Shield bearer? Al wasn’t sure if he liked that more or less than solicitor, but he wasn’t too bothered either way. Apparently these people had been speaking so many different lingos for so long they’d worked up some strange ideas about how to speak plain American.

But what was much more on his mind at the moment was that he didn’t have half as many hours in a T- bird as he’d like, and that made it high time to make nice with the pilot (who just might actually be a relatively normal person).

Making his way up front, he put out his hand yet another time this morning. “Put her there kemo sabe. Al Guthrie.”