Lee sat in his usual spot next to Holland, taking copious notes and hanging on his every word like the obsequious little toady he was. What a butt-kisser, Lindsey thought.

Mary Leighton, a new associate, was making up a grocery list, while George Collins, from contracts, seemed to be drawing a map of the world.

Chris Tyler had been all ears for the first item on the agenda, his precious Gruber deal, but now he seemed to be nodding off. Lindsey would poke him in the ribs with his elbow whenever he saw his eyes start to close. Chris was as close to a friend as anyone in this law firm, so he was trying to keep him out of trouble. Suddenly he felt something crawling up his leg. Sitting opposite him, Lila had taken off her shoe and was running her foot up his calf under his trouser while looking at him lasciviously. And she had met Rosemary at the baseball game, too! What's with this girl? She never gives up. He moved his chair back very slightly, shifted in his seat, and crossed his leg over the other one. Lila shot him a nasty look and started some pornographic drawings on her pad.

To look intelligent and interested, Lindsey would think of lists while he was sitting through one of these mind-numbing sessions. How about the states in alphabetical order?

4 A's: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas. C is for California, Colorado, Connecticut.

D, Delaware; F, Florida; G, Georgia; H, Hawaii.

Suddenly, as he took a sip of his coffee, he heard Holland saying, "And as we head into this new enterprise. . ." Lindsey sputtered and blew a mouthful of coffee onto the table. He blushed, grabbed a handful of napkins from the refreshment table, and mopped it up.

"Sorry, Sir," he said, biting his lip to keep from laughing.

Holland frowned and went on. "As I was saying, this new enterprise of ours. . ."

Lindsey was barely able to control himself. If Holland said that word again, he'd be dead meat. But a minute or so later, his luck ran out.

"And so we need enterprising new ideas."

Lindsey jumped out of his chair, mumbled, "Excuse me, sir," and practically ran out of the conference room and into the men's room, where he just threw back his head and laughed until tears came to his eyes.

The meeting must have ended right after that, because Chris came in, ostensibly to use the urinal, but more likely to find out what was going on. Lindsey wasn't about to tell him, but he thought back to the previous night.

****