Where is Rog?

Rog sat, head in hands, feeling like the world was pounding on his head. If he let it in, it would wreck havoc upon his already frayed nerves. Just how long could a person remain down to earth when pulled in a million directions.

What had he been thinking when he asked Joan to marry him? The sarcastic inner voice had an answer, but it was not one Rog cared to hear. If he were inclined to listen, it would have said that he had not been thinking. His hormones had initiated the whole scheme without consulting his better judgement. Being a characteristically nice guy, or so he liked to believe, he had asked Joan to marry him in order to satisfy the hunger that had consumed him after she tortured him teasingly for two hours. No, she would not have sex with anyone unless she was married to that person or at least engaged. And that was that, there on his shag carpeted floor, body throbbing, he had asked her to marry him.

But what girl in her right mind would accept such a proposal. He had not really expected her to take it seriously, even when she had said yes immediately. He figured it would all be forgotten when the hunger was satisfied. That was where he was wrong.

Now she had the idea of diamond. So, he had spent the morning at the mall, looking at engagement rings, personally hating each one he saw. The hatred grew more intense from shop to shop as jewelers made him feel small for not wanting to spend more on this important ring. God, who had ever come up with engagement rings should be shot, he thought. Pave, princess cut, solitaire, it did not matter. They were all so expensive, especially when one had just graduated from high school and was working part-time at a coffee shop.

One jeweler had sneered at the paltry $200 he had been willing to spend.

"Perhaps you might want to consider a CZ stone in a silver setting." At that very moment he was really glad Joan was not here picking out her own ring. She would just die over a comment like that and then he would have maxed out his credit card on something way too expensive.

What was he going to do? How could he support two of them, when he could not even buy a decent ring?

He thought about going to one of the chain restaurants and drinking his sorrow away. That is what they do in all the movies. But he was not "they." He was him and he needed to do something fast.

So, logic prevailed and he headed for the library where he could while away his time on the Internet. Maybe something would come to him.