Chapter 56: Super Bowl Fun

Thursday, January 17, 1985

Dr. Hickman gave me a little wave and said, “Nice profile in the Batt, Steve!” as we came in.

I thanked him, but that was it. I hadn’t been in the least surprised he knew all about it. He was, after all, GSS’s faculty sponsor.

A few of the other kids noticed the exchange. None of them said anything, but I imagined it might come up later.

Math 166 was pretty calm, but I noticed a few people staring at me, or Lindsay, or both. For her part, Lindsay didn’t seem bothered by any of it. I wondered if any of them would figure out she was a lesbian and, if so, if it would bother them.

We’d been working relatively hard (for the first week, anyway) and everyone voted to take a break. That break was in the form of heading down to Rudder Auditorium to watch ‘Flash Gordon’. I’d always had a soft spot for the movie, as silly as much of it was, and so had Angie. Paige was a fan, too, and Jas was at least willing to put up with it.

Somehow or another, neither Cammie nor Mel had even seen it. That had to change!

They liked it, thankfully. Silly movies are good fun!

Friday, January 18, 1985

We’d perhaps picked up a few new friends and/or study partners. I wasn’t sure yet. Time would tell, but it seemed like they had Angie on their side, or at least potentially did.

She introduced me to Matt Barrett, Lisa Stewart, and Claire Hastings. They were all business majors, which wasn’t a big surprise. That they were freshmen was a bit more of a surprise. Matt and Lisa were also in their accounting class this semester. Claire wasn’t, but she and Matt had been in Angie and Paige’s class last semester.

Matt was pretty similar to me in overall build, with darker hair and eyes. Lisa was a short green-eyed redhead (not unlike Sheila), and Claire was about Paige’s height, with brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. Both of them were cute, and (if my limited skills were any judge) Matt was reasonably handsome.

Not that I was looking at the girls, but ... well. Fine. I was. No harm in looking! They might wind up study friends, at least. Unlike Study Group, no one had gotten naked at our new study sessions, but I suppose never say never?

In any case, it was nice to meet new people, especially ones in our major. I could see group projects on the horizon, and it’d be nice to work with people I knew.

If we got to choose our group, anyway. Many professors wanted random groups so as not to unduly advantage people who already knew each other.

Beyond Psych, today wasn’t much different from yesterday. We were quickly getting back into the rhythm of a semester.

In the evening, we headed off to the movies, which were out of order tonight. They showed ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ first, at 9:45, and then had a midnight showing of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. The girls didn’t even bother whapping me when I said it’d been at least a decade since I’d seen either of them. That was true, though!

I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d seen ‘Temple of Doom’ since the 1980s. I was surprised to find myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. Over the years, it’d picked up somewhat of a reputation as ‘weak’ and ‘flawed,’ at least with the people I’d known.

Perhaps it was. Some of the scenes were over the top, and it definitely wasn’t the movie ‘Raiders’ was. Even so, I found it quite enjoyable.

A good time was definitely had by all!

Saturday, January 19, 1985

Much of the day was consumed with grocery shopping, both for the upcoming week and for the party, and with cleaning the house. The grocery shopping part was interesting. I purchased a couple of cases of beer, and we picked up several bottles of wine, all without anyone asking for ID. If we’d been asked, we would have said ‘we left our wallets at home.’ We were paying with cash, so they had no need to check an ID.

Mind you, I’d bought alcohol underaged quite a few times while paying by check in my first life. My age was right there on my ID, and everyone wanted to see an ID for a check, yet no one ever stopped a sale.

This time I’d use a credit card if I didn’t have cash, but cash was king, and I made sure to have plenty for outings like this.

Cleaning was a bit of a project. It’s not that the house was a big mess or anything, but there was plenty that could stand a bit of tidying up.

As before, Paige and Cammie were our polar opposites in cleaning standards. I tended to be in the middle, which Jas and Angie both attributed to my ex-wife ‘training’ me. They probably had a point.

It never got to any sort of heated argument, but there were a few frustrations visible for both of them. For those of us more in the middle, we could see a few places where Paige wasn’t quite as diligent as we’d like, but also cases where Cammie was a trifle over the top.

The good part, as always, was this: we loved each other and we knew it. Disagreements didn’t get to the yelling stage very often. When they did, cooler heads would quickly prevail.

Jas and Angie also attributed that to my ex-wife. Everyone knew I’d lived in a relationship where we ‘loved’ each other but where there was a lot of anger and yelling and unreasonableness. Not only did they not want to put me through that again, but they also didn’t want to think of themselves as being ‘like her.’

In a very strange way, perhaps my ex-wife was doing some good, even here in a world she would never know existed.

“Family meeting!” Angie hollered, late in the afternoon as we were finishing up cleaning.

I had no idea what this one was about. Judging from the looks on everyone’s face, no one else did, either.

“Sit! Sit!” she said, pointing to the couch.

We all sat, looking a bit confused.

“So...” she said. “I have a very expensive gift for each of you. Call it a late Christmas present! Some of you are maybe going to try saying ‘no,’ and some of you might say you could buy it yourself, but I have my reasons, and I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. If you must, you can treat this as a loan and pay me back what I paid — not ‘with interest’ — once you’re making big bucks.”

Cammie snorted a bit.

Angie grinned at Cammie, then said, “Which, I hasten to add, you all will be, even if every one of our current plans gets kicked in the ass. We’re all too smart, too competent, and too focused to let that get to us, and we have a lot of ideas! If we’re not making big bucks, this universe sucks! It’d have to be out to get us for that to happen.”

Mel nodded, which surprised me a bit. I think it surprised Cammie, too.

“Honestly, I agree,” Mel said. “I’ve been watching the kids around me, and ... I mean, seriously, most of them are ‘kids.’ A lot of them would’ve melted down at Memorial. Some wouldn’t have, but they don’t ‘get it’ the way we do. I mean, I’m all for having fun...”

“You’re a lot of fun!” Cammie said.

“Kinda an expert at fun,” Paige said, “Considering all those years of social committee.”

“Well, yeah!” Mel said. “But just as ‘normal’ college students, without Steve and Angie’s ‘Steve and Angie-ness,’ we’d still be kicking ass. Meaning, maybe, their influence changed us, but if Cammie and I had gone to UT...”

Paige hissed at them, in a perfect Aggie hiss, which got laughter.

“Hush, you!” Mel said. “Anyway, if we’d gone to MIT...”

“Better!” Paige said.

“I said ‘hush!’ Anyway, if we had, we’d still be who we are. Four years of working our butts off left their mark on us. So, yeah. Luck and all that matters, but I agree. We should be looking forward to doing well. Not expecting it, ‘cuz that’s stupid, but we should know it’s reasonably likely.”

“That’s what I meant,” Angie said. “Anyway, there’s a very specific reason I’m giving each of you this. Not you, Steve, you’re covered.”

That pretty much told me what it was. And, yes, it was a pretty expensive gift, but a perfectly reasonable one.

She handed envelopes to Paige, Cammie, Mel, and finally Jas.

“Can we peek?” Paige said.

“Yeah,” Angie said, chuckling.

Each of them removed a little brokerage statement showing one share of Berkshire Hathaway stock.

“Stock?” Mel said. “Why...? I mean, it’s cool, but...”

Paige was nodding firmly, though.

“I thought you said we were covered?” she said.

“We are,” Angie said, giving Paige a quick kiss. “But I want you to be there as yourself, not just as my girlfriend.”

“Aw!” Paige said, smiling widely.

“I don’t get it,” Mel said.

“Okay, so,” Angie said. “I’ve mentioned Berkshire Hathaway before, though not to you two. Sorry!”

“It’s fine,” Mel said, with Cammie nodding.

“They’re run by a guy named Warren Buffett. He’s ridiculously good at investing. Seriously, one of the best ever. I learned that in the 1990s, and Steve confirms Warren never lost it.”

“Berkshire Hathaway was a monster when I died,” I said. “Not the richest company in the world, nor the most investments, but its track record was incredibly good.”

“He’s almost the opposite of what I’m probably doing with Tom’s work,” Angie said. “Tom’s work is about trading. Warren’s thing is about buying quality and holding it. I personally love that, but Tom’s work is kinda my passion...”

Paige snorted and said, “Kinda.”

“You are, too!” Angie said, giving her another kiss.

“I didn’t mean that!” Paige said, blushing. “I know that! It’s, well, you have a few passions, but it’s definitely one of them.”

“Fair enough!” Angie said. “Anyway, like I was saying, Tom’s work is also looking at ‘quality,’ just a different sort of quality. That’s a whole different topic. The thing is, if history holds true, that share I just gave you will go up twenty-five times or so by 1997.”

Mel blinked, and said, “Holy cow!”

“And another ten times that at least by the 2010s,” I said.

“Wow!” Cammie said. “But it doesn’t explain why we each need one.”

“That’s kinda what Paige was asking,” Angie said. “Look, it’s ... we, meaning the company, which you’re not part of...”

Mel and Cammie nodded, smiling.

“Own a few shares, and I want it to own more. Technically, that’s enough, but it’s also not.”

“Because...?” Cammie said.

“Because one of the things Buffett does is have a really ... unusual ... shareholder’s meeting. For one thing, there aren’t that many shareholders. There are only so many shares of Berkshire, and he won’t split them.”

“Never did,” I said, nodding. “Though he added a Class B much later.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Angie said. “Anyway, people described the annual meeting as ‘Capitalism Woodstock’ or the like. Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger, answer whatever questions attendees bring. They bring really good questions, too! There’s mixing and mingling — ‘networking’ is a good word — and many of the other people are CEOs and investment professionals and the like. Connections get made. The cost of an invitation is owning a share of stock.”

“Ah!” Cammie said. “I get it!”

“Now, I doubt we’ll all go,” Angie said. “It’s in Omaha...”

“Omaha?” Mel said, looking surprised.

“People called Buffett the Oracle of Omaha,” I said. “It’s home for him, and he loves it.”

Angie nodded.

“Still, you’re registered shareholders, so you get the letter and you can go. I am going to be there this year, come what may. Paige, too. I think Steve will be there, and that means Jas...”

Jas nodded.

“But the two of you are less on the investing side, so far,” Angie said, looking at Cammie and Mel.

Mel nodded, looking thoughtful.

“That’s fine! Don’t get me wrong! Still, we’re ... we’re ‘All for one and one for all.’ I don’t want any of us to have to say ‘Oh, I’m her guest’ if they want to go.”

About this point, I noticed Cammie starting to mist up a bit, and Mel wasn’t far behind her. Angie, though, didn’t seem to notice immediately.

“We all deserve a seat at the table. It’s important to me, and ... it’s something I can do. Like I said, if you want to pay me back down the road, you can. Shares aren’t even available every day, though, and I got these at a good price. Anyway ... it just ... it matters, that’s all.”

Cammie said, in a slightly uneven voice, “I ... don’t think I’ve ever thought of stock as ‘sweet’ before, but...”

“It’s very sweet,” Mel said. “It’s very special. Thank you. Thank you very much!”

That led to a hugging frenzy, of course. We all knew how important we were to each other, but sometimes something comes out of the blue and reminds you of it all over again. This was one of those times.