Chapter 32

Dan Richards' turn:

"Dan, what's YOUR observation of Dana and Ed as a couple?"

The question was posed to me by Mister Charlie, AKA Charles Peebles, Justice Emeritus of the State of Alabama. I have his signature on a couple of documents central to my life. One is a waiver of the minimum age for marriage, awarded to a Miss Cynthia Susan Smith. The second was as the officiant in the marriage of Miss Smith to me. He's been a big part of my life and is a man whom I respect.

Now he's asking me a question.

"Sort of like looking back in a time machine, Mister Charlie," I said. "Me and Cindy a few years ago. She's precocious, self-assured, and in love. He's honorable and doesn't know what hit him. Nice guy. Smart. Sane. Conservative. And in love with a fourteen-year-old. She'll be fifteen in January. Her grandmother..."

"I spoke with her grandmother. She's a retired teacher. She's known Ed since he was in high school. He sort of takes care of her as well. Honorable man."

"Which leads me to the obvious question..."

"I'm rather inclined in that direction, Dan. Mizz Lee, Dana's grandmother, says it would be a tremendous relief to her if we could legalize the inevitable here. You know I want to meet these two, just for a talk."

"You talked to another odd couple once before, Mister Charlie."

"Yes, Dan, I did. And look what it got me. I have a wife, Helen. I have an unofficial grand-daughter who's going to get a doctorate in four months or so. And I am part of that menagerie of a community you all have started."

"They're coming back in couple of days or so," I said. "Dana got tested at her local school board. Auburn wants to put her through the mill. I'll make sure to tell Cindy that you want to talk with them. I'm sure they'll love that conversation."

"Let's keep this under our hats, at least a little, Dan. Until I talk with them."

"Not a problem for me. Don't tell Cindy we talked because you KNOW how she deduces things. Female AND a genius. Very dangerous."

"Female, a genius, and cute as the dickens," he laughed. "She had you wrapped around her finger from Day One, didn't she?"

"Yessir," I admitted. "And I'm perfectly happy with it."

"Well, good, son. We'll talk later."

"Okay, Mister Charlie. And thanks again!"

The new offices are a lot quieter than the old ones. If I close my door, I can have an actual private phone conversation, like this one. Of course, the converse of that is that everybody KNOWS I'm having a private conversation. Fortunately, the one who notices the closed door is the other Dan and not one of the wives.

"Everything okay?"

"As the deck watch said on the Titanic, just a little bit of ice..."

"Seriously?"

"Judge Charlie. Wanted to know about..."

"Our wives' latest rescues?"

"Yeah."

"He's gonna do it, I imagine. I mean, the circumstances are awfully close to where you and Cindy were."

"Can't tell anybody that until he interviews Ed and Dana. Final determination."

"It's hard keeping secrets from Nikki and Cindy."

"Don't even hint," I said.

So that's ONE piece of this new puzzle. The other piece – Dana's testing back home, well, naturally Cindy and Nikki got that one in a very excited Facetime session in our living room.

"Gramma says that the lady who gave the tests was surprised."

"Surprised in a good way, I assume," Cindy said.

"Yes. I finished the booklet, went back over my work, then sat there. The proctor lady asked if I was having trouble. I said, 'No, I'm just finished'. She says NOBODY finishes those tests."

Nikki giggled. "Where'd we hear THAT one, Cindy?"

"Oh, yeah, you're sooooo in."

"And Mister Charlie talked with Gramma."

"I knew he'd call her. I talked with him about you and Ed."

"He wants to talk with me and Ed."

"And you need to spend a few days with Mizz Patel at Auburn. Sounds like another trip."

"Yeah ... I wish I could bring Gramma ... I talked with her about what we saw. Gramma's still a teacher at heart and the idea of a place that revolves around learning is fascinating to her."

I watched Cindy. I swear I could see gears turning. She turned to Nikki. "One of us will fly down and get the three of you. I'd miss my co-pilot. I've never flown that far without somebody to talk with." She looked at me. She knows that I flew most of the way back from Alaska by myself.

"I'd hate to miss the trip, but I think that's the way to go."

Later, Cindy hit me up. "You heard the idea. What do YOU think?"

"You're the one, babe," I said. "You did your solo cross-country for your private license without a hitch."

"Easy flight, too. We've done it several times." She skewered me with those green eyes. "This is just the situation where we need a bigger plane."

"I know," I said. "We've talked. There are options we're looking at. But just not right now..."

"I know. But it would sure be nice. What was that one we looked at in Georgia? Cessna 402?"

"Yeah. Nice. It would be perfect. Well, we're not exactly actively looking. We have enough on our plates right now." I should know by now that leaving an opening for Cindy can lead to unexpected results. "Don't go making commitments on anything, baby. It's a good idea. Let's not charge into it, sabers swinging."

She giggled, put the index finger of her right hand in the center of her forehead. I know what that means. She's touching the spot where her bindi goes. "I'll ask Gramma Desai to make an offer to Shiva for wisdom and favor."

"You're cheating," I laughed.

She giggled. "If Gramma Desai's offerings can get all these women pregnant around here, I'm thinking that if she works us a new airplane, Wally's gonna have to check me out in a Gulfstream."

"No!" I said emphatically. "Pistons! We want PISTONS!"

"I knowwww..." But she smirked when she said it.

Work's going VERY good for 3Sigma. Our original core of three engineers plus Jason is off the charts now. Jason's an engineer now and so are four wives, and we've hired a civil guy and we borrow a mechanical guy from time to time. Yes, we're holding a slot open for Bert Williams. Bert's going to be a good one.

Alan's talking about expanding into process engineering. That means ChemE's. Jason's more or less heading up our field service group and he's got thirteen technicians spread over four states. Beck has a full-time underling who takes over the reception/switchboard duties. We have a janitor/groundskeeper.

Alan's turned into a corporate overlord. Don't have to worry about him smoking a fat cigar, though. Tina'd slap him silly. New baby. Terri's just dying to put little Kathy in the stroller and take her around the place. Tina's cautious. So's Susan. It's a wonder that Jason doesn't sling a rifle over his shoulder. He's that nervous and he's protective.

I get to meet Johanna's parents. Yep. Johanna's got a DATE on the calendar. "Not a difficult pregnancy," the doctor told her, "But you're rather small and you have a rather more narrow pelvic opening. We can try a vaginal delivery, but I recommend..."

So Stoney's running around hauling things back and forth to the apartment they're renting and Johanna's folks fly in. It's easy to see a lot of things when we meet the parents. First, Jo's mom shows where the red hair and freckles come from. Second, Jo's dad, a retired army colonel, is a BIG guy with a real presence.

With a bunch of veterans of Gulf War I & II, you can bet war stories were told over good food and good beer.

And, "Stoney says you guys are looking for a bigger airplane."

"We are. Something that we can juggle six or eight seats and more cargo and a bit more speed would be nice."

"Yes," Anders said. "Stoney and Jo tell me about flying around the country and how you now find yourself restricted with your present stable of aircraft."

"Yeah. Tomorrow Cindy's flying back to Louisiana to bring back some new friends, a guy, a girl, and her grandmother. If we had six seats, she wouldn't have to fly down there by herself."

"She's qualified, surely?"

"Oh, she's plenty qualified. It's just that we don't have anything with six seats."

"I know some people," Anders said. "Want me to see what I can do?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Well, for starters, some of these aircraft have been used for some off-reservation 'commerce', shall we say. One might be cheap for the initial purchase, but would require new inspections and perhaps some internal refurbishment."

I imagined what might be involved in off-reservation commerce and I imagined a good-sized plane stripped of seats, no logbooks, needing a lot of TLC. There are ways around such things, but they generally involve sizable amounts of money. I knew from conversations over the years that just losing the airframe and engine logbooks could drop the price of a plane by twenty percent or more. Still ... a bargain price...

"We'd certainly be interested," I said. "Anything you come up with, let us know."

"Now, explain to me again what sort of hold you have on my daughter and my son-in-law," Anders said. "I thought they'd keep an apartment in Houston. Instead ... Alabama. Alien thought."

"Stoney swears that Johanna heeds the voices of the sea and forest."

"Ah, yes ... My dear wife started that 'Old Ways' thing when Jo was but a baby. I'm afraid it took hold in her."

I laughed. "Oh, yeah. Fits right in with the bunch here – Baptists, Hindis, Jewish. Why not a Druid priestess?"

"They go on about the music here, too. Moreover, my son-in-law says he gets to keep engineering. I did not see him as one who could leave behind his career. He stays with the things he loves."

"One of them is Johanna," I said.

Anders gave me a wry smile. "Can't ask for better for my daughter. This pregnancy is confirmation."

"You know, Anders, I can see where you might get that feeling about Jo and Stoney. They're a spot of sunshine."

"Dan, this place is a bucket full of sunshine. That little redheaded wife of yours. Seriously, a doctorate? And her Cajun friend? And I don't want to even think about the three with the robot. I saw that thing. I can't help but think that those three need to look at some military programs. Google's fine, but..."

"Nothing says loving like projectile weapons," I laughed.

"Yeah. Cindy showed me some clips of their first railgun. The stinkin' NAVY'S getting one from their research. I'm thinking that the army oughtta be into Bot-bot." He caught my expression. "If a seventeen-year-old can have a physics doctorate then Terri should be at least an Army captain." He smirked.

"Anders, every time I ever saw a colonel look like that, my life was fixing to be hell."

"I was a lieutenant once, myself, Dan."

"It never seemed to help when I was getting my butt chewed."

"I doubt you got your butt chewed very often. You don't seem to be the type."

"I had my days."

"We all do. His phone buzzed insistently. I looked at the display. "Ah! I'm being summoned."

"You know you're welcome any time, Anders. If you ever need a refuge while you're here..."

"I dunno, Dan. I need to go find lessons on doddering. I understand that grandpas dodder, and by this time tomorrow I will be a grandpa."