I feel I must present this story to you in a series of small, logical steps, or else the ending may be incomprehensible. This is so often the only way to understand the phenomena in the jungle of human behavior.

1- Ralph is introduced to Katy, the new associate in human resources. Katy is 5′ 11″, with glossy hair that froths and breaks around her shoulders. She was—just a few years before—the president of her sorority. She runs marathons. Ralph is a 32-year-old database programmer who has never had a real girlfriend, despite the romantic throbs in his heart when he reads the love subplots in the heroic fantasy novels he likes.

2- So, Ralph is fascinated with Katy. The more he sees her, the more he is astounded he can find no flaw in her beauty. He feels that there is something special and meaningful in her appearance in his life–and in his deepening appreciation of her. When she comes near him (they have to converse on points related to work regularly), he giggles and then picks up an object near at hand–anything, a small potted cactus or a letter opener inscribed with thanks for his ten years of employment–and talks about it.

3- So, Katy makes a point of walking her boyfriend through the offices one Friday just before quitting time and introduces him to everyone, especially Ralph. The boyfriend is strong and taut and clean-shaven, and he wears a suit, since he’s an executive in an advertising firm. Katy says he runs marathons with her.

4- So, Ralph’s fascination moves into a covert phase. He gets to know Katy by watching her devotedly and memorizing her routines. He feels a sort of intimacy in this, though it’s one-sided.

5- So, he notices that eighty-three percent of the time she arrives between 8:20 and 8:30 a.m. and that she always parks on the the west side of the building, near the quarter-acre pond and the picnic benches.

6- So, Ralph starts getting to work early enough to take a first coffee break in that window of time and watches the west entry from the break room. As Katy comes in, she frequently talks with the girls in reception, or Lyle, if he’s finished mopping the lavatories. This makes Ralph jealous.

7- So, Ralph takes his break outside, where he can watch for Katy’s car–a silver Honda Accord–and watch for her first emergence into the busy solar system of Endotron, Inc., which to him feels like the appearance of the sun. He finds a spot at one of the last picnic tables, where he can usually get an unimpaired view from behind of her car coming to a stop, the door cracking open, Katy’s foot and calf emerging, Katy stepping out, and then Katy bending back over to get her bag. She walks between the rows of parked cars, slim and tall–her hips, and legs, and ass so right in every dimension that Ralph feels like choking.

8- So, once Katy passes through the west entrance doors, Ralph is left to look at the only thing that still has an association with her: her car.

9- So, Ralph notices that the car has a pleasant roundness in the shape of its rear parts, the curve of the trunk and the jutting flanges of the fender.

10- So, some of Ralph’s feelings for Katy begin to migrate toward this other, associated object. She walks away each day, and he gazes at the car’s backside, thinking that there’s something special and meaningful about that car. It has an uplifting elegance that singles it out from all the other cars in the lot. It is truly the Katy of cars.

11- So, Ralph is arrested when the security guard drives by and spots Ralph copulating with the rear bumper of Katy’s silver Honda Accord.