The Captain sat silently in his chair and looked at the piles of paper strewn across the top of his desk. Why oh why did he not retire last year when the former High Admiral ML retired? Like her, he was eligible! Now, he was in a fix and for the first time in his career, he wasn’t sure what to do.

Last year, when there was a Christmas Stocking shortage, he was right there on the front line with his people, helping post all the Christmas Stockings they could make and when the High Admiral needed a grill, again, he stepped up and was instrumental in helping the Forum make grills. But now????

The Captain reached over to one of the piles of paper and rifled their edges. Too many in that pile! That was the Maybe pile! He looked at the pile next to it. That was the Probably Not pile and there were only two papers in it. He needed to put more papers from the Maybe pile to the Probably Not pile. Not an easy thing to do. Then, there were the other piles. There was the Could Be pile and the Most Likely pile! They were harder to deal with!

He picked up one of the papers from the Not Likely pile and put it on the No Way pile and looking at it, sighed before moving it back! The officer leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with his hands. What was he going to do?

There was a knock at the door and the Captain looked up. “Enter,” he commanded in his most authoritative voice. The door opened and the Sergeant marched in, coming to attention in front of the desk. The Captain raised his eyebrows when he saw another piece of paper in the Sergeant’s hand. He waited for the Sergeant to speak.

“SIR!” The Sergeant said in his best non-com voice. “We have a communiqué from the High Command. SIR!” The sergeant held out the paper in his hand but the Captain made no move to take it.

“What does it say, Sergeant?” the officer asked.

“SIR! Our new High Admiral Debbie has discovered a problem! SIR!” Thrusting out his jaw, the Sergeant remained at attention, ramrod straight and not a wrinkle in his forum fatigues.

The Captain sighed again and shook his head. He had trouble adapting to this new Sergeant. Ever since his old Sergeant transferred to the Show and Tell Forum, he felt lost and now this!

Keeping his temper in check, the Captain reached out for the paper. The Sergeant clicked his heels together and raised the paper to his eyes. “SIR! High Admiral Debbie sends her regards and wishes the Captain to know that there is no gavel in the PIRC Boardroom! SIR! She cannot hold a meeting with the Forum Commanders without a gavel! SIR!”

“And we are expected to come up with a gavel so the High Admiral can conduct her meetings?" the Captain said, almost to himself.

“SIR! Yes SIR! I believe that is what the High Admiral requests, SIR!”

The Captain rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well Sergeant, put out the word that ‘Operation Boardroom Gavel’ is now in force. Have our gallant men and women create gavels and post them here! Remind them that the gavels must be objects of their own creation! No stamps! No animations and above all, no backgrounds! Cancel all leave and alert all sections to stand by!"

“SIR! Yes SIR!” the Sergeant replied and, with a salute, turned and left the room. The Captain sighed and turned back to his papers. He picked one up from the Maybe pile and one from the Probably Not pile and looked at them. One Malibu Barbie Doll…..$48.00 or a pink designer I-pod…$98.27. He sighed and put them back on their respective piles. Buying a birthday present for his young daughter was going to be more of a chore than he thought!