Chapter 40

Kim’s turn:

Finally, Tim’s back from the field! “Tim, did you check your voicemail today?”

“Nope -- what did I miss?”

“Umm. Karen. Evidently Vicki sent her a text, and she’s upset about Vicki being in a calculus class, and more generally about her being in college.”

“OK, so what do you think needs to be done?”

“Tim, I sorta reacted on the spot. I invited her to come out here for the weekend. And, umm, I invited her to stay with us.” Tim’s gonna kill me one of these days. I don’t MEAN to be flighty and some of this is HIS fault, setting me on a path where I get to make my own decisions. I know I should’ve called him. I didn’t.

Silence. He sat down, and Vicki ran in, squealing: “Dad! Mom’s coming out for the weekend! This is gonna be SO cool!”

“OK, Kim, Vicki. Sit down -- we need to talk for a minute. Vicki, do you understand WHY your Mom’s coming out?”

“Nope, and I almost don’t care, Dad. She can run around with us and have FUN with us. I can show her where I go to school, and show her Bot-bot and Zeke.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. In fact, it may just be the best way to handle all this. But I’m going to be late getting in from the power plant on Friday. Can you girls pick her up at the airport?”

“Tim, we have it covered. I apologize for not asking about her staying here, but I thought it was the best way to answer a lot of the questions she wasn’t asking.”

“OK, girls. But Vicki, your Mom’s going to be a guest, so I want you to clean up your room, and also the guest room. And make sure the guest bath is clean, and has fresh towels. And get some extra toothbrushes in case she forgets hers -- remembering Karen, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“OK, Dad.”

Vicki scampers to her room, and I look at Tim. And he looks at me. “Tim, I didn’t mean to presume anything, really.”

“No, Kim. It’s OK, and the more I think about it, the more I think you’re handling it exactly the right way. If you haven’t already figured it out, Karen has no idea what we’re doing here, or what the Munchkins are doing. She probably thinks we’re force-feeding Vicki something, rather than just letting her explore, and letting her be herself. Kim, you need to understand that Karen is NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer. She was an asshole when she dumped me, and I’d never want her in my life again, but apart from all that, I guess she’s sorta OK as a person.”

“She’s Vicki’s mom, baby,” I said. “We need to keep her in her daughter’s life.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “But she needs to SEE what is “normal” around here -- it’s beyond what most people can imagine, and certainly beyond what she can imagine. If she doesn’t see it and live it for a couple of days, she’ll never understand. What’s happened here is simply fear of the unknown on her part.”

“I hadn’t thought it all out like that, Tim, but you’re right.”

And now it’s Friday afternoon, late. And me and Vicki are “being twins” today -- khaki shorts and sloppy Auburn T-shirts. ‘Carefully, delightfully disheveled’, Tim calls it. We’re standing here at the arrival gate, and Karen walked thru the door.

Vicki squealed “Mom!” and ran to her, hugging her. I’m right behind her, and she sees me, extending her hand. I push her hand aside and hug her, feeling her stiffen. “Hi, Karen. I’m Kim, and we’re happy you’re here. Don’t know whether to call you an in-law or an out-law, but you’re family here, and we’re delighted to have you.”

“Thank you Kim, and it’s gracious of you to invite me to stay with you. I wasn’t looking forward to paying hotel bills. Vicki-baby, it’s good to see you looking happy and healthy. But that Auburn T-shirt – seriously, are you actually a student there?”

“Mom, like I’ve showed you, I have TWO sisters here, and we’re ALL students at Auburn, and it’s FUN! We’re majoring in electrical engineering, like everybody else.”

Karen looked at me, then to Vicki. “Umm. Vicki, not very many people major in electrical engineering. And how did you get in? What about entrance exams? And what about a high school diploma?”

“Mom, let’s get your bags, and I’ll explain some more.” Vicki’s matured since she’s come to live with us. She’s more self-confident, expressive. Of course, running with Terri and Rachel, you either assert yourself or you get left behind. Vicki’s not getting left behind.

We go to baggage claim and I take one bag, Vicki takes the other, and we walk out to the Honda. Vicki jumps in the front with me, and immediately punches up a Boccherini quintet, cranks the volume back and starts. An excited Vicki can be a verbal avalanche. After all – just past her ninth birthday now, still getting a handle on that ‘self-restraint’ thing.

“Mom, we all passed the GED, but Dr. Hoskins said it didn’t matter. He’s the president at Auburn, and I think he can admit anyone he wants. He found out that we were teaching some of his students, so he gave us some research money, and invited us to be students. It’s FUN, and we like his students.”

“Teaching his students? Kim, what’s this all about?”

“Karen, we call Vicki and her sisters ‘The Munchkins’. What else would you call them? Anyway, Terri and Rachel were trying to keep squirrels away from the bird feeder, and wound up building a little robot to do it. It was working, but it had some unused capabilities that they wanted to play with, so they changed some of its programming to make it act like a puppy. That started getting pretty funny, so they posted some Youtube videos of it, and some Google engineers saw it. Google engineers were intrigued by this application of robotics and, Terri’s words, ‘cyberpersonality’, so they flew out here, liked what they saw, and gave the girls some research money to develop it.”

“Terri. Ten, right?” Karen queried.

“Just turned eleven,” Vicki answered.

I continued. “Then, to do some of the programming, and some of the design changes, the girls...”

“The ones in those pictures you send me?” Karen asked Vicki. She got a head bob for an answer.

“They started using some upper-level students. That’s when Dr. Hoskins found out about it. He wanted to get Auburn officially involved, which is why he wanted the Munchkins in classes.”

“Yup, and Mom, we’re building a NEW robot now. He’s like Bot-bot, but we put the paint-gun module back, and the squirrel-targeting stuff back, and we’re calling him ‘Zeke’, the Zombie-Killer! We made him talk like John Wayne for now, and when he’s attacking, he makes Bruce Lee sounds! He’s funny!”

And now we’re at the apartment, unloading bags, and Vicki uses her iPhone to unlock the door. Karen looks at me and raises an eyebrow -- I just shrug.

Stepping in, I said, “Vicki, show your mom the guest room -- I’m going to start some coffee.”

Vicki said, “C’mon, Mom, and I’ll show you MY room, too!” and led her down the hall.

I ground some coffee and started the coffee maker, and Tim stepped in, obviously tired. Vicki came running back in, and we both hugged Tim. About then, Karen came back into the living room.

Tim said, “Hello, Karen. I’m glad you were able to come out here, and I apologize for not answering your call on Tuesday. I’ve been out at a power plant all week, and those places are so noisy you can’t hear thunder. Anyway, I called Kim and she said she had it all under control, so I didn’t worry.”

I took a whiff and said, “Uh, Tim, let me be tactful, baby. You REALLY need a shower.”

And Vicki held her nose and nodded her head.

Karen said, “Thanks for having me, Tim, and you’re right about Kim. Go ahead and take a shower, and maybe Kim or Vicki can explain a few things here.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Tim.

He said, “Vicki, it’s getting close to bed time, and we all need showers, so why don’t you go take yours too, while Kim talks to your Mom some more.”

The two of them bounced off in different directions. Karen looked at me. I read a bit of wariness in her eyes.

When Vicki left the room, I said, “Karen, you already knew that Tim was smart. And I started college at age 16, so you have to figure I’m pretty smart, too. Karen, you have to understand that Vicki is probably smarter than either of us, maybe smarter than BOTH of us. And Auburn’s not kidding. The Munchkins really ARE teaching some of those engineering students.”

Karen said, “Kim, I appreciate what you’re telling me, and I feel much better just seeing Vicki, and seeing where you live, here. But I guess I need to see these ‘Munchkins’, and maybe see where Vicki is doing all this stuff. I have to tell you it seems pretty outrageous.”

I smiled. “Karen, you haven’t SEEN outrageous yet. Wait ‘til you see the rest of the bunch. Look, it’s getting late, so why don’t we all get some sleep, and we can show you more tomorrow. Does that sound OK?”

The next morning, when Karen walked into the dining room, I had Vicki up in my lap, arms around her, talking to her as usual, and Vicki was looking at me. I said, “Good morning, Karen. Pour yourself some coffee and wake up a little. Tim is in there showering, but as soon as we wake up some, we can get dressed and go over to the Pavilion for breakfast.” I didn’t tell Karen that the reason Tim NEEDED a shower was that I made a very happy event with the guy she rejected.

“Uh, Kim, what’s the Pavilion?”

“Mom, it’s where the rest of our houses are, next to the airfield,” Vicki interrupted.

“What? You have houses at the airport?”

“No, Mom. The airFIELD, OUR airfield, where we keep our planes. Maybe Kim will take you up for a ride, if there’s time.”

“Kim? Are you actually a pilot?”

“Yes ma’am., sort of. Pretty much everyone here is -- I soloed but I don’t have my actual private license yet. I’m still a student, so I can’t take passengers. We don’t have a big plane yet -- just the little Cessna 152. I can get one of my new sisters to fly us and we can borrow one of the larger ones.”

“You people are strange. And what’s this about “our” airfield?”

“Well, we – the corporation - own it, and we’re nearly the only ones who ever use it, except for the fixed-base operator, Wally. He runs his crop-dusters out of there, and he does all our maintenance for us.” That was a good move on Alan’s part as CEO – we picked up Wally’s debt on the airfield, gave him a long-term lease on the ag aviation facilities for a dollar a year. He maintains it. We use it just as much as he does.

“OK, I’ll have to wait and see, I guess.” Karen looked overwhelmed. “I get emails. Pictures. Phone calls. Skype. And it didn’t ready me for the reality, Kim.”