Chapter 6: Cupid’s Gambit

Later that evening, he accessed the Gooney Board and reviewed notes and comments on the Beta releases of their games. Most comments were relevant to the programming glitches they had fixed, but a few expressed concerns about gameplay. Feedback mainly was praise and excitement for the full release. Encouraged, Peter opted to overwrite the original Beta with the new tester, which he followed by advising everybody of the changes and thanking them for their input.

Once uploaded, he created a data file promoting the full version, cost, and payment details. It seemed too easy—with a mouse click, he turned PAK Gaming from a concept to a commercial enterprise!

With Scott’s help, Kathy opened a checking account at Key Bank, listing them as joint holders so they could deposit checks or money orders. They just had to wait for orders to start rolling in. He checked back on the board and was pleased to see several responses to his post.

Later, he lay in bed, hands under his head, staring at the ceiling and pondering his life. It seemed to mirror a distant trajectory but with strange deviations. He recalled hazy memories from another time and place, but they were rapidly becoming less ominous and more aligned with his goals.

He instinctively knew he’d thrive up to a point. Beyond that, he had no intuition or recall and would be on his own. He sighed in the dark, trying to sleep, his mind swirling with thoughts, concerns, ideas, and memories too fast to calm. He lay there, letting them play out, knowing he’d eventually drift asleep.

The more he anticipated the settlement disbursement, the longer it seemed to take. He checked the E-Trade account twice a day, morning and late afternoon, where the $500,000 would be deposited, and hovered impatiently over his new watchlists, familiarizing himself with the screens and links to educational sites.

While waiting, he distracted himself by setting up several stock portfolios and making dozens of ‘paper’ trades, allowing him to watch the action in near real-time. The NYSE and NASDAQ updates were slow, requiring multiple screen refreshes, but he looked forward to executing orders with real money.

Options trading was restricted until he could deposit enough money for a $5K margin account, but he could access the training section and research ‘calls’ and ‘puts’ for well-known common stocks. He regretted being unable to even paper-trade them but made do by tracking several in his notebook. That was where the real money was made, he was sure! Controlling 100 company shares and predicting the stock’s movement based on dozens of variables was intoxicating, and he was dying to really test what he’d learned.

By Friday, he had caught up with schoolwork just in time for Spring Break. He hadn’t seen Alan or Kathy for three days, but ‘Cher’ called every evening to update him. She couldn’t get to the Post Office because her dad’s truck broke down, and the Orange Goblin was in the shop. Alan was swamped with school projects and chores from his mom, and even Scott seemed distant as the settlement wrapped up. His mom wouldn’t leave the house during construction but called him with updates and to vent about the noise and dust. His sister was finishing her first semester and promised to visit soon, though she wanted to stay near campus for extracurriculars. Boredom was only partly eased by Sandy, his occupational therapist, and occasional visits from aides and nurses.

That evening, Kathy called, and they spoke late into the night, often chatting about inconsequential things or future game ideas. He sensed her reticence, and he finally brought it up.

“Earth to Cher,” he commented after an awkward pause, “What’s on your mind?”

“What do you mean?” she asked hesitantly.

“You’re fading on me.”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk!” she scoffed.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean,” she paused. “Since your accident, you sometimes seem to just ... I don’t know.”

“Hunh?”

“It’s like ... all of a sudden, your eyes glaze over, and you check out for a minute, even in the middle of a conversation. Alan’s noticed it, too.” She hesitated. “Do you know what I’m talking about?”

He chewed his lip nervously, reflecting on the occasional spectral visits from the other part of his mind. “Yeah. Actually, I do,” he replied. “I’m just not sure I can explain it without sounding like a nutcase.”

“You had a near-death experience, big guy. That’s bound to affect you...”

“Nice deflection,” he chided. “Almost worked, too!”

Her sigh was heavy over the phone. “Babe ... I don’t know. It feels like things are getting real between us, you know?”

A sense of dread washed over him. She’s already breaking up with me!

“Sonny? Still there?”

“Yeah,” he nearly whispered, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

“Um ... okay. You sound pretty off all of a sudden—”

He winced as he swallowed nervously. “Are you ... breaking up with me, Kat?”

She gasped in his ear. “Breaking up? Oh my God, no!” He could hear her soft panting on the other end. “I wasn’t even sure we were going out!” she added emotionally. “Are we?”

Even the specter felt relief as he absorbed her words. “Well ... I want to—”

She sighed in relief. “Okay then. What about Brittney?”

The question surprised him. “She broke it off the minute she visited me during my second week in the hospital.”

“Fuckin’ two-bit, skank!” she muttered. “How serious were you guys?”

He tried to understand what she wanted to hear. “I ... um, not very, to be honest,” he stammered. “She’s a senior too, and I ... well, I’ll be sixteen this week. So, yeah ... there’s that—” He was the youngest Junior at Auburn HS and the youngest starting quarterback ever. Was, being the keyword.

“Did you ... ever—”

Oh God! He was thankful she couldn’t see his flushed cheeks. “No!”

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s just ... she has a reputation—”

“Yeah, I know,” he muttered, feeling embarrassed. It was all academic since he no longer attended physical classes.

“Alrighty then,” she breathed heavily. “This conversation would be better face-to-face, right?”

“Kathy ... please don’t leave me hanging. What are you trying to say ... or ask?”

She hesitated again and drew a loud breath. “Dude, I’m kinda falling for you—”

“Oh, Thank God!” he whispered, closing his eyes.

“What was that?” she laughed in his ear.

He blushed, realizing he had spoken aloud. “I mean ... God yes! Same here!”

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

Gladys prevented him from socializing because whenever he left his room to check out new magazines or visit the other ‘inmates,’ she would start screaming “Bobby!” whenever she saw him and disturb the entire building. He would have lost his mind without his computer and the dozens of BBS sites!

Saturday morning, he was at the computer playing a mind-numbing game when he heard a clatter outside his door. He smiled, recognizing the female voice cursing outside. Then the door cracked open, and Kat shoved her way in carrying a large box. Her frown disappeared when she gazed adoringly at him. Her excitement was palpable. “Sonny!” she greeted happily. “We are freakin’ rich!”

He gawked at her as she stepped inside, kicking the door closed. The box was filled with envelopes. “Are those—” he stammered.

“Uh huh!” she squealed, dropping it on the floor. “There are hundreds! All sent to PAK Gaming Enterprises from all over the freakin’ place!” She was so excited that she forgot to remove her backpack before attacking him for a bear hug and a brief kiss. “Mmm. God, I’ve missed you!”

“Same here, babe,” he replied wistfully. “I couldn’t have taken another second of boredom.” He hopped out of the wheelchair and plopped onto the floor, reaching into the box to grab a handful of envelopes.

“The post office lady was pissed when I came in because I only rented the smallest mailbox,” she giggled. “We need a bigger one when available. For now, they set this bin on the floor beside it for overflow.” She tossed her backpack onto his bed and dropped down beside him. “Look at all this!” They each opened an envelope to find a letter and a $5.50 money order. Peter’s was from Indiana, and Kat’s was marked FPO AP for a military base overseas. She put the two money orders together and kissed them. “We got eleven bucks!” she cried happily.

“Holy crap!” Peter breathed. “We have a lot of work to do.” They looked at each other and spoke in unison. “We need to call Alan!” She jumped up and grabbed the phone.

He held his breath as she stood over him and reached across his desk. He had a perfect view up her skirt and the creamy white panties beneath. “Hey! Are you looking up my dress?” she demanded with a mischievous grin.

“Uh ... yeah,” he confirmed with a dry mouth. He felt the blood rushing to his nethers. She dropped down with the phone in her hand. She pressed her nose against his. “Did you like it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good,” she purred and kissed him again before handing him the phone. “I gotta pee,” she declared suddenly with a look suggesting otherwise. He shrugged and dialed their friend’s number as she dashed into his bathroom. “Hi, Mrs. Shoemaker, this is Peter Shipley. Is Alan available? We really need to talk to him.”

“Peter?” a small female Asian voice replied. “Peter! Darling! How are you? Are you feeling better? We missed you here—” There was a muffled sound. “Roger! It’s Alan’s friend Peter! The boy hit by that drunk driver—” she spoke into the phone again. “Oh! I’m glad you’re okay, Peter! Come over soon! I’ll make Korean barbeque.”

“That sounds really good, Mrs. Shoemaker!” he replied warmly. “I can’t wait ... um, is Al around? It’s really important—”

“Of course, dear—” the sound muffled again, and he winced as she screamed her son’s name with the receiver against her chest. “ALAN! Peter is on the phone!” she yelled. There was a pause, and then her voice came back. “He will pick up in the other room—”

“Hey, Dude!” Alan said suddenly.

“Goodbye, Peter. Get well soon!” Alan’s mom said

“Bye, Mrs. Shoemaker,” Peter waited for the click. “Dude,” he breathed excitedly. “How many game copies have you made so far?”

Kathy returned and sat on the floor across from him, with the box of letters between them. She didn’t try to cover her charms as she folded her bare feet cross-legged beneath her.

“About fifty of each,” Alan replied slowly. “It’s slow going even with two slaved externals. Why?”

“We’re gonna need a lot more!” he announced happily. “Hundreds more!”

“What?” There was a pause. “We got orders?”

“Dude! Kat brought a freaking apple box full of envelopes! We have hundreds of orders to fill. We need to get busy.”

“Holy fuck! Shit!” his friend burst over the phone. “Wow! This is awesome! How much total?”

He looked down at the box on the floor and grinned. “We haven’t counted them all yet, but we’re looking at a couple thousand bucks here.” Peter held the receiver so he and Kat could both listen.

“Whoa! We need more floppies,” the half-Korean geek replied. “And envelopes to ship them.”

Kat nodded. “And the postage, too,” she added. “When can you get here with what you have so far? If I can deposit some checks today, we can buy everything we need and send the ones you’ve finished out.”

Another pause. “Let me ask my mom if I can come over. She may be able to drive me by Radio Shack for the floppies.”

“Keep the receipt for our taxes and reimbursement,” Peter interjected.

“One more thing,” Alan said hesitantly.

“What?” He watched absently as Kathy stood up and stretched provocatively. She glanced at him lasciviously as he swallowed nervously.

“I’ll be tied up for the next three weeks until Spring Break ends,” he said softly. “I won’t have time to sit down and copy all those disks.”

Peter stared at her incredulously as she settled back down beside him. Then his expression lightened. “Hey, Alan! Can you bring the externals so I can set them up here?”

He heard his friend suck on his lower lip. “Yeah, great idea! You can copy them while you’re not rehabbing and shit.”

Kat snorted beside him as he disconnected the call. “Rehabbing and shit?”

Boredom wasn’t an issue for Peter or Kathy as they spent the weekend copying games and stuffing them into envelopes she’d got from K-mart. Every time they finished 100, she left long enough to ship them before returning with more orders. While Peter made copies, she carefully endorsed checks and money orders for deposit and addressed envelopes, taking time to make sure the addresses were legible. They sold copies of Oingo Bingo for $3 and Zombie Slots for $5, adding fifty cents for the disk, envelope, and shipping. Nearly a fourth of the orders came with cash instead of checks. Some cash payments rounded up, avoiding change, but many included two quarters, likely from kids who couldn’t buy money orders or write checks.

By Sunday evening, they had completed 650 orders and were down to one external floppy drive because the other malfunctioned and began smoking. They couldn’t retrieve the floppy, so they unplugged the drive and continued working, now using the one external and his computer’s internal drive. Kathy treated them to McDonald’s during breaks, using some of the cash to pay.