“I’m going to be taking notes throughout this session,” Josie explained, gesturing toward her computer.

“I understand.”

“And if you have no objections, I’d like to record your answers as well.” She pulled open a drawer and withdrew a small tape recorder. When Eric nodded his consent, she placed it on the desk and pressed the Record button.

Though Eric still had to fill out all the basic information in the stack of paperwork he’d take home with him when he left, Josie made a note of his name, address, and the time of the initial interview. She also asked him a number of inane questions that she’d never thought to pose to anyone before, all in an effort to delay the inevitable.

Finally, when she’d run out of meaningless queries and had listened with rapt attention as Eric described in detail everything from his shoe size—ten and a half—to his favorite drink—banana daiquiri—she took a deep breath and asked, “What is your sexual orientation?”

“Heterosexual,” Eric said without missing a beat.

“Have you ever had a homosexual experience?”

“Yes.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

The corners of his lips turned upward in a gesture of self-conscious amusement. “It probably wouldn’t help anything if I lied, would it?”