"Why would they do that? That's ridiculous! Get a runner over after him."
Half an hour later, the Head of the Defense Forces arrived.
"Do you know," the new Secretary demanded, "that yesterday all the pennies went out of circulation? People apparently have been saving them for the last couple of months. It finally showed up. All at once, there aren't any pennies. You can't make change. Damn it, why would those crazy idiots all decide to save their pennies at the same time? It's not rational. Why did they do it?"
The Head of the Defense Forces said nothing.
The Secretary raved at him in anger, but the Head of the Defense Forces did not have the heart to tell him that a hero had returned home.