Finally the Boss, a stocky but impeccable career bureaucrat of the ultra-latest school, scribbled his initials on the report and tossed it into an Out chute. He said to Woolford, “I am sorry to cut short your vacation, Lawrence. I considered giving Walter Foster the assignment, but I think you're the better choice.”
Larry decided the faint praise routine was the best tactic, said earnestly about his closest rival. “Walt's a good man, sir.” And then, “What's the crisis?”
“What do you think of that fifty?”
His trouble shooter looked down at it. “What is there to think about it?”
The Boss grunted, slid open a desk drawer and brought forth another bill. “Here, look at this, please.”
It was another fifty. Larry Woolford frowned at it, not getting whatever was going on.
“Observe the serial numbers,” the Boss said impatiently.
They were identical.
Woolford looked up. “Counterfeit. Which one is the bad one?”
“That is exactly what we would like to know,” the Boss said.