Chapter 16: A Modicum of Justice

February, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

Driving home from the airport on Saturday morning, I took time to reflect on what had happened during Karin's visit. I realized that what I had witnessed was a total transformation of Karin into an adult. Granted, she was only nineteen years old, but she no longer harbored the silly fantasy that we both had from that night in December 1979, when we'd first made love when she was fourteen and I was sixteen. And if I was totally honest with myself, we had a far better chance of a future together now than we'd had before when she'd assumed that we were meant to be together.

That said, there were enormous mountains to scale if that were to come to pass. There were other girls in the mix, but the biggest mountain to scale was the idea of not settling for just one girl. Either I had to conclude that was not my future or that Karin had to agree to some kind of arrangement that included Jennifer and Elyse, at a minimum. I didn't see the latter happening, which meant that it was my mountain to climb, not hers. Ultimately, I faced a stark choice, and the monogamous option led to further stark choices.

When I arrived home, I gathered my books and went to the Indian room to do my homework. I'd managed to keep up during the week, and still spend enough quality time with Karin by not going to work. I'd also skipped two full weeks of karate, but given the slow progress I was making towards a brown belt, it didn't make much difference. All in all, I felt it had been a very good week.

I had wanted to walk to Carla's for our dinner date, but the light rain made that a bad idea. I drove the short distance to Carla's apartment and found a parking spot that was less than a block away. I zipped up my coat and pulled my fedora down so the brim shielded my face, and walked quickly down the street, then up the steps to Carla's door. I knocked and she let me in, greeting me with a quick kiss.

Our date was very much like the previous one. We enjoyed our meal, though I refused the glass of wine she offered because I'd be driving. After dinner, I took Carla into the city to see Footloose at her request. We both enjoyed the movie, and I found the parallels between Reverend Moore and Kent van der Meer and Alan Blanchard hilarious, and saw myself in Ren, though without the ability to dance anywhere near as well as he could. I wondered if Kara would go see the movie, and if she did, how she'd react to it. I certainly wasn't going to suggest it, because I thought it might actually bother her.

After the movie, Carla and I went for ice cream, and then I took her home. I walked her up the steps to her apartment and we exchanged a quick goodnight kiss. After she went inside, I walked back down to my car to drive home. Carla seemed to be using me as a set of training wheels. Not that I felt used, but that she felt I was safe to gain her footing in the dating world. My plan was to keep it at that level. Carla was nice enough, but I didn't need all the emotional baggage that would likely come with taking it further.

When I arrived home, I went to my study and turned on the Apple IIe so that I could write in my journal. It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door. Expecting Elyse, I called out for her to come in and was surprised to see Jackie.

"Hey," she said. "Why are you holed up in here? Everyone is upstairs dancing and drinking."

"I'm writing in my journal. I really didn't have a chance while Karin was here, and I want to put my thoughts down on paper, so to speak. It's something I've done since I was fifteen. I'm sure that I told you about that."

"You did. You just picked an odd time to do it."

"And when have I had time? I spent every moment I wasn't in class with Karin, and other than homework, I didn't do anything else last week except pay attention to her."

"She's one of your main candidates, isn't she?"

"I suppose that's the best way to put it. It's a complicated mess, and I don't have any answers."

"You're not even twenty-one, Steve! Just keep doing what you're doing and don't stress about it. Finish school, get your first job, or start your company, and then see where you are at that point."

I sighed, "That is what I keep coming back to. I think I'm going to write for another twenty or thirty minutes, then take a sauna and head to bed. I'm sure our friends will forgive me."

"Want some company?" she asked.

"In the sauna or bed?"

"Both. I think Cindi will appreciate it, and I know I will!" she declared.

"OK," I chuckled. "Meet me downstairs in about half-an-hour. But keep it to yourself. If people show up randomly, that's cool, but I'd prefer not having a dozen or more people in the sauna tonight."

She left the room, and I focused on writing the thoughts about Karin that had been bouncing around in my head all week. Twenty-five minutes later, I saved my work, made a backup copy, and then shut everything down. I went to the basement to find that Jackie had pre-heated the sauna. Because of the house rules, we used towels, but it didn't really matter in the end, as nobody else came in. After we got out, we went up to my room to shower and then got into bed.

I woke up fairly early and went up to the attic to exercise and practice karate, then used the shower in the basement so that I didn't disturb Jackie, who was still sleeping. I made some coffee and went to my study and called Karin. She'd arrived home very late the night before and had just gotten out of bed, but said the flight was OK and that she was happy that she'd come to visit. She and her parents were looking forward to my visit that Summer.

When I hung up from the short call, I called Tina Hoff. We only spoke about every two months, though our letter writing was just as regular as it had been since the Summer of 1980. There wasn't much news since our letters were so detailed, but it was good to hear her voice. As always, she was practical, but hopeful, understanding that any future we might have together was quite some time away, given that she was only sixteen. She said she was looking forward to my visit and was glad that I was planning to stay for several days.

When I finished my calls, I made myself some breakfast and read the newspaper. My housemates and guests filtered in over the next hour, mostly eating cereal or Pop-Tarts, though Cindi made a big breakfast for Jorge and herself. I cooked bacon and eggs for Jackie when she finally got out of bed, then went to spend some time with Kurt and Kathy. Things were going along smoothly for them, though Kurt wouldn't know for sure about his job for a couple of months.

Sunday afternoon was fairly quiet, with people spending time in small groups rather than having a big discussion as we'd had most Sundays. I was happy to see that Jamal had begun coming again, and I was even more gratified when I answered the door early in the afternoon and saw that my new friend, Andrei Zhukov, had decided to come. He'd come straight from church, and had a bag with him so he could change into jeans and a sweatshirt. He and Dave spent quite a bit of time talking as I moved from group to group to socialize.

After dinner that evening, when all of our guests had left, I spent some time with Elyse talking to her about the situation with Karin, as well as the other stuff going on in my life, and afterwards, called Bethany, Jennifer, and Stephanie to catch up. I turned in early, given that I'd have a much busier week with class, work, studying, and karate. I was happy when Elyse joined me and enjoyed sleeping cuddled with her after we'd made love.

After a normal day at school on Monday, I went back to work after having taken the previous week off to be with Karin. At work, I was given a new microprocessor-based project — working on a digital scale for Spartus. It used the same TMS-1000 chip that the alarm clock had used, but in this case I was simply given the specs and asked to design the program, rather than taking the work that was already done. Scott was showing extreme confidence in my abilities, because I was, in effect, an intern, not one of his full-time programmers. It was not nearly as exciting as writing video games, but it was my project.

"Steve!" I heard Dave say sharply.

I looked up sheepishly.

"I was in 'The Zone' again, wasn't I? How many times did you call my name?"

"Three," he chuckled. "Didn't you just get that assignment this morning?"

"Yes, but a bunch of routines I need are obvious — turn on the LEDs for each number, a timer to reset the display after the sensor turns off, that kind of thing. The only really tough part is the calibration routine. Everything else is pretty easy."

"Is the hardware ready?" Dave asked as we walked out to my car.

"It would be kind of hard to design the software without it! The prototype was finished last week. I have the specs from Paul and I'm shocked at how simple the hardware is. The LED display costs more than the processor chip!"

The same scenario played out when it was time to head back into Chicago so that I could have dinner with Dave and we could go to our database class. By the time I arrived home, I was mentally beat and went to the sauna to relax. I was joined by Elyse and Jackie, who thankfully sat quietly with me and let me use the sauna to recharge. When we finished in the sauna, I went to my study and checked my answering machine.

A beep signified a new message.

That was Stephanie's voice. The double-beep indicated the end of my messages. It was after 10:00pm, which meant it was after 11:00pm in Milford, so I'd have to wait until Wednesday afternoon to call her. Had it been an emergency, she had the other phone number and would have let one of the girls know that I should call, even if it was late.

I went to find Julia and Cindi and asked them about the software development course. They both agreed that they'd be willing to take it. I also knew that Dave was interested, so I wrote his name down as well. I'd track down some other CS majors on Wednesday and I was sure that I'd easily have twenty names by the end of the week. That would certainly be enough to get the class on the course schedule for the Fall.

On Wednesday morning, my phone rang while I was in the shower. I hopped out, wrapped a towel around myself, and picked up the handset.

"Steve, why didn't you call?" Stephanie asked without even saying hello.

"I didn't get the message until about 11:20pm your time. It was too late to call, and you didn't leave an emergency message with Jackie or Elyse by calling the other line."

"Jeff got arrested again!" she said. "I don't have a lot of time because I have to catch the bus, but I wanted you to know. It was the same stuff he did last time."

"Holy shit! Mom must be freaking out!"

"She's already trying to offer money to the girl's family to make it go away."

"Who was it?"

"Some new family that moved into the Woody's old house. The daughter is six! It's just disgusting!"

"You said trying. What happened?"

"I overheard her tell Dad that they refused and told her they were going to tell the police that she'd made the offer."

"Damn! Is he still in jail?"

"He has a bail hearing today. He's being held pending a felony charge being filed by the County Prosecutor this morning."

"Well, keep me posted. It sounds like he's managed to get himself in real trouble this time and mom won't be able to do a damn thing about it."

"We'll see. She's going nuts right now. She's so desperate that she even asked Dad if he'd ask you to talk to your friend at the police department."

"Fat chance!" I said. "I won't lift a finger for someone who acts like that around little girls."

"That's what Dad said. It instantly became your fault at that point. I don't know what she expects, given how she's treated you. Anyway, I have to catch the bus. I'll call you later and let you know what happened."

"Thanks, Squirt. See you in three weeks. I assume that's still on?"

"I'm still working on who to bring, but it'll happen. I double-checked with Dad."

We said 'goodbye' and I hung up. It looked like the chickens were finally coming home to roost. I wondered exactly what kind of punishment Jeff would get, and what the fallout for my mom would be for trying to pay off the girl's parents. I felt bad for my dad, but I had no such feelings for my mom or brother. He'd had his chance to reform when he'd been able to walk on the previous arrest. I shook my head and went downstairs to breakfast.

Classes that day were typical, and I managed to track down a dozen CS majors I knew who said that they were interested in the software development class. Both Dave and my friend Mike from Theta Xi said that they'd spread the word and get me names by lunchtime on Friday so I could turn the list in to Doctor Bauer on Friday afternoon.

That evening, Penny came by to work on her computer programs. After our work, we made out for a bit before I sent her home. Penny clearly wanted more, but I wasn't ready to move to the next level. Anticipation was a good thing for both of us, but for her, it meant that when the time actually came, she was not only going to be ready, she was going to demand that I take her to my bed.

I didn't hear from Stephanie until Thursday evening. Jeff was out on bail, which had been set at $50,000, but my dad only had to put up $5000 for a bond. Jeff had been charged with two felonies, but the bigger problem for him was that the previous misdemeanor charges would be brought up at trial. They hadn't filed any charges against my mom, though Stephanie said the County Prosecutor did warn her not to have any contact with the girl or her family.