"Gee honey, I didn't hear you come home." Jasmine was surprised to see Ralph sitting in his two-seater Mercedes in the garage, just staring through the windshield. She’d gone into the cavernous three-car garage from the kitchen to put out the recyclables. She opened the convertible's door, gave Ralph a warm welcoming kiss and smoothed his thinning hair, ruffled from the ride in the open car.

"Ralph, quit staring at the wall. Hello, Ralph, are you okay?

Ralph was unmoved, sullen, lost in thought as if somewhere else. Ralph?" she said with a touch of irritation in her tone. “What’s the matter?”

Ralph returned to the present, turned toward his perky

live-in soul mate, complete, or more or less incomplete in her brief, fashionable two-piece playsuit. Looking surprised to find himself at home, he confessed in a mournful voice, "God Jasmine, we’re in deep trouble."

Unperturbed, Jasmine good-naturedly pulled her lover out of his sports car. "You'll feel better after your martini. Come on inside. You can tell me about it later in the pool. Don't forget your lap top."

With awkward moves, Ralph worked his hulk out of the low slung car and ambled his way into the kitchen. Jasmine's tanned arm extended up around his shoulder, her hand ruffling the hair at the back of his head. He placed the company's computer on the kitchen table in a deliberate move to avoid the small puddle of water accumulating at the base of the martini shaker. Hesitating, he looked at his lover. Normally, when he came home, he would break into a grin as he drank her in with adoration, a striking young former model. This time his leer was replaced with a furled brow, then a sullen glare at the floor.

"Have you seen the papers, love?"

"Only the funnies honey. Have an hors d'oeuvre."

"Do you remember Hoffmann La-Roche, that huge Swiss company from Nutley, New Jersey that bought Syntex awhile ago?"

"You bet I do. You were excited about it, and we partied with Harry and Sandy next door, skinny dippin' too. We made all kinds of plans. That was a great night." Her effervescence always tended to help him ignore his moods.

Ralph slouched his bulky frame into a kitchen chair. He pondered the martini shaker, then reached for it as if exhausted, swirling it twice. As if in a dream state, he delivered a double Bombay over a twist. Squinting a bit, he raised his fancy crystal glass up to meet Jasmine’s plastic bottle of Calistoga mineral water. Ralph paused to enjoy the aroma of the juniper berries un-contaminated by vermouth and sipped his favorite attitude adjuster in gentle, metered sips. With practiced habit, he closed his eyes while the chemicals did their thing, a kind of burning all the way down to the soul.

He surveyed Jasmine as she sipped her bubbly water, one curve after the other. She left a smudge of lipstick around the top of the bottle. He knew she enjoyed the way the tiny bubbles tickled her nose. It often made her break into a "bodayshus" smile.

Would be a sin to change her in any way, Ralph thought. I love her just the way she is. But then again, who wouldn't. It didn't take a classy sports car to make her stand out. She’d make a Datsun B210 clunker look good. No comparison to my frumpy ex.

Ralph examined his drink, getting lost in it as if the small slip of lemon peel at the bottom had some answers. But he wasn't seeing anything, still in shock. In one long slurp he emptied his glass, shivered, and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"You look like hell," Jasmine complained. "Are you sick?" She went to him, playfully straddling his lap, both hands smoothing over some unruly thin strands of hair. She drew his face to her and schmoozed, pushing herself up and into his sullen face. She kissed his bald spot, and whispering, suggested a quick skinny dip in the pool.

“God, you smell good,” he said.

How I love this gal, he thought, enjoying the experience of her tender, youthful warmth.

But even that temptation couldn't move him. With the martini's help, he looked into her Avon eyes and described in a solemn tone, like a reverend at a wake, what had happened.

"I hate old worn out clichés, but, the other shoe dropped today."

"I'm afraid you're not making any sense yet," she murmured. "Come on, get to the bottom line honey. You know I hate it when you dance around your thoughts."

Jasmine had his full attention now. He slid his arms around her, letting his hands take in the cool softness of her midriff and proceeded to lay it all out is a weary, plain language monotone.

"Since the SOBs from the new home office in New Jersey are running the show now, my whole operation has been dropped. My departments and projects have all been eliminated. I've been laid off.”

Jasmine just sat there on his lap, staring into his expressionless eyes, her mouth open. "So, what does that mean?"

"It means we're broke, baby."

"How could that be? You make a bundle. You're a vice president."

"Was a VP. Cash flow is gonna be slow now. This big house has an even bigger mortgage and Palo Alto is the country's most expensive place to live, remember babe?"

Ann stiffened, slid off Ralph’s lap and stood up, her beautiful face fully confused. Her make-up was unable to hide her rocket-rising anxiety.

"Well, don't you have money in the bank for heavens sake?" Now wide-eyed, her blond ringlets bounced from her valley girl side-to-side headshake.

"A little, but that has to go to my ex and the kids."

"What?"

"Sorry honey, it's going to take a little time for me to sort things out and find another executive slot. The pharmaceutical industry has been downsizing a lot lately and things are going to be tight for a while."

"I'm gonna try a martini," she blurted, reaching for the shaker. She poured a few inches into a nearby coffee mug, spilling some on the table. Her eyes darted back and forth unfocused, mouth still open.

"Jasmine, you don't drink. Put the gin down and come here." Ralph held out his arms.

"What's gonna happen?" Keeping the table between them, her fingers tapped the side of the mug. She lowered the mug to the table as if slipping into a trance.

"I don't know yet, you know..." He paused. "I'm still uncertain, a little confused. In a little shock too, I guess. I'll need some time. We'll have to dump the house and..."

"What?" she screamed.

"It's okay, baby. It'll be rough for a little while but I'll find something. Could be tough at my age but I can use the outplacement service at work for up to six months."

Jasmine’s demeanor depreciated. "Six months?" she repeated, her voice trailing off into a whisper. After a moment of kitchen silence, she snared the keys to the coupe, undulated into the garage saying, "I gotta go into town, don't wait up."

Non-plussed, and a bit anesthetized, Ralph made his way to the Jacuzzi, disrobed, plunked his corpulence down to enjoy a few last pleasures and closed his eyes.

"I wonder where the hell she went." He slowly sank up

to his chin in the rumbling steamy water. Time slo-moed by.

Kinda like a cauldron, he mused. “Wonder whose hiring?”

Suddenly startled, he shot straight up, wide-eyed. His nude body moved a mountainous wave of water over the edges of the Jacuzzi. Standing waist deep with flailing arms throwing droplets of hot water all over the room, he screamed an enlightened moment of reality.

"Christ. She's left me."