by Tony Verna

Created on: October 24, 2009

When we left our story Jancy Hall was preparing to swear her allegiance to the union while her lover Tonio had pledged to destroy the next member of The California Seven.

* * * *

With her right hand on the Bible, Jancy was requested to swear that she would always be faithful to the Union.

Chester let out a sigh of relief, but as he moved away from the closed door, a fellow office worker lumbered up and thumped him on the back. Bud Adams couldn't wait to tell him the joke of the day. "They're saying that the South's economy is so bad they're planning to lay off a dozen spies here at the War Department."

Bud was tall and slick, fast with a comb and fast to confiscate any material deemed detrimental to the war effort. At the moment, he had his usual batch of photographically doctored pictures under his arm and was about to toss them into the parlor stove.

As the first photograph was about to reach the flames, Chester's hand came in to stop it. Pictured was the President standing next to a young girl wearing a pair of men's black boots. The only other thing she wore was a black beret on her head. Chester was quick to comment. "Do you think Mrs. Lincoln is going to put up with this?"

Bud became annoyed. "Don't be stupid. It's just trick photography. Somebody put two pictures together. It just looks as if the two of them were having a sexual relationship. Presidents don't have sexual relationships! What the heck is wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, the door to Sergeant Pokorski's office opened, and Jancy came out in a daze as the rotund soldier kept chatting away. "Believe me, Miss Jancy, people around here are concerned about what General Lee has been saying about winning the war by this summer. He plans to have his Confederate troops in Philadelphia by August."

Jancy wasn't listening, but Chester was. As she walked away, he felt compelled to reply to Pokorski. "Now that's something to worry about. Any guy who wants to be in Philadelphia in August must really want to win this war."

Jancy pulled Chester away before he added something that could get him into trouble. Now together, they entered the Professor's office.

When Jancy spotted Tonio's workbook on the desk, the Professor immediately secured it and explained that it had been given to him to study.

He opened the book and noted the illusions Tonio depicted contained personal statements. "In this sketch, for example, he is posed in the togaed majesty of the Roman Empire and in this other sketch with the naked majesty of his Indian

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