Chapter 26

Dan Richards's turn:

The voice on the phone said "Pine Grove Baptist Church. May I help you?"

"Yes ma'am," I said. "This is Dan Richards. Is Pastor Jones in a position where I can speak with him?"

"He's in his study," she said. "Just a moment."

There was pause, then a click. "Barry Jones. Can I help you?"

"You might be able to help me. Dan Richards here," I said. "Wanna feel you out on something."

"Well, hello, Dan. I hear your business is booming. What's up?"

"Got a question. Exactly how ecumenical are you feeling these days?"

"Depends," he said. "I'm curious, though. Throw me something."

"I got a couple of young friends who want to get married ASAP. Like Saturday. I need an officiant."

"Uh ... okay ... You know what I'm gonna ask next."

"Sure. She's Jewish. Not practicing very hard. He's from one of those Ozark splinter sects. Kinda close to Baptist..."

"How old?"

"She's nineteen. He's twenty. She's a music major. He's in mechanical engineering."

"Kind of short notice. Not..."

"Brother Jones, they're quite likely both virgins. Couple of geek kids who found each other."

"Parents?"

"Her dad's a high-powered Houston lawyer. He's living with his uncle. They'll sign the license."

"Both the kids are over eighteen. They don't need parents to sign, but it's nice to know. Uh, so where? I don't know the schedule for our activity center. I can check..."

"We have a meeting hall in our new building. We'll do it here, if you don't mind."

"Just as uh ... unusual as when I married that last couple? Let's see ... Bill and Donna?"

"About the same."

"How're they doing, by the way?"

"Expecting a child. His first. Her second."

"Yeah. I remember her daughter. I hear her name from time to time. Youngest doctoral candidate anybody seems to remember."

"That would be my Cindy. Her friend's a year older. Same program."

"Strange bunch you have there."

"Don't I know it. So you'll do it?"

"I'm writing it in my book right now. Do I get a chance to talk with 'em before the ceremony? You know, make me feel all pastorish and all that."

"Lemme get 'em to send you a set of choices. And Brother Jones?"

"Barry," he said.

"Okay. Barry, that boy, he makes that delightful lady who answers your phone sound like a Shakespearian thespian."

"Oh, that's our Kate. She does carry an accent, doesn't she? Seriously. Worse than that?"

"You'll meet 'im. He might even look you in the eye. Boy's bashful around strangers. Kara's got him out of his shell."

"Sounds like a good couple. And I need to get over there and visit your new building."

"Please do. You're welcome to just walk in. We'll be glad to see you."

"Okay. Next time I'm up the road in that direction. Take care, Dan. And God bless."

"Thank you, Barry. You, too."

I leaned back in my chair. Cindy looked at me. "See! That wasn't hard!"

"No, actually it wasn't. Get with the two lovebirds and tell 'em that Brother Barry would at least like to meet 'em some time this week."

"They'll work it into their schedule. Kara's organized. Bert..." she giggled, "He's the giddy one."

"Cute's an over-used word," I said. "But definitely 'cute'." I tossed an arm back and ran my fingers through that sassy hair.

"You..." she sighed. "Don't need to be starting something."

"Just a tiny little physical token of the myriad ways I adore you. And Kara's gonna get that from Bert."

"Already does," Cindy said. "At least the touching and caressing part. You're right about the virginity, though, if either of 'em's to be believed."

"They don't look like liars."

"Nope. I'm jealous, though..."

"Why're you jealous?"

"Kara's asked Susan about bein' a virgin on her wedding day. She didn't ask me."

"Well, baby, you're pretty busy sometimes. Susan was probably available, that's all."

"Yeah, maybe that's it."

"Are you working or studying?" I asked her.

"Is there a difference?"

"We get paid for the first one."

"I'm doin' the second one, but it feels awfully workish."

"What's the topic?"

"A little excursion of thought."

"Enlighten me."

"Vial of tritium gas in a nice, stout little chamber with an aperture. Magnetic paths. Heat recovery. I toss a hundred watts of laser at it, I can account for the heat input from the laser and I know I won't see magnetic energy. Wonder if the tritium gets excited?"

"Alan," I hollered, "Cindy's threatening fusion again!"

"Shhhhhh!" she giggled. "And Nikki's in on it."

"It hasn't been tried?"

"Of course it's been tried. But I'm thinking..."

"You're gonna try this on university property?"

"Oh, I dunno. They get soooo wrapped up with safety and environmental and government red tape. I just want to excite a little tiny bit of tritium."

"They don't want a crater where Auburn used to be," I said.

"I think we have a handle on the potential energy," Cindy said.

"What about radiation?"

"Gee Oh Ell."

"Huh?"

"GOL. Good ol' lead."

"Are you sure I can't interest you in a doctorate in Elizabethan poetry?"

"We don't have the laser," she said. "I want a hundred watts, to start."

"Stoppit!"

Little girl voice (from the girl I married at fourteen) "You never let me have ANY fun!"

We escaped the office together in search of the ultimate hamburger in a college town, went back to work, made the afternoon, her mouse-clicks alternating with mad spates of typing. That's 'dissertation' stuff. Not nearly as scary as adventures in nuclear fusion.

On the downhill side of three PM, her phone rang.

"Hi, Kara." Pause. "Yeah. Uh-huh." Pause. "No, nothing special tonight." Pause. "Yeah, I can shove 'im out the door for a while." Pause. "Oh, he'll mope for a bit, but I'll reward him appropriately later." Pause. "Okay. After dinner." Pause. "Love you, too. Seeya!"

"And that was Kara, I'd guess," I said.

Giggle. "I love you being right, you know."

"You're the best 'right' I can lay claim to."

"Claim?" she giggled. "Maybe we need to play that 'innocent servant girl' game Tina told me about."

"Uh-huh." In my head, I laughed, though. One of the worst-kept secrets among us was that Tina held the title of the world's worst role-player, not that any of us were seriously into games, but Cindy did her 'sweet and innocent' thing from time to time. It was easy for me to believe Cindy because I remember her sweet and innocent just a matter of a couple of years ago. "Don't make me save this file and throw you over my shoulder..."

She giggled. That happy titter has melted me since the beginning, the first time I cracked an off-the-wall joke, testing the range of the mind I thought I saw when we first started hanging out together. I heard her chair pushed back. "You know, I need a break. I know what a GOOD break would be like ... If you promised to work really hard tomorrow and I promised to study really hard tomorrow, do you think we could have a tiny little interlude?"

I waved at Alan on my way out of the office. Cindy was right behind me. In the sun... "You know, you promised to use your powers for good, not evil..."

She grabbed my hand. "I promise to be VERY good..."

Forty-something guys aren't supposed to still be ruled by their peckers. Sad. Cindy's entirely capable of making me forget everything for an hour with her. Or two.

Still a perfect, youthful body. Flawless skin. Those darned freckles like a constellation around the green eyes. She pushes herself into my arms. I feel those smallish titties mashing against my chest as we kiss. I clasp her head between my hands, holding her so I can look into those eyes.

"You. No man has a right to dream of such as you, Cindy."

"You and me. Meant for each other. You're the reason I am who I am. Hope you like it."

"Like. Love. Adore. Worship. Not enough words, baby."

"You told me that with your eyes first, Dan. I read it in your eyes before I heard you say it. I knew. I was crazy, I risked everything, trusting what I read in your eyes."

"Those are stars. You put them there."

All this while we're undressing. Three years of constant practice. We know each other like, well, like Jo knows her flute or Kara knows her violin. Cindy can play me like an instrument, from pianissimo to forte. Little darlin' starts out in my head.

The score for the round stops at Cindy – 3, Dan – 2. She's in a favorite place, lying prone on top of me.

"That does clear the mind, doesn't it, darling," she said.

"Yes. And several ducts."

"Ewwww! How clinical!"

"You, my dear, know exactly what you do to me."

Giggle. "A two-way street, you know."

"God, yes..."

"Well, now I think I'm mentally prepared to discuss the impending marital relations with Miss Kara."

"You sure that's the subject?"

"Yep! She told me. She says she's gathering data. Trying to understand..."

"I thought I understood once, too. Then I met you."

"I'm not all that," Cindy said. I know, though, that inside that amazing head, she does know that she's everything – to me.

"You are."

Cindy's turn:

After dinner. "Where's Dan?" Kara asked me.

"At the office. We sort of took a long break this afternoon. He's catching up. Very conscientious, is my Dan."

"Long break," Kara said. She still has that 'shy' thing going, although I see it disappear, mainly under two circumstances. The first is when she puts her violin under her chin. The second is when she's around Bert. I'm thinking that in both cases, she is a virtuoso.

"Yeah ... Part of the spectrum. You know what I mean."

"I think I do. That's sort of what I wanted to talk about. I'm nervous."

"Why? You're marrying a guy that adores you. I know you, and you wouldn't let him within ten feet if you didn't feel the same way."

"That is all true. But Cindy ... we're both virgins. I'm scared."

"Of what? That it'll hurt? I've heard some people ... But I wasn't one of them. Forgive me for being blunt, but have you ... your finger? Anything?"

Her face reddened.

"Okay, that's a 'yes'. I'm thinking you're not stupid, so you know about hymens and all that."

"Yes. Susan asked me the same thing."

"Susan's not stupid, either. So I guess she told you that if you had any left, you sort of..."

"Yes," Kara said softly, almost whispering. "I ... uh ... stretched it. Maybe too much. Bled a little."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah. A bit."

"Better now than on your wedding night."

"Night?" she giggled, transforming. "We may not make it out of the parking lot."

"Kara!"

"Kara, nothing! Just like today. 'Long break.' I know you're being polite and all, but I know what it means. I see the black blocks on the community calendar and I KNOW. And there's a LOT of black blocks and that means either you all are being horribly abused, or you all LOVE it. And Cindy, forgive me, but you do NOT look abused. I see sex in that context, and I WANT it. With Bert, naturally, but I want it."