Fall from Grace (standard:humor, 1063 words)
Author: Earl	Added: Mar 28 2001	Views/Reads: 3804/2225	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The worlds most beligerent boss gets a bit more than he bargained for when on a trade mission to Prague.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

“Don’t argue, just go! Vamoose! Scram! My mind is made up and I don’t
believe in U-turns.” spat out the Minister through clenched teeth, 
“Damn upstart, who the hell do you think you are??”. His voice was 
shaking with venomous emotion. I said nothing, there was no point, as 
my career in the Civil Service evaporated in front of me. 

I left the room and went to collect my overcoat from the cloakroom as
protection to the biting cold on the short walk back to our hotel. As I 
returned to the foyer outside of the function room where the dinner was 
taking place, the proceedings were just about to start. I watched 
through the glass panel in the door. 

“My Lords, Ladies and gentlemen, ....” started the toastmaster, first in
English and then Czech, and the guests started to take their places. 
The Minister moved up to the top table and stood to attention behind 
his chair. 

“I would like to call upon the Right Honourable Martin Jennings,
Minister for European Co-operation to read grace,” said the toast 
master. The Minister cleared his throat. 

“èampon s provitamínem, normální vlasy pro kazdodenní pouzití,” he said,
and smiled at the assembled throng, clearly very pleased with himself. 

I could see that he was somewhat surprised at the reaction that greeted
him as his hosts stood silent and motionless, their mouths open in 
almost surreal bewilderment. He looked rather uncomfortable as a barely 
suppressed giggle could be heard from somewhere in the room. 

“Ahhhrm, thank you Minister for a very original grace” said the Chairman
of the Prague Chamber of Commerce and broke the spell in an instant. 
The throng sat down and within ten seconds the room was filled with 
chatter and waiters serving the first course. 

Time to go, I thought, and started back to our hotel, two blocks away. 

I went back to my room and started to pack. A phone call to the airport
confirmed that my ticket could be transferred to the following mornings 
flight back to London and, as usual in times of stress, I decided that 
a deep hot bath would soak away the days pressures and give me time to 
think. I poured the bath, slipped into the soothing water and soon it 
didn’t all seem bad. I reached for the shampoo bottle and idly scanned 
the label, written in several languages. 

“Shampoo with vitamins, for daily use on normal hair;” it said, followed
by the same sentence in Czech. 

“èampon s provitamínem, normální vlasy pro kazdodenní pouzití.” 


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