Stranger In A Strange Land by Doc

                                                                    Stranger in a strange land

Rick woke up thinking of women and his situation.  Two quotes came to mind.  The one was Steve Jobs oft-quoted statement that “It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."  The second was “Economics is the study of mankind’s unlimited wants and the limited means to supply them.”

He felt trapped in a well.  His ladies might have unlimited wants, but so many of them didn’t know what they were.  His well was dark.  He needed a light – or a woman who knew her wants.  Tougher than it sounded.  Like finding a beech tree in a pine forest.

Rick rolled over, placing his hand on Janet’s butt.  She was pretending to be asleep – or perhaps just at that subliminal border between dream and wakefulness.  In the dark they melded.  She was not the one to discuss this issue with.  Again – stuck in his well.

Rick thought of Sharon.  Was she a glimmer of hope, or another false sunrise?

It always started well.  Then, gradually, as one satisfied each of his lovers’ wants and needs they became passive.  Satisfied.  Comfortable.  Ships without rudders floating aimlessly in quiet seas.
 
Rick wanted to be challenged.  It would seem easy, but in a world focused on comfort, it was hard to find women who pushed him or pulled him, with their eyes focused on distant horizons, impatient to ‘get going’.

He decided to get up.  He set the timer on his iPad.  Five minutes and thirty seconds once his coffee pot started up.  His life was going by in an inexorable stream of seconds.  Tick tock.  Tick tock.

He again thought of Sharon.  Would she task him today, or would he check his email to find a void?  He wasn't hopeful.  Perhaps Danielle? Some woman out there must find his unique capabilities a match for her wants.  Yes, like searching for a beech tree in a forest of pines.

He looked at his inbox (two minutes and 12 seconds until his coffee was made).  Nothing but spam.

Curious how corporations with nothing to offer kept telling him to buy things.  Curious how political factions kept pestering him to become angry about something – and to send them money.  Where were the ladies?  Organizations had needs but not women?  Bizarre!

“Unlimited wants”?  Ha!  Maybe it was only him who had unlimited wants – mostly an enormous desire to explore the mad world.  He looked down at his latest issue of Science magazine.  It wasn't the answer, but it was close.

And Rick then thought of Ariel.  Hope faded.  She’d seemed so promising but a flash in the pan; one email and never a second one.  Once he’d done one task, she’d fled.
 
Rick decided to go back to bed and dream some more.  Next to sweet, boring Janet.  But just then the alarm on his iPad sounded, breaking his reverie.  His coffee was ready.  Another day loomed like a dark specter before him.

Maybe Joanne? Probably not, he glumly thought as he tested the coffee to see if it was strong enough….