"I'm not sure I could sort out the rules well enough to play football here," Meg says. "Even after a proper night's sleep, and certainly not before."

As for the other . . . Meg sighs.

"I suppose I could offering him beer first. I don't know that anything short of horse tranquilizers would make much of a difference, but . . . I could try.

"Maybe I can play up the part about the requisition forms and play down the part with the brooms and the fire and the evil trees."