Seven of us surrounded the safe and, in a brilliantly timed, perfectly coordinated, and impeccably executed maneuver, we, at the pinnacle of our motivation, attempted to lift the safe. Eyes bulged, breath suspended, sinews strained, knuckles blanched, guts wrenched, veins popped, sweat beaded, fingernails tore, clothes ripped, grunts emanated. And that safe did not move one Angstrom unit.

We upgraded our strategy and with everyone at one end we resolutely, with an all-for-one-one-for-all, shoulder-to-the-wheel spirit, tried to push it out. Again the safe did not budge a micron. Despite Herculean after Herculean effort, we succeeded only in getting dirty, sweaty, bruised, tired, frustrated, and deflated.

"Maybe," suggested a daunted one, "we could just cover it with a tablecloth and put a vase of flowers in the center."

On that defeated note we went to lunch.