Chapter 10: Nuke It From Orbit?

Wednesday, July 23, 1986

We invited Peter and Susanne to dinner ahead of studying. Angie had three Math Militia members over, too. Two of them were new. All of our new guests were impressed by, and slightly jealous of, the house. They also appreciated the dinner. It wasn’t anything special — burgers on the grill, chips, veggies, and homemade fries — but they certainly thought it was tasty enough.

I liked Peter and Susanne. They would fit into the Privateers, if we really got that group going. Surprisingly, both of them were going to be in my Democratic Theory course this fall. That made them both University Honors candidates — which they confirmed — and meant I already knew four other people (counting Kip Corrington) in a class that would probably have fewer than thirty people. Not a bad number!

I didn’t mention Kip. Both of them were football fans, and it would undoubtedly be a huge surprise for them to not only meet one of the players but also study with him.

Angie’s new Militia members seemed cool. I imagined we would see more of them. She needed a study group for almost the same reason I did in Computer Science: not to be peers, but to learn by teaching.

After we ate, the two groups split up. Our group worked its way through all of the material, with everyone feeling pretty confident about Friday’s exam. Dr. Halloran could throw us a curve, but it felt like we were ready for most anything reasonable.

We had messages from both Ken and Chief Palko. Both were, basically, ‘Keep us in the loop.’ We hadn’t expected anything more than that, so that was fine. If anything happened, we would let them know.

After some thought, I decided it was time for a conversation with Amy that perhaps should have happened earlier. Most likely not, but ... well. It was time, in any case. So, after dinner, I asked her to join me in the bedroom, just to talk.

“What’s up?” she asked, settling in my lap.

“A couple of things. One is related to something you know, and one is something you might have guessed but don’t know, I think.”

“Oh! A mystery!” she said, grinning.

“The first is Darla.”

“Her, I know.”

“I think — I’m not sure, but I think — we’re essentially done. Things are going well enough with Hank and her that I don’t know if we’ll have any more dates,” I said.

“That could be sad, but ... I know you. I doubt that it is sad for you.”

“It’s not. Bittersweet, in its way, but more sweet than bitter. We didn’t work as a long-term thing.”

She nodded, and said, “Because she needs something you cannot give her. Something I do not need, so the circumstances are different. She would not be happy in my position. And I wouldn’t be happy in her position, either. I need someone, or someones, who love me, but are willing to be at arm’s length when the time comes for that. She needs someone who will be there for her as a partner. And her parents’ expectations are greatly different than mine. Mine will be stunned that I have anyone, and willing to accept it being unusual.”

“Yes,” I said. “All of that.”

“I am happy for her, and will tell her so when I see her.”

I smiled and nodded. “She’ll appreciate that. There’s another girl, though. One whose name you know, but ... how much you know about the relationship, I don’t know.”

“Jessica?” she said, smiling.

“That’s the one.”

“I know some things. Jasmine, Angie, and Paige have told me a bit. It will be better to discuss her with you.”

“Jess is...” I said, then paused. After a second, I said, “Pretty much, Jess is where you are. It took us much longer to figure that out than it took you and me to figure that out. Jess thought she needed a partner until she realized she didn’t.”

“Because she expects to live much of her life on the road.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Though, by itself, that’s only part of the problem. Some partners might be willing to travel with her, and live near where she was filming.”

“But she doesn’t want someone there that way. Much the same as I feel about the start of my career, at least right now.”

“It’s very similar. I think she might say that the only person who would work for her would be someone who would put her first in everything. Devote themselves to her success and well-being. But, at the same time, most people like that would be poor partners for her, because she also needs someone who will stand up to her. She’s had far too many people in her life who will say whatever they think she wants to hear, and that will likely just increase.”

She looked thoughtful, then said, “I have a feeling I will like her, when we meet. We are obviously very different people, certainly. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have so many ... sycophants. As you say, though, we may be much more similar than one would think. That she feels the way she does about you certainly makes me feel more confident that I will like her. And I hope she will like me.”

“I can also say that Jess is close to Jasmine.”

She chuckled a bit. “Again, tied with me. Another reason to believe I will like her. And all of this.”

“That’s it, for now. Everyone else who I’m involved with, you know and are friends with. The one girl I should probably mention is Laura, who goes to the University of Illinois now. She’s just a friend, though. Close, but platonic. It’s just ... her name will undoubtedly keep coming up, and making it clear we’re just friends is maybe a good thing.”

She smiled. “It likely is. I do not think I feel conventional jealousy. Which is interesting, given my reaction to your perceived cheating! But I don’t think I do. Mostly, these sound like interesting people who I will be happy to have as friends. Having real friends is wonderful! I am glad I didn’t know how wonderful it was before I had a group of friends, because I would have been sad otherwise.”