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Dr. Lee worked feverishly on his device. “Yes,” he mused, “Ho Lee’s Smoke will make honorable ancestors proud. My shame will be erased.”

The egg roll-shaped device was his working prototype for a much larger device he hoped to build for the motherland upon his triumphant return to Beijing. Dr. Lee crouched behind a mound of dirt outside the lab at Los Alamos and pressed the large red button to detonate the device.

Nothing happened.

Dr. Lee let loose a stream of colorful expressions. After a few moments, he buried his face in his hands and sobbed “Why? Now my shame will not be erased. I have dishonored my ancestors.”

Just then he heard a familiar voice. It was Ho! What was she doing here?

“Don’t worry Dr. Lee. I have a plan to acquire all the secrets we need to make our weapons effective.” As she spun on a spiked boot heel to leave she looked back over her shoulder and said, “You might want to grab a fire extinguisher Lee. It looks as if Ho Lee’s Smoke has started a little fire.”

Jim Cavel sat cross-legged on the ground silently chewing on a pile of crawdads he had found in the bar ditch. The gleam of the full moon shining off his bald, serpent-like head reminded Bill that he was supposed to be somewhere at midnight. “Jim Jim, what were we ‘sposed to do tonight?” said as he leaned against the side of his newly acquired El Camino. Boris and Vlad had sprung for it as a token of their gratitude for his protesting work against the war of oppression in Vietnam.

“Sho no we goin tah Mena taget dedrugs”

“Oh yeah, Mamas medicine run! We best hurry Jim Jim! Good thang we got a faster ride this time.”

Jim Jim hopped into the back, freshly upholstered with new AstroTurf®, as young master William mashed the gas pedal to the floor.

“Whoo-eee dat dun go real fast!”

“That’s right, Jim Jim. My Rooskie friends says there’s plenty more where that came from if I just help them out a little when they need it. Women too. Is this a great country or what? It’s like, ‘Money fer nothing. Chicks fer free.’ I can’t wait to see what Ho’s got to counter-offer to work for our Chinese friends.”

Bill smiled wide as he thought of another ‘negotiating’ session with Lieutenant Quang Ling Ho of the People’s Liberation Army.

“Da plane boss.” Jim Jim grunted from the bed of the El Camino.

“Ah yes, what a country indeed.” Bill thought as he watched the package land on the ground by the railroad tracks. Bill sent Jim Jim over to retrieve it when he noticed two teenage boys watching the ‘medicine’ pick up. He made a mental note to himself that he’d better talk to his state trooper friends about keeping everyone away from his Mena medicine delivery area. They might want to take his precious medicine. It was The Precious, and it was HIS!