Susan breathed in deeply in another effort at self-control. "How dare Ray ask me! How dare he! 'A little overtime again!' he says. He knows I don't get any. But, it's not the money. It's the other issue - the issue of 'how dare he?'"

Susan was the administrative assistant to the vice-president. She loved her work. She kept everyone and everything in balance: the trainees, the secretarial staff, the president himself and Ray. She even had time to visit her parents and sail weekly with the team.

She felt her top teeth sink mercilessly into her lower lip and pinch the lip cruelly against her lower teeth. "Oh! That hurts! Be careful or I'll be bleeding!"

Her eye mechanically surveyed her office: diploma discreetly framed on the opposite wall, favorite photos of the boat and team to the righ…