Cat in the Rain

Janet dressed like she always did - business-like. A smart and capable woman like Janet wants to be appreciated for what she does, not how she looks. And the tits and ass she carries around with her are distracting unless she tones them down with low heels, a classic grey pencil skirt and a silk blouse.

Her hours were a little more erratic than mine since she was tied to the Committee. There would be long periods when she spent her spare time working on constituent projects and she was home long before I was. Then there were the crash periods, particularly around budget time, where she might be up on the Hill all day and well into the night.

Janet had been promoted to a senior policy position the previous December. It was a nice bump-up in pay. But the downside was that she had to spend late nights on the Hill and at Committee events.

The promotion was unexpected since you normally have to serve a long apprenticeship before you get one of the true advisory roles. But she is a very smart woman and frankly I thought that she was a lot more capable than the guy she was advising. So it was clearly deserved - at least in my mind.

She was the Chief Policy Advisor for the Chair of the Committee. The Chair himself was from one of those Bible Belt States where – based on the people they kept sending to Congress - you wondered if ANY of his constituents had gotten out of the ninth grade before they married their sister.

I had met him a few times. He was right out of central casting for Senators - with the stalwart height and the forthright gaze and the determined chin.

He was 50-60ish handsome and he had the resolute look of a leader. But he was actually slicker than deer guts on a doorknob, he had never actually served, and his thick wavy hair was a rug.

Nonetheless, he did have the "Foghorn J. Leghorn" act down to a science. He told the herd what they wanted to hear, no matter how illogical the message. It was an admirably cynical approach to political reality. But the people voting for him were cattle anyhow.

My own assessment of the guy was that he was a total narcissist with the personal integrity of a used car salesman. As far as he was concerned everything was up for sale.

But he had done three terms in the Senate and the seniority system had put him in a position where he could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that "power corrupts."

His blond wife was as elegant and nuancedly sophisticated as her husband was a card-carrying redneck. She obviously came from big money and bigger influence in their State, which was why the esteemed Member of Congress was in the Senate in the first place.

She was a dead ringer for the older Grace Kelly, blond slim and regal. While his four kids were stepping stones from 19 to 25. All of them attended out-of-state schools which said something about the Senator's view of his own State's education system.

Janet said that this truly shady example of American democracy was actually a down to earth, good-guy in private. Personally, I didn't have any confidence that my tax money was in good hands. And I didn't like the sneer he gave me when we first met.

I was aware that he was considerably further up the totem pole than I was. But it was family money that had put him there, not his innate intelligence and hard work.

As a senior staffer Janet was expected to attend functions related to the Committee. I went with her if it was necessary, especially if it was a social event. But when she was working she went by herself. Obviously, she always had to dress for the occasion.

I was sitting in our den when she appeared in the doorway to say goodbye. She was going down to the Kennedy Center that night for some event that was honoring somebody. They are always handing out honors to each other so it is hard to keep track.

She was dressed in a simple deep blue Versace gown. The effect was breathtaking. It showed enough of her huge breasts at the top and her stunning legs at the bottom to look sexy without seeming to really try.

With her perfectly made-up face and the body underneath that dress I knew that she would have all of the geezers eating out of the palm of her hand.

She was clearly in a pensive mood. I said inquiringly, "What's up?"

She said, "Oh nothing." Then she said with emotion in her voice, "Have you ever thought about just chucking it all and living on a beach somewhere?"

Where did that come from!!? She had obviously been under stress for the past several months. But with the new fiscal year and all of the battles over appropriations September is a tough time on the Hill.

I thought to myself, "Perhaps she's just wearing down from all of the latent skullduggery?

I said, "No I haven't actually. But my job is nowhere near as stressful as yours. We should discuss it. Maybe it's time to talk about peddling your services on K Street."

She gave me a glum look and said, "Maybe it is. But the power is hard to give up. It's intoxicating"

Then she brightened and said, "Let's sail down to Point Lookout next weekend? It would be just you and me and nature." And she gave me one of her patented hot looks.

I knew what THAT meant. We sail a C&C 40. And we had spent a few of our most romantic weekends laying up in Piscataway Creek off of Fort Washington. We would revel in the quietude of nature and from time-to-time we would make the boat rock. Then we would finish the weekend with a nice dinner in National Harbor, or Old Town Alexandria.

I said, "Sure babe. We need to get you away from all of the craziness and get back to just you and me - like the old times. Before you became a Capitol Hill power broker.

I rose and walked over to kiss her goodbye. She seemed sad. But she was looking at me with utter devotion.

She turned and walked to the door in her 4 inch stilettos, leaving a trail of her special perfume. That scent sets off incredible yearning in the male animal. She looked back brightly and said, "I'll probably spend the night at the Watergate. That's where the reception is and I don't want to drive back after that much drinking."

That wasn't an abnormal circumstance. It had been her usual routine since she took over the senior position. So I said jokingly, "I'll be safe and sound here. And no hookers, or call girls for me tonight – I promise."

She looked at me like she wasn't sure I was joking. So I gave her a big smile and said, "Kidding". She smiled back at me and closed the door.

She didn't actually get back until late Sunday night. She had called that morning and told me that there were some things that they were working on back at the Russell Building and she would be tied up all day with paperwork.

With nothing better to do, I spent my day down at the Marina doing all of the maintenance that you have to do to keep a boat ship-shape.

As the old saying goes, "If you want to know what sailing feels like just stand in a cold shower and tear up fifty dollar bills."

Nevertheless, it was an utterly peaceful and rewarding day. I took a nap, ate on the boat and drove back. Janet arrived less than a half hour later.

She went straight upstairs to drop her stuff and change. She had taken a little bag with her when she left. I was waiting with a fresh G&T when she reappeared. She was in a pair of skintight yoga pants and a big loose University of Chicago sweatshirt. Her hair was tied back and she looked exhausted.

I sat down on the big sectional couch and she snuggled under my arm. She said, "I am getting really tired of all of this stress. Once this year's Authorization Act gets passed I am going to take some time off and we can reconnect. I know I've been way too busy over the past year and I'm sorry. I've been selfish. I promise that is going to change."

Then she kissed me passionately. I was working my hands up under her sweatshirt with my target being those big unrestrained boobs. But she broke the kiss and said, "Not tonight buster. I'm way too tired to enjoy it properly.

"Be prepared tomorrow though. I am not going in to the Office. I'm going to lie around here all day so I will be rested and ready to kick your ass." And with that she finished her drink and made her way upstairs.

I sat there for a while thinking about what she had said. She HAD been preoccupied for some time and she had also been away from home a lot more than usual. It seemed to correspond with her promotion and so I was wondering if she wasn't considering my suggestion that it was time to move on into the lobbying industry. That was where the real money was anyhow.

She had sounded sincere about her desire to reconnect, no question about that. So perhaps she had decided that the time had come for another item. That was the baby. We had been putting THAT off until we got our career groove on. But at 34 – almost 35 - she was not getting any younger.

She was still asleep when I left for work the next day. She looked both innocent and incredibly sexy, with her tousled hair framing her angelic face.

I got my usual breakfast at the Starbucks next to the Rosslyn Metro station. It's where the Georgetown Blue Shuttle stops. Then I wandered into work feeling more upbeat than I had in a while.

It was a beautiful fall day. And the entire City of Washington DC glittered outside my sixth floor window. I was feeling particularly up-beat. It sounded like Janet and I might have entered a new phase in the twists and turns of our life.

There was a knock at my door and Kari, who is my sidekick and general all around work buddy stuck her head in.

Kari is 24 and has been my indispensable right hand for the past three years. She had come to me fresh out of Georgetown. I had mentored her for the first year. But for the past two years she had showed promise of surpassing me in the analytics game. She was super-smart, funny and always full of life. And her technical skills were second to none.

She and Janet were similar in many ways, intelligent, beautiful, energetic and tough. But where Janet had that voluptuous body Kari was elfin – that is if elves had really big tits.

Kari had short white blond hair that appeared to be natural and the biggest green eyes seen outside of the cat species. She was all of five-one. So she looked like Tinker Belle without the wings and slutty costume. She had a tight, round, lithe little body, and she might weigh all of 110 pounds soaking wet.

The irony was that, somewhere in Kari's construction process one of her heavenly designers had gotten the idea that it might be fun to stick a pair of big round Ds on her tiny frame. I assume that it was just to see if she could stand upright without falling on her face.

The outcome of that experiment was that my work buddy also sported a remarkable pair of jugs.

I say that with the greatest amount of respect. Since the only sexual feelings that I had for Kari were in the abstract. I appreciated that she was a knock-out. But that appreciation didn't extend any further than a general sense of how attractive she was.

She seemed to have an active sex life. I knew that because she told me about her adventures. She did it without providing too much information. And in just the same way one close work pal would do with another. Except normally that kind of talk just goes on between us denizens of the tree house.

Of course, Kari was more like a guy than a girl anyhow. She had played field hockey for four years at Georgetown and she had been raised with three brothers. Any woman who could burp the alphabet was alright with us men.

She was her usual dazzlingly vigorous self, even though I knew that she had spent the weekend with some guy up in Manhattan.

She said breezily, "There's a fellow who wants to talk to you. He won't tell me who he is. Do you want me to let him in - or should I just throw him off the top of the building"

I smiled at her and said, "Show this mysterious stranger in. But be ready to intervene in case I need your help." She is five one and 110. I am closer to six-four and 220. She got the joke.

My visitor was a little guy with a rat-face and a hoodie. I was about to say, "I'm not interested in buying any drugs," when he produced a credential and said, "I'm Arnie Gold from the Washington Post and I would like a minute of your time."

Okay – that was interesting. I sat back trying not to look too curious and said, "What can I do for you Arnie?"

He said, "Do you know – and he showed me a picture of Senator "Cornpone" on his phone.

I was mystified. I said, "Yes I do - of course. My wife Janet Schmidt is one of his senior staffers and I have met him on occasions."

He said, "I don't want to ask you this."

He clearly SO wanted to ask me – "this".

"But we have been investigating the Senator and your wife has come up several times in the investigation."

I said, "What do you mean by that?"

He said, "Let me ask you outright. To your knowledge, is your wife having an affair with the Senator?"

I slowly stood up. I leaned toward him with my hands widely spaced on my desk. There were veins standing out on my neck. I must have looked like I was about to jump over the desk and attack him.

My posture might be aggressive but my voice was relatively calm. I said, "How the fuck do you think that you have any right to come in here and ask me a question like THAT?"

He cowered in his chair but he said with equal calm in his voice, "I have observed the two of them on numerous occasions and in various settings and given their behavior and some of the things the Senator's staff have told me I believe that the two of them are having a sexual relationship."

That hit me like a thunderbolt. Janet - unfaithful? The beautiful, intelligent and level-headed woman who was my very soul mate was cheating on me?

That thought had never entered my mind. We have always had a close and comfortable connection. There was no time when she acted distant or displeased with me. She never denied me anything. Plus the sex was always excellent. I had expected to die in her arms.

Nevertheless, there was this rodent from the Post telling me a fatally opposite story.

I said, "How the fuck would I know what she is doing with that slimy piece of shit. She is with him because she works for him.

"And frankly what business is it of yours? Why do you think you can just waltz in here and ruin my life?"

He looked a little offended and said, "The Senator is one of the leading conservative voices for Family Values. And the public has a right to know if he is - in fact - a hypocrite.

"That is a story that has to be reported. And if it is true it is something that will garner a lot of headlines. I am just trying to get to the bottom of things."

So there it was. The little weasel saw himself as a latter day incarnation of Woodward and Bernstein. I was sure that he already had the space cleared on his mantle for his Pulitzer.

I said coldly, "I will not dignify your accusation with any kind of comment. My wife is a loving and faithful woman who would not betray my confidence in any way. The Senator may be morally bankrupt but my wife is not. And I don't appreciate you implying that. So please leave."

He looked like he was going to say something else. But instead he rose and offered his hand. I shook it and he said, "Here is my card in case you change your mind."

I escorted him to my office door. I opened it and let him out. Then I closed the door, walked back to my desk and sat down. Waves of anguish overwhelmed me. Suddenly the day didn't look quite so bright.

Just then a blond mop of hair and a pair of mischievous eyes peered around the door. She said in her usual flirty manner, "What did the creepy guy want?"

I thought about it for a minute. My heart told me that I needed a friend. And my brain told me that I needed somebody's help and advice. I couldn't do this by myself and remain sane.

So I crossed my fingers and said to myself, "All-in!!"

I looked at her and said with a little too much gravity, "He was from the Washington Post."

Kari got the look that a lot of her generation gets when you mention the hoary old lady of 15th street. Her wired generation thinks that the Post chisels their news on stone tablets.

I said, "He had something personal to tell me. And I think I need to talk to somebody."

She popped into the chair in front of me looking as eager as a Jack Russell terrier waiting for somebody to throw a ball. Her gorgeous little round face with its huge green eyes looked concerned.

She said, "What did he tell you?"

I said as a preliminary, "Kari, you and I have worked together for almost four years. In that time I have come to consider you one of my best friends. I don't have many friends, or even people I trust. But you are one of them.

So I am going to rely on you to keep this quiet forever. If you can't promise me that - then we need to forget that I brought it up.

Her bright green eyes clouded with hurt and she started to tear up. Women!!

She said, "You can always trust me. You have been my mentor, my friend and the one man who I could count on in my entire life. I would NEVER betray your confidence."

I thought, "Yeah right??? Where have I heard THAT before?"

But I actually said, "The guy was a reporter. He is investigating the Senator who Janet works for. And in his investigations he has come to believe that she is engaged in an affair with him. He wanted me to confirm that, which I didn't do of course.

"But - if there IS something going on between them I'll get the horns hung on me all over the 24–hour news cycle. I think you can see how that would be personally embarrassing as well as totally devastating to our marriage.

"I just cannot accept that kind of disloyalty and frankly if Janet is engaged in something like that she is not the woman I married."

Kari looked shocked. There was also something else behind her eyes but I couldn't tell what it was. Her customarily cheerful visage changed. Her face transformed from the beautiful fresh glow that made her look like she was about sixteen, to a much harder and more focused person.

In that instant I could see why she was such an effective analyst. Her mind was the proverbial steel trap. She said with concern in her voice, "How can I help?"

I said, "I am going to have to find out what is going on and I will need your usual technical assistance setting things up."

And I added with a grimace, "I might also need a shoulder to cry on depending on what I find out."

"Also - I will need a partner in crime if it turns out to be as bad as Gold says it is. Because I am NOT the kind of guy who can rest until an open account is settled."

She looked at me with an unwavering glint in her eye and said with conviction, "You've got it boss."

Kari is ten years younger than me and she has always seemed more like a little sister than an actual peer. But I could sense the intensity in that exquisite little body combined with her excellent mind.

And I understood for the first time that she was anything but innocent.

I knew that she went through men like they were snack food. I always put that down to her leading the carefree single girl life. And sometimes I worried about her. Now I realized that the woman sitting in front of me feared no man, or situation, because she was always in command. She was one very tough cookie.

I got home at my usual time. Janet had been my only real love and best friend and companion for all of my adult life. She had contributed as much to who I was, as my parents.

So I didn't have to fake my feelings of comfortable camaraderie. She had run uptown and gotten empanadas and fritters from the Tapas Truck and was laying the dinner out on our back patio when I walked in.

She had her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail. And she was in jeans and a Northwestern Wildcats football jersey. The jersey hung down past her round delectable ass. She looked like the world's hottest sorority girl.