Okay, I have a signed deal with SS and I'm going to become a major player in the area computer defense work. I'll acquire the defense programmers of SS, keep the good ones and get rid of the bad ones. However, before I can get started on that project, there's to be a major meeting of defense people in the area. The meeting will be held at a big, fancy, out of town hotel. I need to attend the meeting, impress the people with contracts to give and snag some new defense work.

The attendees at the defense meeting will be married couples and I'll need a date for the meeting, in order to fit in. I have been having some difficulty contacting Heather since our first date and I try again. I have to leave a message on her phone machine and she calls me back.

Heather tells me, "I'll be delighted to be your date at at an important defense meeting. I have been hard to get a hold of because I have been having to play Miss Downtown Business Association a lot. However, I'll be your date for the important meeting."

I set things up and casually mention the matter to Patty, my secretary. Patty is the traffic director for my whole operation. She knows everything about anyone and everything in the defense industry in town.

Patty sits me down and tells me what's what. She lectures, "Heather is playing you for a fool. She's working, on the sly, for Paul, the guy who fired you. She's going to the defense meeting with Paul, not you. You'll walk in to a trap and look like a total fool in front of important people."

Like a fool I ask, "How can you know this?"

Patty explains patiently, "Heather is going to the defense computing meeting. So, Heather needs new clothes and stuff. Heather shops at The Clothes Horse for her business clothes. Virginia works at The Clothes Horse. Virginia and I talk, from time to time."

"Okay. Hey, wait a minute! Paul is married."

Patty sighs and says, "Of course Paul is married. Now don't you go asking me to tell Paul's wife that he's cheating on her. That wouldn't be a nice thing to do. Also, I know nothing about Gabriella calling Paul's wife."

"The thought never crossed my mind. I can't even remember the lady's name you just told me, Wilma maybe?"

Patty says, "Something like that. Now, you're going to need a real date for the big defense computing meeting."

"Right, I'll need a good looking lady with style and brains. She has to circulate with me and talk with a wife while I sell the husband some work so we can hire more people and give you the raise you deserve. You wouldn't, by any chance, happen to know ..."

Patty says, "I love the way you say, 'The raise you deserve.' As it happens I do know of a lady who'll be your perfect date for the defense computing meeting."

(When Patty is doing personnel work, nothing is 'as it happens.' Patty has planned whatever it is that she's planned. Since she's Patty, what she plans will indeed work.)

"This very model of a temporary wife doubtless has a name?"

Patty says, "Her name is Delia. Perhaps you'll remember her from back in school."

(Now, I aint exactly the worlds most sensitive guy, however, I recognize the trap that Patty has just set.) I quickly ask, "Do you mean the Delia I went to high school and then college with? I certainly remember her. A fine looking lady with both style and brains."

Patty says, "Yes! That's the Delia I'm talking about. She may not be as flashy as Heather, but she's one hell of a lot more woman."

"Even though I know Delia, I'll need to talk to her before we go to the defense computing meeting, assuming that she'll indeed agree to talk to me."

Okay, Patty does a phone introduction and I talk with Delia.

Delia is the same, intelligent girl I went to high school and college with. However, she's now a lady instead of just a girl. She can obviously still play the girl games, but she also has the class to chat with the kind of lady who marries a guy who becomes a top executive.