All the up the steep, winding path that led to His new aerie, I rehearsed my rationalizations and excuses. Eyeing the lair as I drew closer to where it squatted like a large black toad against the sky, I repeated my protestations of innocence. I reminded myself that it really hadn’t been my fault, and that I need not actually tell him my secret gladness that they had somehow eluded my grasp. I had tried, I nodded to myself. That was what mattered.

All for nothing. I wasn’t permitted the time to even protest. By the time I arrived before the gate, the trap was already sprung.