cherry blossoms bloom in Washington, D.C. before they faded away, so we took Joseph up on his suggestion and left after lunch.

The next morning at our motel we received a mysterious phone call during breakfast. The man claimed he was from The Government and that he wanted to speak with my wife and me about Joseph. We were stunned. Joseph Single? Our handyman? We met him for lunch at the motel's coffee shop. He showed us his identification. Mr. Jones withdrew a map from his pocket and spread it out on the table. It was a satellite photograph. We all stared at it for several seconds, then Mr. Jones folded it back up and shoved it into his pocket.

"What we have here is a copy of what a military satellite has photographed while orbiting your community. Tiny red blips have continually shown up and we can't explain what those blips mean exactly. More maddeningly is the recorded noise clips we've heard from those red blips when we sat in a truck with our instruments. One of our entomologists has suggested that the recorded noises are ant sounds."

My wife and I shook our heads and kept our eyes averted from each others' face.

"We understand that you have a handyman working for you. His name is Joseph Single. Age 40.