Working at home seemed to be such a good idea. Friday seemed an even more felicitous concept. These two benisons collided this afternoon, just as I was thinking about settling in for the weekend. At 5:00 pm, the Boss faxed me a new proposal letter to type. It was only two pages, but as I've learned it never stops with the first draft. By the time we were finished, it was well past 6:00, on a Friday night.

Not that I had any plans, of course. But if I did. You know?

Just to be sure I didn't "drop the ball" (one of his favorite expressions), he called me after he faxed the last revision. "I just wanted to see if we could get this out tonight." I told him it was on its way. And by the way, you're welcome.

I was just about to take a nap, too.

Tim called me this morning on his way to a new job site, cursing the directions the Boss had given him. He had me check MapQuest, but all I could find were the same roads he already knew about. "What if I take the back way?" he wanted to know.

Well, then, you'll probably fall in a big hole and disappear. The map I'm looking at doesn't show any "back way." It just covers the main roads, and without much detail, all inside a box (with a very attractive drop-shadow border). When I zoom out I lose the name of the town he's headed for. What's outside the box is anybody's guess. Dragons, apparently.

Since I didn't hear from him again today, I'll assume he either got to his destination or was toasted by green, scaly creatures somewhere along the "back way."

While I was trying to get him the information he wanted, he kept asking if I was still on the line, and complaining about the Boss. Several times he said, "I'm not mad," as if that would matter to me. If he's mad at the Boss, I don't care. If he's mad at me, he's an idiot. But if he keeps telling me he's not mad, it's probably because he's mad at somebody.

The Boss's ex-wife phoned me this morning. For once it wasn't to ask me if her alimony check was on the way. She wanted to impart a bit of gossip (some of which I already knew) about the Boss's current girlfriend, Julie. Julie isn't the woman who broke up the marriage; that was someone else, a long time ago. Julie and the Ex have never met, although they have strong opinions about each other, which they both like to share with me.

I'm not sure where in my job description it says what I'm supposed to do with the information I get from both sides of this dysfunctional triangle, but you can bet I don't share it with the hypotenuse.