They leapt off

I would have entered this post yesterday, if Jacqui would have let me.

Jacqui is behind the fuzzy counter at the auto insurance appraisal center.
What is it like in the office with Jacqui?

"I’m stupid about that!" she chirps, when I ask her if she thinks I can get on the internet using their password. “I brought my laptop in to use it when I was hired here and it didn’t work. So I don’t think you can get on.”

Twig mom has just left. She had a cracked bumper too. “I was at Bumper to Bumper (what does THAT mean?), and I looked down for a minute, and CRUNCH I hit the person in front of me. She was so nice. I could have had a mean one, but she got right out of her car and said ‘Are You Alright??’ That teaches me. “

“He said it would be 900 dollars. Can you believe it? For a little crack? “

“Oh, yes” coos Jacqui. “That’s what we’re here for.”

It’s my turn. Jacqui hands me paperwork and a check for 800 dollars. Jacqui has been talking with the man behind the scenes, the man who is actually making the calls on everything in this building.  He called her to the back ten minutes ago, to "look at something" and when she came out I heard her say “That’s really weird.” Now she is as chipper as ever.

“Jacqui, what do you think about the crack?” I am wondering if it occurred because it is a stress point,  or whether someone actually bumped it in a parking lot as my rep seems to have decided. He has never seen this car, cracked or otherwise.

“Well, you COULD get it fixed. Or not. A lot of people don’t.” Jacqui is obviously barreling down a different set of tracks than I am.

“No, I mean, what do you think about the way that crack looks? I couldn’t help overhearing…”

“Lots of people just use the money for something else. It would look better if you got it fixed... You can do all kinds of things, anything you want with the check, you know. That’s what we’re here for!”

She thinks for a moment. Then, cheerfully, “Just be sure to save the paperwork. Then, if it cracks there again, you don’t have to pay another deductible!”

The Ganoderma really plunged off their little fungal islands yesterday onto the agar medium. Dish B had a contaminant, so I transferred the uncontaminated bit to two new plates with potato and spirulina in its mini-world. Now it is fearful again and "thinking about it."

Dishes A and C are slightly ticked at me for not including more in the way of protein. They will just have to sweat it out for another day or two.