Introduction

I'm a 37 year old man who, because of a small brain injury, is forced to worked part-time while on permanent disability. I've been working at the same restaurant for 13 years and about 2 years ago, my boss hired Diane, who quickly became his favorite.

Diane is 24 years old, originally from France and not very popular among the employees in our western Tennessee cafe. She is especially vicious to me. This started almost right away when for some unknown reason, the boss (a 60-something, former hippy from Berkeley) decided it would be a good idea to inform Diane just how much money I earn.

Of course, being 24 and having no life experience whatsoever, she naturally believed she deserved to make what I earn, even though I've been in this business for 22 years and been with this diner for 13. Because of my brain injury (the cause and effects are not important, other to say that my short-term memory is sometimes a problem as well as recurring problem of blood pressure and headaches), I chose to remain part-time, pulling in about 25 hours a week. This caused me to step down from a manager job (which I held for 6 years). But instead now, I work the counter and cash register.

Diane is 5-3 and is petite. She isn't married, although she has a live-in boyfriend. It come to no one's surprise that her boyfriend has so far managed not to pop the question. I can only assume he likes her body for sex, but no one could like that personality. Of all the wait staff we have (we employ 7), she is the least popular by far - at least according to the tips and complaints we receive.

But Diane is either oblivious to this, or she simply doesn't care.

The boss, as I said, is around 60 or 61. He spent his formative years in California and graduated from Cal-Berkeley in the late 60's. While he claims he has a degree in business management, I think it's more likely he spent his four college years studying "how-to-beat- the-man 101." He has never strayed from his politics and makes Meathead (from the old show "All in the Family") look like Alex Keating (Michael J. Fox's conservative character in "Family Ties").

The boss has been married twice. His first wife left him in 1971, after he cheated on her with a prostitute and was caught by the police in Memphis. They had met at one of those "peace, love, dope" protests in college and I guess she grew up and decided she wanted someone who wanted to be monogamous. In 1982, he met his next wife. He was now older, wiser and wealthier. His wife however, was not. She was a former beauty queen from Tulsa who lost most of her looks, but kept the body and the desire. No one would have predicted the marriage would last, but they are going on almost 30 years now.

But the boss has always had his eye out for young, attractive women. His admitted privately to having multiple affairs and we wonder if his wife really knows, but is just happy he's paying the bills and leaving her alone.

About 3 months ago, Diane and the boss started running errands together. At first, it wasn't too suspicious because he often took one of the wait staff with him when things were slow in the restaurant. But these little treks out seemed to take more and more time and some of us were beginning to make comments. But it wasn't until one fateful Tuesday that all of our suspicions came true.

To be continued...