Jim, Jodi, and Sharon are real people, their last names have been withheld.

> Date: 5/27/94 10:02 AM
> To: Jim
> From: Jodi
> If you plan to attend Sharons luncheon, please let me
> know your selection by Tuesday, June 7 ($10/person). The choices
> are:
>
> –Broiled Sole Fillets-lightly seasoned or stuffed and served with
> rice pilaf
> –Popcorm Shrimp-bite sized breaded shrimp served with a baked
> potato
> –Grilled Chicken Breast-marinated boneless chicken breast served
> with rice pilaf
> OR
> –Chicken Fresco-baked chicken tenderloins & vegatables all in a
> light garlic & parmesan cheese sauce, served over linguini with
> fresh brocolli
>
> Thanks! Jodi

Dear Jodi,

Thank you for arranging this luncheon for Sharon. Im deciding what
to order, and I have a question.

What about us carnivores? I want meat. Red raw meat. I want them
to lead it in on a rope and I want it to moo when I bite into it. I
dont want anybody I know to see me eating rice pilaf or chicken
Fresco. In fact I dont want anybody who knows anybody I know to
see me doing so. I want a dignified American meal of steak and
potatoes by God, served with flagons of blood-red wine. I want
Hungarian red wine, with a picture of a cow on the label. I want to
think about Eastern Europeans making this wine for slave wages and
making it badly. I want the whole bottle. I want several. I want it
served on a white tablecloth and I want that tablecloth to be so
soiled when were done that it cant even be used for rags. I want a
meal to remember, in the midst of bawdy company. I want someone
to tell off-color jokes and I want us all to laugh till we cry. I want
some of us to discover that the person weve mumbled at as weve
passed in the halls these last 5 years is a sexual rogue. I want several
people to fail to return to work afterward. I want to see a
disciplinary memo sent down from the directors office in the wake
of all this. I want the restaurant to refuse to serve anyone from the
Lab for the next two years. I want to generate gossip. I want media
coverage. I want arrests. I want some careers to be launched and
others destroyed. I want this luncheon to divide time into a before
and an after. Despite her acute embarrassment at all this, I want
Sharon to change her mind and stay.

Thats what I REALLY want. I just KNOW youre going to tell me I
cant have it. So Ill get back to you with my food order.