...Tomi opened his eyes to find a beautiful Babylonian bosom filling his line of sight. "Whoa," he murmured, wondering how much kash he had had to drink. He certainly didn't remember...wait! He remembered getting within two feet of that damned ostrich and then he had had this dream about flying.... Hang on! Not a dream, he had actually taken flight! The first man in the history of the planet to fly ... backward??

"That blasted ostrich!" he growled, causing Nilala to sit back on her heels. "Sorry, my dear, I didn't mean to snarl at you. Pardon me."

After testing his arms and legs for broken bones, he sat up and once again straightened his cloak. "Think that little love tap was going to stop me, did you?" he shouted. "Well, I'll have you know I've been stepped on by worse than an ostrich!" Flying roundhouse kicks from Lotus made that ostrich's blow look like a strong wind. And then, there was that time while feeding the elephants ... but that wasn't important. Picking himself up off the ground, he drew his sword determined to carve up this unruly sparrow. Shouting like a crazed Celt, he charged into the Kash Bowl, sword raised in both hands.

The ostrich — far from blithely lapping up more kash — lay on a huge platter at the center of the table, golden brown and still steaming from the oven. Tomi screeched to a halt, blinked twice, and slowly lowered the sword. What the??

He looked from the ostrich to the now fully naked Roman covered in cooking oil and back to the ostrich. Hunh! Not bad for a Roman — and the most novel of all: a sober Roman. Tomi shrugged. "Someone get that man a kash ... my treat! Very well, roast ostrich Roman style. I'll try anything once. Anybody got any plates?" he asked, slicing into the feast with his sword. Well, he had said he was going to carve up the blasted bird.