I watched my lover Synthia walk across the main exhibition hall of the Javits Center. My company was in the middle of a trade show; for those of us in the IT/Networking business, participating in the fall Interop technology show was on the list of "Must Do" events we did every year, and while most of our company's team were sales and marketing people, the demonstration kiosks set up on our booth all needed the care and feeding of staff of a more technical orientation.
This year, I had drawn the short straw. A week of polished dress shoes, company-logo bearing polo shirts and slacks; no sweats, no Warcraft t-shirts shouting my allegiance to the Alliance, no sandals nor tennis shoes.
Synthia, my on-again, off-again lover of some years, had decided to take vacation time from her day job and accompany me to New York City, with the understanding that while the mornings and daylight hours were - at least for me - a time for work, the after-show hours and the weekend following before we returned home were for us.
Not wanting to disappoint her, I'd taken great care in doing some planning, and splurged on two pairs of tickets to two Broadway productions; Synthia was a great appreciator of musicals, and I'd managed to score decent seats to Wicked and Aida; the first would delight her, as she had devoured the books by Gregory Maguire, and the second was a magnificent, romantic score that I'd hoped she'd love. Other nights had other plans; certain restaurants I knew she had seen in movies, like Serendipity 3 on East 60th Street, and the like, plus a special surprise for our last night in the city.
So when I went off to hail a taxi from our hotel, she'd given me a sloppy, affectionate kiss and dropped back into the bed; I might have to be on duty by seven AM, but for her it was a week of sleeping in and shopping to her heart's content during the day.
"Clearly, she's already been shopping", I thought, watching her approach our booth. The sultry sway to her hips and the intent look on her face gave me the impression of a tigress stalking her prey through the halls rather than someone interested in technology. She looked magnificent, clad in a professional-looking blue blouse which buttoned up the front, black stockings, low-heeled black sandals, and a mid-length black raw silk skirt which ended just above her knee.
She caught and held my eye as she approached, and beckoned me to her with a sideways nod of her head. I told one of the salesmen I was going to look around, and that if there was a technical problem, to give me a call.
Once off our display area, I increased my pace to catch up with her, closing the distance just as we approached the cafe that had been set up by the show. "You get a seat, I'll get us something sweet" she said, turning into the line, leaving me to hunt for a rare open table. I found one in the corner, as far back from the service area as could be; most of their customers were in a hurry to get on with their business, so all the nearer tables were usually occupied by an ever-changing string of customers eating their pastries and drinking their coffee drinks.
I sat down with my back to the wall - old habit from my mis-spent youth - and waited for her while she made her way to the front of the line, placed our order, and came to the table. "Cafe Mocha for you, and hot chocolate for me" she said, sitting down gracefully, setting the drinks on the table before us.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," I remarked, smiling.
"I thought you might like to take a small break from the 'be-all-serious-business' stuff for awhile," she replied. "I mean, you've had to work all morning... I've gotten to play..."
