Edited by Barney R. Further messed with by me. All errors are mine.

I didn’t solve the problem soon enough.

I woke up in a hospital bed, not completely sure what had happened or how I got here. I knew that my right arm and shoulder and my left side hurt, and I generally ached all over. My name is Edward Cagle, I was 41 when I awoke in that mess of a situation. As I became more aware of my surroundings and circumstances, I thought back to what had put me here.

I grew up being focused on being a financial success. My family was poor, but I didn’t realize it until I got to high school. I saw then that we did not have even the simplest of luxuries. By the time I was 14, I was buying my own clothes, school supplies, and any extras I wanted. I did everything I could to earn money, I worked the back of a gypsy garbage truck for two summers, I was an after school janitor, I washed dishes in a diner, I earned enough money that when I got my driver’s license I bought my own car and paid for the insurance. Money was important, but I didn’t waste it on needless extravagances. I bought occasional burgers, candy bars and the like, but not many, and not regularly.

I was a very good student, and had received many full scholarship offers. I chose the University Of Michigan, and graduated with dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Electronic Design.

I invented and patented an improved miniature microphone, a very small video camera, and several different sound and motion detector alarms. I licensed some of those patents and with the money I started a security equipment manufacturing company.

I met Irene Westly at a company function where my company hosted our customers and potential customers. I was and am founder and COO of Hardwired Security Inc. a small but significant home security company. We do not actually wire or monitor homes, but we invent, design, and produce the gadgets needed. In spite of our name most of our products were WiFi and Bluetooth compatible and had battery backup so they would continue to work if the power failed for any reason.

I was making a decent salary when I met Irene, but it wasn’t in the stratosphere because I was rolling 90% of the after expenses profit back into the company. I was still very well paid for a 26 year old electronics geek of that time.

Irene was with her boss George Williams, the purchasing agent for Williams Home Safety Co. His daddy was the big cheese, but George and I had a good professional relationship. He was all business when it was about business. When not doing business he was an all out skirt chaser, he was a couple of years older than me, but was on wife number three.

He introduced his assistant Irene to me. Then he introduced me to her. Of course, he had to add that I was COO, shareholder, and single. Irene took on an almost acquisitive look as she tried to make small talk.

I dismissed her interest immediately by saying, “What George said is true, but what he failed to say is that I only get a salary that is just a little more than what my highest paid engineer gets. I am not rich by any means, just lucky with some of my inventions. I also have some of the smartest electronics geeks in the country working for my company.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, and then said; “I’m sorry, my surprise at your age overcame my polite upbringing. I was just very impressed that someone our age was able to own and run such an important company. Our company uses more products from your plants than all of the other suppliers combined.”

We talked business for a few more minutes and I excused myself to mingle with the guests. I spent about 25 minutes walking around and talking to the various people before the food and soft drinks were brought out and the buffet was set up.

As my guests were getting their food and drinks, I watched and saw Irene had kept moving to the rear of the line. At the same time she was sideways watching me. If I had thought about it I would have realized that she was stalking me to get close.

I did not have a lot of experience with women, as I was mostly a ‘nose to the grindstone’ person. Irene saw her target and I never knew what the license number of the truck that was Irene Westly.

I didn’t call her, she called me. Where she got my personal phone number from I never did find out. We dated for more than a year and she was getting more aggressive. It was putting me off, so I told her that I didn’t want to see her outside of business anymore.

Well, that worked for about two months, and then she started to show up wherever I was when not at work. She joined my church. She managed to get invited to family dinners, even though I never introduced her to my family. It was so bad I told my parents that if she was at another family function it would be the last one I was at.

Well that seemed to cool her pursuit off. But when she wasn’t around, I felt something was missing. I knew what it was, but I wasn’t about to start up with her again without some serious and unbreakable ground rules.

After about three months, I called Irene and we talked. She was pleasant, but told me she was glad she wasn’t seeing me anymore because she started dating George. I had heard that he had gotten dumped by Mrs. Mathews number three. It seems, at least according to Irene that George was not the one she wanted.

Well so much for new ground rules. I ended the call. I then took stock of my life. I decided to cut back on the sixty hour work weeks, the seven day work weeks and the obsession of work.

It took about a month of normal work weeks when I discovered that I had a lot more energy and I was better focused at work. The most important improvement I made was I was able to leave work at the office. With my new time and energy, I decided to take dance lessons. I always envied the guys who never seemed to be off their feet at weddings and dances that I attended. It was enlightening, and fun, as well as ego boosting. I discovered a love of country dances, especially line dances. I also started to go out to a little country music dance hall that was on the edge of town. The dance floor would be crowded if more than eight couples were on it, but when line dances were called, we made three rows, and the inside row alternated face one of the outside rows. It was great fun.

Then about six months after the phone call I was at a cousin’s wedding, and Irene was there with a different guy. Apparently George was no more.

As I was part of the wedding party, there was no way Irene could not miss the fact that I was there. She left her date and asked to talk to me. I was a little dubious, but I also never disliked her, just her tactics.

I told her she had to introduce me to her date and I would ask him to excuse us for about fifteen minutes. She agreed. She did, he didn’t, and left the reception without her.

We talked and danced for the rest of the party. I took her home and left before she could invite me in. I was afraid to start something up again.

Well, about three days later, I got a letter from her at my office.

Well, I thought about it for three months, and on a Wednesday I called and asked her to dinner for the coming Friday. I thought that would be a good restarting point. It was.

We started dating, and after about six weeks we were sexual intimate. That woman knew more ways to screw than I ever heard or read about. She like 69, anal, oral, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, doggie, and even missionary. I thought guys were sixty second wonders. Irene was just what a fragile romantic ego like I had needed. She could almost have an orgasm just talking about sex.

We dated for about a year and I asked her to marry me. She jumped into my arms and chanted “yes, yes, yes...”

We were planning the wedding when my mother strongly recommended that I should protect my assets with a prenuptial agreement. I had my attorney drew up an agreement that made sure that my trust would not be vulnerable in case of a divorce. He also recommended that I place all of the patents in the ownership of the trust. That would mean that the income from them would also be protected.