"Quit bitchin', Ben," said Lacy. "We have free tickets that include the first round of drinks. What more could you want?"Ben looked around nervously. ...Not to feel like I'm in 'the Twilight Zone.'"Lacy laughed. "You're such a goof, Ben."The couple walked up to the door and handed the doorman their tickets. He looked them over then said, "I'm guessing neither of you have ever been here before." You'd guess right," said Ben.Lacy rolled her eyes. "I won the tickets and I asked my buddy Ben to come. I was in the last group, since I was not especially attractive, and also short and chunky. To me, the prof was hot in any case. Craggy face, thick hair, as thin as Ichabod Crane. As Washington Irving said of his Ichabod:” his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield”. I know that doesn’t sound hot but it was. He was almost an insect, a predatory one.Grade benefits were not. . . With the sun yet high in the sky, we strolled the lawn, hand in hand. He explained every little statuette with details of where it came from and how he’d obtained it. The fountains were built from parts of old ones. I moved closer to him until my hip rubbed his thigh. He spoke of the water falls, the plants, and the fish but I heard very little. I watched his lips. I had to concentrate to keep from reaching up and touching them. I wondered how they would feel, how they would taste. The. We decided we didn't care.It was getting to be close to noon when I offered burgers all around.We cleaned up and JJ started the grill while Rob and I did the sides and got the burgers ready to go. We cooked them up and were just sitting outside with our drinks when we heard someone hail us from the garage.I yelled to come in the back. Mark and his wife Gladys came in and I offered something to drink. They must have ridden up since I didn't hear their car. We settled down with iced tea and I.