William woke with a start.  Sweat beaded his forehead as his mind was still clouded with sleep.  He had been awakened by some night terror or other, not too unusual what with the amount of stress he’s been under lately.

Tina smiled brightly, leaning over the back of the chair he had been napping in, “I hope you have a speech prepared.  It’s not every day you’re named employee of the year, stud.”

He nodded, smiling as he used his handkerchief to wipe a bit of sweat from his brow.  "Right here, babe.“  He patted his pocket, the stack of notecards safe and sound as he stood up and kissed her lips.  "I better not keep them waiting, though.”

A short time later, he was standing on stage in front of his peers, his manager, and the higher-ups in the company.  This could mean big things for him.

He took the cards from his pocket in their neat stack, set them on the podium before him and began reading.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and esteemed colleagues.  I would like to thank you all for this great honor.  It’s not every day that I get to stand before you all and tell you that I think you are the greatest group of assholes….”

There was a collective gasp as he froze, realizing what he had just said.  That wasn’t what he had written down, and yet there it was, in his own handwriting.  He laughed it off a bit and shuffled to the next card, apologizing.  The next card was written in Spanish.  Still his own handwriting, but he couldn’t read a word of it.  The third in French.  The next was just jibberish and card by card they devolved into crude, childish scrawling and even obscene sketches.  

He stammered at everyone, sweat running down his brow as he tried to explain that someone must be playing a joke on him.  His speech had been tampered with.  The crowd mumbled among themselves and he could see his manger, red with anger and embarassment glaring at him from the crowd.  The higher-ups looked at him with disdain as they stood as one and began to leave the room.

“No, please, don’t go, I can explain, I can..”

William woke with a start.  Sweat beaded his forehead as his mind was still clouded with sleep.  He had been awakened by some night terror or other, not too unusual what with the amount of stress he’s been under lately.

Tina smiled brightly, leaning over the back of the chair he had been napping in, “I hope you have a speech prepared.  It’s not every day you’re named employee of the year, stud.”