Chapter 10: Another Party

I may be gullible. I had Sean and Sheila at the airport, then all the way home. Nothing tipped me off. Christine was also on the drive home, but she lives to keep secrets. In any event, we piled out of the cars, grabbed luggage and headed into the house. Not unexpectedly, George shouted for me to come to the pool room. I dropped Sean's suitcase in the hallway (he and Russell carried the footlocker). It was not til I saw George's grin that I knew something was up. A heartbeat later, he yelled, "Surprise."

It was not my birthday yet. That was on June 6th, Wednesday the next week. I can forgive that, because the opportunity was so perfect. They got me, though Christine could have managed better. I'm quite sure my surprise had started to fade before the phones and cameras started clicking. My initial shock paled beside the list of people attending. All nine of my grad students had either stayed or returned. Mimi was there from Boston. Also, "So, Frau Doktor. We meet again."

Mimi attending forced me to reconsider an earlier thought. I said I left no friends in Boston. That was not true. Rather, I did not recognize when Mimi became my friend. I am unsure if I introduced her to Lars or her to him. Regardless, both were putting faces to names they already knew. Funny that. With Lars, I was not surprised he had checked my past.

I did not know that Mimi cared enough to bother. Under the circumstances, I could only do one thing. I gave her the full just-for-family hug. Do I need to mention that Christine was nearby? I introduced them, then went to talk to Lars. They might have had a difficult conversation, but maybe not. Christine listens well and Mimi reads faces for a living.

Regardless, they got on well. Lars and I, not so much. His English was better, but I was completely tongue tied. Eventually, an unlikely reprieve came. My brother George wanted to meet Lars. Siemens does a lot of data handling, for automation and such. George wanted to get some information on specific issues concerning transatlantic protocols.

In less than a minute, PDAs came out. Before much longer, the conversation was over my head in two languages. I'm not sure Lars recognized when he lapsed to German. I'm very sure George never noticed. I glanced over, to find Christine quietly laughing. I had to join her. Having a much smarter brother is often a pain, but there were times I was glad to be the slow sister. Christine mimed shooting pool, so I picked a cue and racked the balls. For someone with no formal instruction, she was pretty good.

Toward the end of our second game, Sean and Sheila came in. Sean watched me line up a shot, while Sheila hugged Christine. I dropped the eleven and fifteen, then lined up on the eight ball. Sean was thinking that my game was much better and that he should not play me for stakes. Then he laughed. I didn't catch much of his next thought, except Sheila's name. It was enough. I motioned Christine over and told her to have Jerry teach Sheila the game. Christine's whole face crinkled with laughter, but not a sound came out.

The rest of the party was a success. Sheila thanked each of the nine grad students and submitted to a picture, taken by Christine. Naturally, Sheila would do the processing. That would become part of the story. I could easily imagine some future Antiques Roadshow appraising a framed picture of, say, Sheila and Elspeth. For provenance, there would a set of the local paper, NY Times Magazine and Unique Bride issues containing the wedding coverage. That was very easy to believe. Harder was the thought that a picture of Elspeth and I would also be in the collection. Christine hugged me. She often does when I feel unworthy.

The star of the night, surprisingly, was Mimi. I had worried she might feel out of her depth. Instead, she was a minor celebrity, thanks to my dissertation. I was beginning to wonder how many people had actually read the thing. The only exception in the room appeared to be George. That was so wrong. No one reads dissertations, much less mine. Christine said, " ... because it's yours." That made me feel more inadequate. Heroes have no flaws.

That was my mood when Mimi looked up and waved me over. With her were Elspeth, Evaine, Conrad and someone I did not recognize. I gave the woman my once over out of reflex. Young, well-dressed but not flaunting money, professional, but dressed casually, attentive, poised. It pointed to a high-level bureaucrat, here to see me. It came as an almost physical jolt. This, yet unnamed, woman was here to see me. She was keeping company with Elspeth and Evaine, which likely meant something to do with the Amish.

I was out of time. Turning to Elspeth, I nodded. She said, "Senator Robertson, may I present Dr. Siobhan Richards. Jo, State Senator Morgan Robertson." Two last names.

That was funny, so I used it as an icebreaker. "Excuse me for laughing. I was just noting that I have two first names, while you have two last names. Perhaps we could swap one. Then again, Richard Morgan does not suit me either. Would you want to be Siobhan Robertson?"

She tried not to laugh. She tried hard, turning red in the face. When she broke down, we all laughed with her. It took a full half minute for Senator Robertson to return to speaking composure.

She said, "You're good. I was warned that you might be a bit much to take, but not that way. I was expecting massive, face piercing, punk, lesbian bull. I am pleased to be misinformed. What?" Everyone had become very still.

I said, "Christine, show the Senator one of my before pictures. Senator, I had a major makeover last week. This should give you a baseline for comparison."

I had no idea where Christine was when I started speaking. I still had no idea til she held out a PDA, presumably with my image showing. Sean says that you need to assume your people can do their job. Christine's job was to be ready when I needed her, and invisible the rest of the time. It was a job I could not come close to doing. Regardless, my ploy had the desired effect. Senator Robertson fought to keep her jaw from dropping. I gave her points for managing.