Rick had previously worked with the L.A. Sheriff's department. Muscular and square-jawed, he looked exactly as a law enforcement officer should look. Rick sat in the cubicle diagonally behind him. Brad, sitting next to him, had a boyish face and a somewhat awkward and asymmetric shaped head, too large for the rest of him. Brad showed glimmers of being a math genius, nearly an actuary although only in his early twenties. Bob wondered how often society's expectations of a person, based upon their appearance, drove them to their actions and ultimately to their career. Part of "the way things are" causing "what's happening." Rick would take breaks from his computer work to gab with Brad and Bob, describing the stranger details of his previous employment.

"You know," Rick said, "this job reminds me a lot of working in the Sheriff's office: hours upon hours of perpetual boredom, interrupted by seconds of intense adrenaline."
"And what would that be here?" Brad asked. "The adrenaline," Brad clarified.
Rick smiled, "when Jennifer walks by."
Bob and Brad both grinned.

Rick's actually a pretty amazing person, Bob thought. Probably the best judge of people he had ever met. He could talk to someone for thirty minutes and then come back with a complete laundry list and forecast for the guy... usually he was right on the money. Bob had mentioned to Rick that he missed his calling - he should have been in personnel.

"The worst thing I ever had to do," Rick continued, "was to clean up at the scene of a motorcycle accident." Once again Rick recollected his work in the L.A. Sheriff's department. Brad listened attentively. Bob listened with one ear while developing some queries on the DB2 database.
"It was awful," Rick continued. "The guy wasn't wearing a helmet. His brains were oozing out of his ears."
"Oh gross," said Brad.
"Yeah, I went back to the station and threw up afterwards. I couldn't sleep that night, either." Bob and Brad jointly reached back to the moment, that terrible night, sucking the horror and sorrow from Rick's heart, sharing a tiny piece of the affliction, allowing Rick's life to continue.

Rick certainly had led a colorful life. Like most boisterous macho guys, he held his share of unusual jobs. So he had stories to tell. Weirdoes, family disputes, celebrities, Rick had dealt with all of them. And somehow, his libido always seemed to be satisfied. Although he was a smooth talker, he was pretty easy to see through and wasn't really much of a charmer. But he certainly seemed to get laid a lot. Mostly one night stands. Sometimes more than one gal at a time. All the other guys in the office just dreamed about sex, so they met Rick's boasting with a mixture of envy and the dread of being humiliated. Bob figured it must be something physical: he once saw Rick touch his nose with his tongue. He didn't know about his other organs, but he figured that could also be a part of it.

Rick walked by and stopped at Brad's desk, next to Bob, and leaned over the short partition. "I was thinking ..." Rick said.
"Oh, don't let that happen too often," said Brad.
Rick gave Brad a fuck you look and continued. "If you could choose any one woman in the office to sleep with, but just once, and then you'd never see her again, who would you choose?"

Bob, overhearing the question, looked up and without hesitation said, almost in stereo unison with Brad, "Jennifer." They all three looked at each other, in agreement.
"Okay," Rick said. "Easy question. Now, a harder one - which woman in the office most wants to sleep with you?"
"Oh fuck you," said Brad.
"No really," Rick said. "In your honest opinion, which single woman in the office do you think most wants your body?"
"Michele," said Brad.
"Oh yeah, right," Rick said, glancing across the room at Michele, "in your dreams."

Bob thought about it more. It wasn't too difficult to review the flow of love. It was odd, however, to discuss it openly. "Beth," Bob said, blushing slightly. Rick caught the blush, but didn't say anything.
Brad chimed in "that'll never happen." Then, half realizing his cruelty, mentally retracted his thought.

Rick stood bent quietly over the partition. A bit of a lull, as they all reviewed the various eligible young ladies.

"Okay," Bob said "a harder question ... of all the women in this office, who is the most compatible for you to spend the rest of your life with?" Both Brad and Rick blushed.

"Hey," Brad said, "no commitments."
"No seriously," Bob said, "just for the sake of argument."
Brad said "Rick will pick Melissa."
"Oh fuck you," said Rick.
"No, everybody picks their own," Bob said.
"So, what about you?" Rick said to Bob.

Bob reviewed characteristics: body sizes, personalities, levels of expectations. "Brandy." Bob blushed, deeper this time.