Variation on a Theme, Book 7
Copyright© 2026 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 19: Not Naming Names
Saturday, August 23, 1986
We spent the morning and early afternoon preparing the house for fall. Mostly, that meant doing a full inventory of food and supplies, then making shopping lists. Cammie and Mel (and, somewhat, Amy) had done a good job at upkeep over the summer, but they were the first to admit that some things had slipped their minds.
Jas and I headed to the bus station at two forty-five. Amy’s bus was scheduled for three and arrived at three-twenty. That wasn’t too far off. She greeted both of us with hugs and kisses.
“I hope you had a great trip!” she said. “And I am quite happy that you have not died!’
We laughed and hugged her again.
“We’re quite happy you have not died, either!” Jas said.
“Very happy!” I added.
She smiled and said, “That is, perhaps, one of the most ‘me’ things to say. Yet ... I am beginning to feel as if I can dispense with it. Surely, by now, we are all highly aware that we will be very happy if none of us die, and very unhappy if anyone does.”
“I agree with both,” I said. “You can surprise us with it sometimes.”
She grinned. “That is a good idea. I will remember it!”
We helped her to the car. I put her bags in the trunk, noting that she had more now than when she left.
Sure enough, she said, “My parents gave me some things. New clothes, a few favorite snacks. Things like that.”
“Nice of them!” Jas said.
“It was,” she said, smiling. “At one point, I might have said I could take care of myself. And I can. But it truly is nice.”
Jas gave Amy the middle of the front seat. Once we were all settled, I got us on the road.
Meanwhile, Jas said, “We have guidelines for that. Gifts just to spend money are frowned upon. Birthdays, Christmas, whatever. But a thoughtful gift is always welcome.”
Amy nodded. “Steve has told me. I think that is wise. And it may be even more wise as one has more money. I would have thought it would be less so because, if one has the means, why not? But at that point, just giving money would make more sense. And many people think just giving money can be lacking.”
“It is, I think,” I said, nodding. “Oh, it can be the right thing, but it would be the right thing for someone who needs money for the thing that matters to them. Simply not knowing what they would want is not that. Nor is not being able to find a worthy gift.”
Amy smiled, nodded, then said, “I have a change of subject.”
“Go!” Jas said, grinning.
“I ... believe ... this was all right. I hope it was,” Amy said.
She paused, then added, “I told my mother I was seeing a man and a woman, who were themselves a couple. We wound up having a long talk about it. At first, she said I was ‘selling myself short.’ But I do not think she believed that. It felt like a reflexive thing one says.”
“I kinda get that,” Jas said. “Not from personal experience, but from things others’ parents have said.”
“Me, too,” I said.
Amy nodded, then said, “She had not thought I would have anyone. Nor did I. So, how could I be selling myself short? Oh ... I know I could. Giving myself up just to have company would do that. And she might have thought I was. But we talked, and I explained how much independence means to me, and how much I am enjoying feeling interdependent as well. That became a larger discussion than I would have expected. I don’t think she had any notion of my wanting to be a leader in what I do, mostly because I never saw myself that way.”
“Yeah,” Jas said. “We all have some of that. You probably have it more than me.”
“I may well,” she said. “You certainly do. Angie and Cammie have even more of that drive than I do, definitely.”
“They are pretty driven,” I said, chuckling.
“They are!” Amy said. “In any case, once my mother understood, she tentatively gave it her blessing. Mostly, she is trusting me to know what I need, and to know you. She will talk to my father, of course. He will make his own decisions, but he trusts her judgment when it comes to me, by and large.”
“Of course,” I said.
“Based on what you said earlier, I told her I thought you would be able to visit at some point this fall. I think that is correct,” Amy said.
“That’s the plan,” I said. “We want to.”
“And it’s good that her expectations are clearer,” Jas said.
“That is why I told her. It was...” Amy said, then paused.
She shrugged after a second and said, “It was partly as I thought. She accepts that I am me and will do what I want. And that, if something makes me happy, it is probably good. But ... it wasn’t just that. I said before that I think sometimes they see me as a willful toddler, much too large to discipline but also worthy of concern. Now, I believe my mother sees me as more of an adult. Meaning emotionally, not just physically. That I am thinking things through and making choices that are right for me, even if they aren’t conventional.”
“That’s a lot of progress!” Jas said, hugging her.
“It is!” Amy said, hugging back. “Much of it may be fair. I think I was more of an adult than she thought even a year ago, but I have also grown a great deal over the last year.”
“I agree,” Jas said. “Both of those sound right.”
“I will let her know that you are planning to visit. She will be happy. And she will make sure my father understands and accepts things. I think you will like both of them. They are not overly complicated people, but they are honest and intelligent. They work hard, and they have always wanted the best for me. Sometimes, they could not understand what that was, but they tried and still try. And, unlike Cammie’s parents, they have not tried to force me to accept what they thought was best for me when I knew better.”
“That’s a huge part of good parenting, I think,” I said. “Knowing kids will, in the end, be their own people, and letting them be the best version of themselves, not trying to force them to be who you wanted them to be.”
“Though also guiding and making sure they give other things a chance,” Jas said.
“That, too, definitely,” I said.
Amy smiled and said, “I think you two will be excellent parents. I do not know if I will have children. At one time I was nearly certain I would not. Now, I simply do not know.”
“You’ll be an excellent parent, too, I think,” Jas said. “Not from instinct, perhaps. But it’s something you can learn.”
“That is how I feel about it as well,” Amy said. “At times, I thought I was ... damaged. And that my children would likely be damaged. But I do not think that now.”
“I don’t, either,” I said. “To either.”
“I agree!” Jas said.
That got Jas and Amy hugging again.
When we got home, the others all greeted Amy with hugs. We rehashed some of the conversation about Amy’s parents.
Cammie said, “It’s amusing. Steve is particularly good with parents — mine excluded! — so it makes sense that he has to do this more often than most people do.”
“It ... kinda does,” I said, nodding and smiling.
“I don’t think my parents are especially difficult,” Amy said. “But it has been years since I have introduced a friend to them. And never a lover. Perhaps they are difficult under those circumstances. It seems like we will find out.”
“It does!” Jas said. “And ... two lovers.”
She grinned and gave Amy a kiss.
“That may complicate things,” Amy said, nodding. “But I am not sure how much. My mother did not seem particularly bothered by the idea. Nor that we are living together. Though ... we should start moving. Because we are not supposed to be living together now.”
With that, we started moving boxes to the car. Once we filled both of the big cars, we headed over to Amy’s dorm. She got checked in, picked up her key, and we started the process of moving in.
“At least I am on the second floor this time,” Amy said. “The stairs are not so bad, but this is more convenient.”
It definitely was. Amy didn’t have all that much stuff, but it was still work. I had almost forgotten how much work it had been moving in and out of the dorms in my first life. This was a good, if slightly unpleasant, reminder.
It was also worth a thought. If things with Amy went as expected, we would help her move from here back to our house in the spring. After that, it wasn’t impossible that we might never move our own things again. Hiring someone to do it would be easily within our means, after all. It was within our means now, really, but this was part of our being ‘normal college students.’ Within two years, we fully expected the news to be out about my P.C.’s Limited holdings. At that point, there would be no pretense of being ‘normal.’ I could be ‘modest’ and ‘almost like a normal person,’ but that’s different.
Mel and I checked the camera we’d set up for the graffiti. According to what Al said, it seemed likely that our PI had simply never crossed its path, but Mel also thought the IR setup was likely prone to not working in sunlight. We hadn’t much concerned ourselves with daytime vandalism, after all.
For now, we tabled discussion of it. The camera really had just one job, and it had done it. Testing showed that it could still do that job if necessary. It wasn’t a real security solution.
If we were going to continue to be a target, we would need to beef up security. That could include adding a picket fence around the front yard, adding some sort of sensors that would track intruders in daylight, or biting the bullet and spending some significant money for a video camera setup. We were probably looking at five to ten thousand dollars for reasonable coverage. That didn’t even count making sure the video recorder was fireproof, which felt like a necessity.
That sort of expense would normally be ridiculous, but it might not be in our specific case. Few ‘middle class’ undergrads had the sort of security threat profile we had, and it was only going to get worse from here.
We took Amy out to The Grapevine after getting all of her stuff into her room. She protested, but only mildly. Cutely, really. As with so much, it reminded me of last fall’s Amy. Our first trip to The Grapevine had been only somewhat of a date, at least at the start, but it was also the first time she’d really enjoyed a date. This — a dinner with all of us — was unquestionably a date. A triple date, with Angie and Paige and Cammie and Mel, but a date.
She came back to the house with us and spent the night with Jas and me. Tomorrow would be soon enough to start sleeping in the dorm.
Whether any of us would do more ‘more’ with Amy in the dorm was an open question. Our bed was far more comfortable. And we still had Amy’s apartment, with its own comfortable bed. Things were markedly different than they’d been. Amy’s dorm was much more convenient after movies or the like, but none of us minded a bit of extra walking, and sleepovers were normal now.
Sunday, August 24, 1986
Amy joined us for church. We dropped her off at her dorm after lunch, with promises to see each other very soon.
After that, it was the usual calls. Jess was off the list because I didn’t have a new number for her. Aside from that, we got in touch with the usual people. Those of us in college were in various stages of readiness for the fall. None of the engaged couples seemed overly stressed thus far. But Cammie and Mel’s wedding was first, and they weren’t stressed, so anyone else might feel obligated to live up to their example. Laura, meanwhile, found the soap opera of our various house-related threats disturbing but also quite amusing.
We firmed up our plans for Tulane’s game against TCU and A&M’s game against LSU. We were heading to New Orleans on either Thursday, September 11th or Friday, September 12th. The TCU game was at one in the afternoon at the Superdome. Marshall wouldn’t be available on Friday, naturally, but we would get together for brunch on Sunday the 14th with Curtis and Marsha.
After the Tulane game, we would head over to Baton Rouge, see the A&M game, then go back to New Orleans and spend the night there.
How much of this involved driving very late at night depended on our classes. Two weeks in, missing a class or two should be fine. Some professors are picky, though, and there were four of us to be considered.
Cammie and Mel would watch it on TV. Officially, this was the first game where they were back to being friends with Andy and Cal. Amusingly, Cammie and Mel had become actual friends with Kelsey Cooper and Valerie Hutchins, Andy and Cal’s current official romantic partners. That was perhaps risky for Kelsey and Valerie, but everyone seemed to think it was fine. Kelsey and Valerie had managed to look squeaky-clean and entirely straight this far and hoped to keep that up until well after graduation. They wouldn’t go as far as fake marriages with Andy and Cal, even if the NFL came calling for either of them, but everything up to that point was fair game.
Privately, both Andy and Cal, separately, had mentioned some nerves about the NFL. The odds were overwhelming that they would wind up on different teams. How would that work? Long-distance relationships sucked. And we all assumed they would suck more if you couldn’t even acknowledge that there was a relationship.