Thank God it was Friday! It was a long and arduous week. As the week came to a close, I felt as though the end of my bad luck was finally over. Three deals tanked this past week causing the firm to lose more than a half million dollars. Not that it was my fault but I was the victim of flaky clients that could not make up their minds.
I pulled into the row of townhouses that I lived in and found that there were a few construction vehicles blocking the drive to the garages. A sign directed the condo owners to park in the lot across the street for the next day or two. What a way to end the week.
I finally made it through the ninety degree sweltering heat and into the townhouse. I checked the mail and found another letter from my ex-wife's attorney requiring additional payments to keep her in the lifestyle she was accustomed to. Just a great topper to such a wonderful week.
As I stood in the foyer of the townhouse, I felt the cool air and felt some relief. The air conditioning was on. Finally, something going my way this week.
I changed out of my suit and pulled on a pair of cut-offs, t-shirt, and sandals. I grabbed a beer and some cold pizza and turned on the tube.
I must have dozed off because when I awoke, it was dark out. I checked the thermometer and it had cooled off a bit so I decided to grab my pc and hit the patio to check my e-mail.
I had just logged on and a head popped around the wooden divider that separated my patio from my neighbors. My neighbor was a nice looking brunette woman, probably in her early forties, single or divorced since I never saw a guy hanging about on a regular basis, and always cheerful.
"Hi, you haven't been around much lately," Vicky asked me.
"Hi Vicky. I have been trying to salvage my career after a tough week. Just checking my e-mail to see what is going on in the social circles," I replied to her initial inquiry.
"Anything new or good in your e-mails," Vicky asked me. She appeared to be trying to keep the conversation going.
I glanced at a few and saw some from friends, some junk, and not much else. "No, not really," I replied to her second question.
"So Heath, do you do a lot of work on your computer?" Vicky continued with her questions.
"Yeah, I kind of live on here," I replied.
"Oh I just love my computer, e-mails, and technology and playing games on-line," Vicky chimed in with her idea of 'living on a computer'.
For a second I was lost in thought but her comment of games somewhere piqued my interest.
"Games?" I replied, "What kind of games?"
"If I am bored at work, sometimes yahoo games, such as pool, backgammon, or cards," Vicky shot back at me.
"No kidding, I haven't played cards in ages but would not where to begin," I replied.
"Care to play a hand or two?" Vicky asked me, her face all aglow.
"Hmm, possibly but..." I trailed off and noticed an e-mail from a friend.
"Heath, you ok?" Vicky asked. "How about an intellectual challenge if cards and pool aren't your thing?"
"Oh, sorry. What intellectual thing?" I responded after opening an e-mail from the boss mentioning a meeting tomorrow morning to review the week's events.
"Shit!" I muttered.
"Well, it isn't that hard of a game to play!" Vicky replied tersely.
"Oh, geez, not you Vicky, just the office piling on," I explained to her.
"Ok, an intellectual game you said," I asked trying to clear the miscommunication on my part. "Ok, how do we play?"
"Give me your e-mail and you will see!" Vicky squealed.
I gave her my e-mail account and two minutes later I had an e-mail from vickycfnm@noway.com I opened the e-mail and saw a link. Her instructions were explicit to clink on the link. Interesting e-mail name.
The web page opened to a page of quizzes from Encarta. Looked interesting so far.
Vicky came around the wooden partition and we chatted for a bit about the web site.
"Sometimes I play against my girlfriends, sometimes stranger, and sometimes for stakes," Vicky explained.
"Stakes?" I queried Vicky wondering what you could play for on this site.
"Well, sometimes we play for drinks, sometimes for fun and sometimes for crazy things," Vicky continued placing, I think, a bit more emphasis on the last two words 'crazy things'.
We both were working on another round and life seemed to becoming a bit simpler listening to Vicky explain her time killers or wasters that she used at work.
"Ok, this is what we will do," Vicky continued to explain this game and how we were going to play as well as the logistics.
"The first game will be for another round of beers. Since you appear to be stressed out, the loser has to down a beer and do two shots of the winners choosing," Vicky explained as she brought her laptop over with her.
"Ok, what quiz do we take?" I asked.
"How about the state flags quiz?" Vicky replied.
"You must complete the quiz, score it, and show the results to the other," Vicky chimed in providing the last piece of logistics.
I opened the quiz and Vicky counted down, "Ready, set, go!"
I started to read the quiz and moving my cursor across the screen and as I moved the screen I saw a box that asked me to click and score my exam.
