-4-

"Alice, I'm sorry as hell that I got the hots for Jane Farnham last week. And, frankly, dear, I'm even sorrier that you caught me at it," he greeted her lightly. "Let's both forget about her, so we can get back together like we were before. Honestly she isn't very good in the sack. She doesn't have the equipment you have, and she doesn't know how to use it like you do."

"No, Bob. It isn't going to be as easy as that," Alice told him seriously. "I was deeply hurt that you would cheat on me like that. I thought you loved me, even though things haven't been so good between us recently. I can't take you back now, as if nothing had happened. You'll have to prove yourself before I want you back as my husband. I'll have to be convinced that you really love me. I think I love you, but your going with Jane Farnham was too much for me to take lightly."

??

"Sure, darling. Anything you say, replied Bob laughing and trying to calm her anger with his charm. "What do you want me to do? Go out and slay a dragon for you? Or win the Nobel Prize for Art? Or make a million dollars? Hey, I've got an even better idea. How about we go to bed together right now, and I'll prove to you how much I love you? And how much you love me? That should prove to you that I'm worth taking back."

-5-

"Not so fast, Bob," Alice told him angrily. "Don't bother trying your charm to get me into bed. It won't work. I'm still too hurt by what you did. I'll never feel I can really trust you again, after that."

"I told you I'd do anything you want. Anything to prove I love you,' he told her earnestly. "Test me, dear. Let me prove I love you. Tell me the price of coming back to you after I've been so bad."

"Well, there's one way you could prove how much you love me, how much you are willing to sacrifice for me, she told him slowly.

??

"I'll do it. Whatever it is, I'll do it," said Bob immediately. "Just name it and it's yours.'

"You'll have to obey me completely for a month," Alice told him. "Anything I tell you to do, no matter what, you have to do it. If you fail to do what I order, or refuse to obey just one of my commands, then we're through."

Bob stared at her for a moment, appraisingly. He was surprised at her ultimatum, but he thought he knew her well enough so that he could agree without any worry. And if she laid down any really tough laws, he would be able to talk her out of