If it was one thing Ken Cramer didn’t enjoy doing it was attending funerals. His attendance at this funeral was mandatory as it was for his long time law partner and friend Gordon Price. Gordon at fifty five years was ten years Ken’s senior and besides being his law partner was a longtime friend. Gordon was driving home from dinner at a restaurant with a female companion when he suddenly slumped at the wheel. His companion had managed to stop the vehicle and with the help of some passing motorists had administered CPR till the paramedics arrived. All efforts to revive Gordon had failed.

Ken looked at Gordon in this open casket and could only wonder about his own mortality. When the grim reaper would visit him he didn’t know but he hoped it wouldn’t be any time in the near future. There still were a lot of things he wanted to do and he thought he would take the time and write out his ‘bucket list.’

Gordon had married right after law school but was divorced about five years later. There was one daughter from the marriage Beverly. She was now standing by the casket and was on the receiving end of the condolences that were being offered by Gordon’s friends and acquaintances as they paid their last respects. Gordon’s ex-wife had moved to California and didn’t come back for the funeral. She and Gordon did not end their marriage on the best of terms.

Ken stood close to Beverly and helped her with the introductions to some of the mourners that she didn’t know. He had to bite his tongue when he heard the proverbial comment that some of them made, “That Gordon looked good.” Looking good in being dead was ridiculous thought Ken. That had to be one of the most asinine comment someone could make.

It was a graveside burial and a sad and somber affair. There was a large outpouring of Gordon’s friends who attended the service. Ken noticed that in attendance were a number of ladies that Gordon had been friends with and had dated. They seemed to be sincerely sad that Gordon had gone to the great beyond.

Afterwards at the restaurant where the returns where held, Ken was able to discuss a few things with Bev and her husband after all of the guests had said their goodbyes and left.

“You know you are the sole beneficiary of Gordon’s will and trust with the exception of his law practice. That was set up so it would go to the other partner if something was to happen to either one of us. If you want I can have Ted Reed from our office help you on transferring some of the titles and do the necessary paper work for you to receive the balance of Gordon’s estate.”

“I would appreciate that as I have no idea on how those things are handled.”

“Of course I am here if you need help on anything. All you need to do is to ask me. Gordon was more than just a law partner for me, he was my best friend.”

“Thanks Ken, I know you and Dad were close. He talked highly of you and always said the best move he ever made was when you two left the law firm downtown and came back here to form your own law practice. There is however one thing you could do for me.”

“Name it.”

“This coming Saturday I am going over to Dad’s condo and while I will be removing some items, my main purpose will be to clean out all of his personal items as his clothes and other things. The AMVETS are coming Monday and will be getting a big donation. I was hoping you could come over and see if there is anything Dad has at his home that should be at the office. If you find anything that should be at the office, you should take it with you.”

“I’ll be there at nine.”

On the drive home Ken had a lot of time to think and remember about what had happen in the twenty plus years he had known Gordon. Ken had met Gordon when he was hired in at Nelson and Wigginton, a large law firm which was located in the heart of the city. Ken was hired right after he had graduated from law school. In a short time and in spite of the age difference between them, they became good friends. To Ken, Gordon was like the older brother that he never had.

Both Ken and Gordon had progressed to where they were capable trial attorneys. Ken had become a little antsy and was not a fan of being predominately rated on the number of billable hours. His success as a trial attorney in achieving favorable verdicts had offset the pressure he received on his number of billable hours. Ken had discussed his concerns with Gordon who was in agreement with Ken but posed the question to him as to what could they do about it?

Ken said, “I was thinking of leaving and starting my own law practice back in my hometown. My uncle, Bill Bower and his son Rob have the largest insurance agency in the town. Bill has said to me that if I did open up an office there, he is sure that he could send some of his insured’s my way when they were injured in automobile accidents. If we don’t burn our bridges here, maybe they will refer some cases for us to handle out there as they don’t have anyone in that county and are looking to expand. I know it’s a gamble but I am willing to give it a try. Do you want to try it with me?”

“If I am ever going to get on my own and be my own boss now is the time. I am not getting any younger. I say what the hell partner, let’s give it a try” and he extended his hand to Ken for a shake to seal the agreement.

Uncle Bill set Ken and Gordon up with a realtor when they visited the town the following weekend. They were shown a building that would only require a little remodeling to turn it into a presentable law office. What was also nice was that on the second floor of this building was a small apartment. Ken said he would move into this apartment until the money started rolling in and he could afford something better.

A low-ball offer on the building was made because of the depressed real estate market. The offer prompted negotiations as to the price and with just a little bit of increase it was accepted. When the remodeling was just about complete both Ken and Gordon submitted their letters of resignation. They told the managing partner of the law firm that they were leaving and what their plans were. They said that since they knew the system here they would be available to do some defense work for the firm if they had a need to use attorneys in that county.

The managing partner had taken a liking to both Ken and Gordon because of some fine results and the favorable jury verdicts they had achieved. He said that the firm was looking to expand in that county. He would send some work their way initially but if there was sufficient volume, they probably would open their own office there and staff it with in-house attorneys. He couldn’t guarantee how long or how much work he could refer to Ken and Gordon but said what he did send their way should help until they built up their book of business.

The first couple months for this new law firm of Kramer and Price were financially challenging. Both Ken and Gordon had to dip into their saving at times to pay the bills. Uncle Bill was true to his word and referred a number of his injured insured’s to the law firm who had been in automobile accidents and weren’t at fault. There was time involved for the injuries to heal and the bills to be gathered which created lag time before settlement negotiations could be commence. For the first six months both Ken and Gordon functioned primarily as plaintiff’s attorneys representing their clients who were injured against mainly the other party’s insurance companies. Their old law firm did send a few cases their way which helped out with paying the bills.

Some of their clients had injuries that insurance companies questioned since they were of the ‘neck and back type’ or what was classified as soft tissue injuries. Both Ken and Gordon had agreed with each other that they would not compromise their ethics by telling their clients on how to inflate their injury claims. They would simply explain that in these types of cases it usually was the injury itself coupled with the amount of medical bills as well as a reasonable time lost from work that determined the value of the injury claim.

When the clients had recovered from their injuries they were told to submit the medical bills and time lost from work. These were called ‘special damages’ in the business. Copies of these special damages would then be submitted to the insurance company in an attempt to try and negotiate a settlement. If a reasonable settlement could not be arrived at, a law suit would be filed with the client’s permission. The expenses involved in the suit would be deducted from the final settlement if there was a settlement or a jury verdict.

For the most part, the majority of the cases the firm handled were resolved without the need for a lawsuit to be filed. If the insurance company was unreasonable in their settlement as high risk companies normally were, a lawsuit was filed. Ken and Gordon agreed that in the event of a lawsuit they would not have any serious negotiations with the insurance company until a few days before trial. It was known that at that time they would receive the highest settlement offer from the insurance company since the company would want to avoid the expense of a trial. Because of their prior insurance defense experience they knew what the large defense costs were in trying a case and taking it to a verdict. At four hundred dollars an hour the defense costs added up fast. There was also the uncertainty of a jury verdict which both parties had to consider.

The cases that were taken to verdict resulted in some generous amounts being awarded by the juries. Because of these large verdicts, they had the effect of increasing the settlement offers being made by the insurance companies on the other pending cases with this law firm. Ken’s and Gordon’s trial expertise was acknowledged by the insurance companies when they made offers of settlement.

As the reputation of the law firm grew, it resulted in more business either walking in the front door or being referred to the firm to handle. Besides injury claims some of the former clients were coming back and asking for other legal services as wills, trusts and real estate transaction handling. The law firm had progressed to now where it was on a firm financial footing.

Both Ken and Gordon each had their own secretary and were thinking of hiring another clerk to help out with all the paperwork this successful law firm was now generating. Ken had received notice that his secretary would be leaving in two weeks as her husband who was in the military was being transferred to another military base. This created a problem for Ken as good legal secretaries didn’t grow on trees and were hard to find.

The following day after receiving notice from his secretary about her leaving, Ken settled a claim with the insurance carrier for a nearby town. One of their police cars had been in a high speed pursuit of a stolen car when the driver of the stolen car lost control and rammed into a car that was stopped for a stoplight. The sole occupant of this stopped car was a young family man who was killed instantly. The police in pursuing this stolen car in a high speed chase had in Ken’s opinion contributed to this accident. Ken’s uncle had referred the wife of the innocent man who was killed to the law firm. Ken remembered that she was a strikingly beautiful redhead and was very distraught as she told Ken of the accident.

Ken said to her that he would write a letter to her insurance company and make a claim for the limits of the uninsured motorist coverage under their policy for the injury caused by the stolen car. He said he wouldn’t take a fee for doing that. If the company didn’t pay the full amount of the policy he would send them another letter and threaten them with bad faith and a lawsuit for punitive damages. He would also make a claim against the police department because in his opinion their high speed pursuit had contributed to this accident. If he was successful with this claim he would take his normal fee from that claim settlement.

Ken thought he remembered that when he interviewed this woman that she said she had been a legal secretary but had left the profession to give birth and raise her child. She further said that when her only child was in school which would be with the start of the next school year would she be looking to return to work.

Ken had been successful in achieving a settlement of close to the liability policy limits with the police department’s insurance carrier. The other insurance carrier had paid the full policy limits under the uninsured motorist coverage. When Ken phoned Maureen Mallon to inform her of the settlement he confirmed with her what he had remembered about her being a legal secretary. He knew she was about three years younger than him and asked her if she had been successful in finding employment.

“Not yet and now I need to get serious in finding a position. There are legal secretary’s positions available but they are all downtown. Between taking the train into downtown, working and taking the train back, I just can’t afford to be away from home that much. I need to find employment closer to home. I just may need to look for some other type of secretarial employment.”

“When you come into the office to sign the papers to conclude the settlement of your claim, I would like to talk to you about a legal secretary position that I may have available.”

“When and what time do you want me to come in?”

“Tomorrow and at nine would be fine. What law firm did you previously work for and was there any attorney in particular?”

When she told him the law firm and the attorney Ken was impressed. It was a top notch law firm and Ken had seen the attorney’s name mentioned as one of the better defense trial attorneys in the city.

Ken phoned that attorney and asked him about Maureen Mallon. Ken said she was coming in to interview for the position of legal secretary as she didn’t want to travel the distance to downtown for work. What could he tell Ken about her work?

“So she is coming back to work and it’s a shame about her husband’s accident. If she wanted to come back to work here I would hire her in a heartbeat to be my secretary. Besides being good looking she had excellent organizational skills and a very strong work ethic. Believe me when I say that you can’t go wrong if you hire her. She was an excellent secretary and receives my strongest recommendation.”

Ken thanked him for his candid comments.

The next day when Maureen came in for her interview Ken was further impressed. She had a little longer than shoulder length red hair, was wearing a dark business suit showing her very nice figure along with three inch high heels emphasizing some very nice nylon clad legs. Throw in her very pretty face with a few freckles and you had a very attractive lady.

Ken’s interview with her was only a formality as he knew from his first glance that he wanted to hire her. She was a classy big city legal secretary in a small town.

They talked about the job and what he expected. He told her that he knew she had a child and he would be flexible with her work hours when she needed to be because of her child. Maureen said her mother was going to do some babysitting so there shouldn’t be a need to take much time off from work. She was pleasantly surprised at the starting salary and told Ken he wouldn’t be sorry if he hired her.

He surprised her and brought a smile to her face when he said, “You are hired. When can you start?”

“Tomorrow?”

“The office opens at eight thirty.”

“I’ll be here.”

Ken thought that he had made a good hire but he would need to see how she would perform in the job before he was sure. She did perform well and quickly became an invaluable assistant to Ken.

With his thoughts of the past put aside the following Saturday found him at Gordon’s condo where he met Beverly. She told him to look around and see if there was anything that pertained to the business. Ken went through Gordon’s desk but didn’t find anything that was of importance. He cleaned out the desk drawers and emptied most of their contents into a trash bag. There were a few pictures of happier times that he asked Bev if he could have and she told him he could. He found a gym bag and put the pictures in the bag.

Ken had time which had him helping Bev pack up some items for AMVETS and some items for the trash man. In the bathroom Ken looked into a cabinet and saw a wealth of prescription medicines. He asked Bev what she wanted him to do with the medicines and she told him to pitch them. Ken was about to throw them into the garbage bag when he noticed there was an abundance of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra pills. He knew that these medicines were used to help a man have an erection so he could perform in having sex. Based on the amount of pills that where there Ken thought Gordon could have taken one pill a day for a year and still have some left over.

Ken chuckled to himself as he knew some of the prim and proper women Gordon was seeing socially. Apparently with these women still waters ran deep. Among the ladies that Gordon dated was a pastor’s widow, the town’s head librarian and a lady teacher who was also an ex-nun. Gordon must have thought that he needed these medicines to please these ladies. Ken would look a little differently at these women when he would now see them. It would be a waste to throw these medicines and contribute to pollution so Ken just tossed them into the gym bag that had the photos.

It didn’t take that long to bag the items that needed to be bagged. Bev had said that she was going to rent this condo out as furnished. As Ken was leaving he looked at the full black plastic bags in the living room and had the thought that this is what a life boils down to, a number of stuffed black plastic bags. To him that was a sad commentary on one’s life.

Back at his townhome Ken went through the gym bag and put away the photos. He left the medicines in the bag and had some further thoughts about the women he knew Gordon was dating. Ken thought Gordon’s relationship with most of these women was platonic but that apparently that wasn’t the case. He started to wonder how these women were in bed and wondered what they looked like in their birthday suits. If he ever saw these women again he would look at them quite differently.

Later that evening Ken’s thoughts drifted back to these medicines. He remembered reading stories about some fictional characters either inventing or discovering a substance that when swallowed or applied to the skin of a woman would in a short time would turn that woman into a nymphomaniac. This woman then would be looking for immediate sexual release. If something like that could be invented or discovered he couldn’t see where it would be of any help to women but it could be a product easily abused by unscrupulous men.

A product like that existing now was pure fiction. He remembered in growing up the tales about Spanish fly or an aspirin put in a soda a girl was drinking was supposed to make them want to have sex. The current date rape drugs did not increase the sexual desires of women and only rendered them unable to resist a man’s advances.

He knew there were some efforts to develop a women’s Viagra pill. What was the success in this development he didn’t know and wondered why that sort of medicine was even necessary? A man needed this type of medicine to perform the sex act but a woman normally didn’t have that problem. Maybe it would increase a woman’s lubrication which was required for her to be comfortable in performing the sex act but there were products already on the market that claimed they could alleviate that problem.

Ken’s curiosity got the better of him and he wondered what if these three pills were combined, what would be their effect on a woman? He knew that these medicines increased blood flow in men but would an increase in blood flow increase the lubrication and sexual desire in a woman? He had no idea but why not give it a try. He thought about it some more and came up with an idea of how he could find out.

Ken drove over to the local drug store and purchased a bottle of hand lotion.

Back in his townhome he placed an equal number of finely crushed pills into a small container and added some of the hand lotion. After waiting a while for the lotion to dissolve the pills he hastened the processes by stirring the lotion till the pills were completely dissolved. This concoction had the consistency of thin toothpaste. He then added a little more hand lotion to this mixture and did some more stirring. Once it looked like there was a complete blend he put this concoction back into the lotion bottle. When or how he would test this potion he wasn’t sure but he would have it at his disposal since he didn’t know when the opportunity would occur.

Maureen was a valued employee and someone Ken would rely on. They were a solid team which made Ken appreciate her talents. An added benefit was her good looks. At times he would catch himself starring at her. He thought that there were times when he would see her starring at him but he wasn’t sure. Neither of them did anything to disturb the nice business relationship that they had but there was some sexual tension between them that Ken periodically thought he felt.

Business had continued to improve and the volume was such that Gordon and Ken, prior to Gordon’s demise had talked about bring someone else in and possibly making that person eventually a partner if they were a good fit. They had previous hired Ted Reed to handle some of the routing legal work but he was only two years out of law school and while he was good, it would take some time before he could be considered for partnership.

Gordon had mentioned one time that Kerri Sullivan who was working as a defense attorney for an insurance company was a very formidable foe. He had gone up against her a few times and because of her ability he had his hands full. He wasn’t sure if she would leave the insurance company but he was recommending her as someone to consider for joining the firm.

Ken had tried one case against her and negotiated a few cases with her. He had to agree that she was very capable. During the drive over to Gordon’s condo he had thought he would need to give serious consideration to Gordon’s recommendation about bringing Kerri into the firm.

At the office Monday morning Ken asked Maureen to place a phone call to Kerri Sullivan. When Maureen told him she had Kerri on the line he picked up his phone.

“Hello Kerri, how are you.”

“I am fine. Sorry to hear about Gordon, it was a shock as he was a fine man and an excellent attorney. What file are you calling on?”

“I am not calling you about a file. I was wondering if we could meet for lunch.”

“I am free for lunch especially if you are buying, where and when?”

“How about noon at Gigi’s?”

“See you there.”

The next order of business was to have a meeting with Ted Reed and Janis who was Gordon’s secretary. They discussed what was on Gordon’s calendar. Ken asked that efforts be made to postpone everything that could be postponed or delayed. If it couldn’t be postponed or a court appearance was necessary Ted should handle it. If Ted thought something required more expertise than he had he should refer it to Ken to handle. Ken told them he was looking to bring some help into the office but the next few weeks were going to be hectic.

At noon Ken was at Gigi’s when Kerri was shown to his table. Kerri waived off the menu and placed her order for a big salad and a diet soda. As she was giving her order Ken studied her and he liked what he saw. He wouldn’t say that she was beautiful or that she had a killer body but he would say that in her own way she was attractive because of how her voice sounded as well as she looked at you when she spoke. He had noticed before that she was a small woman who did have a cute butt and a nice figure.

After the waitress left Kerri asked, “What do I owe for this lunch date?”

She didn’t beat around the bush and that was a trait that Ken liked.

“I was wondering how satisfied you are with your present employment?”

With some cautiousness in her voice she replied, “Things are okay but why are you asking?”

“Gordon’s passing has created a big void in our office as well as a workload problem. I was wondering and hoping that you would consider leaving your present employer and coming to work for me. I will say that both Gordon and I had discussed making you an offer before his demise. Gordon had suggested your name initially.”

“And you?”

“I don’t know you that well but from what I do know I think you would be a fine addition to the staff. The job would basically entail taking over Gordon’s files. His files for the most part are plaintiff’s bodily injury files but there are a few defense files. I still handle those types of files but more and more of my time is spent on handling medical malpractice files. Some of the mundane legal work as wills and divorces are handled by Ted Reed who you may or may not have met. I was thinking that he also may need some help and we should consider adding someone to the staff to help him.”

“What is the compensation package?”

“The usual assortment of benefits as well has a salary increase of ten percent more than what you are presently making. In addition you will get a bonus of twenty percent of the firm’s profits. In time there is the strong possibility of you becoming a partner. In addition if business continues to improve, as I said we made need to bring in another attorney but I would be reluctant to make that person a partner at least not for a while. What do you say?”

“Your offer is tempting and gives me something to think about. Can I get back to you on this?”

“Yes but I do need to know pretty quickly.”

“I will get back to you by close of business tomorrow. Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure but I don’t know if I will answer it.”

“Are you married?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“It has been my experience that in a small office the wife of the lead attorney gets involved more than she should and that creates problems. It happened to me before I went to work for this insurance company and I would like to avoid it happening again.”

“No I am not married. I have had a few long term relationships but none with women that I would consider marrying. I guess I am married to my job. When the women figured that out and realized that I wouldn’t be getting serious with them, they decided to move on. I do have dates but not that often. Besides work and golf at the country club, I do have some season tickets to hockey and football games and that takes up some of my free time. Can I ask you the same question?”

“I am single. I have had some guys that hit on me but I could tell that they were only looking for one thing so nothing much ever amounted in those relationships. I like you am probably married to my job. I am not against getting married but it would have to be with the right man.”

They had finished their meal and as they were leaving the restaurant Kerri again said she would call Ken the next day with her decision. In driving back to the office Ken had some good thoughts about Kerri and thought she would be a good addition. He chucked a little to himself in that he now knew what side of the plate she swung the bat from.

The next day Kerri called Ken and told him she had accepted his offer. She said that when she gave her two week notice the managing attorney didn’t take it well and told her she could leave now as he didn’t want her poisoning the minds of the other attorneys. The managing attorney in her opinion was a pompous ass and a big reason why she has no regrets in leaving. She will be in tomorrow to start work.

Kerri hit the ground running when she reported for work. She stepped right in and took over Gordon’s files. Ken had indicated he was available if she needed help. While they did have discussions on a few files her thoughts as to what further handling needed to be done or what the value of the cases were coincided with Ken’s thoughts. Things were going good at the office and Kerri’s hiring solved a big problem.

One day Ken pulled open his middle desk drawer and noticed that the bottle containing his experimental lotion mixture was there. He had completely forgotten about it. Then again he hadn’t had any opportunity to use it to see if it worked. Maybe he would give it a try today as today was Maureen’s birthday and per his custom he was going to take Maureen to lunch. He just sensed he was getting good vibes from her and wondered if something more could develop between them. He did notice that Maureen looked exceptionally good today and she was always a pleasant person.

At lunch they made some small talk while they ate. Maureen mentioned that her daughter was on a field trip this weekend. She said that her daughter was already talking of wanting to be an attorney. Ken told Maureen that since she has seen so much as to the practice of law she could advise her daughter as to the pros and cons of the profession.

When they were done eating Ken took a small bottle out of his pocket and put a small amount of this lotion into his palm. He rubbed the lotion into both of his hands. Maureen saw Ken doing this and asked him what he was doing.