The Sycophant – Part One – Introducing The Players

This is a true story…

The Collision

He said he was Jewish and Italian. I asked him which half was Italian, top or bottom? He answered so I went out with him. I didn’t care what the answer was, I just wanted him to have one and when he did I was interested. Since I decided to tell this story I have been wracking my brain to try to recall this guys marvelous qualities but I can’t think of any. I’m sorry about this and it is remarkable to me because I tend to remember people, things, and events in a positive way.

In whatever case, he was a Scorpio and he must have had some good qualities, I just don’t remember what they were and it doesn’t matter anyway, because this not his story. It is more a story that he is in and please note that even though my relationship with him produced a heck of a tale, it was very short. Eight or ten weeks. I am not trying to make a character judgment about him, I just think as I tell this story you may wonder what the heck I was doing with him. It won’t make sense unless I provide the answer so here it is: I liked the sex.

It’s common enough a man tolerates this or that with some gal because of the sex. This was like that in reverse. I lived in the desert you know, so to quote, Michael Lutin, when I got to the water… well, I was going to drink.

I think you’ll see he had somewhat of a similar agenda. I was twenty-three. He was twenty-seven, give or take. I met him and we spent a bit of time alone before the story unfolded. It was during this time his hook was set via sex, and then the other players were introduced.

I’ve not met a lot of women who feel like I do (and have mentioned it to me) but I think a fair number of men will relate to the idea of enjoying a specific physical relationship enormously and being motivated to maintain a relationship with the partner because of it. This is the situation that I was in. We met and I was sold on him so when we went forward bringing our various friends and family into the mix. I was looking to protect the relationship as opposed to looking for the door. He was compelling to me on a chemistry level. This is high prize to me so I was inclined to offer him the benefit of the doubt.

He worked in a management position and he was friendly with two women at his job. One of them was married. On the surface, she had wide appeal. Almost any man would be interested in her. She was akin to Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island or Meg Ryan prior to her scandal. She was the kind of gal who gets married and the crowd boos. The public wants her single and available. We like knowing there are women like her in the pond and I will come back to her in a minute.

The other gal was in a position equivalent to his, but complementary rather than in competition. They worked closely together and she was in love with him. He denied this but it was plain as day to me. She was in love with him and she hated him with an equal degree of passion because he did not want her.  Well, he did want her or at least he wanted what she had.

She was from a wealthy family. She was an adored only child who lived way above her salary and had limitless access to whatever she wanted or needed.  Basically she went slumming (to work, this is) Monday through Thursday for a reason I never discovered. This, as opposed to his reason for being there – he had bills to pay

Both of them were highly motivated by power. She wanted what he had that she didn’t – massive sexual power. He wanted what she had that he didn’t – comprehensive social and financial clout.
Both of them vehemently denied this.

He was physically repulsed by her, nothing less. If not, he would have courted and married her money and there would be no story. Instead, they had an intricate dance going. They would dangle their stuff in front of each other like a dog and a biscuit and no one would blink.

This situation had existed for some time. It’s possible, or even probable that I raised the stakes when I came on the scene, but the dynamic was born long before. I was basically creating a ripple or maybe a wake across their pond. The dynamic? Well they were working each other, and it went like this.

She would come to work with tales of dining with various socially prominent people and he would salivate. She would occasionally invite him to an A-list party, offering him a brief taste of the world that she could deliver, this world he yearned to live in.

He would be superb escort. He looked good, shook hands, minded his manners, chatted gaily and so forth. Trouble is that it was not for her. He had gained entrance to this world via her energy. With his foot in the door, his main interest was in who else might make notice of him.

He was using her. She noticed and the situation simmered.

Skip to Part Two – Mowgli, Cruella, Lover Boy And Mary Ann