Neither is the letter I'm going to send your sister, telling her exactly how incorrigible you've been. ...Only joking.

[ That might get him into hot water, but the hour is too late for him to care. He loosens his tie, runs a hand through his hair. Until now, he'd forgotten about the penguin kettle and the apology note--sat neatly on one of his shelves--that more or less started this whole thing off. He doesn't count the 'hostage' situation; that belongs to another time, another incident altogether in his mind. ]