Then George came into the discussion. “You both know that from the first day Jenny’s girls referred to themselves as the Leper Colony.” He chuckled, shook his head and continued, “Well, about ten days ago one of the girls made a little sign that said ‘Leper Colony’ and hung it beside their door. Let’s see what’s going on now.”With that he rose and led the way down the hall to the girls’ office. Brad and Kim were puzzled, but clearly George and Bill were amused by the whole thing. When they got close, they could see a large white board about two feet by three feet hanging on the wall beside the door.George stopped to fill them in. “Well, shortly after the girl put up the sign, it was replaced with a larger one, lettered in red, that said ‘The Beauty Queens’. It’s been going on ever since at the rate of a change or two a day. Yesterday’s Beauty Queens sign was done on a steel panel that was painted and then treated with a very expensive material that sheds everything. And I mean every
“June re-engineered the line to take its level of precision back toward the old levels. Now they’re only five times as precise as others instead of 10 times. And in the process, she was able to reduce the parts count in each unit significantly. So now we’re being killed with export business, too.” Turning to Jenny he said, “And I hope you’re happy, bitch!”“Very happy, thank you,” Jenny replied with a grin while sticking out the tip of her tongue.Then to Kim Jenny said, “I have a big favor to ask.”“What’s that?”“Bill Christian has told me about the gorgeous house you’re building next to his,” Jenny said. “I know you’re planning on having a large family, Kim, but you’re needed here, too.” The girl paused and then blurted, “Could I live with you? Please? I can pay, and I can cook,” the girl rushed on. “And I could help with the babies...” When she said that, Jenny began to cry.“What’s wrong, honey?” Kim asked, taking the crying woman into her arms.“You know I can never have childre
Then Müller began to laugh. And his laughter just grew in volume. Finally, he controlled himself and said, “This is so incredibly funny! We came to meet a screen actress. Instead we meet one of the world’s foremost mechanical engineers — your book is even now being translated for immediate publication in German — and a woman who speaks our language better than we do!” Then with his eyes sparkling he feigned a frown and asked, “What other surprises do you have in store for us?”Kim just shrugged again and shook her head.To Brad, Müller asked, “What about you, Captain Kramer? Do you speak any German?”“Oh, sure,” Brad replied airily. “Enough to get by over here.”“And that is... ?” Müller prompted.“Ein bier, bitte!” Brad replied with a grin.“But that’s just ordering a single beer,” Müller protested. “You aren’t even specifying a brand.”“And in Germany, does it really matter? You have something like two-thirds of the world’s operating breweries, and almost all of their beers are good
Kim shrugged. “My husband runs sales and marketing, but that sounds about right. Why?”“Because we’re going to buy 10,000 of them,” Solov replied with a smile. “That’s about a billion-dollar order.” Then with a broad grin he added, “And for an order that size, you two are going to have to buy me my dinner tonight.”Turning to Brad, Kim said, “Sweetie, do think your expense account could handle the price of a dinner tonight for President Solov? He’s only talking about a billion-dollar order, though.”“Sure it can,” Brad replied. “Assuming we don’t eat anyplace too good and he doesn’t order dessert, that is.”Solov howled with laughter. “No wonder you Americans own the world! You’re cheap.”“Waste not, want not, Mr. President,” Brad responded with a grin.That set Solov off again.Turning to Kelly he said, “I really never had a chance to tell you how truly thrilled I am — and my countrymen are — that this film is going to be made of some of your exploits.”To Kim he said, “It’s impossib
“I became Brian’s mistress, and the other three — Joan, Cammy and Lois — enslaved themselves to the others.” She paused and then continued slowly, “I guess the Russians changed us permanently. You see, we’re now all more than a bit masochistic.” Rising from her chair, she turned and showed the girls recent whip marks on her back and buns. “This is the way we’re forced to complete our assigned exercises.”Then Janet Cox changed the subject slightly. She pressed a button and a moment later a girl of about 15 appeared. She, too, was naked and very obviously pregnant. “Chris,” she said to the girl, “please check to ensure that the gym is ready for our exercise period.”“Yes, mistress,” the girl replied and then left.“That’s the other major change,” Janet explained. “Although we didn’t make much noise about it, many of the girls who were with us before the war — including you, Kelly — were sent here because of our severe discipline. This place has always looked like a prison, and given the
Candy Kane was fretting as she awakened that morning in early October. She was scheduled to meet downtown with a couple of attorneys representing her employer, Aerospace Technologies, Inc., along with a mediator. This was the result of the sexual harassment suit she had filed against them. The fact was there was nothing to the suit; the reality was that the “sexual harassment” had been in the form of the lack of same. Candy thought she had just been ignored.And the reality was that she had been. On the other hand, she was honest enough with herself to admit — privately — that ignoring her was the best possible behavior on the part of her coworkers: She was as prickly as a porcupine. This, in turn, largely resulted from the fact that she hated herself and for as long as she could remember had felt she was ugly as sin. The reality was that — probably as a result of an accident when she was very young — her mouth and jaw were horribly misshapen with her teeth having grown in at odd angl
Then there was AT’s reaction when she initiated her sexual harassment suit. Privately she admitted that the lawsuit was really initiated at the behest of Katherine McCarthy, her attorney. The woman had contacted her, met with her several times, and finally convinced her that she was being victimized. Moreover, Katherine had clippings reporting eight prior harassment court victories, each of which carried settlements of at least six figures, while one had crossed into seven digits.But when the lawsuit was filed, even McCarthy was amazed at what happened next: The company had put her on a paid leave of absence. Candy was drawing full pay even though she hadn’t been near the office in more than a month. Furthermore, it had been made clear to her that the situation would continue until the issues had been resolved or until she asked to return to work. Already she had been out for six weeks, but the paychecks continued to arrive in her bank account with pleasing regularity.Finally, she g
Arriving at the 38th floor, Candy just stopped and gaped. The entry to the Clifford & Jamison offices was utterly spectacular. The doorway was highly polished cherry with the firm name in brass letters above it, along with the very dignified qualifier, Attorneys at Law, in smaller letters below the name. Candy straightened her shoulders and marched in, feeling her nipples moving against the worn fabric of her shirt as she did.Seeing the receptionist, Candy’s first reaction was to flee. The girl sitting behind the desk was the most beautiful blue-eyed blonde she had ever seen. I wonder what I would look like with blue eyes like hers? Candy wondered. All I have are yucky gray. Again, though, Candy’s self-appraisal was wrong. Her eyes were large with small eyebrows and very long lashes. The effect was singularly striking, but like everything else regarding her appearance, if it was good, it was downplayed or totally ignored.“Good morning,” she said to the receptionist. “Candace Kane to