ck the next day.

Henry kept his bad mood at bay with difficulty during the drive home by
thinking only of his comfortable chair and a huge drink....or two
before dinner. He had just entered the door and placed his briefcase
on the hall table when his wife's voice floated down the stairs,
jarring the hell out of him.

"That you, Henry? Hurry up now and get dressed, we're due at the
Bakers in half an hour."

Henry groaned. "Not tonight, shit!" Then almost immediately, he
recollected that the Bakers were giving a party and it was most
important that he be present. No help for it, he'd have to bite the
bullet. Casting a fond look at his Lazy Boy as he passed the entrance
to the living room, he ascended the stairs feeling like a doomed man
mounting a scaffold.

"You look like death warmed over," his wife, Kate, announced
caustically, as she met him at the top of the stairs.

You're no raving beauty yourself, Henry thought. Kate was an athletic,
slender woman of forty-two. She neither thought herself beautiful or
required that others did. Henry often lamented the fact that with all
the money they had, she could afford to go to one of the many body
shops and get some or all of her sagging flesh lifted, but Kate opted
to live naturally and age gracefully. He was continually after her to
at least wear makeup but she adamantly refused.

When they were married, Henry didn't mind the over a decade age
difference between them. Kate was an exciting woman--an exciting, rich
woman. Her money had been the deciding factor in asking her to marry
him and it was one reason he stayed married to her. The other was that
he basked in the prestige her place in society lavished on him.

"Go on in and get your shower and hurry up. We're going to be late as
it is."

"Oh, hell, it doesn't matter if we're a bit late for this. Everyone
understands that I'm really busy with this damned hearing," Henry
grumbled as he made his way to the ornate bathroom.

When he entered his bedroom a few minutes later wrapped in a towel,
Kate called through the connecting door from her room to ask how the
hearing was going. Her innocent question brought the whole disgusting
mess back, along with the foul humor that went along with it.

Henry set down heavily on his bed. "What a day. You wouldn't believe
the absolute stupidity of that NERD chairman and his little boy bad,
Fecesi. You'd think after all the trouble they took to have this