“I work in an office,” he said cautiously.
She looked at him and laughed, patting his hand.
“Don’t look so scared. I’ve told you before: I’m perfectly harmless.” She moved away so she could face him. “You took an awful risk tonight, Buster.
Do you realize that?”
He laughed*awkwardly.
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“But you did. You are happily married and you have a position to keep up. Suddenly out of the blue, you call up a girl you don’t know anything about and have never seen and make a blind date with her. You might have picked one of the floosies who live in my block. Any of those harpies would have battened on to you and you would have had a hell of a struggle to shake them off.”
“It wasn’t as bad as that. You were recommended to me by a friend.”
“He wasn’t much of a friend, Buster,” she said seriously. “My old man had a saying that applies to you. Whenever I wanted to do something risky, he would tell me to watch my step. ‘Be careful,’ he would say, ‘you might be catching a tiger by its tail.’ I’ve never forgotten that saying. Don’t you forget it either, Buster. You’re going to forget all about me after tonight. If you get the wayward feeling again, don’t call me up. I won’t see you.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I wouldn’t like you to get into trouble because of me.”
Ken was touched.