Deity Arms & Bridget

by Barbie Lee
© Dec. 2001

 

Part One

 

It was a small company but I had done well. We made software for companies who were looking for a quick way to make something work. You wanted your MS Word to talk to your Paradox? Of course it was in the manuals if one took the time to look it up. Didn’t make any difference, people liked to insert disks into their machines and have the software do all the manipulations. When it came down to it, people had been trained almost from day one to look for software to do something for them. We wrote software to make that happen for almost anything people wanted. And in return I made money, lots of money.

Fresh from college with an MBA and a commercial pilot’s license I figured I was going to fly the world as a pilot for some large airline. Reality hit home after I had sent out more than fifty resumes to the large air carriers. The truth was, I wasn’t flying for any large airline. The name brand airlines had their choice of hot jet jocks straight out of the military. Those kids had years of experience handling the big, fast iron. I was so out classed in pilot training it wasn’t even a contest as to whom they would hire. My best efforts landed me a job flying for a commuter line out of Salt Lake City. Twice a day we flew from Salt Lake to Los Angeles and back. There was none of that ‘I’m the Captain’ swagger out to the plane and go fly business. We worked our asses off loading and unloading luggage, helping with the passenger lists, complaints, and yes, even working on the damn planes when the mechanics needed a hand. There were no flight attendants or stewardess along to help with cranky passengers. I quickly understood why the hot jock ex military pilots passed over the job I accepted. To get rid of my frustrations I enrolled in several martial arts classes. To a man, my instructors kept telling me to control my anger rather than expressing it in class. Needless to say, I never made black belt in anything besides anger class.

Eighteen months into my dream job with Salt Lake Carriers I decided I didn’t want to spend my life that way. I began sending out resumes again and taking courses in computer programming. That was when I figured out a better way to make a living. People are naturally lazy and I could make a living selling software programmed to do what they were too lazy to look up. What college never teaches anyone is how to make money. They also never teach anyone to think smart. Now don’t get me wrong, colleges input one thing and that’s information. Students either figure out how to learn so they can make the grade or they fail the course. Thinking back, I realized there was nothing a college provided except a centralized place to study and a schedule for that study. Everything else was up to the student. I digress.

At first I only made a little pocket change selling software. My software was simple, in fact that was the problem, it was too simple. It did the job and nothing else. When I added installation icons I sold more software and I could charge more. Instead of four dollars and ninety nine cents, I could sell it for nine dollars and ninety nine cents and the amazing thing was greater numbers of people purchased it. Again a revelation in marketing came to me. People perceive something too inexpensive as being ‘cheap’ even if it does the same job as a product costing four times as much. Based only on price, people will buy the higher priced product thinking it is better.

Now I was on a roll and my marketing skills had kicked into high gear. I started putting my program on CD’s and adding tons of worthless bytes to make them look like heavy high end programs. Of course I raised the price again. The demand was growing by leaps and bounds. My job at Salt Lake Carriers was interfering with my ability to make money so I quit the pilot business and went into the software business. Demand was more than I could handle. I hocked myself up to my eyeballs at the bank and hired a couple women, because they work cheap and seldom complain. I opened a little business on the second floor over a doughnut shop.

I was unstoppable now. I hired one of the kids I had known at college to repackage my CD’s in attractive customer appealing boxes. Again the boxes were for appeal so the wrapping was like my programs, lots of fluff and little substance but the public was buying my programs like candy. We expanded, and expanded some more as my business keep growing. I added a programmer to take care of writing the programs as I was becoming too busy as an executive to keep up with the demand. We added more and more filler to our simple little programs. Hell, the customers only knew they were buying a good solid program that took up ten to twenty megs on their hard drive. Little did they know a couple thousand bytes was the program and the rest was fluff. Attractive CD’s, designer packaging, and beautiful load icons, were the selling point. I was selling the cotton candy of programming, all fluff and almost no substance. But it worked and it worked beyond imagination.

Life couldn’t get any better than what I was living. I was filthy rich. I was under Bill Gates Microsoft radar so he wouldn’t ever want into the business I was in. I was over the top of the radar of the lesser software companies, they wouldn’t want in my territory because they didn’t see what I was doing. They wrote real programs not fluff darlings like I did. Sure, a few programmers had figured out what I was doing. I even saw a few articles in trade magazines about me. The funny part of that was, the public would never see any of those articles so it didn’t matter. Bill Gates made billions, I made millions and I had found my niche in life.

Robert Drake was a friend of sorts as he owned the advertisement company we used. It took over a year but Robert convinced me I needed to go in partnership with him. Our combined companies would be able to more efficiently handle customers, billing, public relations, and of course selling. Looking back in retrospect I wonder what I was thinking or more properly why I wasn’t thinking. My company was worth millions and Robert’s company was not even a million dollar company. I never thought about it as money from my company flowed over into ‘our’ company as we grew. Eventually my company was absorbed into our company. I don’t even remember when nor how it happened. Some business accountant I was. Color me the dumbest person in the whole world.

I think the company did better than Robert had envisioned. With the capital leverage from my software company funneled into the combined business, our little company became a huge advertising company. Of course it didn’t hurt when companies bought our software and we stuffed the boxes full of flyers with information about our ad business. Our company was not only named Hot Topics, it was also a hot topic in the financial news. We were on everyone’s lips. We were invincible.

Maybe I should have seen it coming but I didn’t. Robert was a womanizer and he wanted his women employees to be beauty queens and dress like Hooters. The unstated dress code was the shorter the skirt, the better one made it up the corporate ladder. I chastised Robert many times the way he unofficially ran the dress code in our business but it was a bluff and Robert knew it. Hell, I enjoyed the view the same as Robert even if I didn’t try to get every unattached female in bed like he did. And in advertising we moved in a man’s world where men used beautiful women’s bodies to sell just about everything, including men’s briefs. It’s an undisputed fact of life, sex sells. We were in the business of selling sex for the brain. Boy was it working.

You could probably say the beginning to the end was poetic justice. We had been in need of a financial wizard to step in and take over our accounting. Kelli Stalwart was a name on a resume that returned when we sent out a search to fill the position. I read that resume a half dozen times. If Kelli was a tenth as good as what her resume showed then she was the girl for us. I set up an interview.

It was raining cats and dogs outside my window but I didn’t care. The appointment with Kelli was at ten that morning. At ten minutes to ten Lena, my secretary buzzed me on the intercom. "Miss Kelli Stalwart is here for her interview."

Great the woman was prompt. That was a good beginning. I picked up her resume off my desk as I turned my chair toward the window. "Send her in."

I heard the office door open and shut. I waited as she walked across the carpet to stand in front of my desk. "Mr. Rands, I…"

I acknowledged her with a wave of my hand. I wanted to impress on her she was messing with one of the movers and shakers of the world. That huge oak desk she was standing on the other side of probably cost more than her car. My deep cushioned leather office chair was extravagant in it’s own right. I figured I had made her understand who was in charge after she had waited a couple minutes. As I turned around to begin the business of negotiating her salary I darn near choked.

The woman standing on the other side of my desk wasn’t the prim little woman with big horn rim glasses I had visualized in my mind from her resume. A girl who could handle numbers like her should have been wearing a dress that buttoned up the front clear to her collar, and the skirt should have been down to her ankles.

This woman obviously wasn’t attired as such. Her shoulder length platinum blond hair framed a face men only dream of. High cheekbones, sweetheart lips, pert little upturned nose, and bedroom eyes were part of the ingredients. Those huge tits of hers looked even more exaggerated on her slight frame, their nipples pushing pointedly against a soft pink, see thru, silk blouse.

"Miss Stalwart?" Came out as an unexpected gasp.

"I’m Kelli Stalwart." She smiled at the effect she had on me.

In one swift second the events had been completely changed. I had intended to have her negotiating for her job as she understood I was the undisputed boss. Now I would pay her anything she desired. She could be her own boss if she would come to work for us. I was ambushed by my own mind. She was the epitome of what Hot Topics sold. She was pure sex all packaged up in female form. She had more curves than a backyard path leading to the white lightening still.

Holding her resume up I managed to cough out a few more words. "This your resume?"

Laugh lines spread across her eyes as she looked at me and then the papers I was holding in my left hand. "I don’t know. Is it? I can’t read it from here."

Embarrassed by my own lack of class, I struggled to regain the high ground in this meeting. "Do you really work for the IRS?"

"Yes I do but I’m looking for a better salary. Government jobs are stable and the retirement is something one can depend on if they live long enough. I can do a whole lot better and set up a retirement that will do a lot more for me in the private industry." She waited to see if I was going to offer her enough to quit the government and go to work for Hot Topics.

"Uh, yeah, okay then, I see. Sure why not." My mouth was running but my brain hadn’t been engaged.

She waited for me to say something she needed to respond to.

"Uh, what kind of salary are we talking about? I mean what would it take to get you to be, I mean work for us?" I almost dropped my head down on the desk and cried. My negotiations had fallen short. Hell why mince words? I offered her the company if she would name her price and go to work for us.

"Sixty thousand plus benefits would buy me." Again that beautiful smile of hers.

I knew, she knew, there was no doubt we both knew she had dropped a double meaning in there. My little friend, peter, was getting excited as I tried to keep my mind on the tits…, I mean ballgame. "Sixty thousand? Oh, yeah, sure, I mean it was more than we had been thinking of but I guess…,"

Sixty thousand was a steal of a deal even if she couldn’t add two and two. I would have dropped that much in her hand just to keep her around the office. I certainly wasn’t going to let her know how much she could have talked me out of. "Benefits are medical and dental insurance. Sick leave and a week vacation come after you have been with the company for a year."

She shook her head. "Benefits are medical and dental, sick leave is a week each year and it is accrued each year not used, rolled over into vacation or paid work days. Three weeks paid vacation each year which can be accrued if not used."

She was still cheap as I added up the expense in my mind. "Okay."

"And Hot Topics will furnish me a company car and my own parking space at the office. I will also have my own office." Kelli was watching me for my reaction to how far she could push her demands.

"Are you finished?" I figured I had better close up the end of the negotiations or she was going to keep adding them up until she might not be that cheap.

"Yes." Again it was still the cat and mouse game with her as she studied me for a reaction.

I stood up and walked around the desk. I was after two things. I wanted to see where that skirt of hers ended and I wanted to shake her hand on a business agreement. As I walked past the corner of the desk my eyes locked on two beautiful legs in four inch black heels. The micro mini, black leather skirt wouldn’t have covered anything if she had sit down. I wanted to kick myself for not giving her that opportunity.

"Miss Salwart, let me show you to your office." It was the best thing I could think of at the moment. Normally I would have called up Lena as I sent the potential employee out of the office. I was afraid if I let Kelli out of my sight for one second and Robert got a chance at her, my chances would be over.

As I steered Kelli down the hall to what would be her office, my mind was madly running amuck trying to figure out how I could keep her from Robert. Then it dawned on me, if she was married things would get sticky. "Uh, Ms. Stalwart how is your husband?"

She giggled as she held up her left hand showing me empty ring fingers. "I’m not, married so I guess you could say my husband is a dear."

"Thank…, uh of course. Would you like to have lunch? I know a little place a few blocks down that serves a great meal. I mean if you haven’t already eaten that is." I pointed her into the office that was to be hers as I spoke.

"It’s only a little after ten. I don’t think I have had the chance to eat lunch yet." Again that laugh of hers as we walked into her new office.

"No, I mean of course. Yet, that is." I wanted to pound my head on the floor to engage my brain before I said anything else stupid. "Well, I guess I’ll give you a chance to settle in then. Give you an opportunity to make a list of material and equipment you will need. If there is anything I can do…,"

"Sure, I need a PDA if you don’t mind. I left mine at the IRS building not thinking I would be going to work so soon." Kelli walked over behind the desk and sat down in the chair. She rolled the chair out from behind the desk.

It was a perfect beaver shot from where I was standing. I know my eyes bugged out of my head before I looked back up into her eyes. There was no doubt she had made the offer to have sex. Was it worth the risk? Could I shut the door and have sex with her right here and now? There was no doubt Robert would have. My heart was pounding.

I looked at my watch never seeing what I was looking at. "I’ll pick you up in an hour and we can beat the noon rush."

Nodding her head she was studying me knowing what she had done. "Sounds like a plan. I’ll be ready."

Ask me what I did for the rest of the morning and I won’t be able to answer for I don’t remember. I had one thing on my mind, Kelli Stalwart. At eleven I was back down at her office. I wanted to make sure I had her out of the building before Robert saw her. The girl was a magnet for attention from both sexes. Kelli was a solid forty double D, twenty six, thirty six. Men oogled her and women hated her for being so much woman. I was in love for the first time in my life.

It’s funny now when I think back about how I believed it was my manipulations as I managed to keep her out of Robert’s radar for the three weeks before Kelli moved in with me. It was a natural situation as I had been having sex with her from day one. Kelli moving into my apartment was a given under the circumstances. The following morning after she had moved in we met Robert in the foyer as we were arriving for work.

As he looked up an astonished look crossed his face. I could see him drooling as he sized up Kelli. "Well, hello, and who are you?"

Robert glanced in my direction. "Jer, my old friend, aren’t you going to introduce us?"

Instinctively, I put my arm around Kelli. "Sure. Robert, this is Kelli Stalwart, our head accountant. You remember, we hired her a month back."

Leaning forward to take her hand, Robert was drooling. "Damn Jer, you didn’t tell me this was the Kelli Stalwart we hired. Why didn’t you tell me before now, you old rascal?"

As he took Kelli’s hand in both of his, Robert tried to edge me out of the picture. "Miss Stalwart, I’m so pleased to meet you. I’m the other half of Hot Topics. We must have dinner together. How about tonight?"

"I’m sorry, Mr. Drake but I’m already spoken for." She smiled at Robert as his eyes showed disappointment.

My head swelled ten sizes as Robert asked the next question I already knew the answer to. "And may I ask who’s the lucky man, Kelli?"

Kelli pulled her hand free from Robert and wrapped both hands around my right arm. "Jerry and I are engaged."

Poor Robert looked like road kill at that moment. I had the most beautiful woman in the world and he had missed his chance at screwing her. It only took a second but he regained his composure and glared hatred at me. "Congrats, Jer."

What he really meant was, he wanted to stab me for not giving him the chance at Kelli before I took her off the market.

"Thanks, Robert. That’s terribly kind of you." I couldn’t help but rub his nose in it.

Robert turned and walked off without answering. I had the woman he wanted and there was nothing he could do about it.

I tried to set a wedding date but Kelli kept finding excuses not to. It didn’t make a whole lot of difference. We were already sleeping together and she was mine even if she wouldn’t walk down the aisle with me at the moment. Six months passed and Kelli finally told me she wanted to be Ms. I was on cloud nine. I was rich, I had the woman every man drooled over, and my future was guaranteed to be abundant.

It was the start of the first week in Dec and Kelli was slow in getting ready for work. I shouted at her through the bathroom door. "Hurry hon or we will be late."

"I’m not going to make it, darling. Go ahead and I’ll be there in a little bit." She answered me.

"You okay? Are you sick or something?" I tried to remember if it could be her time of the month or something but men never keep track of things like that.

"No, I’m fine. It’s nothing. I’ll be a little late this morning. You go on and I’ll catch a cab in thirty minutes or so." Came back from the other side.

I tried to open the door but for the first time since we had moved in together it was locked. "Uh, I can wait."

"I don’t want you to wait. Go on." Was the answer.

"Uh, okay, I guess. You sure you are alright?" I was confused as to what could be wrong? Bad hair day? Maybe she felt like being late and nothing else. Sometimes women are like that.

"For the last time, yes, I’m okay. Nothing to worry about. I’ll see you down at the office."

Kelli didn’t show up that morning but someone else did. The IRS came into my office with warrants to seize all my records. "Mr. Jerry Rands?"

"Yes, that’s me."

One of the six men standing in my office slapped a subpoena in my hand. "You are to appear before the judge tomorrow."

"What’s this for?" Surely this was a joke.

"Tax evasion." He motioned for the other men to start picking up equipment and files.

"Wait a second, you can’t just walk into my office and start taking things." I was in shock they would even try.

"Wanna bet? Call your lawyer because you’re sure going to need one." He started taking things off my desk and dropping them into a box.

I picked up the phone and did call Legget, and Legget, our company lawyer. Charles Legget told me, yes, the IRS could come in and pick up things but not to worry, we would get it back.

I should have worried. Kelli never showed up that day. She wasn’t home when I got there after a very trying day fighting with the IRS as I watched them haul everything off and lock down our building. I called everyone I knew as I tried to find Kelli but it was useless, she had vanished. I called the police to report her missing. I knew she had been abducted between the apartment and the office. They were polite but not very enthusiastic about filling out a report before three days were up.

The next day as I walked into court I felt and looked like hell. Kelli was missing, my company was shut down by the IRS, I couldn’t get in touch with Robert, and I had no sleep.

My lawyer, Charles Legget was the only person in that courtroom I knew. He held out his hand as I walked in. "Morning Jerry, you don’t look too good."

"Hi Charles, I don’t feel good either. I can’t find Kelli, Robert is out of touch, and I didn’t get any sleep." I took his hand and returned the handshake.

"All rise, court is now in session, The Honorable Judge Windslow is presiding." The bailiff announced before I could find a seat.

A wizzen little man in black robes walked in and slid up to a chair behind the bench. "Let’s get this started. Who’s first?"

"IRS verses Mr. Jerry Rands doing business as Hot Topics, your Honor." The bailiff intoned as he slid a stack of papers up on the Judge’s bench.

"Wait a minute. I’m only a partner, where is Robert and why isn’t he named in this?" I turned to look at Charles.

Charles shook his head. "The company was incorporated in your name. You bought out Robert’s share last month. Don’t you remember?"

"I DID WHAT! I DIDN’T BUY OUT ROBERT’S SHARE! I…"

"Mr. Rands, I will not tolerate shouting in my courtroom. Counselor if you can’t control your client I will have him removed from this court and we will proceed without him." The judge was staring at me.

"But…"

Charles grabbed my arm. "If you want to stay in here then I suggest you keep quiet."

"But…"

Charles shook his head.

I was in total shock. I had to defend myself against the lies I had heard. Why wouldn’t they let me tell the truth?

There was a lot in that courtroom I didn’t understand as the IRS presented its case against me for tax evasion. I didn’t keep the company books, Kelli did and what could have happened to her? I knew she wouldn’t have left me. It had to be Robert. Robert had her kidnapped or more likely done it himself to keep her from testifying at my hearing. That bastard! I was going to get even with him. I would kill him for taking Kelli. He had better not hurt her!

I guess the short story was, I owed the IRS over a million dollars in back taxes. A small inconvenience was all it was. When I pulled out my checkbook to pay them I was in for another shock before I could write the check.

"Your Honor, we request you inform Mr. Rands we won’t accept a check with insufficient funds." The IRS representative was watching as I started to write the check.

"Insufficient? Why you piss ant, I have a couple hundred times that amount in the bank. My check is certainly not insufficient." Was this nightmare never going to end?

The judge looked at the rep and then me. "What bank, Mr. Rands?"

"First National, your Honor." I held up the checkbook for the judge to see.

The judge nodded at the bailiff who took my checkbook and left. He came back in a couple minutes. The bailiff walked up to the judge and whispered in his ear.

The judge looked out at me. "Mr. Rands, you have no funds in the bank in question. Is there any other bank you do business with?"

"Well, no, but I have stock in several corporations." They obviously gave the bank the wrong name or maybe even called the wrong bank. I would clear it up as soon as I left the court.

"You have thirty days, Mr. Rands. If you have not made arraignments by the end of that time you are to report here in court before me for sentencing for tax evasion." The judge picked up his papers and left the courtroom.

"Thirty days?" I turned to Charles as I asked the question.

"Only a formality, Jerry. Pay the fine and that will be the end of it." He was putting papers back in his briefcase.

"Sure, no problem." I had other more important things to worry about such as where was Kelli.

I was locked out of the company so I returned to my apartment and begin calling everyone I could think of who would know where Robert might have gone. Any of his old girlfriends, his old buddies, and any of the companies we did business with. It was a futile effort. Robert had disappeared and I was sure he was holding Kelli hostage. The police listened to my story and did nothing.

I had a second bad night with no sleep as I walked the floor worrying about Kelli. When I heard a knock on my door at eight I bounded for it, sure Kelli had returned. I flung it open. "Kell…"

The guy on the other side slapped a subpoena on my hands. "Mr. Rands, court this afternoon."

I wanted to slug the guy as I slammed the door in his face. "Get out of my life asshole."

As I was looking the summons over I noticed I was due back in court at two that afternoon. Would the world stop snapping at me long enough to let me find Kelli?

"Mr. Rands, I seem to have a problem with you clogging up my court." Judge Windslow was staring down at me from his bench.

"Not my fault, your Honor." I felt like shit from not sleeping for two straight nights.

He looked at the papers in front of him. "Of course it’s not your fault. You are innocent. Someone took out an eighty million dollar loan in your name and you don’t know anything about it."

I felt relief. The judge knew my circumstances. "Yes your Honor."

"Bullshit, Mr. Rands."

That shocked me. I thought the judge understood my problems. "But…."

"No butts here in my courtroom, Mr. Rands. You took out a loan with the First National Bank for eighty million using your own money as collateral. Then you withdrew your money and moved it to the Fidelity Bank where you again pulled the same scam. I find you are in arrears to the two banks for a hundred and sixty million dollars, Mr. Rands. Let’s see, what’s this next sheet? A business loan to Hot Topics for two hundred million you have defaulted on. You have been a very busy man, Mr. Rands. You have until tomorrow morning to repay these funds. If your creditors don’t call me by nine o’clock tomorrow morning and advise me you have returned the funds I will have you arrested. Do I make myself clear?"

"Three hundred and sixty million?" How could I borrow that kind of money and not know it? Robert had done this. I knew deep in my heart it had to be Robert. With a sinking feeling I was beginning to realize the only way Robert could have done it was with help. And the only one who had enough access to my personal information to help was Kelli.

I was going to prison. There was no way to get it back nor convince anyone what had happened. I would die in prison while the woman I loved and trusted was living the good life on money she had stole in my name. To top it off, that damn business partner whom I had taken in as a friend, had screwed me royally. I was betrayed by people I befriended.

"Your Honor, if you would check out my fiancée, Kelli Stalwart and my business associate, Robert Drake, I believe you will find the three hundred and sixty million dollars you are looking for." I had to convince the judge I didn’t have the money.

"Mr. Rands, the IRS has already checked all your books at Hot Topics and they informed me you were keeping a double set of books. I’m not interested in your fairy tales. Tomorrow morning, Mr. Rands or else."

I walked out of the courthouse in time to see them hauling off my car on a wrecker. Great! What else could they do to me? I caught a taxi back to my apartment and received another shock when I tried to walk into the building.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Rands but you can’t come in." Jimmy the doorman was holding up his hand.

"Why in god’s name can’t I? I have one night left before they arrest me and I can’t even go back to my own apartment?"

"Sorry sir. I have orders. Your credit has been canceled. Your apartment and everything in it has been seized by the IRS." He looked at me sympathetically.

"IRS? Damn IRS is killing me." I would rent a hotel room for the night. I hailed another taxi.

The desk clerk was apologetic as he took one credit card after another and scanned them. "Sorry Mr. Rands, none of these are any good. They have all been canceled."

"All of them?" I had a platinum card for everything, Visa, Master Charge, Bank Americard, etc. How could all of them be canceled? Had to be that damn IRS again.

I took out my billfold and looked. I had twenty dollars in it. "Thanks anyway."

Walking out to the street, I decided I would never go to prison. A cold freezing rain had begun and I was getting soaked as I hailed another taxi.

I slid into the cab as he pulled up to the curb. The driver looked up in the rearview mirror. "Where to?"

"As far as this takes me." I handed him the twenty. I would ride as far as the money lasted and get out and kill myself.

"Sure, any place in particular?" He pulled the cab back out into the traffic as rain beat down on the roof.

"No." I had accepted my fate. I would not go to prison for something I didn’t do. Either way I was a dead man. I could either prolong it by lasting out my years in prison or I could control my destiny by ending it at my choosing.

"No problem." He concentrated on his driving as the rain was getting worse and any driving was becoming hazardous.

I slipped my billfold and watch down between the back and the seat. I could be identified by them. I didn’t want the IRS or anyone to know I had escaped their plans for me. Maybe my plans included more than escaping the IRS and prison? This way, Robert and Kelli would never see my picture in the paper as I missed the judge’s sentencing and life in prison. In a small way I would be getting even with both of them. They would always be looking over their shoulder wondering if I was still out there, waiting to get even.

It was a long ride and I would have known it was more than a twenty dollar ride if I hadn’t been so caught up in planning my death. If my ride ended near the water I would jump in. If I was in a residential area I would step out in front of a vehicle. Downtown meant I could jump from a high rise. It would soon be over.

The taxi stopped. "Twenty dollars is used up, Mac. You wanna go some more you gotta pay some more."

"No, that’s fine. Thank you. I hope you have a good life. Thanks." I slid out of the cab into a downpour of freezing rain and was immediately rewarded by being soaked to the skin. The cab disappeared in less than a second as it pulled away in the rain. Looking around I couldn’t make out anything except the glow of a light coming from a lobby directly beside me.

My teeth were knocking together and I started to shake as the rain soaked me to the bone. I wasn’t going to have to do anything to kill myself. I was going to freeze to death right there on the spot. Somehow that option didn’t appeal to me because I hadn’t planned it. Starting for the shelter of the lobby I slipped and fell down in the gutter. What wasn’t soaked before was certainly soaked now. I thought about lying there and letting nature take its course. For some reason I got up and headed for the lobby.

There was a big man behind the desk inside the entry. "May I help you, sir?"

"Uh…, n…, n…, no." I managed as my teeth clacked and my body shook.

"Sir, this is not a public building. If you are not here on business or to meet someone then I am sorry but you will have to leave." He rose up out of his chair. I only thought he was big when he was sitting down. The guy was absolutely huge.

Before I could turn to leave another man opened an office door and walked out. "What’s the problem, Horace?"

"No problem Mr. Logan. This gentleman came in off the street. I informed him this wasn’t a public building.

The man named Logan put his fingers together and formed a temple in front of his face. "I see. He looks soaked and seems to be freezing. It would be uncharitable to send him back out in this freezing rain before he had a chance to warm up."

"Mr. Rands, if you would step into the room and remove your clothes we will take them down to the furnace room and hang them to dry before you go back out into the rain." Mr. Logan pointed toward a door on the opposite side of the room.

I started to decline. A chill hit me and I was shaking so bad I thought my eyes were going to fall out. "S.s.s.s.s.sure, t.t.t.t.t.thanks."

Stepping into the room I found it was no more than a closet. I had second thoughts about taking off my clothes before a really bad chill made my bones rattle. I took off my shirt and pants and handed them outside the door.

"Everything, Mr. Rand. Hand all your clothing out here so we may dry them out."

"S…, sss.. sure." I removed my shorts, socks, and shoes and handed them out the door.

"There are some clothes on a hanger on the wall behind you, Mr. Rands. Put something on while yours are drying so you don’t freeze to death." Came from the other side of the door.

Turning around I looked for something I could slip into. A long, white satin gown was the only stitch of clothing in there with me. He had to be kidding? I started to tell them someone was mistaken when a chill hit me so bad I thought I was already dead. Why not? It was only a piece of cloth. Sure it was cut into the shape of a dress but it was still only cloth. I slipped it off the hanger and stepped into it. Immediately I felt warmer. There was no way I was going to get that back zipper up but it didn’t matter. I felt better already.

"Please step out of the closet, Mr. Rands. It is going to take some time to dry out your clothes and you can’t spend all night in there."

As I stepped out of the closet, Mr. Logan motioned for me to turn my back to him. I did and he zipped up the dress. It felt weird to say the least. One because I had never worn a dress in my life and two because a man zipped me up. I was finally comfortably warm for the first time since I had stepped into the rain.

Within seconds a tall, excellent example of man and an Arabic woman walked in the front door. She immediately focused in on me. "What are you doing wearing my dress?"

"I uh, it was, ah, I…," I had no idea what to say.

"Hello, Morgan. How are you dear?" Mr. Logan looked pleased.

She wasn’t to be distracted from her target. "That is a designer original and it cost twenty one thousand dollars. I expect you to pay for it."

"ha" escaped involuntarily as the idea I could pay for anything crossed my mind. "Get in line."

"You don’t intend to pay?" She folded her arms across her ample chest.

"I couldn’t if I wanted. I owe the IRS a million, I own the banks a few hundred million, and I have absolutely nothing of value. I’m afraid if you want me to pay for anything it’s going to be a long wait." Why was everyone wanting something from me when I no longer owned anything?

She pointed at my hands. "What about those?"

"Those what?" I looked down at my hands. I had a class ring and a Masonic ring.

"Those will be a start." She held out her hand.

"Fine." I pulled them off grateful she had asked for them. I had forgotten them and I could have possibly been identified from them. I didn’t want the IRS to find my body and know I had out foxed them.

"What else do you have?" She was waiting for something else of value.

"Absolutely nothing. You can have my life." I figured she was going to be disappointed when she found out I was going to end it in another hour or so after I got my clothes back.

"A contract given and a contract accepted. So be it." She smiled for the first time and I noticed she was a very beautiful woman.

She looked over at Mr. Logan. "You are witness to the contract."

"I am Morgan, and I think you have done well." He looked at me with amused eyes.

"Mr. Rands, your life belongs to me, given in contract." She backed up as she studied me.

I started to laugh and thought better of it. These people were crazier than a Hoot Owl.

She walked around me as she studied me. "I have a fashion show at Miami tomorrow but that’s too soon for you. The one at Rio will work out better. That’s in three days from now."

"The dress you are wearing was supposed to be in the Miami show but it will wait. Please, come with me." She walked over to the elevator as she was talking.

Why not? I was a dead man. There was nothing these crazy people could do to me that would bother me at this point. I started to walk over to the elevator.

Morgan shook her head. "Hold your skirt up, dear. Don’t drag the hem."

Reaching down with my hands I wrapped up material in both hands and hiked my skirt as I stepped on the elevator.

She sighed as she shook her head. "I have my work cut out for me I can tell. "Don’t crush the material hon. It’s not a bag of groceries. Gently roll your fingers into the material and lift. You don’t want to leave wrinkles when you turn loose."

I almost cracked up. I was getting a lesson in etiquette an hour or two before I died. How funny could it be? "Yes, ma’am."

"I’m Morgan, dear. I am not ma’am." The doors slid open and she stepped off.

I followed her to an apartment as I held my skirt up the way she instructed.

She opened the door and motioned me in. "I’ll be back in three days. Do not sleep in my bed naked. You will wear something appropriate. I expect you to take a bath before you go to bed. You smell like you fell down in the gutter."

I chuckled over that one. If she only knew.

"You find that amusing?" She had a smile on her face.

"Yes I did." I turned my back to her. "Would you unzip me please?"

"Ladies manage by themselves. Three days." She shut the door and I was alone.

Talk about weird people! I was sure if I had been able to make out the sign on the front of the building it would have said Psycho Ward. Okay, first things first. I walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains. I couldn’t see the ground and it was still raining cats and dogs. I was up high enough so when I jumped I wouldn’t break a leg and suffer. I would definitely be dead after impact. The rain meant it would be sometime before anyone found the body which was another plus. Lots of things start degrading after that last breath. The longer it took to haul my body to the morgue the less chance they would identify it.

Looking around the apartment was not encouraging. I wanted to find pants and a shirt before I jumped. I might be dead but I didn’t want anyone to find me in a dress. I was tired of life and wanting to escape. I did not want anyone to think I was one of them weird people you see running around New York. I felt a growing suspicion in the pit of my stomach, my desire for a dignified suicide wasn’t going to be that easy. The apartment didn’t look like a pants and shirt type woman lived in it.

More than a half hour later I wasn’t thrilled to find I had been right. I searched the drawers, the closets, and the shelves. The woman wore expensive designer dresses. Pants weren’t in her wardrobe. I was tired and it was time to get it over with. Satin gown or no satin gown I was going to jump. They could pick up one more weirdo when they found the body.

Walking over to the window I took a deep breath. The IRS could kiss my ass. I wasn’t going to die in prison. I put my hands up on the window frame to lift it open. A flash of lightening lit up the night and two monsters were sitting on the window ledge looking back in the room at me. Not much scares me but something as ugly and fearful as two gargoyles sitting on one’s window ledge could bring up the fear in virtually anyone. It was a self preservation reaction as I screamed and involuntarily flung myself backwards away from the awful sight in front of my face. I fell over a chair, my head hit the floor, and I was out cold.

"What’s her problem?" Gorm looked in through the window at the woman lying on the floor where she had fallen.

"I think we frightened her." Grim snorted and steam escaped out of his nostrils.

"You don’t look frightful to me. Do I look frightful to you?" Gorm shook off the ice that was beginning to form on his back and wings from the freezing rain.

"You know what they say. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess she didn’t think we were beautiful." Grim sighed as he looked out across the sky. "Such a beautiful night isn’t it."

Gorm reached up and scratched his nose with one of the talons on his right front paw. "A little more lightening would make it better. But yeah, it’s not bad."

Grimcost flew in and landed beside Gorm. Pressing his nose up to the pane he looked in the window. "Another one? She looks different from any of the others for some reason."

Garmon landed between Gorm and Grim, lost his grip and fell off the ledge backwards. Seconds later he was back and this time he landed with a definite purpose. "Make way, I want to see too."

Grim reluctantly moved over to make room. "Stop your damn pushing would you. She’s not going anyplace."

Garmon looked over at Grim and wrinkled up his lips exposing long rows of teeth and prominent fangs. "You keep talking like that and Logan will wash your mouth out with soap."

Grim slapped a paw over his mouth. "Yuck, how nasty. The thought makes me shiver."

Garmon turned his attention back to the woman. "She looks different."

"I just said that." Grimcost snorted in disgust.

"But she does. She has little life force around her. Is she dead?" Garmon pressed his face to the window as he stared at the woman lying so still on the floor.

Grim shook off the ice forming on his body as he looked down at the lights below. "Humans die but not here. Mr. Logan wouldn’t allow it. I was watching when Kemel dropped him out of the cab. He was as good as dead before he fell down in the freezing water in the gutter. Unlike us, humans don’t take to temperature extremes very well. I think he presented an unusual challenge to Mr. Logan. An interesting project for sure. Humans are funny creatures. Can you take one who wants to die and make her want to live?"

Dreams are funny as one can never choose what they may dream. The other thing about dreams is, one never knows when they will end. It’s a game of chance. Wake up and poof they are history, gone to never be remembered, or they are so real one has to wonder if it was a dream? I was dreaming I was Kelli. Had to be, it was the only explanation I could think of. I should know, I had my hands on her body a million times. Only this time, her body was my body. Or was it my body was her body? Whatever, no one ever said dreams had to be rational.

It was time to get up off the floor where I had fallen and knocked myself out. It was with effort and certainly a lot different than the way men do it as I rolled over to leverage myself, my huge breasts a constant problem by being in the road. Long, jet black hair ran in a river from my head, over my left shoulder and spread out across the floor beside me. As I stood up I moved my hair around to my back and brushed the wrinkles out of my dress, I admired how beautiful the white satin designer gown was. It had brocade, seed pearls, and lace interwoven from what I could see looking down. Of course I couldn’t see much of the dress, I did see a huge expanse of seductive flesh. The scalloped neckline of the dress barely managed to cover my breasts at the extreme limit before obscene. In other words, my nipples were covered as they pushed pointedly at the soft material.

There were mirrored doors on the closet in the bedroom and I was curious. Without thinking I gathered up my skirt which now swept out in a huge cloud of white satin around me. The dress rustled as I walked on heels into the bedroom. The fullness of the skirt barely made it through the bedroom door and that was only by severely crushing it. How did I know I was on high heels?

Slowly I walked up to the mirror as I watched the reflection of the woman approaching. The white satin dress was absolutely, stunningly gorgeous. A wedding dress no doubt and the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. The delicate brocade, seed pearls, and lace covered the bodice of the dress. My breasts were delicately poised wrapped in white satin. The full skirt bellowed out in radiant glimmering white satin, a long train was attached.

Was Kelli a bride? Was this the wedding I was going to have with Kelli? I looked at the face staring back. No, it wasn’t Kelli. This woman was a lot prettier and I thought Kelli was a beauty. Beautiful deep black eyes, exquisitely arched eyebrows, long lush eyelashes any woman would have died for, a cute little pert nose, full sweetheart lips, and high Indian Princess cheekbones. The woman had almond skin hinting at Indian ancestry.

My eyes were drawn down to the huge breasts she was endowed with. Those puppies were big! The waist was incredibly small. And the hips? Even under the full skirt, I could tell they were ample. The woman I was looking at would make Kelli look like an also ran. There was no doubt when she walked out into public, grown men would salivate, boys would think dirty thoughts, girls would toss their Barbie Dolls, and women would hate her.

Funny dream for sure. It was time to shuck the dress and go take a shower. Without thinking, I reached up behind my back and unzipped the dress. I stepped out of it and pushed piles of petticoats down past my hips at the same time. There was a dress form in the corner of the bedroom and I slipped the dress over it taking time to straighten it up and take care of the train. Walking back over to the dressing table, I felt the soft sway of my body as my hips rolled with each graceful step. Because the dress wouldn’t allow it I wasn’t wearing a bra and my breasts felt weighty on my chest with any movement. I slid my petite little hands up under them and lifted. Those puppies weighed a ton! How did a woman put up with them? I was thinking of the old saying, ‘any more than a handful is a waste’. I was thinking how right that was. Anything more was strictly for men’s entertainment.

Sitting down on the cushioned seat, I leaned over and removed my heels. White satin pumps, they had a five inch heel or it could have been more. They were perfect. Carefully I slid long red fingernails under the straps from my garter belt and unhooked my nylons. My fingers were long, delicate and sensitive. Things men could never begin to do without making a mess of it comes second nature to women. I slid my fingers between the nylons and my leg and pushed them down off my small feet. I laid the nylons out on top the dresser, before I stood up and slipped off the garter belt. The multi million dollar necklace was next and it went onto the form on top the dresser. The long dangle diamond earrings had to be a couple hundred thousand themselves. They had screw back on the post that went through my ear lobes. No one wanted to lose a hundred thousand dollar earring because the back slid off. They had their place beside the matching necklace. It was absurd when I thought about it. I was broke and in my dream I’m wearing designer clothes and jewelry that would make a hefty down payment on my debt.

Talk about a strange dream! I was wondering when it was going to end as I headed for the shower. Black lace panties was all I was wearing and I slid them off before I gathered up my long black hair under a shower cap. The shower felt so real I knew I had to be waking up soon.

Stepping out of the shower, I admired the body I was dreaming as I toweled off. My dream body was sensitive to the slightest touch. The petite frame made the huge breasts even more overstated than normal if that were possible. I ran my hand down my side and cupped my waist. Impossibly small was the idea that ran through my mind.

It was time to get dressed and find something to eat. Funny, I never remembered being hungry in any dream before. Okay, I wasn’t ever a woman in any of my damn dreams before either but it seemed natural. Or was it natural because it was a dream? I walked over to the dresser and selected black lace panties. Must have a thing for black lace panties or something? I picked up a black lace brassier and looked at it before I slipped it on. Forty four double d was obviously the size this girl wore. Busty, choice, Vegas stripper material for sure. A garter belt was next. The one I had discarded earlier was okay to use. Nylons were next and I walked to the closet. Brown leather, open strap, five inch heels of course. A matching brown silk, almost dress. I said almost because it covered the bare necessities and nothing more. I put slightly less expensive, drop dangle diamond earrings back in my ears and slipped on a diamond necklace. There was a diamond ladies watch laying on the dresser and it went on my left wrist.

It was a white mink jacket I took out of the closet as I picked up the brown leather shoulder purse off the dresser and headed for the door. I checked for an apartment key and then looked in the ladies billfold before I stepped out. A license was issued to Bridget Renee Tonue. I was Indian with French ancestry? Strange dream. There were a couple hundred dollars in the purse but no credit cards. So I could obviously dream up money but I couldn’t dream up credit cards? The funny thing about dreams is one can’t steer them where they want them to go. I was living proof of that I thought as I checked myself out in the mirror before stepping out in the hall.

As I stepped off the elevator in the lobby, the security guard looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Miss Tonue. You look stunning."

I walked up to this huge mountain of a man. He was the same guy I had met last night when I wasn’t dreaming. I noticed his name tag. "Horace, it’s kind of you to say so. And it’s Bridget if you don’t mind. I’m starving. Is there any place to get a bite of lunch close by?"

"Sure, there is Swanks down the street to your left as you leave the building. There is the Southwest Grill across the street. And…" He was pointing with his hands as he give directions.

"I’ll try that grill place. Food okay there?" I don’t know why I cared about staying close to the hotel. I mean after all when my dream ended I would get up and jump out the window. A few blocks or a few thousand miles certainly wouldn’t make any difference in where I was going to be when I awoke. I was going to be lying on the floor of an apartment belonging to a woman named Morgan when this dumb dream ended.

Mr. Logan stepped out of his office before Horace could answer me. "Miss Tonue, you look absolutely beautiful. Which is why I don’t think you should be out on your own. Please allow Mr. Luk to accompany you to lunch."

A short nondescript man stepped out from behind Mr. Logan.

"You are Mr. Luk?" I thought it was strange. I wasn’t turned off by the short fellow. In fact, I think I preferred him to Mr. Horace or Mr. Logan. I wouldn’t be attracted to Mr. Luk and it could be a strictly plutonic relationship with no strings. With an escort I wouldn’t have to fend off any men who wanted to hit on me. I warmed up to the idea in a hurry.

"Yes, I he." The short guy seemed unsure of himself.

"Good, let’s go eat. I’m famished." I held out my hand for him to take and walk me across the street.

Hesitantly he walked over and wrapped his hand around mine. As his hand took mine, I felt secure, comfortable, a flush of euphoria I had never felt before. The world seemed a little brighter and the sun was already shinning after a soggy night. I was more alive than I had ever been. Little things Jerry Rands would have never noticed were things of wonder to Bridget Renee Tonue.

Mr. Luk opened the door and I walked out into a fresh world scrubbed clean from a freezing rain. The world smelled new. Wondrous scents assaulted my nostrils as I stepped out onto the sidewalk with Mr. Luk. The smell of food cooking across the street was plainly distinctive. The…, I had my eyes closed taking in all the mind numbing pleasures when I thought of them.

Turning around I looked up at the parapet at the top of the six story building and waved. "Hi guys."

Grimcost never wiggled as he talked out of the side of his mouth. "Did she just say hi to us?"

Garmon looked down at the woman before he realized what he had done. "Oh shit. I didn’t mean to do that. She’s looking up here and waving and she ain’t waving at the ducks or pigeons in the air."

Grimcost slightly shook his head, hopefully not enough for the woman to see them from six stories down. "Mr. Logan ain’t gonna like this. Get real still and maybe she will think she’s seeing things."

It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. One of the Gargoyles had looked down when I shouted and waved at them. Now he was acting like he hadn’t done it. Cute! I wrapped both my hands around Mr. Luk’s arm and pulled him into me as I leaned on him. "It’s so intense isn’t it. All the little things flood the mind and to think I never noticed them before."

Mr. Luk was embarrassed by the closeness of the young lady. Humans were so emotional. He turned his head and smiled at her. She was also beautiful. "Yes."

Horace was standing in the door watching along with Mr. Logan. "She seems over charged. Did Morgan give her an extra boost or something?"

"No, she’s seeing life for the first time, my old friend. As Jerry Rands she never stopped long enough to sample the little things in life. He was always looking for the big money and the fast dollar. He was lost as he thought money was happiness." Mr. Logan felt the euphoria sweep back from Bridget as she reveled in the wonders of her world.

"But, she’s rich now according to human standards. Morgan left her with designer dresses, fashion jewelry, and …," Horace realized she wasn’t rich. She had no money besides the few hundred in her purse. Beautiful dresses didn’t make her rich, and the jewelry was certainly no claim to wealth by itself.

"She’s a lucky woman. I hope she finds what she desires. She seems so content with what Morgan did to her. I’ve never seen one adapt so quickly." Horace was wishing Bridget wasn’t going to find despair now she had found happiness.

"She adapted because she thinks she’s dreaming all this. Humans can accept a dream in any state but reality has to have rules one doesn’t wander outside of. Bridget is Bridget at the moment. Jerry Rands is asleep someplace and she thinks he will wake up and Bridget will be a dream past." Mr. Logan watched and admired her walk.

Mr. Logan wasn’t the only one watching Bridget cross the street as she held onto Luk’s arm. A couple young men happened to be walking out of Backwater Sports Shop at that moment. "Oh my god, would you look at that!"

"WHAT, WHERE!" His friend was looking for some terrible happening someplace down the street before he glanced over and looked where his buddy was looking.

"Shazam! She’s definitely a hot fox. Look at the guy she’s with. Why do all the good looking ones take up with the homely guys?"

The first one shook his head as the woman and man walked into Southwest Grill. "I don’t know."

Luk escorted Bridget over to a table and waited until she sat down before he took his place. A man with Indian bloodlines walked up to their table. "Luk, good to see you. And who is this exquisite creature?"

Luk looked uncomfortable as he tried to decide if he should introduce Bridget to Trick. Mr. Logan might not be pleased if Trick did anything. Morgan might decide to intervene also. "She’s a guest of Mr. Logan."

"Then introduce us, my friend. Stop being so stand offish." The man waited.

Luk decided Mr. Logan could take care of Trick if any problems arose. "Trick, this is Bridget."

Trick held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Bridget. Would you like me to take your jacket?"

I took his hand and shook it before I stood up and turned my back toward him as I slipped off my fur coat. "Pleasure is mine. Thank you, it was too kind for you to offer."

Trick held onto my coat as he stared at me. "I am going to have to ask for the recipe from Logan. She is awe inspiring. Candy will bring your menus. It’s been a pleasure, Bridget."

I was trying to figure out what kind of recipe Trick would want from Mr. Logan? "Luk, what was he talking about? Is it an old family secret?"

Luk looked startled as he stared at me. "Family secret? No, I know of any old secret. What secret?"

"What kind of recipe was Trick wanting? Had to be something good."

"Luk looked embarrassed as a smile spread across his face. "Good, most definitely."

This was getting nowhere fast. Luk was spared by the waitress bringing us a menu.

The steak was the best I had ever eaten. The salad was to die for it was so fresh and crisp. The asparagus was swimming in cheese and my taste buds were in heaven. I was glad this was a dream otherwise I would soon be waddling every where as I would be fat as a pig eating like this. I have no idea where Trick could come up with red wine that smooth. It was a taste of pure heaven in a glass. I believe I ate most of my meal with my eyes closed as I savored every single taste. Maybe I had already committed suicide and this was heaven? I’d have to check and see if I was still lying on the floor when I got back to the room. I was praying this dream would never end even if I was a girl.

The lemon meringue pie? I wasn’t able to eat but a couple bites I was so full from pigging out on lunch, but oh la la what a sweet tart taste it had. No one could make a lemon pie that could compete with Trick’s. When my palate had finally settled down again I managed to look around before the check came. Half the restaurant was watching Luk and me. The other half was taking quick glances trying to not look obvious.

I looked down to see if I had fallen out of my dress? No, I was still in it almost. The little short number I was wearing wasn’t going to leave much to the imagination.

Trick walked over. "I am terribly sorry, Bridget, some thief stole your mink coat while you were eating. The meal will be on me and I’ll replace the coat of course."

I pulled a hundred out of my billfold and laid it on the table. "Don’t be silly. I’ll dream up another. That was the best meal I have ever eaten. It was divine."

He looked at the hundred dollar bill as Luk and I rose from the table. "I’ll get your change."

I waved my hand with a flip of the wrist. "Keep the change. I’ll dream up another one of those too and maybe some credit cards to go with next time."

Trick looked over at Luk. "Something was left out of the recipe. She’s a few bricks shy of a full load."

Luk started to say something and then decided not. "Let’s go back to the hotel, Miss Tonue."

"We can’t walk around and look over the stores for awhile?" I wanted to window shop while I was having this much fun.

"Your coat is missing. You could catch your death of cold." For the first time he looked serious.

We had walked out the door and were standing on the sidewalk. "Don’t be silly. This is a dream and I can’t catch my death of cold in a dream."

About that time a gust of winter air blew across my bare shoulders and scurried up my skirt. Involuntarily I shivered. "Boy, that’s fresh."

Luk took off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders. "Please, Miss Tonue, let’s go back to the hotel."

"Okay, why not. We can go window shopping as soon as I find another coat. Huh?" For the first time I looked up at the name over the door of the hotel. Deety Arms? Hard to tell if that was an e or an i. Could it be Deity Arms? I waved at the Gargoyles before we walked in the foyer.

"She waved again." Grimcost was still as a statue should be as he mumbled out of the side of his mouth.

"That girl is gonna be trouble, I can tell." Garmon was looking to see if anyone else had looked up when she waved.

"Would you be still. We are supposed to be stone monuments." Grimcost was getting exasperated at his friend.

"Quit your whining. No one is looking. The girl is the only one who knows." Garmon scratched his ear with his back leg before he stopped moving.

Inside the hotel I walked over and wrapped my arms around Horace giving him a heartfelt hug. "It’s wonderful isn’t it."

I could feel him hesitate before he hugged me back. "What is wonderful, Miss Tonue?"

It was on impulse I kissed his cheek before I backed up. "Everything. Can’t you feel it? The world is alive with sights and sounds. Ta, ta, Doll. I gotta go see if I woke up yet."

Horace blinked as he watched Bridget get on the elevator. He looked over at Mr. Luk who was also staring. "What did Trick do to her over there?"

"Nothing. You had to be there to believe it. She was enjoying each bite of food so much all the rest of us had to stop and enjoy with her. She had the whole restaurant entranced. I think Trick was as fascinated as everyone else." Luk was saddened by the thought she would find reality and lose her charm. Only in newborn babies had he seen such enthusiasm with the world around them.

It was surprising to not see me lying on the floor when I walked into the apartment. I was positive I would open the door, see me, and I would wake up from this dream. Oh well, I could wake up and die anytime as long as the IRS or that judge’s minions didn’t find me first. Looking around the apartment I decided the odds of them looking for me here was one of the longest odds anyone could face. I walked over to the window and tapped on it hoping my little friends would come down. No such luck. They were obviously busy at the front of the building. I wonder if one can make a pet of a gargoyle?

Mr. Logan would know. They were on his building. When the elevator stopped at the ground floor I bounded over to his office. Horace was trying to say something before I opened the door. "Miss Tonue, you can’t…"

Mr. Logan was working at his desk when I skipped into his office. "Mr. Logan, what do you feed your gargoyles?"

His hands stopped moving and he looked up at me out of the corner of his eyes. "Come again?"

"I want to feed the gargoyles. They have to eat too." I plopped my butt into a chair beside his desk as I waited for an answer.

"Miss Tonue, they are stone statues. They don’t eat." He had pushed his papers back on his desk and diverted his full attention in my direction.

Tugging the hem of my dress down I sit up in the chair like a proper lady. "Sorry. Now about the gargoyles, they may be stone but they are alive. What do they eat? I tried to get them to come to my window but they are ignoring me."

His eyes twinkled as he looked at me in amusement. "Aren’t you the one. Trust me Miss Tonue, they don’t eat a whole lot and I don’t think you can entice them over to your window with food."

"Okay." I turned slightly in the chair and rose up like a real lady would. Mr. Logan’s office was full of wonderful smells. The leather chair I had been sitting in smelled like old leather. Closing my eyes I tilted my head back and smelled. The old books on the bookshelf behind Mr. Logan smelled like a thousand years of knowledge. The wood panel in his office smelled like a hundred years.

I walked around his office reveling in the scents I could almost feel as they passed my nose. The picture of ancient gods on his wall smelled like thousands of years old paints. The chair he was sitting in? Old leather and wood. I picked up his arm as he patiently watched in amusement. Mr. Logan’s clothes smelled like a grandfather would, warm, inviting, and of a life well worn. Mr. Logan himself smelled like anybody’s grandfather. He smelled like comfort, trust, and places only imagined. Impulsively I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a life squeezing hug before I kissed him on the cheek. I wanted this dream to last forever and ever.

"It’s grand isn’t it. It’s the way life was supposed to be before we took a wrong turn and wanted material things." Backing up I was wiping tears of happiness. It felt so good it hurt. Suddenly I no longer wanted to wake up from this dream. I really didn’t want to kill myself and end my dream .

Walking over to the door I stopped and turned around before I left his office. "I wish they would come and sit in my window. I’d like to tell them my story before I die. It would make it easier if I could tell someone even if they are gargoyles."

Wiping the tears as they trickled down my cheeks, I never wanted to wake up because I would have to die. I wasn’t going to prison to die in a six by six cell. "It’s been fun. I wish you were real instead of my dream. I would like to share it with you also. But it’s not real is it. When you walk into your office in the morning you will never know I was here."

My heart was breaking as I turned to leave. "Thank you for the best dream of my life, Mr. Logan. I’ll never forget you."

Horace saw me crying as I ran from Mr. Logan’s office. "Miss Tonue…"

Mr. Logan walked into the lobby and watched. Bridget was wiping tears as she stepped on the elevator. "She’s so inquisitive and so fragile."

Horace nodded. "I have a hard time handling her emotional flood when she touches me. It’s been many centuries since I have seen anyone like her."

Mr. Logan looked at his old friend. "I know. You need to wipe the lipstick off your cheek where she kissed you."

Horace reached up with his left hand and rubbed his left cheek. "That one almost undid me. I would have married her on the spot if she had asked me."

"As I, my old friend." Mr. Logan wiped his right cheek to make sure he had removed any signs of Bridget’s affections.

Crying my heart out, I fled back to the safety of Morgan’s apartment. If one could trade life for their favorite dream what a life we could have. I ran into the bedroom and flung myself across the bed and cried, and cried, and finally cried myself to sleep.

"Poor girl. I wish I could help." Gorm was sitting on the ledge looking at the girl lying on the bed. She was gasping in little sobbing hiccups after crying herself to sleep.

"We have seen girls cry themselves to sleep, why does this one bother you?" Grim pushed Gorm aside so he could get a better look in the window.

"She’s not like the others. They were fighting for the life they had left behind. She’s fighting to leave that life. It’s not the same. She wants to be Bridget with all her heart and soul." Gorm turned to look out across the cityscape as he didn’t think he could bear the pain of watching her suffer.

Grim snorted in disgust. "You didn’t think of that all by yourself. Mr. Logan must have told you."

Gorm shook his head. "It doesn’t take a god to tell me what she’s feeling. Look at her, tell me you can’t feel it too."

Grim looked and then turned his back to the window. "That’s disgusting."

"What are you two yapping about over there?" Came from Garmon at the front of the building.

Gorm raised his head and hollered back over the roof. "It’s that new girl. She’s in pain."

Gorm looked over at Grim. "You felt it didn’t you."

Grim spread his wings before he stepped off the ledge. "No, and I don’t want to talk about it any longer either."

Gorm watched his friend circle out across the sky before he circled back to the other side of the building. "He felt it. He’s too stubborn to admit it."

"Morgan, we have a problem. Bridget is going off the emotional charts. She needs something to keep her busy as her mind settles down." Mr. Logan was talking into his speaker phone.

"Logan, I can’t do anything for her right now. We are in the middle of a fashion show. Two days and I’ll send her to Rio for our next show." The phone answered back.

"She won’t last that long. Morgan, she isn’t your usual run of the mill lifeshift. I remember now why we never get involved with the ones wanting to die. They have nothing to hold onto emotionally. She will kill herself trying to live the life you gave her. She must be kept busy until she realizes she isn’t dreaming." Mr. Logan looked across the room at Horace who was nodding his head in the affirmative.

"Can she waitress? Send her over to work with Trick as a waitress." Morgan’s voice came back through the wires.

Mr. Logan sighed. "I thought since she was your project you would handle it, Morgan but I’ll come up with something."

He clicked the phone off as he paced the office. "Atlantic Airlines could use a girl like her."

Horace knitted his eyebrows together before he answered. "It may work."

"Have Mr. Luk place some uniforms in her closet and I’ll have them notify her." Mr. Logan sat down at his desk and was dialing as he spoke.

"Bridget, you’re going to miss your flight. Come on girl and shake a leg before you make us both late."

I heard a woman’s voice as someone was gently shaking me. I was slowly waking up. "What?"

"We are barely going to make it if you hurry. Let’s go, hon. I called a cab. They will be here in twenty minutes." She wasn’t letting me get back to sleep.

"Uh, sure. You wouldn’t believe the dre…," I was awake, or not awake and still in the same dream. This gets weirder and weirder. Can one dream they are coming out of a dream into a dream? I pushed my hair out of my face. I even had some hair in my mouth. I spit it out as I tried to work some moisture back up into my mouth.

"I’m Bridget aren’t I?" I rolled over and was sitting up in bed. Hair was hanging down in front of my face. I put my thumbs up against my forehead, divided my hair and pushed it back over my shoulders. The lady who had been shaking me was a seriously attractive young redhead about twenty or twenty two and had enough serious curves to be labeled ‘dangerous to hold’. Those green emerald eyes of hers made me think of leprechauns.

Her laughter filled the room as she walked over to the closet and lifted out a pink flight attendant’s uniform. Similar to the uniform she was wearing, it had a white silk or polyester blouse that had a wide collar and a pink jacket. The white blouse collar spread shoulder to shoulder on top the jacket. The short pink skirt was a mini skirt. "Take a quick shower. I’ll help with the makeup in the cab. We are going to be late."

Donna had a name tag on her pink uniform when I came out of the shower. Or maybe I had missed seeing it before? It was a pair of silver wings over her name. She was packing a small suitcase and an overnight bag. "I think I have most of the necessities in here. Jump into your clothes and let’s go. We don’t want to be late."

Underclothes and a uniform were laid out on the bed. It took me less than five minutes to get on a black lace bra, tan pantyhose, a black lace slip, and my uniform. I slid my feet into pumps with a five inch heel as I finished up. I pushed my long black hair over my back as I stood up. "I’m ready."

Donna shook her head as she reached back into my closet and retrieved two inch heels. "Bridget, I know you wear those damn heels like the rest of us wear flats but just in case your feet rebel I’m gonna toss these in your bag."

"Sure, thanks, Donna. I appreciate the help." She was headed out the door with my overnighter. I grabbed up my suitcase and purse as I ran after her..

Horace was watching as Donna and I stepped off the elevator. "Miss Tonue, Miss James, you ladies flying out this afternoon?"

Donna pointed to a suitcase and an overnighter beside his desk as she looked out the front door. "Horace, our cab is here. Would you be a sweetheart and take those out to the cab for me?"

"My pleasure, Miss James." Horace reached down and swept up the objects mentioned as he pushed open the door.

As we slid in the cab, Horace loaded our suitcases in the trunk. Our driver was pulling away from the curb before I had a chance to catch my breath.

Donna helped me put my face on as our driver sped us off to where ever it was we were going. I’m glad he and Donna knew because I didn’t have the foggiest idea. That’s the nice thing about dreams, you don’t have to know where they are headed. I guess that is the reason they are called dreams.

I managed a good look at the cab driver as he helped set our suitcases on the sidewalk in front of the terminal. He looked to be Egyptian or Arabian decent. His name tag said Kemel. "Thanks for the ride. What’s the charge?"

Donna wrapped her hand around my arm before I could get my purse open. "It’s been taken care of. We are definitely late. Grab your bags and let’s go."

I was thinking tip but it was only a thought. Before I could put it into action, Kemel was back in his cab, and Donna was about to get lost in the crowd going into the terminal. My suitcase had one of those little snap out handles and wheels on the bottom. Luckily I didn’t have to carry it as I picked up the handle and charged into the crowd as I tried to keep the back of Donna’s head in sight. I parked the prerequisite, ‘coffee, tea, or me’ smile on my face all good flight attendants use. I was thinking Ronald McDonald and I had a lot in common, he sold Happy Meals, and I sold Happy Flights.

Donna turned a lot of heads as she worked her way toward the concourse. She was more than well built. Do women think of women like that? I guess they do because I did and I was a woman. For right now anyway. I never understood the term men used when describing exceptionally curvaceous women. ‘She’s built better than a brick shithouse.’ I guess the meaning in there was, she was well designed or solidly designed. As I watched Donna thread her way through the pedestrian traffic I decided that would describe her. She had a fluid walk as her hips swayed with each step. Donna was a lot better proportioned than Kelli or myself. She carried herself elegantly on her two inch pumps.

It was amusing to watch men react as Donna approached them or the reactions of other men as she walked past as she hurried toward her destination. If they were with other male companions their eyes would get bigger and they would nudge their friend to make sure they also saw her. If the men were with women companions they would look, divert their eyes, and look again, and again as they tried to sneak in peeks without their wives or girlfriends noticing what they were doing. It was double funny because the women knew what the men were doing no matter how indiscrete they were trying to be. Women aren’t half as stupid as men want them to be.

If Donna wowed them then I guess I was the shock wave. Don’t get me wrong, Donna was more than a beautiful sexy redhead. Those long gorgeous legs of hers belonged in a chorus line such as the Rocketts at Radio City Music Hall. As I passed the men I heard the good, bad, and ugly comments. "Jesus Christ, there are two of them! Look…, look at this one! What airlines do those babes fly on? Holy cow, did you see the knockers on that second one! Oooo…, weeee, baby, come fly with me!"

Donna walked straight up to the head of the security line and dropped her suitcases on the belt. I don’t think the security men looked at Donna’s luggage as she passed through their stiles. An older lady was protesting as Donna picked up her luggage on the other side.

"Well, pardon me, I was here first. Why didn’t she have to wait her turn like the rest of us. I’m going to complain to the airlines. I think it’s terribly rude when she can go on through and I had to wait." She was still yaking as I walked up beside her.

"What, another one. Young lady, you can wait your turn. I was here first." She was glaring at me defying me to challenge the right to go ahead of her.

"Yes, ma’am. You go on ahead ma’am. You were here before me." I waited as she sent her luggage through the screeners.

"That’s right. I was here first. I’m a customer and I should be treated as one." The lady picked up her bags on the other end.

Before I set my suitcases up on the belt I checked with the man who had been standing behind the elderly lady. "Do you mind? I’m late for my plane."

"No, go right ahead. I don’t think there are too many of us who would want to serve ourselves in the air."

"You’re very kind." I dropped my suitcases on the belt and was walking through the turnstile.

"Repay the favor when I get aboard. I’m praying I’m on your flight."

Turning to look to see if he was serious, I saw laugh lines around his eyes. I gave him a wink as I made sure I would recognize him if he was on my flight. "I’ll do my best to make you comfortable."

One of the men behind him muttered loud enough for everyone within ten feet to hear. "Damn, I changed my ticket from Atlantic to Southwest. I wonder if it’s too late to change it back."

Everyone laughed as I scurried to catch up with Donna. I saw pink disappear around the corner at the end of the concourse. It was more luck than anything else when I caught a glimpse of her going into the Atlantic Airlines terminal.

The lady at the door motioned me behind the booth as I approached. "Good to see you, Bridget. We have a full passenger compliment this afternoon. You will be up front with Sue in first class section. I was told there are going to be several VIP’s on this flight. Be extra attentive on this run."

"Sure. Anyone in particular or wing it?" I knew I had said a pun after it left my mouth. I checked her name tag, Laura.

Laura shook her head as she chuckled. "That’s the spirit, girl. Be nice to everyone. They will be noticing little things like that if you don’t. Now go. I see our first passengers headed this way."

I made my way down the ramp onto the plane. Donna was no where to be seen. She could be in back getting things put away. I had flown enough miles to know a hostess didn’t have a glamorous job like most people thought. They worked their pretty little tails off for starvation pay. The passenger manifest was lying in the seat by the door. I picked it up and waited as I saw a passenger coming through the tunnel.

"Your name and ticket please sir." I put the hostess, coffee, tea, or me required smile on my face.

"John Blair, seat one oh four." He had stepped onto the plane.

I ran down the list and matched the name. "Certainly Mr. Blair. It’s about two thirds of the way toward the back. I hope you enjoy your flight with Atlantic."

"I always do, Bridget, I always do." He was smiling as he headed toward the rear of the plane.

The passengers started coming in streams almost immediately. I was wondering where Donna was or who ever was supposed to direct traffic. I knew there were always two attendants who checked passengers onto the plane. The other three attendants directed those who invariably got lost looking for their seat. Five flight attendants on a two hundred and ninety passenger plane was normal fare. The two pilots made their appearance within ten minutes. I was envious as I always had to help load the luggage and the passengers when I was flying these birds. It was probably about the same time I had that thought, a small doubt seeded in the dark recesses of my mind.

The first pilot purposely bumped me as he stepped on the plane. "Bridget, we are going to need some coffee after takeoff."

"I’ll see what I can do, captain." If I could have dropped a Micky in it I would have done that too. I already didn’t like this guy with the name Baker on his jacket.

The second one stopped and devoured me with his eyes like I was a slave on the auction block. These were the kind of pilots who thought the stewardesses on their plane belonged to them. I didn’t look down at my name tag because I was positive, ‘fly me, screw me’ wasn’t on it anyplace. Jerry had flown with these kind of jet jockeys and they were invariably ego maniacs who thought every female was dying to jump into their bed.

"New girl huh. We will get you broke in real quick." The second one offered before he too headed up to the cockpit.

Jerk! His idea of ‘broke in’ didn’t mean I would figure out how to be a good hostess to the passengers. My train of thought for derailing those two clowns was ended by Laura boarding and turning to close up the door as the loading ramp was moved away.

"Sue and Sharon aren’t going to make it. We are going to have to fly with two attendants short. Sue got a call about twenty minutes ago her husband was in an accident. Sharon’s husband was involved too. I called everyone I could but the subs are either flying already, can’t be reached, or they can’t get here in time."

Laura had the door shut and the engines were winding up. "This is going to be one long trip with only three of us. I’ll go tell Donna the good news."

"We can handle it, Laura. Take a deep breath and remember, we are the best they have. Don’t rush, don’t panic, and don’t let them fluster you if they all start screaming at the same time. Put a smile in your heart and your passengers will smile too even if they don’t’ understand why." I was putting away the passenger list and fastening things down as I remembered what it was like flying for Salt Lake. This would be a piece of cake even if we were two attendants shy. And our two bozos flying this bird could bite me if they didn’t get the attention they thought they deserved on this flight.

Heading toward the rear of the plane, Laura was shaking her head. "I’ll go back and tell Donna, Little Miss Sunshine said not to worry."

The ground crew places all the lunches, snacks, and other necessities on the plane. They don’t organize it. That’s up to the stewardess after they board. I moved into the forward galley and began arranging the equipment as best I could remember from watching the girls when I had to take hops to catch my commuter flights.

Donna tapped me on the shoulder. She was holding a pair of pink nurses’ shoes in her hands. "You and I wear the same size shoe. I had these in my bag. Slip them on before we start. I know rules say we are supposed to wear heels and wiggle our butts for the passengers but this flight is going to be a marathon for us with two attendants shy. Any of the brass says anything they can take it up with me."

I slipped out of my heels and into the shoes Donna offered. "Thanks and I know my feet will thank you later."

"Turn around, let’s take care of your hair so you don’t have to hold it with one hand every time you lean down or reach over a passenger." Donna took my long hair, pulled it up in a ponytail, and caught it with a ponytail holder.

"Thanks again, Donna. I guess you are my guardian angel."

"Sam is the flight engineer. He has been in the back visiting with me. You have eighty four passengers in first class, we have one hundred and seventy six in cabin, Laura is going to be working the back along with me. We will try to make it up front as much as possible but don’t count on much help from either of us. Sam said he would help out in front. We date a lot but he’s not a steady so if he asks you for a date and you feel like it, go ahead. He’s not spoken for." Donna was helping with the trays as she was talking.

"I have to go back and give the safety rules. It will be on the PA system. Do your show and tell up here as I go though it in the back." She gave me a wink before she turned and headed toward the back.

A pilot was head up my way at the same time Donna was headed for the back. They passed in the aisle. A couple feet away, he stopped and held out his hand. "I’m Sam. After we get this bird off the ground and into the air, I’ll be your assistant."

I took his offered handshake. This guy was seriously handsome and he was also wearing the emblem of captain on his uniform. I was looking at his name. "Uh, Captain O’Donald, I thought Donna told me you were the flight engineer?"

A smile spread clear across his face as he winked at me with his right eye. "I am the flight engineer this hop. I’ll be your captain on the flight back tomorrow. And please, Sam will work. Only those I don’t like address me as Captain."

Steady girl, get a grip, those he doesn’t like? Sam was a lot like Horace and Mr. Logan, I felt comfortable, safe, and peaceful being close to him. "Sure, captain…, uh, Sam."

"Bridget?" He looked into my eyes and laugh lines spread across his face.

"Yes, Captain…, Sam…, Sir?"

"I need my hand so I can go take my place in the cockpit for a few minutes."

I looked down. I had been holding onto his hand with a death grip. I let it go like I had touched a hot stove. What was the matter with me? "I’m sorry, Sir…, Sam….," I wanted to sit down and cry. Brain where did you abandon me? I should have been blonde, I certainly was acting like one. Okay, that’s an uncalled for remark against blondes.

Sam chuckled as he walked past me toward the cockpit. "It’s mutual admiration, Bridget. You are one of the prettiest flight attendants Atlantic has on their roster."

My heart did a flip flop right inside my breast. Tend to business, Bridget. You have a plane full of passengers who will want someone to hold their hand clear out to…? Where ever this dream was going I guess. That smallest seed of doubt had sprouted but I didn’t have time to work on the concept of dream or not dreaming. I had work to do. Donna had come on the PA system and was addressing the passengers what to do in case of loss of cabin pressure, turbulence, impending crash, how to exit in an emergency, and so forth. Up in first class, I was mimicking her as she went through the procedures. And yes, absolutely no one paid the slightest bit of attention to the instructions. I put passengers in three classes of people. Those who have flown so often they already heard this a hundred times. Those who were macho and thought they knew more than the flight attendants did so they didn’t listen. And then those who were arrogant and weren’t going to listen to any instructions no matter what.

It was a flight from New York to Los Angeles and I walked all the way. I don’t believe there was a single customer in first class who didn’t want two or three drinks every hour. It’s against policy to let passengers get drunk on a plane. After that first drink I started diluting their alcohol with lots of seltzer. Sam was a lifesaver when it was time to serve meals. Atlantic air customers wanted Miss Hooters to give them the personal touch and I did my best. Sam loaded up the food cart and kept it coming as I handed out meals. He made sure he had the cart handy when it was time to pick up empty trays. He saved me so many trips up and down the aisle, I would have had his baby if he had asked at that moment. The pilot and co pilot got their coffee but not from me. Sam was also taking care of that responsibility.

We managed to get the trays locked back up before landing. When that plane rolled up to the terminal I wanted nothing more than to drop into a chair and die. My feet weren’t sore thanks to Donna’s shoes but my legs were killing me. We flew three thousand miles and I walked every foot of the way. Rest was out of the question as it was time to give the customary ‘thanks for flying Atlantic, hope you enjoyed your flight, and please come back’ as I smiled and gave each passenger the message we would love to have them fly us again. Silently I was hoping all these people took the bus next time.

Donna and Laura dropped in the seat behind me after the last passenger had deboarded. "Never again! Next time someone can’t make it they better count me out too because I’m getting off before it leaves the ground."

Laura kicked off her pumps and was massaging her feet. "I agree. I can’t believe I let little Miss Sunshine talk me into sticking it out."

I wanted a long hot bath in a whirlpool tub to relax my legs, I was in serious pain. "Okay, I made a boo boo. But we managed and we are still alive."

Donna shook her head as she leaned back in the seat. "Speak for yourself, girl. I’ve joined the walking dead."

The pilot stepped up beside me and took my right arm in his hand. He was urging me for the ramp. "Let’s go get a couple drinks."

"No thanks, I’m tired. I’m going to find a hot bath, a sandwich, and a mindless TV program I can watch from bed." I was refusing to move.

His grip tightened as the copilot stepped up behind him. "Come on Bridget, we’ll have some fun."

I was thinking these guys idea of fun was probably me drunk in the middle of their bedroom while they took turns screwing me. "Captain Baker, you are pinching the fire out of my arm. I suggest you remove it before I break it off and feed you your own damn fingers. It’s going to seriously jeopardize your career as a pilot if you don’t own both of those hands you now possess."

Cal Baker looked shocked one of the flying bimbos would talk to him like that. What he didn’t know I was just as shocked as he. It had to be the doubt that germinated in my mind back in New York and had sprouted on the flight. Jerry wasn’t dreaming no matter how impossible the idea might seem. For whatever reason, in some convoluted way, Bridget Renee Tonue was Jerry Rands, or visa versa. Now, the old Jerry Rands had reverted back to the uncontrolled rage his instructors had always cautioned him against. My body was too small to hurt Cal with a punch so I would have to fold his legs up under him by catching the back of his legs with my left leg. He would start down dragging me with him. If I didn’t follow him down he would pull me over on top of him and I would be helpless. I would squat as he went down and somewhere about floor level he would instinctively release me to protect himself against hitting the floor. I would palm his forehead driving it back into the floor. Hopefully he would be to addled to return the blow. I would back up out of his range to see if he or his partner were going to want more or if they had enough.

Cal blinked as he stared at me. "Listen Bridget, I invited you to a party. There’s no need to get hostile."

Cal and his friend obviously thought the flight attendants were part of their personal harem. They would anoint their chosen one for a night of orgy and she was supposed to swoon to their demands.

"Captain, I never ask three times. Remove your hand or lose it." I knew I was going to have bruises where he was gripping my arm.

He turned lose of me and stepped off the plane. "Your loss, I could care less."

The copilot, Eddie Crockers, stopped in front of me, started to say something.

I shook my head. "Not in this lifetime. You tell Cal, there is a one foot area around me I consider my personal space. When you invade that space without an invitation you are asking to be hurt and I will oblige you. There will be no warning next time anyone lays a hand on me. I won’t say please."

Eddie Crockers shrugged his shoulders. "I’d watch myself if I were you. I may turn in a report on you for threatening us."

"Before or after I show them my bruises and turn in my report? Don’t get in a war you can’t win, Eddie. You’ll be loading baggage for Greyhound if it comes down to push in this."

"You can be replace tomorrow. We are pilots and they can’t fire us. We belong to the union." He was furious as he tried to scare me with words.

"You are so stupid it’s not even funny. The union won’t back you in a sexual harassment suit. They will not only drop you like a hot potato they will also help bury you. Haven’t you heard? Women aren’t part of the slaves quarters any longer. This is the twenty first century and we are equal. For all you men who thought women were supposed to worship the ground you walked on? You missed the revolution." I knew it was a lost cause. Those like Cal and Eddie thought women were their personal playthings. They would never change even if someone slapped them with a sexual suit and sent them to prison. Little minds like theirs never seemed to have reasoning or understanding powers.

Sam had stepped up where he could be seen. Eddie took a look at Laura, Donna, and Sam. "I didn’t touch her. You can’t get me for sexual harassment."

"Harassment is more than physical contact, Eddie. It can also be verbal. Quit while you’re ahead and go join Cal before you dig a hole you can’t get out of." Sam walked up beside me as he was talking.

Eddie smiled a weak smile. There were too many witnesses for him to dispute. "No harm. Cal only asked if she wanted to go party. I didn’t touch her." He turned and walked off the plane.

"Make out a report and I will witness it along with Donna and Laura." Sam had a serious look on his face as he glanced over at Laura and Donna to make sure they were going to agree.

"I don’t know. I have a few bruises but no real damage. I probably should let it slide." I walked over to pick up my luggage and slip out of Donna’s shoes. I slipped on my heels and handed her shoes back to her.

"We aren’t going to let it slide, Bridget. This isn’t going away because you don’t want to go to the effort of filing a report. Cal has two harassment reports in his file jacket. If they keep piling up then he will be fired but we can’t fire him without the paper trail."

"But, I wasn’t…"

"No buts. What about the girl who doesn’t want to but doesn’t have the courage to say no? We tell all the attendants it won’t help their careers by dating a pilot but some of the inexperienced ones fail to listen. What about them? You going to let Cal keep on harassing the attendants because you don’t want to be bothered with filing a report?" Sam was watching as I picked up my overnight and my suitcase.

"Okay, I hear you. I’ll type it up when I get home."

He nodded. "That’s more like it."

"Okay, how about me taking you ladies out to Friars for dinner?" I promise to have you back to the room in time for that hot bath and mindless TV before ten." Sam was checking faces to see if he was going to get a nibble on his offer.

Laura shook her head. "I promised a friend I would make a birthday party this evening. No can do but thanks anyway."

Donna shook her head as she looked at Sam. "You told me before liftoff you were going to take Bridget out tonight and now it’s a threesome?"

In shock I turned to look at Sam.

He shrugged his shoulders. "She never was any good at keeping secrets. I figured after that little altercation with Cal and Eddie you would turn me down cold if I asked you by yourself."

Laura looked at Sam and then me before she headed out the door with her luggage. "You three work it out. I have a birthday party I’m going to."

She stopped outside the door. "Bridget, I’d give it some serious consideration if it were me. Friars has some of the best food on the west coast, Sam is the number one eligible bachelor on any coast, and Donna is a lot of fun when she isn’t telling all."

That made me blush. I looked at my feet before I got the nerve up to look at Donna. She was shaking her head yes. "Bridget, say yes. I promise you won’t regret it."

I was still blushing as I looked up at Sam. Jerry Rands had been pushed back and forgotten again. Okay, Sam was seriously handsome and if Donna was along nothing could get out of hand. "Okay."

Sam smiled from ear to ear as he winked at Donna. "Your little end game worked. She doesn’t know if we were in cahoots together to get her to go out or if it was a bet before takeoff."

"End game? Now wait a second. I think I’ve been set up and snookered. Donna!"

Sam dropped us off at the apartment Atlantic had reserved for its flight attendants. I wasn’t sure what I made but if I was starting out, I was making eighteen thousand a year. That didn’t leave a whole lot for necessities and rooms at the end of our flights. The larger airlines lease apartments as part of the package for their flight attendants. It wasn’t because they had a big heart. It was because they would have never kept any flight attendants if we had to rent a hundred or two hundred dollar room at the end of each flight. An eighteen thousand dollar salary doesn’t pay for thirty six thousand dollars worth of rooms each year. Flight attendant isn’t a job for someone looking for financial security.

Donna beat me to the shower. By the time I stepped out of the shower she was already dressed in an emerald green, polyester dress with a Princess Ann neckline and a short but full, flirty skirt. She had brushed her red hair and gave it a slight tease to give it fullness. Those green eyes of hers were sparkling. Any guy who saw her and didn’t instantly fall in love had to be gay. I imagine even a few of them would still be in love. She was wearing nylons and flats. I had to take as second look at her shoes. "That ought to knock his socks off. Are you going out like that?"

"Bridget, my dogs are still barking from being made to run up and down that airplane a thousand times. I refuse to put on anything with a heel. My feet wouldn’t stand it." She slipped on a pearl necklace and long pearl earrings.

"Suit yourself but sometimes a little pain is necessary if you plan on putting that little band of gold on his finger or getting him to put one on your finger." I was digging though my suitcase. I had little nothings packed. It was then I remembered Donna had packed for me earlier.

I lifted a small purple dress out of the suitcase and held it up on the tip of my index finger. It shimmered in the light. That flimsy little shear, darling dress was going to leave more uncovered than what it did cover. "Was this planned too?"

She looked over at what I was holding on my finger. "Bridget, you have the body for it. I tossed in a slip. Get dressed. I know Sam and he will be knocking on our door in a few minutes. He doesn’t waste a lot of time when he is ready to go out."

It struck me as funny as I got dressed, everything I was wearing added up to less weight than a pair of jeans. it didn’t take long as I wasn’t wearing a lot. Dark pantyhose, bra, slip and dress were it. That took all of three minutes more or less. Donna helped me with my makeup and jewelry. I had rhinestone earrings and necklace along with a rhinestone bracelet and watch. Donna brushed my hair and let it cascade down my back.

She held me out at arm’s length to study her handiwork after she finished. "You have the prettiest hair. You are so much wow bottled up in one package."

Unbidden tears came to my eyes as I studied her face. I pulled her in and held on because my life depended on it. "Am I really Bridget? There isn’t a Jerry Rands any more is there."

I could feel her stiffen. Slowly she pushed me back to look in my eyes. "Yes, you really are Bridget."

That did it. The dam burst as I let go of Jerry Rands. He was a dream and Bridget was real. Jerry had escaped prison, death, and suffering a wrong he didn’t commit. Jerry was gone forever. Donna held me as I cried on her shoulder. They were tears of pain for having to leave behind a life, tears of joy for escaping that life, and tears of fear because I had no idea what kind of life I was now living. I had no idea who or what Bridget was. That aspect bothered me more than the idea of dying. Death has a finality we know will happen to all of us sooner or later. No one can escape so what is there to fear from death? Die now or die later but it will come. As Jerry I knew what I had left of life was pain with no escape except death. I wanted to shorten the pain part and get on with death.

There was a knock on the door and a soft male voice called through the closed door. "Donna, Bridget, you ladies alright? Is someone hurt? Can I help?"

Donna reached over and pulled a handful of Kleenex out of her purse. "We’re fine, Sam. Give us a minute to get ourselves together and we will be right out."

She handed me the Kleenex. "Go in the bathroom and dry your eyes. Everything will be fine, Bridget. I’ll hold Sam off for a few minutes and then we will go out to Friars and enjoy the heck out of the night."

"Thanks, Donna. I’ll try to have fun." Wiping tears with the back of my hand, I started to head for the bathroom.

She took my arm and stopped me. "Bridget, there are no guarantees in life. Don’t try to have fun or it won’t work. Live it as it happens. Life will be fun only if it’s really enjoyable. You can’t fake it. Now go dry your eyes and let’s go party."

I managed to dry my eyes and get my makeup straightened up before I walked out of the bathroom straight into…, Sam who happen to be standing on the other side of the door. I wobbled and he wrapped both arms around me as he looked down.

"Whuuuuu!" His eyes kept growing bigger as he held me.

I tilted my head back to look up at him. Without my heels he was at least a foot taller than me. Was it a reflex reaction on my part or his part, or was it mutual consent? Sam bent down and kissed me full on mouth. Without thinking, I kissed him back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. If there was any lingering doubt about who I was it cleared up at that instant. I was Bridget Renee Tonue!

How long did the kiss last? A couple lifetimes or only the briefest of seconds? I have no idea but it was forever and ever as an emotional thrill ran through my heart and soul. Someone coughing brought me back to reality.

I looked over at Donna who had the corner of her mouth turned up in disgust. "If you two think you can find a stopping place I’d like to go eat."

Sam smiled from ear to ear as he winked at me. "I was having dessert before dinner."

I blushed from the top of my head to my feet as I slid out of Sam’s arms to look for my heels. "Sorry."

Sam walked over to Donna, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leaned her back and gave her a passionate kiss on the mouth before he let her back up. "Mmmmmm, hard to tell which is better. The red candy or the black candy."

It took me a few seconds before I realized he was referring to Donna and me by our hair color. "My guess is, Casanova is sampling and we better lock up the store before he carries off the stock."

Donna giggled. "You got that right. Watch him Bridget, he’s not called smooth operator because he knows how to land planes without bouncing the passengers all over the cabin."

Sam opened the door, made an overstated bow, and an exaggerated sweep with his right arm. "Ladies, I believe we have a table reserved at Friars. If we want that table before they give it to someone else then I suggest we get going."

Donna and Sam were right, the food was exquisite. As good as Tricks? I don’t know but I savored every single bite. I don’t believe I ever danced as much in one evening as I did that night. It was a revelation in scents the different men carried with them as they held me in their arms. I guess I was too busy on the plane to pick up on all the different smells. Maybe that’s why we don’t get involved with life as we pass through from birth to death? We are too busy to stop and smell all the pleasures of life. I liked dancing with Sam most of all but he had two women to share so more often than not I was being asked to dance by some stranger. The men wanted to dance slow dances, up close and personal. Most of them wanted to pull me in tight where those big puppies I carried on my chest were crushed against their chest. It may have been a turn on for the guys but it worked just the opposite for me. The harder a guy tried to pull me up against him the more I was turned off. I didn’t dance a second dance with any of those guys. The men who held me gently and tenderly, making sure they didn’t brush up against me aggressively received a second dance if they asked.

Never in my life had I been on a double date where it was two girls and one guy but it was fun even if Donna and I shared the same man. It was after two in the morning before Sam dropped Donna and me at the apartment. If thought I was tired after that trans country flight, I was sadly mistaken. Now I was tired but it was a different tired. I was deliciously tired.

Sam kissed Donna night before she walked in the apartment and closed the door behind her. I thought that was strange. Then Sam took me in his arms and laid a really sexy kiss on me before I responded. My emotional gates unlocked and I went into orbit as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in. My breasts were crushed against his chest and that sent what was left of my mind into oblivion. Feelings unknown until that moment in time surfaced and raced through my soul. Without a doubt, I was a woman in heat and in love. Not altogether positive which came first but it didn’t matter. Sam was lucky Donna was in the apartment or I would have raped him right then and there.

I was panting as I pushed him back. "We have a flight tomorrow. I need some sleep."

"Sure." He pulled me in and kissed me again as he reached down and opened the door with his left hand.

That was my cue to leave while my rubber legs could still carry me. I broke off the kiss. "Thanks for the best evening of my life."

"Mutual, I assure you, Bridget." He turned and walked off as I watched through the door. My heart was racing faster than that jet we flew on.

Donna was already in a baby doll. She was hanging up her dress. "Sam is a sweetie. You couldn’t do any better."

"It wasn’t a date, Donna. We went to dinner and danced a few times. I’m not going to steal your boyfriend. I don’t think I could if I wanted. He likes you a lot. You and him seem to get along perfectly." I unzipped my dress and slipped out of it before reaching for a hanger.

Donna slid under the covers before she answered. "Bridget, the reason Sam and I get along so well is he is like a brother. Of course he loves me, just like a brother would. I love him the same way. I can’t possibly dream up any concept where I would marry him. It would be too freaky. One doesn’t marry her brother."

Sitting down on the edge of my bed I slipped off my heels and pantyhose. "You sure didn’t kiss like brother and sister. You can’t tell me that was a brother sister lip lock he laid on you."

She giggled as she looked at me. "Sam did that for your benefit, hon. He only kisses me with a peck on the cheek. He figured if he and I kissed then you might not want to slap his face if he took liberties with your affections also. Now let me get to sleep. My flight leaves at six. Yours and Sam’s flight leaves at noon. I’ll leave the alarm set for ten so you will have time to get ready and make the airport."

"I thought we were going back on the same flight? Who are you flying with?" I couldn’t believe our schedules didn’t match going back.

"I’m flying with the ugly boys, Cal and Eddie. Lenna and I have the first class section. Judy, Wanda, and Betty have passenger. Now stop talking so I can get a few hours." She pulled the covers up over her head.

(continued)

 

 

 

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© 2001 by Barbie Lee. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.