One... minor... problem. And then the building would be complete. Seventeen years had gone by since Rick Ames took what turned out to be two construction jobs. He'd been driving through a rainy Chicago night when a young woman caught his eye in the street alone. Two things he could have done. He did them both: stopped his car, offered a ride, gotten involved, polished up his act the sloppy stuff had to go. Janet reformed his sensibilities. She persuaded him to be clear, concise and honest in his business dealings. Rick worked for the architectural firm of Price, Pride & Prejudice out of the midwest. She was an advertising representative of O, M, & P. They represented Rick's firm's present client., A.T. Plow. Plow was a huge man whose ideas gave Rick headaches. It was hard enough to follow him through a series of trials to evince enough knowledge to please the immediate bosses -- Lord Knows! The real trick lay in appreciatingPlow's plans from the vantage point of the layman. There lay the key to understanding. Rick sublimated his specialized knowledge in Plow's presence, but this caused accute embarrassment when Plow, suddenly shifting gears, would ask Rick a specialized question in Rick's own field of interest, terminal stress. It was Rick's job to know when things were going to end. The only problem was that Rick couldn't figure out when he would be asked to figure out when the construction would end. If he could know, then he would know when he would be finished figuring so that he would be home in time for dinner. ZIt was terrible!
``So,'' demanded Plow. ``When does the construction end?''
``In 500 feet?'' Rick hazarded. ``But this story is over !'' Ahem
``No, I mean there are four words left starting with `now,' ' Rick corrected himself.