"Romance 101"

It had been a long day for Aaron. In the morning on his commute into work, traffic had snarled to an abrupt halt, taking an extra hour in what normally should have taken only 15 minutes, max. He tried slipping in unnoticed by taking the stairs-the back route-but when he opened the door he came face to face with trouble. Standing in his path to an anonymous entry was old Fuddy Duddy, his boss, who would surely have something sarcastic to say and he did:

"Aaron, you need to stop staying up all night and get yourself some shuteye. How are you going to make senior partner, when your derriere is ALWAYS late for work? Keep that thing in your pants, boy. Takes away your drive, your energy. I can't even remember the last time I had a little roll in the hay."

Aaron grunted and appeared apologetic: "I'm sorry, Len. But it wasn't my johnson this time, honest! There was some serious shit happening out there today. I saw a car on fire for gawd's sake."

"Aaron, my boy. Don't worry about it. Grab a cup of coffee and meet me in my office in 30 minutes. We need to talk about Mrs. Dahlia and her impending court date with the grand jury. You got Foster's deposition, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Len. All the bases are covered. I dotted all the i's and...."

"30 minutes, Aaron. Don't be late," Len said drifting away into another conversation with Alice, Aaron's new secretary, who quickly manged to free herself of him, and whom she considered a real prick. She noticed a forlorn look in Aaron's eyes and said:

"What you need is a massage, young man. You're all tense!"

"What I need, Alice, is that deposition I never got from Foster."

"What happened? I thought you went out to Pointe Lake last week. To meet with him."

"I did but....it's a long story."

"Look, you've got 30 minutes to think your way out of this, and I've got 30 minutes to give you that massage. Now get in your office and pour yourself a drink. Take off that silly suit and lie down on the floor. Dr. Alice has filled your prescription!"

Aaron was in a jam-he knew it. But the offer was too tempting. He slid out of his trappings, as if they were greased, and was standing only in his underwear. "Sherry or cognac," he offered.