"No, Bernard, I can't work tonight." Fritz tapped a toe impatiently while he listened to his boss bark at him over the phone. "Because I have a date, that's why."
Bernard Morton snorted. "You have a date? Did you win a contest or are you taking out your cousin?"
Fritz gritted his teeth. "I'm taking out a very lovely lady and I need to leave right now so I'm not late picking her up. I'll be at the lab bright and early tomorrow morning. Good night."
"Don't hang up on me! I'm not done talking--"
With immense satisfaction, Fritz disconnected the call. He was getting very bored with Bernard Morton and his unreasonable demands. If only there was some way to market Fat Off without Kutrate Kemicals being involved. It would be poetic justice for Fritz to become a gazillionaire instead of that oaf Bernard. Fritz sighed. There was no point in dreaming. He didn't have the money to market his amazing fat loss product on his own so he had to continue to work for Bernard Morton. For now, at any rate.
Glancing at his watch, Fritz saw that he needed to hurry. Mindy would be waiting for him. He brightened at the thought of a lovely woman like Mindy Cooper waiting for him. Life had taken a sudden turn for the better.
*****
"This is a very nice restaurant," Mindy remarked as she looked around Otto's Kitchen. "It's so...German."
"German food is the best food in the entire world," Fritz stated with authority. "Schnitzel, strudel, dumplings--there is no food like German food."
"So I'm guessing you're German?" Mindy asked brightly. She moved a little closer to Fritz so that the recording device she had in her pocket could pick up their conversation. "How did you happen to land in a dinky little town like Schuyler Square?"
Fritz seemed pleased to have Mindy move closer to him. Sitting up even straighter, he gave her a seductive smile. "I went to Schuyler Square College and then I was hired by Kutrate Kemicals."
"But why did you come here in the first place? Schuyler Square College isn't exactly known for it's stellar academic program."
"Perhaps not but they have a solid chemistry department." Fritz shrugged. "I got a scholarship and I always wanted to live in the Midwest."
"Are you married, Fritz?" Mindy asked. She laughed. "I suppose I should have asked you that before I agreed to go out to dinner with you."
"No, I have never been married."
"Are you married to your job?"
"I wouldn't say that. I'm committed, of course, but if I found the right woman I wouldn't be against marriage. It's finding the right woman that's been the problem." Fritz ran a finger along Mindy's arm and she did her best not to shudder. She'd thought Fritz was a little weird; now she was beginning to think that he was pretty creepy.
"Tell me about your new product," Mindy urged. "How did you ever come up with Fat Off? We really do need to work on that name."
"It was all a fluke. I was experimenting with a spray that would keep dogs off furniture--my German Shepherd is always jumping on the sofa and I have to constantly yell at poor Hans--and I created something that seemed to work. Hans stayed off the sofa but he got extremely skinny. I dropped twenty pounds too. I deduced that it had to be the spray that I was using. Further experimentation proved me right."
Mindy gasped. "You sprayed that awful stuff in your own house? How can you still be alive after smelling that disgusting scent?"
"It grows on you," Fritz replied, "plus notice how skinny I am. You need to remember that there are trade offs for everything--fat and nice smelling air or skinny and stinky air. Everything is about choice." He moved his hand down to Mindy's knee.
Mindy did her best to ignore it. "It sounds like you don't think you need to change your formula after all."
Fritz shrugged. "My opinion seldom matters at Kutrate Kemicals."
A shadow fell over there table. "How true, Fritz, how very true. Is this your date for the evening? How are you, Mindy?"
Looking up, Mindy and Fritz found themselves staring into the grim features of their boss, Bernard Morton.
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