The commander's silence was to be expected, the technician told himself.

The technicians told me, "That's why we set up this machine, so they could see it - before the election."

A technician once told me that people often wondered whether the phone was required for the modem to work.

"From a pay booth number in the Pentagon," the technician told him.

The work looked promising but the technicians told him that a final determination was still about a day and a half away.

When he finally got the list it was getting dark and the technician told him he'd better wait until morning to leave.

But of course that was absurd, the technician told himself.

He was the length of a pencil, the technician told us.

"The technicians have told us we must wait and see how this oil behaves," he said.

The technician answered, returned, and told me my time was up.