Chapter Eleven—After the fire
Nothing much was mentioned about the fire after the doctors returned. Tessa had managed to salvage enough of the holy Sisters of the Sacred Secret's order to ascertain their address and write them a discrete letter asking that they reorder, which they did.
Mary Beth behaved herself, and the twins made themselves scarce, filling orders and cleaning up the debris from the small fire.
Tessa longed to tell Dr. Doctor what had transpired but feared doing so. She now knew what he meant by "they may be watching". She longed to talk to him, period, about anything almost more than she longed to touch him and have him touch and enter her.
Dr. Doctor, however, had been very standoffish since his return with the other doctors from the sperm bank conference. He was polite and courteous, as usual, but there was something missing, something wrong here. Tessa knew it. She worried herself day in and out about it, to the point where she didn't even hear Simon's constant rambling complaints at home. One night she even let Simon enter her, only later realizing she'd been fantasizing about Dr. Doctor for the whole six minute duration of Simon's entry and exit.
"No. I can't take much more of this," she thought. "I've got to say something, anything to him."
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The truth of the matter was that since the sperm bank conference all the doctors at FNS had been busy and preoccupied about new federal regulations that were soon to come into effect regarding sperm banks. So preoccupied, in fact, that Dr. Smith had forgotten all about leaving the video tape on during their absence and therefore had not played it back yet. And, aside from the biweekly elevator excursions with Dr. Johnson, Drs. Smith and Williams had hardly called upon Tess at all. Tess worried that they were far behind in their specimen donations. What worried her most of all, though, was that she had not been with Dr. Doctor at all since his return two weeks ago.
What was preoccupying Dr. Doctor so much these days since his return was Tessa. He feared he was falling in love with her and didn't know what to do about it. Oddly enough, her nymphomania did not appear to Dr. Doctor as an obstacle to their relationship. His major concern was that he knew his father, a Black naval officer, and his mother, a Puerto Rican teacher, would never forgive him for marrying a white woman. They had told him so, many times.
Chapter Twelve—The Home Front
"No! Don't change the channel."
"Why?"
:That's James Earl Jones."
"So?"
"I just want to see him."
"Ah, he's merely another big, fat, black, space-toothed mother."
"He's wonderful." Really he is.
"I think you're crazy."
"I love him." Tess confessed.
"By God, now I know you're crazy," Simon grabbed his leather jacket and stormed out of the apartment.
It didn't take much for Simon to storm out of their apartment these days. And Tessa, curling up on the couch with her personal Ever-Growing Penis, Clit Clip, and the Dr. Doctor look-alike movie star's movie, was certainly glad about that.
Chapter Thirteen—The Elevator
One morning Tessa waited around the corner from the FNS Bank building's first floor elevators hoping to get on the same elevator with Dr. Doctor. She'd hid behind a pillar when Dr. Johnson entered the elevator. Fortunately, Dr. Doctor didn't arrive in time for that one. But he did arrive a few moments later. Tess scooted in behind him, going toward the rear of the elevator.
After a few floors of nervous trepidation, Tess reached out and pressed the 18th floor herself. When the elevator stopped on 18 with only Tess and Dr. Doctor still on board, she thought from his surprised look that he knew nothing of the infamous 18th floor ride.
"It won't move until we've pressed 19. The doors won't open either."
"Oh, I see." Dr. Doctor seemed amused, wondered momentarily which of his cohorts had introduced Tessa to the 18th floor.
"Dr. Doctor," Tess began.
