Mr. Leaf

Mr. Leaf, the sneak-a-peek thief, often walks the back alleys in the city of P. during the nights.

He looks into the back windows of some houses. Few notice him because it's as if he's invisible.

He often sees a lot of dirty little secrets. He also sees some clean little secrets, too.

He wondered: Why don't people talk about their clean little secrets? Too insignificant, perhaps? Not interesting enough to others?

"It's just not done," a woman once told him. "Some lines aren't just crossed."

And what the hell does that mean? Mr. Leaf wondered.

Then he realized that if the KGB and the Gestapo had ever bottled that attitude, and make people drink it, they'd still be in power.