CAUTION! This is a ruse. I have worried about these "trail markers" for quite a while having seen them in many localities during our sojourns around the planet. They are always cleverly placed on trails to appear as something they aren't. This particular one was the one which clicked in my mind and proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that THEY have been here. You will notice that if you are intending to follow "green trail" (heh, heh) the indicators are rather contradictory. Cleverly, the green trail arrows are only there to indicate that the "black trail" is the only valid sign. Of course, it does not indicate the direction of a trail. It points off into the distance probably indicating that whatever it is indicating, the indications are directed to indicate the indicated item which would be patently obvious if you were in the indicated position, which I was clearly not. All indications point to an indicated object or location of great importance to someone who might be at the actually indicated position.

I got to thinking (a dangerous process, just ask Ginny) that maybe the ruse might actually be a ruse of a ruse, or worse, a ruse that is a false ruse, not intended to be a ruse at all. I consulted the index of the Agents Training and Orientation Manual (ATOM, yes, Agent Listorama, I do have the current version because it says current version on the cover) and found many listings for RUSE. I found it is an acronym for Really Useless Stuff Explained, presumably to put me off the trail thinking that I might have been the victim of ruse, which I have not been. Well, at least I don't think so. You can never be too careful.

Before communicating this up the chain of command I decided to think about it a little bit more. Not too long, however, because I felt that if it were a correct analysis on my part I would surely want to bask in the glow of a job well done. On the other hand, if those up the chain of command somehow felt that I had been had, I could communicate in a respectful way that they had been the victims of a ruse of a ruse and let them contemplate the consequences of such an eventuality.

I hope that this isn't going to affect my pension.