'So it's vital we preserve the clean field environment,' added Norma, 'we can't risk contaminating things with even a single original thought.'
'Would you like me to leave then?' asked Captain Bill.
'No you're fine!' replied Norma.
'And how are things looking?'
'We're getting there,' replied Norma, 'of course I blame myself, in retrospect it was easy to anticipate what was going to happen. We were after one 'think' but Annie's head turned out to be full of them.'
'How many so far?' asked Captain Bill.
'Over three and a half thousand,' replied Norma. 'Which is why we've had to set up an initial assessment centre. As you'd expect most of them are about cake but there are some incredibly complex ideas in there as well.'
'Really?' said Captain Bill.
'There's one that we found early on that involves sea horses and elastic bands that could revolutionise high speed travel and make fridges a thing of the past but we just don't have time for it at the moment. It is tricky to know what to do with them in terms of safe keeping. Annie has suggested that we try to push them back into her head through her ears using a specially adapted mop.'
Captain Bill stopped and took several deep breaths.
'Sorry,' he said, 'just needed to.'
'That's OK!' replied Norma.
'Sooooooooooooo,' he continued, 'leaving aside any mention of reality...any sign of 'the' think?'
'Part of the problem,' replied Norma, 'is that we need Annie's help. Bertha and Horace and I are doing our best but I'm not certain that we'd know it if we saw it. As soon as she's feeling better she'll start to take a look at them herself but until then all we can do is store the more promising ones. But I have drafted in some extra help to try to clear the backlog.'
'Who's that then?' asked Captain Bill.
'Well...it is her crown that we're trying to get back,' replied Norma.
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