Helen was very impressed and nearly in love after their first date. She was taken in by his charm and was stunned when she found out that he had tried... out for the brilliant dramatic production of Criminals, Lunatics, Women and Idiots. Mark had wanted to play a key role but, as he told Helen, he and the director didn't see eye to eye on interpretation of the play and so, being a gentleman, he deferred to the director's greater wisdom and bowed out before the first rehearsal. It seems the play,. "Stupid woman," he yelled, "Can't you keep your arse shut when I'm not in it? Look at this mess."Turning to the attending eunuch he snapped, "Get her out of her and take these wet bedclothes with you. She can clean them herself before I deal with her."Once again in disgrace, Maryam was hustled into the punishment chamber where the Head Eunuch shook his head as if in despair."What shall we do with you?" he asked rhetorically, "Well, get on with it. Lick all the mess off these bedclothes and suck. " But in my head, I had a different answer for you each echo. Sometimes it was sex, sometimes it was food, sometimes it was simple, sometimes lavish. But each time, it was a request. Something I wanted. Not something that she could give me because she wanted me to have it.I hated my birthday. Not as much as xmas, but almost. It, like every other holiday, was a reminder of the years passing. The loneliness I felt inside. The years wasted not having someone special to share them with. Just me,. Marcy and Jenny both had noticed and had sent me a private text suggesting some kind of promotion for her.It took 30 minutes for the office store to run all the copies and put them into a presentable binder. Mark and I each took one and went through it page by page to make sure they were in order and perfect. Mark paid the bill with his corporate card.We spent the next three hours with the ten member board of directors going over the contract line by line before signatures were applied to.