The doorbell chimed twice as I noticed a slip of paper slide under my door. A phone number? Curious, I dialed the number.

"You want a job, Professor?"

"What job?"

"Yes or no."

I was an unemployed mathematician. "Um...yes?"

"Go outside in the alley behind your apartment."

"Now? It's dark."

Click!

I didn't know how he knew me, or that I was unemployed, but I needed the money. I was in abject terror as I heard the screech of the back door hinges opening for the first time in decades. I gazed in both directions, noticing only the gentle mist that was almost upon my doorway.

"Professor!" I turned right as a shadow crept toward me.

"Who are you?" I asked as the silhouette's shoes clacked on the cobblestone.

"Shhh!" he admonished. He handed me a piece of paper. "Here's your assignment. Hurry up and decipher it before history repeats itself!"

He turned, and scurried into the haze that had enveloped my surroundings. Thankful to be away from the vagabond, I opened the paper and saw mathematical equations. I went to my withered desk, got out my computer, and started working on the formula.

As the days turned to weeks, I noticed, to my horror, the writing on the paper was disappearing! I began to panic, and started mumbling incoherently. I pushed back my unwashed hair as I saw the last of the precious equation disappear. Damn!

The doorbell chimed twice as I noticed a slip of paper slide under my door...