He got off the plane and waited for his luggage. He listened to some Chinese businessmen. Laughing loudly. He hated that they were so happy.

Every morning he complained of her snoring. She secretly taped herself one night and didn’t hear a thing and he knew his plan wouldn’t work.

He slips on something foul, and curses loudly. The lady behind him shields her daughter’s ears. You can’t do that forever, he thinks smugly.

He finally exits the room and says, I could use a stiff drink, and the men nod and the women laugh heartily. Except for the humorless ones.

The dinner was a failure but that just meant he found her all the more endearing. Later he felt sick. And so he knew he was falling in love.

They went on a date and ended up at his place and in the morning she said something about a truck stop, and he didn’t know how to take that.

An old lion escaped from the zoo. It ate a dog. The media went into a frenzy. The mayor declared an emergency. And sales of HD TVs boomed.

She served the coffee and the worshipping started. The therapy’s paying off, she said to herself. Until someone complained about the coffee.