I am Baaack! Part 1

Rose had laughed, breaking the tension, "Come, Doctor; you can protect me from these two wanton divas!" Everyone was giggling as the waiter led them to their table. (Real time Rose shook her head. Any one of the three could have won an Oscar for their performance that evening.)

Rose just couldn't believe it the way the staff fussed over them. They had been led to what Lou informed them was THE table, the table usually reserved for those-who-want-to-be-seen. Multiple men in tuxedos appeared to pull out the chairs and seat all the women at once. 'Cloth napkins!' thought Rose who, as Ross, would never have eaten in a place as fancy as this. They ate and chatted and giggled like long time girlfriends throughout the meal. It seemed to Rose like there was a new drink at her elbow every few minutes, and she began to feel her inhibitions leaving her; it was a very pleasant glow.

As they were finishing their desert, Rose noticed Joan looking over toward the bar; suddenly, she smiled and waved, and a handsome Arabic version of Tom Cruise, dressed in a flawlessly fitted tuxedo, smiled back. He got up, and gave his hand to the tall, exotic, raven haired Arabic beauty dressed in a floor length purple sequin gown seated next to him, and both made their way over to Rose's table. "Joan!" he exclaimed, giving her a 1000 watt smile. "Louise and Edwina!" in flawless boarding school English. He turned the smile on them. Then he looked at Rose. "And who is this lovely lady?" Before anyone could say anything, he reached over, picked up Rose's hand from where it had been resting on the table, and half lifting it, half bending himself from the waist up, kissed it. "Adain Ben Hariesh, most blessed of mortals to be in your presence," he introduced himself.

While Rose blushed fifty different shades of red, Joan laughed. "Adain, you old scoundrel, you never change! How do you put up with him, Salielah?"

Salielah shrugged her bare shoulders. "There are compensations. But enough! Adain, you are embarrassing the poor girl. Do not mind him, my dear," she said to Rose. "He is really just a big teddy bear who thinks he is God's gift to women."