Chapter 39: Sometimes the parents have to make decisions

December 7, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“I agree with Kara that we should send the kids to the Lab School next year,” Jessica said on Friday morning after the kids had left for school.

“Did you speak to them?” I asked.

“Not yet,” Kara replied. “We wanted to agree first.”

“So you’re presenting it to them as a fait accompli?” I asked.

“Tiger, sometimes the parents have to make decisions, not the kids. That’s true even for your kids.”

“I agree, and I’m not objecting to you and Kara making the final decision, but you ought to hear the kids’ opinions before you decide, even if you’re certain of your decision. You never know, they might say something that changes your mind. Would you, for example, tell Jesse he had to go to the Lab School despite them not fielding a hockey team and not having an arrangement with another school?”

“I understand, but the other kids don’t have that situation,” Jessica replied.

“I’d strongly prefer you asked them, rather than told them. Granted, you might ultimately have to tell them, but a conversation where they agree with you is a much better approach, at least in my opinion. What can it possibly hurt to have the conversation?”

“It’s not going to change anything,” Jessica said firmly.

“Fine. But please have enough respect for the kids to listen to what they have to say.”

“Steve’s right about that, Jess,” Kara said. “We should let the girls know what we’re thinking and why. Albert will simply follow whichever orders he’s given.”

I chuckled, “It’s also the case that he’ll be going to a school which offers JROTC, so he’d only be at the Lab School through eighth grade. And, as you say, his personality is such that he’ll follow orders.”

“Kara and I will talk to the girls tomorrow after dinner,” Jessica said. “And we’ll tell them what we’re thinking and listen to what they have to say. I doubt it will change anything.”

“And that’s fine, Babe.”

“Changing subjects - how late will you be tonight?” Kara asked.

I shrugged, “No idea. All Achara said was that Holly and Jackson had invited her out to dinner to celebrate her birthday, and suggested she ask me to join them.

“So she could blow out your candle?” Kara asked with a smirk.

“There hasn’t been a single hint of that,” I replied. “And I certainly didn’t pick up that kind of vibe.”

“He’s usually very good at reading people,” Jessica observed.

“I’ve made a few blunders in the past,” I replied. “Jacqui was a big one where I completely missed it, and actually encouraged it without meaning to. I don’t think anything like that has happened with Achara. And I don’t think it’s like the situation with Aisyah, either. I also don’t believe anyone encouraged Achara, because the main troublemakers in that regard are part of the North Side chapter.”

“You don’t think Holly might have said something?”

“That’s not her style at all. I could see her answering questions, but not encouraging Achara. I honestly think this is as innocent as it seems.”

Kara laughed softly, “With you, it’s NEVER as innocent as it seems!”

The doorbell rang, interrupting the conversation. I went to the front door to let Sarah into the house, brought her back to the kitchen where I kissed my wives, then led Sarah to the former nanny room, where we began undressing.

“Jessica invited a Resident, Myles Baker, to the New Year’s Party. He’s originally from Little Rock, and in his first year of Residency for internal medicine. He’s blonde, with blue eyes, is 6’2” and in good shape. He’s an avid cyclist and skier, and is a lapsed Catholic.”

“Does he know he’s being fixed up?” Sarah asked as we climbed into bed.

“Yes. He and Jess got to know each other when he did an ER rotation, and he complained about not having a life!”

“Just how bad is it?”

“Thirty-six-hour shifts and ninety-six-hour weeks. But things will calm down in June to eighty hours.”

“That’s crazy!”

“You’re preaching to the choir, but once he’s PGY3 things will really settle down, and then the following year he’ll be an Attending. I lived through it with Jess, including her last two years of medical school. If you two hit it off, trust me, you can do it, and it’ll be worth it.”

“First things first!” she declared.

As Sarah really enjoyed, I orally pleasured her, pounded her, then repeated the sequence before we went to the shower where she gave me a blowjob before we washed each other, dressed, and then left the house. I dropped Sarah at UofC, then headed to the office.

I spent the morning with Reed working on the administrative interface for our hosted services, then left just before noon to meet Jasmine at Venice Café. We each got a salad and found seats toward the back of the restaurant. We started eating and caught up on the year since we’d last had lunch. I’d seen Stan Jakes a few times for technology background discussions, but Jasmine was working on investigating political corruption in Chicago, a full-time job.

“I need a serious favor,” I said about ten minutes into our lunch.”

“What’s that?” Jasmine asked.

“Information on a trio of detectives who may or may not be targeting me.”

“Targeting how?”

I explained about the undercover operation at Jesse’s school as well as the attempted sting at Union Station. She already knew about the situation with the FBI and Noel Spurgeon, though she didn’t know Samantha had proof of FBI corruption.

“Off the record, is there anything?” she asked, putting her pen down.

If it had been an underage girl, I’d know, because every single one of them would let me know if the police had spoken to them, so I was reasonably sure it had nothing to do with that. And that meant I hadn’t done anything.

“Not that I can think of,” I replied. “You know about the numerous times we’ve come up against the Outfit. Most of the Wise Guys are in prison, but there are a few lower-level guys around, plus one of their most dangerous button men.”

“I haven’t seen much in the way of Outfit involvement with the cops, though there certainly was in the past. Most of the corruption is centered on improper interrogation, theft, and payoffs. Back on the record - who are the detectives?”

“Julie Richman, who posed as a sixteen-year-old both at Union Station and I suspect at Kenwood Academy, and two male detectives, Randy Cage and Tommy Bowen.”

“Bowen was investigated and cleared by IAD, but everyone thinks he’s dirty. I don’t recall the other two, but I’ll have to check my notes back in the office.”

“Dirty how?”

“Shakedowns. Do you think that could be it?”

“Possible. That would explain why they were allegedly looking for someone like me, though I have a sneaking suspicion they were looking for me, personally.”

“That’s Bowen’s MO - find a vulnerable person, set them up, then put the arm on them for a payoff. Those who don’t pay are arrested. For those who do, the cops never make a report. IAD said they couldn’t find any evidence, and if you think about it, it’s the perfect scam.”

“Because the ones who pay will never talk because the cops have evidence which would lead to an arrest and charges. I could easily see someone who fell for Officer Richman’s scheme agreeing to pay to avoid arrest. I certainly would have considered it.”

Jasmine laughed, “You’re the last person who is going to pay a prostitute! First of all, you’re wealthy enough you’d hire an escort from one of the high-end services. Second, I’m pretty sure you still get all the pussy you could possibly want or handle. So you’re the wrong target. Why do you think you were targeted specifically?”

“Mostly because I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“I think you’re safe, actually,” Jasmine said, “given you aren’t likely to fall for any of their usual stings. You caught this one instantly. And given the reaction of Bowen telling Richman to drop it, and them wanting you to hang up on 9-1-1 immediately, I’d say this was just a shakedown. Just be smart. I’ll make a record of this conversation so if something does happen with those three, you have a reliable, third-party witness.”

“I’d love to get that trio, but the risk is just too great.”

“They’ll screw up again.”

“But they might trap someone else first.”

“That’s true,” Jasmine agreed, “but you can’t really do anything about it. You have no evidence, I have no evidence, and IAD couldn’t find any evidence because nobody would testify and there were no financial records or proof they’re living beyond their means.”

“I only caught onto their scheme because I judged that Officer Richman was much older than sixteen.”

“Just be careful and let it go and hope they get caught or we stumble on something we can actually hang on them.”

We finished our lunch and agreed to meet for lunch in the Spring.

🎤 Jesse

“Good call on Adi,” Libby said as we walked home from school on Friday afternoon.

“Straight?”

“Yes. And she’s super-interested in you. Someone told her we were just really close friends, so she thought it was OK to let you know she liked you. Juliette was wrong about her being interested in girls. Are you interested in Adi?”

“She’s Muslim, so it doesn’t really make sense for you and me to stop being a couple so I could date her.”

“She is pretty hot!”

“So are you!” I declared.

“Thanks! I think she’s going to be disappointed enough that she won’t want to hang out with us anymore.”

“I’m not sure what we can do about that. It would really be leading her on if she thought she and I could be a couple and it might possibly lead somewhere.”

“You think she’s thinking that way at fifteen?”

“You and I are different. You know how our female friends are about boyfriends - they expect it to last forever. Most of the girls we know would never go all the way with a guy unless she was sure he loved her, and even then most of them wouldn’t.”

“Most of them are afraid to have sex.”

“Sadly. How did you leave it with her?”

“I didn’t really say anything because I was pretty sure how you would react.”

“OK. All we can do is keep studying with her and keep inviting her to hang out with us.”

“Well, if you wanted her, I could talk to your dad...” Libby teased.

“Go for it,” I replied flatly. “But you know the cost.”

“I know, which is why I don’t! What time are Mikey, Nicole, Julio, and Marissa going to be here?”

“About 5:30pm. We’ll eat at the diner near the hospital, then go see Ocean’s Eleven.”

“What do you want to do for two hours?”

“Are you kidding?” I asked with a grin.

We ran the last block to the coach house.

🎤 Steve

I worked late on Friday, as I was meeting Jackson, Holly, and Achara to celebrate Achara’s 21st birthday. After my lunch with Jasmine, I’d walked to Marshall Field’s and bought a pair of nice scarves for Achara, as I’d seen her wear them around her neck as accents for her blouses and sweaters. I’d paid for the scarves to be boxed and wrapped, saving me the need to hunt down boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbons.

I thought about walking to the restaurant, as the temperature was in the low 40s, but in the end, I decided to drive so that I didn’t have to walk back to the office to get my car after dinner. What sealed the deal was that Italian Village had valet parking, so I could just drive up and hand over the keys, rather than dealing with a parking garage. I arrived a few minutes early, and was in the lobby when Jackson, Holly, and Achara arrived.

“Happy birthday!” I exclaimed when I greeted Achara.

“Thank you!”

“I have one of the private booths reserved,” Jackson said.

We went to the maître d’, Jackson gave his last name, and a minute later a hostess led us to one of the private enclosed booths, which had circular benches around a table, and was very cozy. When we sat down, it was boy-girl-boy-girl, with me sitting between Holly and Achara.

I realized, as a busboy filled our water glasses, that I didn’t actually know very much about Achara. She did participate in the discussions at Philosophy Club, but she was one of the quieter ones who said little, but would often ask insightful questions or make insightful observations.

“Achara, when did you come to the US?” I asked.

“A little over two years ago, which was a year after I graduated from High School. That’s why I’m a year behind, so to speak.”

Which explained why she was turning twenty-one early in her Sophomore year.

“Lots of people take a ‘gap year’,” Jackson observed, “so not really. I’m pretty sure there are lots of students who started a year ‘late’.”

“How did you pick nuclear engineering?” I asked.

“My physics teacher back in Thailand retired from a job with GE, designing and developing nuclear reactors, and moved to Thailand with his Thai wife, so she could be close to her elderly parents. He made it sound very cool.

“What does your dad do?” I asked.

“He works for IBM. He transferred to the US and is working in Armonk, New York. He went to IIT for his undergraduate degree in maths, which was the only way to study computer science when he was there.”

“Late 60s?” I asked.

“Yes. He had Doctor Bauer as a maths professor.”

“I take it you’re going for a Master’s?”

“And eventually a PhD.”

“I should introduce you to my friend Mitsuko and her husband Neil. He works for Argonne National Laboratory. You may actually have seen them at the Halloween party, or one of the other parties you’ve been to.”

“A pretty Japanese girl and a guy who looks like he just came out of the computer lab at 4:00am after an ‘all-nighter’ having drunk a gallon of Mountain Dew?”

I laughed and nodded, “That’s them.”

We were interrupted by the waiter and placed our orders, though mine took a bit of back and forth and a round-trip to the kitchen to confer with the chef. Jackson ordered a bottle of wine, and I accepted what amounted to a splash so that I could toast Achara’s birthday. We had a nice meal, and a good conversation, where I learned more about Achara.

She had a younger brother who was serving in the Thai Navy, and her great-grandfather on her mother’s side had been a US Army officer who her great-grandmother, a young Thai girl, had met in 1943. They’d married because Achara’s great-grandmother, who was sixteen, was pregnant with Achara’s grandmother, and when the officer had been discharged after the war, he’d moved back to Thailand. He’d arranged for Achara’s grandmother to have a US passport, and that had made moving from Thailand to the US fairly simple.

I had known she was Buddhist, but she confirmed she was Theravada, which made perfect sense, given it was as integral to Thai culture and society as Shinto and Zen Buddhism were to Japanese culture and society. That would present Achara with the same kinds of dilemmas which Anala had faced - how to live one’s life faithful to religion and culture, in a place where the social underpinnings simply did not exist. Anala had found a balance which worked for her, with her public persona more ‘American’ and her private persona more ‘Gujarati’.

Jackson and Holly hadn’t told the restaurant we were celebrating Achara’s birthday, so there wasn’t any singing, nor a cake, though we did order gelato for dessert, for which I’d saved my daily carb budget. Once we’d finished dessert, we gave Achara her gifts. She very much appreciated the scarves, and thanked me profusely for them. Jackson and Holly gave her a very nice leather shoulder bag which she also liked and for which she thanked them just as profusely.

Knowing their financial situation, I offered to pay the bill, but Holly protested that I was a guest, and that they had invited both Achara and me to dinner. I acquiesced, and once the bill was paid, we made our way to the lobby.

“Thanks for joining us,” Jackson said. “We’re headed to Holly’s parents’ house once we drop Achara at IIT, but we’ll be back for Philosophy Club on Sunday.”

“If Achara doesn’t object, I’ll take her back to campus,” I said. “It’s on my way and you guys are headed for Waukegan, which is the opposite direction.”

“I don’t object,” Achara replied. “I’ll see you guys on Sunday.”

“We’ll pick you up on our way,” Jackson said.

“Great! Thanks.”

“How are things going on the home front?” I asked Holly.

“Much better. Everyone has accepted the situation, and my grandmother is asking about babies!”

“Of course she is!” I chuckled. “But after you guys graduate and get settled in your own place, right?”

“And not one second before!” she declared. “Grandma will just have to wait!”

“As I’ve said to a few people, I did everything in my power to ensure I’d have grandkids, but now it’s totally out of my hands!”

“Who’ll be first?” Jackson asked.

“If I were a betting man, I’d say Matthew and Chelsea, but that’s just speculation.”

“It won’t be Birgit!” Holly declared.

“No kidding,” I chuckled.

“We’re parked in the garage down the street,” Jackson said.

“I used the valet,” I replied.

“Then we’ll say ‘good night’ now.”

Holly and Achara exchanged a hug while Jackson and I shook hands and clapped each other on the back. Holly hugged me, and Jackson and Achara simply smiled and nodded at each other. They left, and I gave the ticket to the valet to fetch my car. It took about five minutes, and I helped Achara into the passenger seat, then went around to the driver’s side, tipped the valet, and got into the car. Given I was heading for IIT, I followed Monroe to State, and turned right.

“I enjoyed dinner,” I said. “Thank you for asking me.”

“You’re welcome! It was a nice time!”

“Please forgive me if I mess this up - «sùk sǎn wan gə̀ət»!”

Achara laughed softly, “Very good! Almost perfect! Thank you! And thank you again for the scarves.”