With more than casual interest, Chuck read the forum moderator's submission. Having submitted his own modest entry, he was now eager to see how his compared with Crescent's. He scrolled up and down at first, judging the length, paused and then centered the thread on his screen. This was for the benefit of the cigarette he had just lit because, being a right-handed smoker, the mouse was idling on the desk. A few sentences into the story revealed the ability of a practiced writer. Analyzing as he read further down the screen, Chuck soon knew he was outclassed. He paused for a deep pull from his, placed it carefully in the ashtray and turned to read the finish. Yep, nicely done and tidied up in a neat little paragraph. Poke and prod she had said. Hmmmpf! Nothing to poke and prod at! But, he thought, as smoke blurred the words on the screen in front of him, "I'll be there one day when she's 'off her game'." He dug the remainder of the cigarette into the ashtray and watched as the glow on the end was smothered. --------------------------------------------------------- Nice job, Cres! Hope you know I was just having some fun. Thought I'd give my compliment (notice I didn't mistakenly use "complement") in the form of a story showing emotion. I can't place my finger on the emotion(s), though. I'm not sure what you call it when a person wants to see another fail. A certain amount of jealously and envy, I suspect. This shown by the references to not having time to practice, the escort Paul had, his ability to "get babes", etc. Though not stated, I am assuming Paul is a friend. Is there an emotion for having a friend whom you don't like as a friend? Or perhaps Paul is just a frequent visitor at the parlor.