The early morning gray mist diffused the predawn cool
December light over the calm Mediterranean Sea.  It was
impossible to tell where the sea ended and the grey sky
commenced.  The water barely moved where it met the small
pebbles of the private beach.  Vertical cliffs sealed each
side of the beach from incursion.  The shear cliff from the
beach to the road insured that the small tunnel to the
villa's garden was the only possible access.
     The first man leaned awkwardly against the cliff.  His
glassy dark brown eyes blankly stared at the featureless
seascape.  His mouth drooped open like someone who
continually breathed through their mouth.  He was not
breathing.  He had involuntarily given up the habit earlier
that morning.  The second man on the beach did not look at
him, but stood at the water's edge gazing into the gray
mist.  His eyes almost as glazed as the dead man's.  His
head throbbed from the jet lag and the cascade of events
that had swept him across the Atlantic.  John Lewis Strut
thought how impulsive he had been in the past week.  He had
transplanted himself from a regulated Midwestern life to the
south of France, where the only one he knew was his host. He
could hardly remember any of his college French from years
ago.  Strut's mind drifted back over the years to his
college days at Indiana University.
     Strut's reminiscence were partly to clear his mind of
the past and partly an obsession with his despair.  Strut
had attended the Indiana University on a scholarship.  He
lived at subsistence level the first four years of his
prelaw work.  At the end of his Senior year he took a job as
an automobile salesman to try to avoid working part time
during his graduate law terms.
     The news paper's advertisement for the job was
intriguing.  High income, and a personal car to drive.  Some
of his fellow students had paper routes or worked in a fast
food restaurant to earn extra money.  This seemed to be on a
higher plan.  A promise of high pay, and especially a car,
was perhaps a little out of reason for a short term job.  He
had just received his bachelor's degree. He could pretend
that he looked upon this as a potential career.
     The agency's show room's gleaming new cars made a
tempting contrast with his eight year old junker, which was
proving less and less reliable.  The salesmen moved in and
out of their small cubical offices to deal with several
waiting customers.  A large glass enclosed office was
perched above the cubical offices like an eagle's nest. 
Strut could see a man standing rigidly before the massive
desk that dwarfed a some what miniature dark complected man
behind it.
     Strut filled out the job application given him by an
attractive, but busy and disinterested receptionist.  While
he waited for his interview, he imagined himself driving on
campus with one of the more expensive sport cars as his
company car.  He cautioned himself that this would be only a
temporary job.  He was going on to law school despite the
rather high income and car that the advertisement had
promised.  He would make much more money as an attorney, and
not have the stigma of a car salesman.  He did acknowledge
to himself that lawyers were not considered that far ahead
of car salesmen when it came to being in line for sainthood,
but to him, the law as a very dignified profession.
     The personnel manager sat at a large mahogany desk in a
well-appointed office.  She quickly had Strut at ease with
her friendly manner.
     "I hope you noticed our new building.  Mr. Agina, the
owner, has just finished remodeling the complete agency.  It
is one of the most attractive and modern facilities in the
area."
     "I'm certainly impressed.  It seems like a good
atmosphere to work and shop in."
     "We are looking for hard working people who want to
earn good money.  We have our own system for selling that
has proven very successful for Mr. Agina.  He developed this
system several years ago.  It has made him rich, and it
certainly makes a wonderful opportunity for salesman to earn
top dollar in their job.  For a young man, like you, there
is plenty of opportunity for advancement to a good
management position.  Mr. Strut, are you an ambitious and
hard working man who wants to have a rewarding career?"
     "Absolutely.  I'm use to working long hours at school,
and I enjoy interaction with other people.  I want to have a
career that will give me an exceptional financial reward."
     Strut failed to mention that he intended that career to
be the law.
    "Good, I'll recommend you to Mr. Agina.  If you are
willing to work hard and follow our system, I am sure you
will soon be earning good money.  As soon as you have sold
fifteen cars, you'll be eligible for our demonstrator
program.  This will give you a new car to drive for you
personal use.  We have this requirement to be sure that our
salesmen are not just after a car.  I am sure you are
serious and understand."
     "How long does it take a salesman to sell his first
fifteen cars?"
     "Not too long, usually about a month."
     "Fine, can I expect to hear from you soon?"
     "Oh yes, I shall call you tomorrow."
     The catch in selling fifteen cars to get a new car
dampened Strut's enthusiasm a bit, but he had three months
before the fall term.  That would mean two months of a new
car, and from what the advertisement promised, enough money
for a comfortable life next term.
     The next day, Strut got his call to start training. 
Strut had expected the training program to concentrate on
the product knowledge needed to sell the cars.  Very little
time was spent on this aspect of his selling.  He was
expected to learn this on the job.  The basic lesson that
was repeated and repeated was the technique of not letting
the customer out of the agency until they had purchased a
car.  The keystone of this program is to continually turn
the customer over to another salesman or sales manager until
they were worn down under the constantly increasing pressure
to buy.  This process is called T.O. (Turn Over).  The motto
for the salesman is T.O. or G.O.  A salesman who cannot turn
over a customer is not tolerated.
     During training, he spent his evenings on the sales
floor.  The other salesman seemed compatible.  Most of them
had been on the job only a month or so.  He ignored all of
their negative comments, but did wonder why the store could
not to keep salesmen for any length of time. 
     After he finished his week of training, he followed
instructions to see Ms. White in the business office to fill
out the necessary employment documents.  Strut entered her
small office in the business section.  Strut estimated her
to be about twenty years his senior, but she had a sensuous
figure that she made no attempt to hide with her tight
fitting knit dress.  He could see her eyes making a head to
toe appraisal of him.  It made him feel a little strange.  
Her sly smile and soft, but commanding voice, enhanced the
feeling.
     "Have a seat and sign these forms."
     There was no "please," or "read these forms," just a
command to sign them.  Something in her voice and stare took
away any offense.  It was almost a seductive proposition to
sign his employment forms.  Strut did read all the forms. 
He didn't like reading that when he did get his company car,
he would have a weekly use fee deducted from his pay as well
as several other charges that he was not told at his job
interview.  He signed the papers without comment and gave
them to the woman.
     "I see you have no dependents.  Do you live with your
parents or relatives now?"
     "No, I rented a studio apartment after my graduation."
     "We have a policy of allowing one hour per day for
meals.  Do you cook for yourself?"
     "Only occasionally, I do fix my own breakfast."
     "The work here is not that strenuous, but the hours are
long.  Make sure you get plenty of the proper food to eat. 
You look like you could stand a little more meat on your
bones."
     Strut thought, what a strange comment.  Did she have
mothering instincts?  Her commanding, but seductive, tone
continued to make him feel strange.  He decided that is was
probably her figure that was giving him this feeling.  He
caught himself staring at her breast several times.  He
would immediately look up to see her sly smile.  
     She placed the forms in a folder and stood up.  Strut
took this as the sign that this routine, but disquieting,
meeting was at an end.  She walked to the door of her small
office to open it for him.  Strut thought this a rather
strange gesture from such a commanding woman.  She had her
hand on the door knob, but when he reached the door, she had
not opened it.  She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed.
     "You do need to put some meat on those bones.  I'm
going to fix you a good home cooked meal tonight.  I'm off
about three hours before you.  That'll give me time to
prepare it.  I'll pick you up after work.  Now go punch this
time card."
     She opened the door without giving him a chance to
reply.  Strut was upset by the position he was in.  She
obviously had an authoritarian position.  She didn't even
ask if he would come, or if he had other plans.  He had no
other plans, but he did not need anyone to mother him.  He
could not see himself interested in an older woman, but
there was something about her that made him interested
enough to accept the challenge of dinner with her.  That was
it.  He told himself that it was a challenge, not a
submission.
     Strut moved onto the show room floor ready to make his
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