In this state, it is as stern as a stereotypical drill sergeant, as angry as a Class 5 tornado, as strong as titanium, as hot as the sun itself. In my...mind’s eye, I see it as a missile, ready to penetrate my body and cause me to explode, I also envision it as a fire hose, ready to put out the burning need deep inside me. A small, thin, clear drop forms at the tip. It seems so innocent, so pure, so out of place. Leaning forward, I flick it away with a quick, tentative lick, and I hear his. Unable to afford a hotel room in any of the 6 hotels hosting the convention in the 2 square blocks of downtown Atlanta taken over by 50,000 nerds every year. They had to resort to getting a cheap motel room within walking distance of a Marta station, and a weekend subway pass. The major advantage being avoiding the several hundred dollar a night inflated cost for a room. The major disadvantage was the hour round trip to change costumes or freshen up. Grace and her friend Becky had become. Vern listened to the sound of thedialing and the transmission. He counted the pages being sent by themachine as he daydreamed about the relief he would feel when he lethis feet out of the shoes he had not planned to spend so much timestanding and moving about in. As the fax confirmation page printed,Vern let out a little cheer that Lucy noticed and smirked at before heattached the confirmation page to the document that Rose had him fax.Vern carried it into Rose's office and said, "Here you. Get up, drive to the train station, ride downtown, go to work, come home, and drink scotch until I fell asleep. Then start all over again the next day. The only difference was that now I went to work during the day at least. Before, I just drank scotch and passed out. But it kept the pain manageable.Walking into work one Monday morning a week later I was surprised when an older man opened the glass doors of the office building for me, smiled and wished me a good day. I guess that big city.