A senator and his father have reportedly been sweating over reports that plunder charges linked to flood control projects in their home province could soon land on their doorstep, a threat made all the more credible by the fact that a former top accountability official had indicated plans to recommend the senator’s removal from office and his permanent ban from public service.

But Nosy Tarsee said the story has taken an interesting twist.

According to a little bird that perched on Nosy Tarsee’s shoulder, the duo didn’t sit still.

They supposedly had a quiet conversation with someone, the kind of conversation that takes place in a room with no cameras and no minutes, and walked out with a very illuminating proposition.“Your case will disappear, just as three of a senator’s five cases disappeared, if you behave and cooperate,” they were told.

The message, if the source is to be believed, was not subtle: cross the aisle toward the Palace-aligned camp, and the legal clouds will part like the Red Sea.

The quorum standoff in the upper chamber, it seems, is not just a numbers game. It is, reportedly, a clearance sale with cases as currency and Senate seats as the price tag.

Will the all too familiar tandem take the deal? Watch the roll call today. Presence has a way of becoming a very loud declaration.