"Mr. Monk, can I ask you something?"

Monk seemed oblivious to the question, and continued scrubbing viciously at a dish. Natalie was slowly drying the dishes beside him, and any other day she would have wanted to get the dishes done as quickly as she could so that she could still have some free time to herself. But today something else was on her mind.

"Mr. Monk, did you hear me?" Natalie asked. Monk passed her the dish he had been scrubbing.

"Natalie, these dishes deserve my utmost attention. But, I'm done now, so my attention can be completely focused on you." As soon as the words were spoken, Monk reached around Natalie to wipe a smudge off of the refrigerator. Unable to wipe the stubborn smudge off, he turned away from Natalie to focus on removing it.

"Nice to know that I have your attention," Natalie remarked. "Mr. Monk, I want to talk to you about Randy."

"Lieutenant Disher?" Monk asked, his back toward her, still wiping the smudge.

"Yeah, have you noticed the way he's been looking at Julie lately?"

Monk continued scrubbing the smudge. "Wipe, please," was his response. Natalie reached in her purse and handed him a wipe.

"I mean, I know she's growing up, but she's still a baby. Yesterday, when he came over here to tell us about your new case, he was...oggling her. There's no other way to put it. His eyes were glued to Julie. It's like he had the hormones of a teenage boy."

"What is this?" Monk said, exasperated with the smudge. "It won't come off."

"Mr. Monk, are you listening to me?" Natalie's frustration cleary showed through her voice.

"Yes. You said Randy has been looking at Julie." Monk replied.

"Well, you don't have to make it sound so innocent, do you? He's not just looking at her. He's checking her out. He's undressing her with his eyes! It's disturbing, Mr. Monk."

Monk was silent as he kept wiping at the now invisible smudge on the refrigerator.

"Mr. Monk, it's gone. You can stop wiping now."

"Nope, it's still there," he replied without stopping his rhythm of scrubbing.

"I can't even see it," Natalie said.

"Oh, believe me. It's still there."

"Mr. Monk, will you please help me. What am I going to do!?" Natalie asked in a frustrated pleading voice.

"About what?"

"About Randy!" Natalie all but shouted.

Monk stopped scrubing the refrigerator for a moment and stepped back to examine his work. Unsatisfied, he began scrubing again, this time harder than before.

"Mr. Monk, you're going to scrub the paint off."

"There's not much you can do, Natalie. It's not like he's doing anything wrong," Monk said, ignoring her last comment about the paint.

"Yeah but, why is he doing it?"

"Another wipe, please," Monk demanded.

"Not until you tell me why," Natalie said.

Monk stopped scrubbing and turned to Natalie. Now, he was frustrated. "I don't know why. Can I please have a wipe now."

Natalie stayed strong in her resolve. "Nope. Not until you can tell me why he's doing this."

Monk threw back his head in despair. He looked over at the refrigerator then back at Natalie. "I've been told that the human male species does that sort of thing. I wouldn't know, though. Can I have my wipe now?"

Natalie smiled and reached into her purse for a wipe and handed it to him. He scrubbed furiously for good ten seconds before he declared that the smudge was finally gone. Turning back to Natalie, he smiled at what he had accomplished.

"I wish there were more men like you, Mr. Monk." Natalie sighed as she touched his arm.

"Me too," he replied.