The Great Wall of Mexico
by John Sladek



1. Washington Crossing the Yangtze

His predecessor had kept tape recorders running in every
room, catching his "thoughts" as he paced. But then his
predecessor, Rogers, had always been a flamboyant
action-man leader, the first Secret Service agent to be
elevated to the position he guarded with his profile. His
career spanned a few headlines:



GBM SAVED FROM SHOOTING
HERO BODYGUARD TO RUN FOR SENATE
SEN. ROGERS WILL RUN
ROGERS WINS!
ROGERS ASSASSINATED




Before the assassin could confess, the police station at
which he was held blew up, along with a fair piece of Mason
City surrounding it. The FBI found the cause to be a gas leak
of an unusual type. On succeeding to the office of Great
Seal, our man promoted the investigating agent, K. Homer
Bissell, to bureau chief.

Our man kept his thoughts on specially printed forms:




 Presidential Notes                                                                   PN/1/1776

 President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

                                                     Date: . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., 199. . . .

                                    Committee/
                                    Commission/
                                    Cabinet Referral:
 General                                                               Presidential
                                    ................
 Subject:                                                              Remarks:
                                    ................
 ................                                                      ................
                                    ................
 ................                                                      ................
                                    ................
 ................                                                      ................
 ................                                                      ................




There were also memoranda, agenda, briefs and résumés
always stacked on top of the elegant polished* desk. The
Great Seal liked to be well supplied with business at hand. It
enabled him to expedite and finalize things with obvious
efficiency at any time, ready to deal with work and get it out
of the way before he relaxed, working hard to play even
harder, making his guiding principle Throughput.