Shontay was a newcomer to the company, but-as gossips had nastily asserted-she was only about twenty-five and had been hired in as a Director. It had ...aken Laura over four years to be made Director. Shontay was smart, attractive, aggressive, completely in charge, and could look forward to a very rewarding career.She saw Laura's puzzlement."I mean, there's so much politics... so much devious political maneuvering. Don't you find it suffocating?"This was always dangerous territory, talking with. As she finished her stretches she looked out her windows with a bubbling excitement she had never experienced before. No longer would she feel like a princess trapped atop a tower, today would be her first day of a real school.When her parents asked what she wanted for her 18th birthday she told them she wanted to go a real school and be allowed to make real friends. In what may have been her first act of real defiance, she wouldn't accept no as an answer. Years of seclusion left her with a. "Jess and I chatted about a lot of things. I mentioned that the gourmet market down the street had new imported wines that just arrived."Best retort I had at the moment: "You are repeating yourself, Larry: 'new' imported wines that 'just arrived.'"Jessica spoke up for Larry, not me, saying, "Jack. Play nice. We are smoking his stash."Jessica continued. "We bumped into each other again in the Costco parking lot; Larry invited me to follow him to his next stop, the wine shop."Larry jumped back. Hedid the best he could, but he didn't have a practiced hand. He puckeredhis lips and tried to put the lipstick around them like he was usingcrayons to color a picture. He tried to stay inside the lines. Itdidn't work perfectly, but it didn't matter. He then returned to thefull-length mirror.He then started to pose. At first he tried to look natural. Then hetried to pose in an exaggerated stance like his mom. Then he started tomock her posture. Next he started to make he-man poses in her.