The Words

Patent Advice

Shortly after our conversation concerning my little Smartphone security device, I took Bob's advice. I applied for a patent, which several companies expressed an interest in obtaining from me. So, I engaged a legal firm, which accompanied me to meetings with representatives of these firms and helped negotiate the best deal possible. When I returned with my good news, my wife met me at our apartment door with something important she needed to tell me, and I felt an immediate sense of déjà vu. I asked if I could please go first this time. She hesitantly agreed that I could, then her eyes opened wide with realization, and she began dancing about as if she needed to use the bathroom. Hurry, hurry, tell her!

I informed her, "I can now afford to keep you, even at the outrageous rates you demanded during our most recent Pagan Rites, but only for a year, maybe two, if I invest some of it wisely." Then, I smiled and asked, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Whatever it was just flew right out of my head," she said, throwing her arms around me and crying, "We are rich. You did it! I told you, and you didn't want to believe me."

I tried to settle her enough that she didn't knock me off my feet and told her, "Don't get too excited. We still can't afford to buy you a lab."

"No, but it ought to be enough seed money for you and Bob to get started, so you can make us rich enough to buy my lab, right?" She paused, and when I didn't disagree with her assessment, her eyebrows danced suggestively as she smiled her wicked smile, grabbed my hand, and pulled me in the direction of our bedroom. My reference to our Pagan Rites role-play not lost on her, she whispered, as though they might still be listening, "I told you I was worth it. I don't want to be a liar."

She never did tell me what had been so important an instant before my news. Nor was she a liar.