Chapter 8: Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf

I turned to look at Penny and my features gave my feelings away. Her look of glee faded to be replaced by concern and there were tears filling her eyes when she mouthed “Sorry.” I took my daughter in my arms and gave her a hug before I turned back to Susan telling her that we would have a coffee in the airport café. “Don’t be silly, Andrew! We’ve been travelling for the past twelve hours and what I need is a bath and bed. Take us straight to your flat or whatever hovel you’re living in.”

Behind me, Mark made his first contribution since I caught up with my family: “Speak for yourself, Ma. I need food more than I need a bath, although I must admit a few hours of sleep wouldn’t come amiss.” I sensed that Penny was planning to tell him that his attitude to personal hygiene left a lot to be desired, but the arrival of a couple of their cases focused their attention. I took the chance to hiss at Susan that her choice was to sit for ten minutes over a cup of copy or a trip to the airline desk to book her on the first flight back to Reading.

“Come on, Penny,” she recovered quickly. “Let’s leave the boys to finish collecting the luggage.” Mark gave me an apologetic look. “I warned Penny not to keep Mum’s visit a secret, but you might as well talk to the wall.” We shared a look, while he kept an eye open for their one remaining case. He told me that he had brought his football gear as I had suggested. “Great! Annie – Dr. Fernandez, to you - has a week’s coaching session starting the day after tomorrow and I booked you in.”

“A woman coach! You must be joking, Dad.” So, I told him that the university women’s team was in the premier division under Annie, and she was working with the high school coach to raise the standards of the men’s game. “By the way, don’t forget to call it soccer; football is a whole different game in America.” We pushed the laden trolley to the airport café where the girls had ordered a burger and fries for Mark and a latte for me. I was now drinking my coffee hot and strong; I seem to remember my last latte was at Heathrow waiting for my flight with Henry and the other stags.

“Mum has dumped Desperate Dan, and she’s got you your job back, Dad,” Penny gushed before I had even sat down. “Does that mean you’ve resigned from your job?” I asked my wife. “Don’t be ridiculous, Andrew. You know how much I love that job.” What I did know was that she had described me as ‘silly’ and ‘ridiculous’ in the two sentences she had spoken since her arrival. I did not think that reconciliation was likely. “Dan and I will continue to chat as friends but there will be no more – you know.”

For four years, Susan has been claiming that her affair with Dan was a meeting of souls; only now does she admit that there was a physical element. Except she did not actually admit anything, just implied that the lovers would clean up their act. That concession hardly seemed worth a telephone call, much less a journey of several thousand miles. If the offer by EI to reemploy me was half as good, I would find it hard to contain my indifference.

“Henry came round to see me,” Susan changed the subject. “I thought it was really magnanimous of him considering how embarrassed he was by that video you sent everyone. Kate broke off the engagement, you know.” Mark had eaten enough of his burger to pay attention. “Way to go, Dad. I especially liked the bit where that stunner in the tiny bikini was excavating for your tonsils.” I did not know that the girls had included that in the recording they sent.

“Gross!” from Penny; “Mark!” from his mother. “That was Connie, Maria’s sister. You’ll see her later if you can keep your eyes open.” He was so excited he dropped a chip. “Is she still wearing that bikini?” He picked up the fallen chip and wiped it on his sleeve, but I took it from him before he was tempted to eat it. Penny was miming her disgust at her brother; I found it comforting that the dynamic between brother and sister had survived the upheaval of my departure. They love each other totally but would die rather than admit it.

I was in a dilemma. Susan appeared to believe that she controlled the situation. Putting myself in her shoes, I could see some justification for that view. I ran away from her because she was having a love affair with another man; I resigned from my job during a holiday break in Las Vegas. Now, she seemed to be prepared to change the nature of her affair and she had secured a promise that I would be welcomed back by EI. From her point of view, there was no longer a need for me to stay away from home.

There is little point in arguing with her since she believes herself to be much more intelligent than I am. There is also the near certainty that she will have discussed everything with Desperate Dan, who is, in her opinion, smarter than both of us. I will have to let her see for herself what my life has become since I met Maria. That means that Susan will have to remain with us until she decides that her cause is irretrievably lost.

“If you folks aren’t too tired, would you like to see the house I’m planning to buy?” Penny perked up at once and even Susan could not resist the lure of viewing someone else’s home. Mark wanted to know if Connie would be there. I called Mick and he agreed to meet us at the house of pomegranates in twenty minutes. “What language were you speaking, Dad?” Penny asked as I ended the call. I explained about the local dialect, comparing it to the difference between a Glasgow accent and standard English to the relationship between Mexican and Castilian Spanish.

“I have been taking Spanish lessons since you told me about Las Cruces and now it seems I’ve wasted my time,” Penny wailed, close to tears again. “That was all I knew when I landed in Las Vegas and now I’ve given a course of lectures in Mexican. You’ll soon pick it up.”

Penny and her Mum were quiet in the car, but Mark kept up a constant stream of questions. Mick and his niece were waiting for us; the girl took Susan in charge, leading her round the property as if she was the prospective buyer. I thought Penny would have gone with them, but she came with me, Mick and her brother to the kitchen. Mark took one look at the pool and dashed out of the backdoor with Mick following.

“I didn’t get everything he said Dad, but Maria and her sister are here, aren’t they?” I admitted that the two sisters were looking at the granny flat over the garage. “I really put my foot in it bringing Mum. I should have talked to you.” I gave my daughter a hug, trying to reassure her that no great harm had been done. She held me for a moment, then broke away with a sob to run out the door in the direction of the stairs up to the annex perched on top of the three-car garage.

Mark and Mick were standing looking into the swimming pool communicating, but in what tongue? I already suspected that Mick understood classical Spanish despite his pleading ignorance when I first met him with Caroline. I was certain that my son spoke no more than a few words of Spanish, probably with an atrocious accent. Perhaps goodwill and hand gestures really work. I was happy standing alone in the kitchen of the house of pomegranates. It is a light and airy room with a view over the garden; in my imagination I filled it with family, including a couple of toddlers getting in the way of the adults.

How long have I been lost in my reverie? I cannot say, but I was roused by a flash of movement on the patio. Penny was returning, flanked by Maria and Connie, all three laughing together like old friends. Behind them, I could see Mark watching, asking a question over his shoulder as he strode purposefully towards the three women. Mick was laughing at him, so it did not take a genius to guess that my son had identified Connie from her image on the video.

For the second time that day, I heard the voice of my wife behind me. “Dan always said you were a crook, but I defended you. How could you do this to me, Andrew?” The door opened and admitted the three young women in time to hear that accusation. I turned to Susan: “I do feel guilty about that, but I wanted to be sure Desperate Dan didn’t get his greedy claws on my money.” She stopped talking to stare at me in disbelief. I think she was torn between defending her lover and attacking me. “It’s not your money, Andrew, and they won’t let you keep it.”

“It is his money for sure,” Maria spoke softly behind me, and I felt her hands on my shoulders as I turned to her. She was speaking English, with a marked but pleasant accent. “It was all for you until you threw him away. Now I will make sure he gets pleasure from all his cleverness.” I turned to put an arm round Maria’s waist, pulling her closer. Behind her, Connie and Penny were still arm in arm; Mark, with his eyes huge and his mouth open, was framed in the open door. “Get in the car, children. We’ll find a hotel for the night and go home tomorrow morning. We can’t stay in this nest of thieving vipers.”

It dawned on me that I had miscalculated. My hastily conceived plan after my wife arrived was to convince her once and for all time to leave me to get on with my life. I had assumed that her sordid liaison with her head teacher gave me the moral high ground. Now, she has turned the tables by accusing me of theft. Well, I did steal from her, I suppose, as a sin of omission; she was never short of cash even if I did hide the large sums of money I was being paid in bonuses.

“Daddy’s an inventor,” Penny shouted, stepping forward to my other side and putting her arm round my waist on top of Maria’s. “He’ll likely make a million dollars next year without lifting a finger. He’s a genius.” There was a gasp from the doorway but otherwise the room was silent for several seconds. Then, Susan laughed.

It was not a merry chuckle, conveying bitter skepticism rather than mirth. “Don’t be childish, Penelope. This is your father we’re talking about. He can’t even hold a conversation about art or literature so how could he invent anything? The idea is too absurd to contemplate.” The only response was that Maria and Penny squeezed my ribs even harder. The silence resumed. “If he’s such a great inventor, what has he got to show for it,” Susan was leaning forward bringing her face close to her daughter. “Where’s all the money?” she concluded on a note of triumph.

I had forgotten all about Mick’s niece the realtor standing quietly in the background. “Actually, I’ve just checked and six hundred thousand dollars of it were deposited in an escrow account about two hours ago.” I looked at Maria who gave me a little complacent smile. I thought we had reached an impasse until Connie spoke up. “You’re getting a million bucks next year, you bastard, and you’ve sent me out to earn buttons in a bloody call center!” She rather spoiled the admonition by coming round in front of me and repeating the tonsil-searching kiss from the video.

After the high emotion, exhaustion settled on us like a dense fog, stinging the eyes and baffling the senses. Penny and Susan shared the queen-sized bed in the second bedroom in the apartment Maria and I occupied, with Mark on the sofa bed in the living room. We had used it during our siestas, and I can affirm that it is comfortable, even if we did other things than sleep in it. The following morning, Mark and I rose early leaving the three women still sleeping. Maria was planning to produce documentary evidence of my wealth.

She forced me to face my responsibilities before we went to sleep the previous evening. I had intended to hide the bulk of my money to prevent Susan, and through her Dan, getting her hands on it. Maria took the view that my wife had provided the stable home I needed for all but the last four years of our marriage. I was already feeling some guilt, so I was not difficult to persuade. It was not lost on me that giving Susan some of the money might make her more inclined to leave the children with me. I am not suggesting that she is mercenary, but she and Dan have big plans for exploring the cultural marvels of the planet.

Mark and I found Annie in her office, finalizing details of her squad for next season. “Call me Annie, but that won’t prevent me bustin’ your ass on the field or in the gym.” She asked about his hopes and dreams in a friendly enough fashion, but she did not let him get away with ill-considered answers. I sat through about ten minutes of their conversation until I was sure that my son felt comfortable with this formidable woman.

You have Maria, Connie and me on speed dial on your new phone,” I interrupted them. “Connie is working until one, but she usually takes Angelina to the pool in the afternoon, if you want to call her.” He blushed but did not deny his interest. They were involved in an argument about zone defense versus man-marking, when I let myself out of Annie’s office. I had business in the engineering department that I had deferred while I was involved with the course of lectures.

It was a surprise to me to find that I enjoyed teaching. I had not rated myself as a public speaker and I had certainly never presented my ideas in the somewhat boastful tone I adopted. In the past, I would have used ‘we’ and ‘us’ in describing my work, but this time I had claimed my inventions as my own without crediting others. The Dean of Engineering had stressed that the lectures were my opportunity to present myself as worthy of a full professorship with tenure.

When in Rome, it is wise to pay some heed to what the Romans do. I had promised Maria that I would stop being a doormat and become a tapestry, so I accepted a role as a personality. I was not seduced into taking myself more seriously, you must understand; I was simply laying out my stall without the subterfuge I had used in the past. My new approach worked to a great extent but, as always sems to be the case, there were unexpected secondary effects. None of these mattered enough to alter the lectures; now, however, I wanted to clear up a few points before I fully committed myself to UTEP.

Eric Erickson had been more than an acquaintance if a little less than a friend for several years. It was he who introduced me to the Dean with all that ensued. After our first meeting, Eric disappeared below the horizon; I met him once in the quadrangle and he was rather short with me, hurrying off with barely an apology. That incident caused me to take notice that the Dean seemed to be regulating the faculty members I was allowed to talk with. Nothing blatant, but it was always the same group of three or four who were free to join me for coffee or lunch.

I listen to advice, but I do not respond to directions. One of the few fights I had with Philip shortly after I began working for him was because he tried to dictate my circle of friends. He wanted me to spend my time with fellow engineers and to cultivate management types. I had learned while still at school to get along with people from all sorts of backgrounds. My egalitarianism is not based on philosophy; inspiration comes from the most unlikely sources at unpredictable times. I always spent time in the workshops at EI talking to people who made things with their hands. One of the attractions of UTEP was that they taught milling and grinding in well-equipped workshops.

Getting away from Mark and Annie gave me unexpected free time to corner Eric to ask if he knew what was going on. He wanted to know if the Dean had sent me, which was enough to allow me to leap to conclusions. My resentment at the notion of anyone directing my life must have sounded convincing since we found ourselves a few minutes later sitting on the grass under the stands of the university sports’ arena. According to Eric, it was all about money.

I was only too aware, of course, that research is only possible if someone is prepared to pay for it. Over the years there were interesting areas that I was unable to explore because Philip would not or could not find backing for the work. I do not remember having more than a passing regret at the missed opportunities since there were always a dozen equally interesting problems we did have the money to pursue. Philip arranged the funding and allocated the resources, and I gave that process no thought.

Eric gave me a crash course on the funding of university research. Some individuals but mainly companies, give money to a university to spend within a particular faculty. The exact nature of the research is usually specified although the university will rarely agree to a particular employee being named. If professor A dies or leaves, the research grant should continue under his or her successor. I guess that Philip had the same sort of deal with the companies that sponsored my work in EI.

My reputation had earned me the associate professorship I now hold and had brought in enough fresh money to justify the investment. The surprise came with the success of my lectures. The trickle of new money was threatening to become a flood. Everyone wanted to get a piece of the new wonder man. There was already too much for one researcher to handle, so the Dean was plotting to divert the excess funds to his cronies. My first response was to march into the Dean’s office to throw my resignation at his feet, like a knight throwing down the gauntlet.

Eric soon convinced me that a more adult response would be appropriate. Resignation is a nuclear option since it only works once. The threat of resignation, however, permits negotiation. We kicked around ideas on how far we could push the Dean, concluding that I might get away with controlling all the funds I had attracted. I would hold out for a full professorship with tenure and a veto on the researchers who would be permitted to work on the projects I could not handle personally.

Over the next few weeks, I would have to decide who got what, always assuming that the Dean agreed to our proposition. Eric and I would form an ad hoc committee to consider the faults and virtues of the various members of the faculty. I intended to use Mick’s daughter, Agnetha. as an additional source of information but kept that to myself for the moment. Maria would coordinate the efforts; perhaps that would be enough to persuade her to be my manager and not simply my PA.

Andreas almost strode straight to the Dean’s office to resolve the problem. There was, however, enough of Andrew left to breathe caution. The Dean has no great reputation as an engineer, but he presides over one of the best schools in the country. He must be a gifted administrator and, no doubt, the victor in many confrontations with disgruntled staff. I would need detailed and accurate information before I faced him if I was to get what I wanted.

It was too hot to stroll so I settled in the shade of the cottonwood trees, with a can of what I must remember to call soda. Mark had sent a text to inform me that he was going with Annie to meet the high school coach; one of them will drop him off at the apartment later. Penny had also sent a text thanking me for her new phone and asking how many minutes of international calls were provided. I replied that she had ten minutes a month although I was open to persuasion. She called to tell me that would be enough for a holiday, but we might have to negotiate if she moved here to continue her studies.

Hearing noises in the background, I asked where she was calling from. “Connie and Angelina rescued me. Mum and Maria have been sitting in front of the laptop all morning poring over bank accounts and documents. Mum keeps repeating that you are only an engineer while Maria gives little smiles and winks at me.” At that point she squealed as Angelina shook her wet hair and we quickly said our farewells. It sounded as if I should man up to my responsibilities and return to face my wife and my mistress.

I was beginning to feel quite sorry for Susan when I let myself into the apartment. She had disregarded me for so many years that she must now be shocked to discover that I was actually moderately wealthy. I should have known better. My wife, the perfect English rose, was in a mood to rip me apart with her thorns. Despite the evidence she had been shown, her attack began with uncorroborated hearsay.

“Henry told me that there would be a warrant out for your arrest if you don’t return certain papers. He wants to avoid a scandal so that’s why he asked me to talk some sense into you. I don’t understand all that Maria has been showing me but a man like Henry would hardly pay my expenses if he didn’t have his facts right.” When I pressed her, she admitted that EI gave her two thousand pounds to help pay for her visit.

I would have laughed off the accusation of theft, but Maria was concerned that EI were planning to renege on the agreement to license my patent. She called Larry Gardner, my English lawyer, and I was pleased but not altogether surprised that she had clearly established a good working relationship with him. He assured us that the deal was signed before he added the gossip. According to his undisclosed sources, Henry was getting the blame for my resignation and for the cost of the license. My guess is that he gave Susan the cash for her journey from his own pocket in an attempt to save his job. Steve is favorite to succeed since he sent a memo to head office recommending that I should not be allowed to resign.

I like Henry and he did very little harm as the director of research. He talks well, giving a good impression of the department to outsiders, At the same time, I felt that he recognized and accepted that he knew nothing about what we were doing. He talked a lot but let us get on with the job without interference. Steve, as Connie and the other girls quickly realized, is an evil little man. He will bring malice into what has been a contented team.