Elena laughed.

"Oh, you're mumbling dear. Just as well. Looks like you've finished. Ah Carol, look at that. Nothing quite like a nice shoe shine."

The woman heaved a great mass of papers and plopped them unceremoniously onto Caroline's desk. To her credit, she didn't dump all of them.

"Here you are. those papers you're so fond of. You know what to do. Try not to go around forging signatures on any of them, won't you?"