This is
gonna be _huge_."

The food hot, and the different curries and salads were a symphony of flavours
and textures. "This is terrific," he said.

"Best Ethiopian outside of Addis Ababa," said Thomas.

_Better than Addis Ababa_, Hershie thought, but didn't say it. He'd been in
Addis Ababa as the secret weapon behind Canada's third and most ill-fated
peacekeeping mission there. There hadn't been a lot of restaurants open then,
just block after block of bombed-out buildings, and tribal warlords driving
around in tacticals, firing randomly at anything that moved. The ground CO sent
him off to scatter bands of marauders while the bullets spanged off his chest.
He'd never understood the tactical significance of those actions -- still didn't
-- but at the time, he'd been willing to trust those in authority.

"Good food," he said.

#

An hour later, the pretty waitress had cleared away the platters and brought
fresh pitchers, and Hershie's tights felt a little tighter. One of the Quakers,
an ancient, skinny man with thin grey hair and sharp, clever features stood up
and tapped his beer-mug. Gradually, conversation subsided.

"Thank you," he said. "My name is Stewart Pocock, and I'm here from the Circle
of Friends. I'd like us all to take a moment to say a silent thanks for the
wonderful food we've all enjoyed."

There was a nervous shuffling, and then a general bowing of heads and mostly
silence, broken by low whispers.

"Thomas, I thought _you_ called this meeting," Hershie whispered.

"I did. These guys always do this. Control freaks. Don't worry about it," he
whispered back.

"Thank you all. We took the liberty of drawing up an agenda for this meeting."

"They _always_ do this," Thomas said.

The Quakers led them in a round of introductions, which came around to Hershie.
"I'm, uh, The Super Man. I guess most of you know that, right?" Silence. "I'm
really looking forward to working on this with you all." A moment of silence
followed, before the next table started in on its own introductions.

#

"Time," Louise Pocock said. Blissfully. At last. The agenda had ticks next to
INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, STRATEGY, THE DAY, SUPPORT AND ORGANISING and
PUBLICITY. Thomas had hardly spoken a word through the course of the meeting.
Even Hershie's alien buttocks were numb from sitting.

"It's time for the closing circle. Please, everybody, stand up and hold hands."
Many of the assembled didn't bother to stifle their g