*** it was around my one- year anniversary at ardent ( my parents in their frequent phone calls and letters were fond of repeating to me the gloating and inflated remarks they made to their septuagenarian friends about their big-shot son ) , after a particularly dispiriting evening at sherris ( we had actually unzipped a couple of pieces of clothing , almost touching various body parts through only one sheer layer of undergarment ) , i arrived about thirty minutes late to the office .