MacDougal’s Rule

Maxie Travis has been a dispatcher in the Police Department in Temple, Missouri for nearly six months. During this time she has turned down a number of offers of dates from fellow colleagues. But the one man she wants, Seth MacDougal, hasn’t asked her out yet. That’s because Seth, an officer of the peace, doesn’t date colleagues. This is a well known fact around Temple, and is known as MacDougal’s Rule. But Maxie wants Seth – and is willing to take desperate measures to get him. These desperate measures include her, him and a water fountain on the grounds of the county courthouse, which he has to pass on his way home. But what exactly is her plan? And does it work? Or does MacDougal’s Rule remain unbroken?

This is a very short erotic story, twenty pages in all, which has been very well written and has the great potential, if the author so desires, to be turned into a much longer, novel-length tale. At the center of this story is one man’s desire to avoid awkward situations arising from a personal involvement with a colleague – an understandable and admirable intention – and a woman’s determination to get her man. This story is told in two settings, in close proximity to each other, as needs to be the case with such a diminutive story. Had the author attempted to jam in a number of settings in such a small tale, the story would not have been as enjoyable. In MacDougal's Rule, the author demonstrates that a more simplistic plot makes a more effective story. Bravo, Ms. Dane!

Reviewed by: Elizabeth