Evan licked the last of his chocolate croissant from his fingers, put down his coffee, and walked down the steps to sit next to his Ambridge Rose. Mina would like this flower. He studied this morning's new apricot colored bloom then looked up as he saw Paul walking out to leave for work.

"Good morning."

"So far ... but that might change ... I've got 52 of the most convoluted and unreadable Powerpoint slides to present this morning ... addressing such critically important things as our apparent 'low level of understanding of the lab's alignment goals' and of course pointing out 'what we need to improve'. Oh yes, I'm real excited about this."

"Sounds fun."

Paul smiled and shook his head as he jumped into his car. After Paul had driven away, Evan leaned over to smell the small rose's rich fragrance in the still morning air.