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Matthew wrote

Your image of the clerk is an almost identical replay of a Robert Heinlein description of "The Fairy Godmother Department" in "Glory Road." A little old lady in a basement somewhere working as a GS 4 or some similar paygrade who likes to grant favors to strangers as paperwork comes across her desk. Either you plagiarized the idea, which I COMPLETELY respect, (Plagiarism is a just lower form of research.) or you have a brain forged in the same fire of cynicism as Heinlein. I'll find the paragraph and post it.

Four and five decades ago, before the "reforms"  (or  Rogernomics as they were called), I worked in a government department so I know how they worked. I believe that I met the Fairy Godmother. I purchased my copy of HD486 (HO214) from the NZ Marine Department in about 1972. I went down into the basement of a building and was served by a mature lady with her hair in a bun. She probably had her glasses on a chord arouind her kneck but I cannot remember. This was about the time 229 was published but clearly the Marine Department was still selling HD486. They probably had not received authority from the Treasury to use overseas funds buy stocks of 229. Or maybe a master mariner in the department had not given permission for 229 to be used instead of 486. He had probably not finished checking that 229 was correct. Who knows!!!!!