I am close friends with the woman who runs the book department at my day job. Lunch will often find us sitting together either both eagerly reading or discussing books and articles we've delighted in recently. Often the manager will join us.
Sometimes that's nice.
Sometimes it's just unfortunately awkward.
Our boss is not a people person. She's a woman of a different era than my friend and I. She's more repressed, more well, let's just say she's not exactly sex friendly and she's certainly not kinky friendly at ALL.
At at times well, the gap between us is rather evident.
So my friend and I were dreading that inevitable day when we knew the topic of THAT INFERNAL BOOK would come up.
And it did... We knew it was coming. The boss looked around the room and then leaned in close so she could whisper:
"Have either of you read that 50 Shades of Grey book?"
My friend and looked at each other with matching expressions of horror. We could NOT be having this conversation.... but we were.
The book lady shook her head. I just said I couldn't get past the first few pages of the Amazon preview. We hoped that would end the boss's questions. No such luck.
"Well," she said. She hesitated a moment and then continued. "I just don't understand what the big deal is. I mean is it like porn or something?"
I looked at the book lady. Brave as always, she took in a deep breath and answered the question.
"Well, it's about sex, but not just that it's kind of about..." she rolled her eyes as she tried to come up with a term that would be accurate and not derogatory, but that the boss would understand. "well, kinky stuff," she finally finished.
"Kinky stuff?!" cried the boss. "You mean like whips and chains and all that?"
"Uh, something like that."
"Why would anyone want to do that?" My friend looked at me. My turn, her face said.
And then I had about 3 seconds to make a decision. Had it been a different person, a different time, and different place, I would have chosen differently. I am open and honest about my lifestyle and I share it freely with some people. However, my employer is not one of them.
So I simply said "they must get some value out it. I believe they find it cathartic"
An image from a few nights earlier played in my mind as I spoke, the dark of my bedroom, the glow of candles, and the look of pure bliss on Lance's face as floated in the waves of subspsace.
I don't usually post explicit photos here, but it was such a beautiful moment I had to capture it. And I'm going to share it, because it is the answer to the boss's question I really wanted to give her:
"Because sometimes it's art, that's why."
~Lady Koregan
