BUSINESS TRIP

PART 9

She put up the second file. “Pretty hard to decipher, right? So to figure out where and how to break up things into templates and macros, we’ll start with the printed version and use that to identify what to do with the *********** file. So the first thing to do is to identify which parts of the report are static and which are dynamic. So what are the dynamic elements?”

“The date.” She circled that.

“The warehouse id.” Another circle.

“The line items.”

“Hold on to that one. Okay, we would find where the date and warehouse are in the *********** file, and we would replace them with variables. Dollar date dollar and dollar warehouse dollar. So the first report class would prepare those two variables and pass them to the first template. Now what about the line items? We need to loop through them, so to do that we are going to call a macro class, here.” She wrote that at the first line of the report. “Then that replaces all the literal lines. So the first template becomes very simple.”

She put up a foil showing that.

“Now the macro statement just gives the name of the next class, the one that is going to loop through the lines. So the template it’s going to use is the one for each line.” She circled that part of the *********** file. “And the entries there become variables that the macro class has to prepare. Simple?”

“Where does the data come from?”

The answer came from another one of the programmers. “You’d have data classes that do that. And a stream to do the iteration.”

“Another piece of your boyfriend’s magic?”

That drawled comment was enough to make her blush. She contented herself with a nod.

“Well honey, this is going to save us a whole bunch of time. Say, could we use this to put stuff out on the internet also?”

“You can use it for any type of text file.”

“Including html?”

“I guess.” Ann wasn’t quite sure what that was. “Maybe check that one with Brad. Any more questions?”

“What if we want to send it directly to the printer instead of going through ***********?”

“You’d use a template with the line feeds and other control characters.”

“What about a spreadsheet?”

“Export a sample of the spreadsheet to a comma separated variable file and use that as the base template.”

“We’re going to give it a whirl and see what happens.” They left the room.

“Okay what else am I doing here?” Ann was frustrated. She didn’t think she’d come out all this way just to keep Brad company. But finding stuff to do had been elusive. Brad seemed to be plenty busy but none of that was heading her way. “No one is coming to me for help.”

“It’s because you’re a pretty girl. A blonde at that. As far as they’re concerned Brad brought you here as eye candy. As his lady for the week.”

“s**t. And I’ve fallen right into that. I’m exactly what they think I am.”

“Your little show over at the Bayou didn’t help. People gossip, you know? No, not me.”

“Oh well.”

“Don’t worry, they saw a different side of you this morning. It took them a while to warm up to me. Especially since Harry was doing a little bragging.”

“Oh.”

“Now we’re like a couple and it’s respectable. Sort of. Want to get some lunch?”

It was hardly lunch time, but what else was there to do?

“Hey Katie. What’s up?” It was Brad.

“We’re going to go over to Smokey Joe’s and get us some brisket. Want to tag along?”

“Sure. You driving?”

“Yep.”

Off they went in Katie’s little car, with Brad with his knees up in the back seat. It was so early there wasn’t much of a line. They got their sandwiches and sat at one of the plank tables, Brad and Ann on one side, Katie across from them.

“No one is coming to me for help.” Ann muttered that in between bites of brisket. “They think I’m just a piece of fluff. Your squeeze for the week. What, you think it’s f*****g funny?”

“In a sad sort of way. Unfortunate. Ann, you know I always have had the highest regard for you. You’ve been my right hand lady through a lot of shit.”

“So you didn’t bring me here just to lure me out to the lake? So you could see me naked?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Oh.” Katie jumped in. “You got a guilty thrill when you set this up?”

“Maybe. Okay, okay I won’t deny the thought crossed my mind. But I didn’t push it. I even tried to talk her out of it.”

“Yeah, right. And you call me a conniving little b***h. What about Ned? Did you set that up?”

“No. I swear it. Okay. Maybe I haven’t resisted very hard.”

“That would be putting it mildly, dear heart.”

“You see Ann, he’s had the hots for you all along. At some level, they all want to f**k anything that moves. Right Brad?” No answer. “Brad, darling, what color panties am I wearing?”

“Blue.”

“See? And what if I were to come over to the lake with you so you could find out what’s underneath those panties?”

That was enough to make both Ann and Brad choke on their iced tea. “You’re serious?” Ann was giving her one of those looks that could kill. “We’re going to swim this afternoon. A long swim. Wouldn’t want you to drown, sweetie.”

“Oh I can handle it.”

“What about Harry? Oh. Speaking of the devil.” The man himself had slid in beside his girlfriend. “Katie is coming along with us this afternoon? Want to join us?”

“We’re swimming,” Katie added.

“Up and back,” Ann drawled. “At least, some of us are coming back.”

“I’m not much of a swimmer. See you all tonight over at the volleyball place. Don’t get yourselves too tuckered out.”

Ned slid in next to Brad. “Got one of those reports working. Thank you, Miss Ann. You done saved us a whole lot of trouble.”

“Oh, thank Brad. He’s the one who developed the stuff.”

“What about the data classes?”

“There’s some stuff now to generate the classes and the streams. Ann can show you how it works.”

“So you two going to go for a swim today? Looks like the weather’s holding up.”

“Me too,” Katie said.

“Really. Well if that don’t beat all. Well you three have a nice safe swim.”

Brad had to pry Ann away from Ned and Harry when it was time to go over to the lake. “Hey Ned, can I use your phone? I need to give my wife a call, let her know I won’t be calling later. I’ll use the calling card.”

“Sure.”

But when the phone rang, there was only the answering machine. “Hi, just wanted to let you know we’re going to a volleyball place for dinner. So I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Nothing about the two lovely ladies who are going to the lake with you?” Ned could not resist that tease.

“She knows Ann went over with me.”

“And?”

“And what?

“Hey guys, are we going to do this or what?” That was Katie. The three of them gathered up their stuff and went down into the lobby.

“That was better,” Ann said. “I almost feel useful now. So how are we going to work this? There’s no sense you paying for parking when Brad has a pass.”

“Harry’s place is on the way to the lake. How ‘bout you follow me there and I’ll change real quick. Then we can swim and you can take me back to the hotel while you change and then we’ll go on to the restaurant. Harry can take me home.”

So they followed Katie to an apartment complex. She ran inside and back out in a few minutes in shorts and a halter top, sneakers on her feet. She wormed her way into the back seat of the little car they had rented.

“Ever been there?” Ann asked.

“Nope. It’s like, notorious, but Harry is not into swimming. At all. I’ve sort of been wondering what it’s like. Guess this is my chance to find out.”

They turned and drove along the cliffs. “Oh, wow. I never realized the lake was so big. And clear. The lakes around Atlanta are all sort of muddy.”

Once again the parking lot was almost empty. Brad and Ann got out and started to strip off their clothes.

“You two are like, getting naked? Out here?”

“Less stuff to carry down. Less stuff to lose. Put your clothes in the trunk.”

They both had done that with their own clothes. Brad had completed his shoe changing ritual and the two of them were waiting for Katie to get out of the back seat and get a move on.

“Jesus. Sorry, I was envisioning myself naked in the water and that was fine. Taking off my clothes on a rock right next to the water and getting in right away. Not walking down naked. People really do that?” An older couple strolled by on the paved walkway. “Oh. My. God.”

“Come on Katie. Be a sport.”

“You can wear clothes down to the beach if you want to,” Brad said.

“f**k it.” Katie got out of the car, heaved a great sigh, and stripped off her top. Then the bra. She walked back to the trunk and added them to the pile of clothing.

“You going down like that? In the shorts?” The tone in Ann’s voice was enough to let her best friend know she looked really stupid that way.

“Okay, okay.” Katie pulled down the shorts, working them past her sneakers. Then the blue panties that had started all this. Hairy, she was quite hairy, brown curls matching her head hiding anything else. She was built a bit more heavily than Ann, bigger butt, boobs not quite as perky, her long hair flowing down to half hide them. Her belly was not ridged like Ann’s, not fat but smooth. Patches of white against dark brown skin betrayed the outlines of her bikini.

“Better put on some sunscreen,” Ann drawled. But instead of offering the bottle, she smeared it on her hands and started to apply it to the white areas herself, first on the top, then the bottom. Katie didn’t object, didn’t resist. She was too dumbfounded to protest.

“Here.” Ann handed over the bottle at last. “Oh, do you want me to get your back?”

“Sure.”

Which ended with more sunscreen on Katie’s butt, and in between her cheeks. “Oh. My. God.” Brad was watching, with obvious enjoyment, enjoyment he was making no attempt to hide. Big, he was pretty big, on top of everything else.

“Put your purse in the trunk.” What? He was getting to see her naked and all he had to say for himself was that?

“Brad, you’re not being a gentleman.”

“Oh, sorry. Katie you are very lovely.” Which was an understatement. Every part of her was beautiful, face, breasts, belly, arms, hands, legs, her long flowing hair. She might have stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting. With her pose, also. She had her legs pressed together so he was not seeing much more than he would have with the panties on.

Ann whispered something in Katie’s ear.

“Like this?” Katie put one foot up on the rear bumper, revealing her inner secrets. Of course, her lower lips were perfectly formed, not thin, sensuous like her lips. Behind that, a tiny little rosebud.

“Better.” Brad’s half erection was becoming a full one.

“Why don’t you f**k her right now? Get it over with.”

Katie stood transfixed as Ann grabbed Brad by the erection, pulled it towards its target. She was so hot, there was no hint of resistance. One thrust and she was coming, two, three. Two more and it was over.

“Sorry,” Brad muttered.

“What for? Come on, let’s go for that swim.”

So they went down to the water, Katie not only walking naked, but with her juices, Brad’s juices, dribbling down her thighs. When they started to swim, it was soon apparent that Brad wanted to go much faster than the ladies. So they agreed that they would let him go on ahead, turn around when he met them on the way back, and stop at the rock while he went on to the other end of the swim area; which meant they wound up on the rock before he got there.

“That was fun,” Katie said.

“Come here.” Ann pulled her closer and kissed her.

“Ann, I don’t do girls.” But it was to no avail as Ann began to kiss her breasts, then down her belly, pushing her on her back, pushing her legs aside. They were that way when Brad came out of the water.

“Again? What is it with you ladies?”

“Come on Brad. f**k me. f**k me just like this.” Ann wiggled her ass, spreading her legs a bit so the place he was supposed to f**k was fully revealed.

“No rubber.”

“No rubber? Jesus, you weren’t worried about that before. You f****d Katie without a f*****g rubber”

“I forgot.”

“And now you remember? Jesus. f*****g, Christ.” Ann sat up. “Sorry Katie. f**k you, Brad. Tell you what Katie, come up with us when we get back to the hotel and we’ll get Brad his f*****g rubber and we can finish this up properly. Oh, never mind. Let’s get going.” Ann pulled on her shoes and started up the cliff side.

“What’s her problem? You know she r***d me twice, once with your c**k, once with her tongue.”

“And?”

“Okay, I came both times. Came hard. But that doesn’t make it right. Not that I didn’t want you to do it. But not there, not like that.”

“What are you going to tell Harry?”

“Harry told me to get it out of my system. And I guess I did. What about you?”

“Maybe not quite.”

“What?”

“Might take another treatment or two.”

“Really.” That provoked a smile. “Well maybe I should come upstairs after all then.”

They went up to the car. Katie gave Ann a little kiss. “I’m coming up with you.”

“Oh. Good.” That was enough to brighten Ann’s mood.

“Gate closing in five.” The attendant had come down to their car to warn them. He seemed totally oblivious to their nudity. They pulled on some clothes quickly and drove back to the hotel.

“What’s this obsession with rubbers?” Katie asked.

“It’s his f*****g wife. He promised her he would use a rubber.”

“Oh. Well. Okay. Wait. That was her only restriction?”

“She told him to get it out of his system.”

“Oh. That’s what Harry told me. Well I guess we’ll have to work more on that?”

“Guess so.”

“Quickly though. Harry is going to be wondering what happened to us.”