If there was one thing that Dale was good at, it was copulation. Fornication, fucking, sex, whatever you called it, Dale excelled. A rose by any other name... he could do it standing up, sitting down, moving, even perfectly still. He'd done it all. And he was good at it all. But to what use was this--people wondered.

POWER. That's all he ever used it for. He'd done it with so many famous people that, if he so desired, he could pull the strings of the nation and run the western world from his bedroom. He had all the money he needed, fast cars, large estates, everything. He desired nothing. Except. There was one thing, Dale wanted. One thing that he longed for, yet knew he could never have. His yearning for this one thing was so great, he dared not think of it.

Many people guessed. Psychologists would say that he needed to feel loved. If they knew the profile, yes, that is what they would say. With all of the people Dale had been with (men and women), he had never once heard the words "I love you". He didn't fool himself, either. He knew none of them did. Presidents, first ladies, athletes, movie stars--none wanted him for his personality. They wanted him for his reputation. A reputation that was not exaggerated, as they all found out. A reputation of great sex, and once proved, they left. But love wasn't what he wanted.

An equal! That's what many people guessed. Sexuality such as his could not be equalled, or at least, not by anyone they had ever heard of. He was the best, and thus, was probably unsatisfied by all the novices he put up with. Yet that wasn't it, either. Dale couldn't care less if he was sexually satisfied. There was still that one thing that he forever longed for.

No one really knew. They only saw that faraway look in his eyes, that dreamy longing for heights not yet attained. What could it be? They wondered not only to themselves, but to him. He never gave an answer, he just finished up and waited for them to leave.

One person, however, suspected. An astronaut from North Carolina was sharing his bed one night. She had been trying to sleep, yet couldn't because of the intense pleasure she had felt just hours ago. It still lingered heavily, and she didn't want sleep to take it away. Suddenly, sirens wailed from outside and Dale sprang from the bed and ran to the window. His face pressed up against the window and that dreamy expression in his eyes had already taken hold. The astronaut sat up in bed and was just in time to see the flashing lights and red metal whiz by. A fire on the next block. Ah-ha, she suspected. But she was wrong.

Dale stared out of the window for a long time. Oh the unfairness of it all, he thought. I'd give it all up, if only I could be a fire engine.