How it all started
Shirley nodded. "That makes sense. But you're not an asshole. Um… are you?"
Polite chuckled. "Leans on who you ask."
"You sound well-educated. What did you perform, before the, uh… incident?"
"I had an engineering atmosphere and established a small company. Without me there to operate it every day, my colleague dominated and kicked me out on my butt."
"But that's awful!" Shirley comprehended she had already established an coalition with Flinch. Here she was, taking his side in a contention that had nothing to do with her and occurred long ago. Uh-oh. Don't be naive, Shirley. His tale might be horse shit.
"Look, Allison…"
"Call me Shirley."
"Do I have to?"
She sough. "I understand it's sort of an odd name—especially if I'm in a shitty mood. People who don't know better will employ it as a reason why I should be friendly totally all of the time."
"What about the people who do know better? What do they do?"