Later that week, Eric poured himself a second cup of the sludge that his department called coffee and waited for the photocopier to finish running off his handouts for the next day's classes.

"Hi, Eric," a husky, feminine voice murmured up close to his ear. Eric jumped, spilling a glob of the scalding black tar onto his bare forearm.

"Ow!" he cried. "Damn it, Celia, what did you do that for?"

Celia Clemens, a colleague of Eric's, laughed softly. "Sorry, pal. ...