Solitaire.

You walk into your job. Everyone does it. The same job as you walk into every day. Then, one day, you walk in and find something different. Something wonderful. Something you were not expecting...as though God has sent you this one simple, miraculous gift.

Solitaire.

You know you shouldn't play it, yet there it is. You never really intend to find it either, do you. There you are...fiddling in the files...just cruising through to see who left a dirty word document on the computer before you moved in...reading all the old emails about baby showers, and carry-ins...It's totally innocent...isn't it?

You know you shouldn't be there. You know there is nothing good that can come of this union. You've seen the countless inter-office emails, and memos. "SOLITAIRE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!!!" Nada. None. Nano. Yet you know it's there, don't you. you hear it calling your name. There with you always as the seconds of your 8 hours of penance slowly tick by. You try to tell yourself this time will be different. That you can pick it up and put it down like a pencil. You deny yourself. Pretend the file isn't there. The screeching of the monkey on your back growing louder with every passing minute...

You do it. You open the file. "It will be different this time...only this one game..." You grab the mouse, hands shaking. There they are again...all of your old friends. The robot...the fish...the creepy castle on the hill...You take in one last clean breath, lie your fingers on the mouse, and click. That's all it takes. From that moment on, you are lost. Lost in a constant wave of clicking, double clicking. Long, slow, contemplative games. Quickies, where you know the cause is lost, only to bail and re-deal as soon as your little fingers will allow. Then there's the win. Oh God, the WIN! That brilliant moment when those cards go bouncing across the screen, and you are filled with the supreme knowledge that you are, in fact, the most intelligent person in the universe. Here it is. For all to see. YOU have beaten the machine. All kneel before Zod. Ruler of the land of Solitaire.

Before you know it, you are playing all the time. Fingers sweaty on the mouse. Waiting for the next big score. Twitching over your Starbucks as you look anxiously over your shoulder for the supervision who you know must be in the next cubicle. The stress overwhelms you. "One more game...I can get in one more game before lunch." You're on the street...selling your TV...haven't bathed in a week...forgetting the name of your parents...falling into some abysmal half-existence...just barely breathing until your next big meeting with the King and his royal court.

One day, it happens. Busted. The supervisior...you know the middle aged woman who thinks she knows it all, finally catches you with your panties in the wind. The lights are brighter. The fear rising in your throat until you choke. "Where did you get that file???" she asks, as though they have found the family you have hidden in the attic.

"But, I only have, like, 5 more plays..."

"Where did you get the FILE???"

"Hey, man, it wasn't me...it was here...in the computer, man...I didn't know... I didn't know, man!"

"Call I.T.!!! CALL I.T.!!!"

In a flurry of activity that can be compared only with a raid by NYPD SWAT they descend. It's like a scene out of "Outbreak"... "We need to quarantine this system immediatly. We need to disconnect it from the outside mainframe. People I need help. Disconnect. Disconnect!!! We need an immediate defrag..."

There you are. In the cold. Disowned by family and friend alike. No hope for the future. Alone in the bleak nothingness of a world without Solitaire. It's gone, but not forgotten. Lying there dormant until the next job. The next time. The next moment it can sink in it's fangs, and once again roar to life.

Remember...friends don't let friends play solitaire at work. Unless they're serving as the lookout.