"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What meeting?"
"Just a little while ago I got a message asking if I can arrange talks between the parties."
"That's wonderful!" I exclaimed, looking at Charles with widening eyes. "But I don't see what I can do except raise hackles from one side."
"I need you to come and just be yourself. Waft, maybe, a little."
"Waft?"
"That lovely scent of yours."
Charles and Amy worked tirelessly to get the heads of many city departments and their overseeing bosses together in one room as quickly as possible, and two days later we were all sitting around a table in a conference room at City Hall, similar to the ones Matilda and I had tried to get to a few weeks ago for a hearing.
Charles was thoughtful enough to think that no one wanted to negotiate on an
