In closing, I would like to thank the Bureau for allowing me to attend Charlie's funeral.
I know that more than a few people had reservations – but from what I've heard, it was finally decided that, since I have not actually been charged with a crime, and because my absence would raise too many questions, there was ultimately no reason for me to be banned from the event.
At one point, I was surprised to notice that the Director had sidled up next to me. "It's a shame," he said softly, so that no one else could hear. "It's real shame that a good man like Charlie Carruthers fell victim to such a horrible obsession." His words came as an enormous relief to me, because I knew that it was the Director's way of letting me know that the Bureau would stand behind me, that the official line was that Charlie's demise, while unfortunate, was nobody's fault but his own.
Charlie didn't have a large family, but he'd worked in the Bureau for a long time, in lots of different offices, and it was most gratifying to see how many people turned out to see him off.
Which was fitting. Because Charlie Carruthers was, after all, everybody's friend.
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©2013 Henry Charles Mishkoff