second 20 minute challenge: rambunctious, primarily, insert
20 minutes (not counting research time)

Author's note: This is a followup to "A Sheepskin, Marijuana and Thou."

Two peopleThree challenge prompts
1119 words
One budding relationship

Margaret Mann leaned back against the sheepskin throw and studied the earnest young engineering student beside her. His face left no doubt about his ethnic heritage. She could almost picture him wearing a yarmulke with those long side curls she'd seen some Jewish men wearing. Her family would be scandalized if she brought him home for Christmas. But there was something open and honest and sincere about his face. Her parents would grow to like this young man. She had asked him what he wanted to do after he graduated, and he had launched into a rambling monologue about city planning and Le Corbusier the architect. "I think he was the first of the modern city planners," Alan was saying, "he wanted to avoid the dirt and moral decay he saw in industrialized cities. He wanted to plan communities that people could live in. Clean, open, cities, designed for maximum efficiency. That's what I'd love to do."

She smiled as he paused to take a breath. "So you want to go into architecture?"

"Not really. Engineers get involved in city planning too. We would design the infrastructure. Create the tools that the people would use. Remember Thomas J. Watson?"

"The guy who used to head IBM?"

"Yeah. He once said," Alan closed his eyes as if he were visualizing his credo, "'Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.' That's what I want to do – design the practical but primarily serve people."

Margaret chuckled as someone handed Alan the bong. "And this is how you serve people, Alan Eppes? You find a more efficient way for them to get stoned? Will your community of the future be populated with rambunctious potheads?"

Alan studied her face, trying to decide if she was kidding or criticizing. He decided she was kidding. He took a hit off the bong and handed it to Margaret, who took a hit and paused to study his handiwork as she released the smoke slowly. He felt the need to explain to this thoughtful young stranger. "Well, this is just practice, you know? It was a challenge more than anything. And," he added with a sheepish grin, "a way to earn a little badly needed cash."

"So how does one go about designing a better bong?" Her expression was neutral, but a smile danced in her blue eyes.

Alan felt the heat rising to his face. He turned his attention to the bong in her hands. "The point of a bong is threefold. It cools the smoke, hunidifies it and filters out carcinogens."

"It also gives you a much bigger bang for your buck," Margaret added, studying the smoke that accumulated in the body of the bong.

"True. So the idea is to insert the tubes in the correct locations so the smoke passes through just enough water to do the job, and to carry the smoke efficiently to the user."

She ran her fingers around the junctions where the tubes entered the bong. "A nice, tight insertion point that doesn't allow leakage, and is at the perfect angle for the maximum effect." She handed the bong to the young man who stood waiting impatiently. "I must say, I'm learning a great deal about engineering tonight." The smile that had danced in her eyes lit up her whole face. "You're a very interesting person, Alan Eppes."

He touched her face, not demanding, just a whisper of contact. "As are you, Margaret Mann. Would it be too forward of me to suggest we spend a little more time getting to know each other a little better? Say over an omelet and coffee at the All Night Egg Plant?"

"I think that's an excelllent idea. It pays to explore all the possibilities. And I love the Egg Plant." She nodded in the direction of the bong. "And you can treat me with some of your ill-gotten gains."

Author's Note: The All Night Egg Plant is a 24 hour restaurant in Syracuse that has been a favorite of students and locals for at least 3 decades. Through the magic of fiction, I was able to transport it to wherever this story takes place.