Chapter 57: The Hearing

April 20, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

"What kind of bonus payment did you have in mind?" I asked Natasha when we were in my bedroom.

"Well, if Dee is to be believed, and I believe she should be, then I'd like it provided in four installments! Tonight is your reward for hiring me, and it's my job to make you cum as many times as I can. Then, the next four Wednesdays are my bonus, in four installments, and it's your job to make ME cum as many times as you can!"

"I believe that's fair," I said with a grin.

"I do have a firm rule."

"What's that?"

"You're not allowed to ask, and it's most likely I won't ever ask again. Agree to that, and I promise nirvana!"

"I'm not disagreeing, but I am curious — does that have to do with what Deanna told me about you wearing clear-lens glasses?"

"It started when I was fourteen; I developed early and pretty much looked like I do now. I helped my best friend decorate her room, and that evening, after dinner, her dad came on to me. That started a pattern, and I think every adult male over fifteen on Kodiak Island hit on me at one time or another. I tried dressing differently, and it didn't work, so I cut my hair short and got the glasses. That cut down on some of it."

"Sorry to interrupt, but Kodiak Island?"

"Alaska. Anyway, for my Junior Prom, I turned down six different invitations and asked a shy, quiet guy who had never hit on me. He was a perfect gentleman, and I made sure I thanked him properly that night. We dated for about a year until he joined the Navy, but even having a boyfriend didn't cut down on the attention.

"That's what made me determined to leave Kodiak. When I came to Chicago, I decided I didn't want a steady boyfriend, and I stuck to what worked — I asked the guys and made the rule they couldn't ask and that it was short-term. I like the variety, and I'm not tied down. Ready for your reward?"

"I agree to your rule. The rubbers are in the drawer in the nightstand."

"I'm on the Pill"

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"Hell if I know!" Natasha declared.

We both quickly undressed, and I saw that Natasha was shaved smooth, with not even a hint of pubic hair. She came to me, we embraced, kissed, and tumbled into bed.

April 21, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

Natasha had kept her promise, giving me a slow, sexy, and exquisite blowjob, then, after she got me hard again, had ridden me to release. The next four hours had been a mix of blowjobs and her riding me until about 3:30am, when I was too tired and spent to go an eighth time. Because of the plan for the day, I was up at 6:30am, and Natasha and I got into the shower together. After the shower, we both dressed, then went downstairs.

"I don't think I should hang around for your mom," Natasha said.

"Mom won't care, and she won't assume anything. You're welcome to stay."

"That's OK. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Shall I walk you out?"

"Not necessary. You have breakfast to make."

We hugged at the door, and she left, and I went to the kitchen to make bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. CeCi came to help me a few minutes after I started, and we had breakfast ready when my mom, Mitchell, and Violet arrived.

Unsurprisingly, my mom was far more interested in holding Sofía than she was eating breakfast. I had to leave at 7:40am to get to class, so I ate quickly, then left the condo and returned four hours later to pick up Violet so we could go to the house, where Jack, Kristy, and Deanna were waiting with a U-Haul.

"Jonathan," Jack said, "there was a message on the machine from a professor at Loyola interested in buying Keiko's car. I called him back, and he came by this morning. He's willing to pay your asking price. He left his home number and said he could come back any time today."

"Let me call him, then we'll load up."

I placed the call and arranged for the professor to come to the house right away. Once that was done, I joined Jack, Kristy, and Deanna in loading the U-Haul with everything from the Japanese room. I had carefully packed all the items from the spirit shelf during the week and carried them personally to my car rather than putting them in the truck. We were about halfway done when the professor arrived. He handed me a check, and I gave him the two sets of keys, then signed the title over to him. Once he had driven off, I helped the others finish loading the U-Haul.

Jack and Kristy drove the U-Haul, and Violet, Deanna, and I drove in my car, and we returned to the Hancock Center, where we unloaded the U-Haul and moved everything to the condo. When we finished, I thanked Jack and Kristy, and they left to return the truck.

"Sorry, I was in and out and didn't have time to do more than say hello," I said to my mom.

"I didn't come to see you! I came to see my granddaughter!"

"Kicked to the curb by his mom at age twenty-one!" Bianca teased.

"Yeah, yeah! If I'm not wanted, I'm going to set up the computer we brought over today."

I went upstairs to the computer loft, as Natasha had called it once we'd changed the plan from a play area. I wasn't upset with my mom, and I knew she'd been teasing. I set up the IBM PC, made sure it worked, and that I could print, then went back downstairs to spend time with my mom and Mitchell.

Violet and I made dinner for everyone, and after dinner, she, my mom, and Mitchell headed back to her house. Once they had left, Deanna and CeCi helped me install the spirit shelf in the new Japanese room. Once we finished, I spent a quiet evening with Bianca and Sofía, and when it was time for bed, I joined Bianca in her room, with Sofía in the bassinet rather than her crib.

April 22, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

On Sunday morning, my mom, Mitchell, and Violet came to the condo for breakfast and spent the morning with us. We all ate lunch together, and then my mom and Mitchell left to return to Ohio. Violet stayed, and we'd drop her at her house when Deanna, Bianca, Sofía, and I went to the house.

As planned, Natasha arrived at 3:00pm with her professor and Kent, the photographer. They spent about an hour, and Kent took multiple photos of every room. He'd make three copies — one set for him to turn in as part of a project, one set for Natasha's portfolio, and one set for me. I thought it went very well, and when they left, Bianca, Sofía, Deanna, and I took Violet home, then headed to the house so Deanna could complete the second painting in her Nuclear Family series.

That took close to three hours, and when we finished, we had a late dinner with Jack and Kristy, then headed back to the condo. Deanna asked if she could spend the night, and I agreed. I was surprised when CeCi followed us upstairs and asked to join us.

"Nothing crazy," she said. "Just make love and sleep all snuggled together."

"I'm OK with that if Deanna is," I said.

"It was Dee's idea!"

"Then join us," I said.

April 23, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

The major benefit of the location of the condo played out on Monday morning when I didn't have to get up until 6:15m to be in the office at 7:00am, and I could have a leisurely breakfast. Chelsea had arrived at 6:00am and had let herself in with the key Bianca had provided.

Chelsea wouldn't be too busy until Bianca returned to work, which she planned to do part-time starting May 7th. Until then, Chelsea would help around the house and watch Sofía so Bianca could nap, given she was still getting up at least twice during the night to feed Sofía.

At 6:50am, I made my relatively short commute and began my usual morning routine. It was a typical morning, and at 11:30am, Violet and I had lunch together and then went to the gym. Late in the afternoon, I was notified by New Accounts that the first tranche of transfers of the $40 million had been completed. I reviewed the holdings and sold most of the transferred equities, allocating the funds to purchase additional shares of my current holdings to keep my portfolio properly balanced.

When I left the office, rather than going straight home, I headed to the Art Institute to pick up my check from Claire. I had a sneaking suspicion it was orchestrated in the hopes she'd get me alone because she could have easily mailed the check to me. When I arrived, her office door was open, and I walked in to find her sitting at her desk.

"Hi, Jonathan!"

"Claire," I said with a nod.

"Come in and sit down, please."

I did, sitting in the chair facing her desk.

"You did a great job for your first time; in fact, a great job, even for someone who modeled regularly."

"Thanks."

"In the Fall, I'm teaching a community art class on Saturday mornings, and I wondered if you would be available to model for two class sessions — one sketching and one painting. Because we take students as young as fifteen, you'd wear briefs for both sessions."

"How many hours?"

"Four — 8:00am to noon, and you can pick your Saturdays, as I'm just starting to line up models. You'd pose alone; I intend to ask Alexa to pose for the female form classes."

"I could do that," I said. "When do you need to know the dates?"

"In the next week or so. That way, I can assign dates to other models and set the dates for our outdoor work."

"I'll check my calendar and call to let you know."

"Great! I realize May is still eight days away, but classes are finished..."

"And just what would this physiology experiment involve exactly?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Claire?" a voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Adriana, the girl Deanna said had drawn me not to scale.

"Yes?" Claire responded.

"I wanted to discuss my course evaluation."

"I'll leave so you can do that," I offered.

Claire frowned and reluctantly handed me an envelope. I left her office, and headed back to the Hancock Center to have dinner with Bianca and Deanna. When I walked into the condo, I greeted everyone, then went upstairs, with Deanna following.

"You're home sooner than I expected," she said.

"Adriana came to the door just as Claire was propositioning me. Adriana wanted to discuss her course evaluation, so I left. I was leaning against accepting Claire's offer, so I was happy with the outcome.

"Why? Not saying you're making the wrong choice, just curious."

"In all honesty? I'm not all that interested in a random casual encounter."

"Stefi? Tara? Krissy?"

"Krissy and I spent the evening talking. With Stefi, it was on a date, and after talking quite a bit at dinner, chose to skip the movie for something more entertaining. Tara was a closer thing, though we did have dinner before she invited me to her room, though I declined at that point. Her intent was obvious from the moment she told me Stefi was sick, but again, I took some time to at least get to know her a bit.

"Natasha?" Deanna asked.

"Not quite a random, out-of-the-blue offer the way Claire's was. All things considered, I'd rather be with you, CeCi, and Natasha. And you know I'm seeing Alexa next weekend, though we'll see how that goes."

"Right!" Deanna said with a soft laugh, rolling her eyes. "You know what she wants!"

"OK, but we had quite a few interactions, some of them very intimate. It's different. Not to mention Katy and Esme will be home from Princeton soon. I have plenty of other options as well, so Claire's offer wasn't even all that tempting. She did ask me to pose twice for a community art class in the Fall, though in briefs because they accept students as young as fifteen."

"Could you imagine?" Deanna asked. "People's heads would explode even though it's art, not sex."

"Evidence suggests differently," I said with a smirk. "Stefi, Tara, Claire, Alexa..."

"You might have a point," Deanna said with a knowing smile.

"What grade did you receive for Claire's class?"

"There are no grades; it's Pass/Fail, as I said when you asked about the critiques. Or, more accurately, it's Credit/No Credit. I passed, and my evaluation and critique were largely positive. Claire and I disagree on a few things, but that's the nature of art. All of her criticism was constructive, even if I intend to mostly ignore the areas where she and I disagree. That's why there are no letter or number grades — think about how difficult that would be."

I nodded, "Now that you explain it, it's obvious. Either you did the work, or you didn't. And Adriana did say she wanted to discuss her evaluation."

"Exactly. Her objection is Claire's critiques and evaluation of her work, specifically Adriana's purposeful misrendering of your anatomy, which was against the rubric. This wasn't a class in interpretation or style exploration but one about accuracy. It's basically an introductory class in drawing male and female forms, and as such, you're supposed to get it right.

"I have other classes that are more interpretative and which allow variations in style. In those classes, pretty much anything goes, so long as you can explain your work and the meaning you intend to convey. So, a surrealist could, for example, make you bigger than John Holmes or have your dick come out of your face, like an elephant's trunk. Or someone could paint a Byzantine-style icon of you as an act of adoration. And so on."

"Alexa did say 'Holy God!' and Kelly did say 'Jesus!'," I smirked. "And Stefi definitely worshiped, so maybe there is something to that!

Deanna laughed, "And I thought doctors had a god complex!"

"You know I'm joking. Shall we go downstairs and see what «Abuela» has for us tonight?"

"Steak fajitas with refried beans."

"Sounds great!"

We left the bedroom and headed downstairs to join Bianca, Sofía, and CeCi for dinner, which was indeed, great.

April 24, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

On Tuesday morning, I took a break around 10:00am and returned to the condo to pick up my suits and shirts, which needed to go to the dry cleaner, then went to the floor with the sky lobby where the in-building dry cleaner was located and dropped them off. Next, I visited the First Chicago branch, which was located on the same floor as the sky lobby, to deposit the check for the car and the one from Claire.

I also took a few minutes to check the full-service grocery store, which offered free delivery in the building. The prices were a bit higher than Jewel or Dominick's, but the convenience made up for it. We could make one or two monthly 'stock up' runs to Jewel on Halsted and then supplement from the in-building grocery store.

Those things, along with the indoor swimming pool, were nice amenities. There was also a building handyman who could perform typical repairs and a maid service, though I didn't think we'd make use of that. Those services and amenities meant I'd drive a lot less and could easily take the L to Circle and back rather than drive. It was also close enough to ride my bike, something I had rarely done since moving out of the apartment I'd rented from Lily's parents.

I returned to the office, worked until noon, then had lunch with Violet. After lunch, New Accounts notified me that the next tranche from the four investors had been transferred, and I spent most of the afternoon evaluating the holdings, once again selling the bulk of the transferred equities and reallocating the funds to keep my portfolio properly balanced.

The rest of the day was typical until about 3:30pm when CNN reported an earthquake of a magnitude around 6.0 in northern California. Initial reports were that damage was light, mainly due to the largely rural area where the quake occurred in the Santa Clara Valley. Given the apparent minimal damage and with no loss of life, it would have minimal impact on the financial markets when they opened in the morning. Not long after that report, Violet let me know that Gordon DeLisse was on the phone, and I had her transfer the call.

"Hi, Gordon," I said after the call was transferred.

"Hi, Jonathan. Several of our USFL players are looking to invest, but they can't individually meet the minimums. Marvin was wondering if there is any accommodation to be had."

I could, in certain circumstances, waive the minimums, and this seemed to me to qualify, but I'd have to confirm that with Noel Spurgeon.

"I think we can make that work, but I'll need to confirm that internally. If there are any big names, it would help me sell it."

"I can't get you Donald Trump, if that's what you're asking!"

I chuckled, "I don't have a real estate license and don't manage any REITs, so I'll have to stick to players for the team he owns. If Herschel Walker is one of them, I'd say it's a done deal."

"We rep him, but unfortunately, he has someone else handling his investments. The players we rep are on the Generals, Bandits, Express, and Gamblers. The biggest name I can give you is Steve Young, a QB out of Brigham Young. He signed a $40 million, ten-year deal. I can also put you in touch with J. William Oldenburg, a mortgage banker out west. He owns the Express."

"How much total investment are we talking about from the players?"

"About $750,000, but you know they have serious potential to increase that in the future."

"Let me take it upstairs, but I believe I can sell it. And yes, I'll take J. William Oldenburg's contact information and an introduction."

"I'll speak to Marvin and have him grease the skids, then give you a call."

"Excellent, thanks. I'll call you by Friday with an answer."

We ended the call, and I called Julie to make an appointment to see Noel Spurgeon. Given his travel plans and schedule, she suggested 7:00am on Thursday morning, and I agreed. Once I ended that call, I asked Pete to come into my office.

"Would you get me as much information about J. William Oldenburg as you can?" I asked.

"The mortgage banker who owns the USFL team in LA?"

"Yes. The sports agent in Cinci I'm working with is going to make an introduction. The more I know, the better I'll be able to schmooze and bring him on board."

"I'll get right on it. When do you need it?"

"A couple of days should be fine. If you have it by Friday, that'll work."

"OK. I can do that."

"Thanks, Pete."

He left my office, I wrapped up my work for the day, then headed to Ichirō's house for our monthly dinner. I very much enjoyed our time together and was very happy I could continue the relationship. He did apply subtle pressure about karate training but didn't press. I responded, as I usually did, that time was limited and that exercising at the gym was more my style than karate training.

When I left his house, I headed to the condo, spent time with Bianca and Sofía, then joined Bianca in her bed to sleep.

April 25, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

On Wednesday morning, I checked Bloomberg and saw the damage estimates for the earthquake were less than $10 million, and there were minimal injuries. That meant no real effect on the markets, as I had suspected would be the case after the news had broken. The morning went along as usual, I had lunch with Violet, and we went to the gym together.