Portland is a great town. In fact, I used to live there until I was pushed out of
my job for reasons I didn't understand at the time. More about that later.

Anyway, I live in San Francisco now, and one day my boss told me to get packed
and head for Portland. One of our top clients needed some serious hand-holding.
So I flew north expecting anything up to a week of frantic, 12-hour days with the
jittery clients.

I was able to quickly get our clients past their big problems and they were
pleasantly surprised when I cleared up several smaller glitches as well. We were
done by late morning Friday, so I shook hands all around and left with their
relieved thanks ringing in my ears.

Since I had an open ticket, my grateful boss told me I could spend the weekend in
Portland at the company's expense. I eagerly accepted the offer but soon ran into
problems finding playmates.

My old girlfriend had a new guy, and plans for a romantic weekend on the coast.
My best pal was dealing with his fiance's parents, just arrived on vacation from
the Midwest. Several other friends also had plans, including one who still worked
for my old company. At least he had time to buy me lunch.

I was leaving his office after lunch, heading for the elevators, when I ran into
another old co-worker, Ruth. In fact, Ruth used to be my supervisor. Our
relationship had varied from strained politeness to occasional moments of genuine
warmth, but she was not an easy woman to get along with. One day she could be
warm and personal, the next cold and aloof. We had gotten along fine at work and
really had no relationship outside the office.

So I was surprised by her reaction when we met by chance. Ruth hauled me into her
office and sat me down to talk as if I were an old friend. She seemed genuinely
disappointed that someone had already taken me to lunch. Talking with unusual
animation, she seemed pleased, flustered and perhaps apprehensive at the same
time.

After a bit of catching up, she surprised me again by inviting me to dinner at
her townhouse. In fact, she was insistent. I hesitated, but not for long. With
all my other friends committed elsewhere, my alternative was dinner by myself. I
accepted Ruth's invitation.

So at 7 that evening Ruth opened her door for me. A New York native, she was 28
and educated at a first-class university. She had worked several years for an
East Coast division of the company before getting an unusual transfer to the
Portland office. The company rarely transferred low-level supervisors all the way
across the country.

We talked and drank glasses of wine as she prepared dinner, and I found myself
looking carefully at Ruth. Her large, brown eyes and dark, shoulder-length hair
were her best features. Her typical expression at work was a bit severe, her
thick hair tightly controlled. But when she relaxed her face was expressive and
quite pretty. At 5'7" and maybe 140 pounds, she was no fashion model, but then
I've always disliked the anorexic look.

She had broad shoulders for a woman, and hips to match, but her waist, calves and
ankles were comparatively slender and nicely proportioned. There had always been
some curiosity about Ruth's body among her male coworkers because she dressed for
work in clothes that tended to conceal everything between her knees and
shoulders. Her breasts and buttocks seemed large, but nobody really knew. The
rumor mill reported she was a regular at the downtown YMCA. But that was also
uncertain, since most of us worked out at a gym closer to the office.

Sitting in her kitchen while she dealt with pasta and sauce, I became aware that
Ruth seemed quietly but intensely excited, maybe even apprehensive. Her face was
flushed, her eyes bright. Her conversation was a little distracted, but charming
and she displayed flashes of wit she rarely showed at the office. She wore a
loose, long-sleeved and high-necked blouse of some soft, opaque fabric, closed
with dozens of tiny round buttons. A nun could have worn her brown wool skirt
without embarrassment, except that it was expensively tailored.

Through dinner the conversation was casual; work and coworkers, my life in San
Francisco, hers in Portland. But when dessert was served, she became quieter,
seeming even more distracted. Finally we were sitting over coffee, in silence.

I realized she was working up the nerve to say something, but couldn't begin to
guess what. After a few false starts, though, she nervously began explaining how
-- and why -- she had gotten me run out of my job more than a year before.

Some time before that, I had taken over Ruth's duties in the Portland office
while she attended a month-long training session in L.A. She returned to find her
department running smoothly under my leadership, and her boss singing my praises.
Looking over my evaluations, she began to see me as a threat to her job. She
began a panicky campaign to reduce me in the eyes of her boss, and succeeded too
well. Orders came from New York to cut costs and my job was eliminated even
though Ruth had regretted her actions by then. She tried without success to undo
her work and get me retained.

Most of this was news to me, especially Ruth's role, and I got quite angry
listening to her account. I kept my cool, though, for one big reason. I found a
much better job in San Fracisco barely two weeks after being driven out of the
company in Portland. Getting laid off turned out to be a piece of luck for me,
professionally and financially, though I was less successful socially in San
Francisco. In a way, Ruth had done me a favor.