Chapter 51: Changing Dynamics, Part I

August, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

Stephanie made lunch for us and after we ate, I decided to use the whirlpool. I wasn't turning on the sauna, so Stephanie kept her clothes on. She was wearing shorts, so she once again dangled her feet in the water while I let the warm water soothe my aching muscles. It wasn't as bad as it had been, and I figured I would be feeling up to snuff in another day or so.

"How long are you staying?" I asked my sister.

"I figured I'd go home on Friday. I told Stepping Stones that I was going to miss the whole week. I didn't really want to be home, anyway, because the pervert was coming home on Monday afternoon."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. He's going back to Bowling Green?"

"I'm not sure what strings Mom pulled to make that happen, but he is. There were a bunch of letters from the Ohio Department of Corrections that I didn't get to read. Anyway, forget him. When is Sofia arriving?"

"Sunday morning," I said.

"I'm going to call Dad and let him know I'm coming home on Sunday because I want to meet her."

"Just so you know, my usual plans are that Penny visits on Wednesday and Saturday, and Anala stays over on Friday nights. Jackie used to visit on Wednesdays, but I don't think she will now that she's moved in with Jamie. The rest of the gang is coming back sometime in the next week or ten days. Bethany will be here around the 13th. I have the race in Michigan to go to, but this year it's a week before school starts instead of the day before, which is nice."

"And you have to see a doctor," Stephanie reminded me.

"I'll call Doctor Alborg's office and see if they can recommend a GP at the University of Chicago Medical Center. I can do that when I get out of the tub."

"Do you need to go shopping or anything?"

"I think we're fine for a few days. I'll want to go look for a car tomorrow or Friday. I just don't feel like going today, though I should look up some dealers in the Yellow Pages."

Stephanie helped me out of the tub so I could dry myself and get dressed. We then went up to my study so that I could call Doctor Alborg's office. They gave me the names of two GPs who worked in the same office building where he had his office. I called the first one, and they said that they had an opening on Friday if I wanted to come in at 8:00am. I gave my information, and they made the appointment for me with a Doctor Kulczycki.

After I hung up, I opened the yellow pages and found a SAAB dealer, a Dodge dealer, and BMW dealer and started a notebook for making my decision about a car. I decided that on Thursday morning I'd go to the library and look at Car and Driver and see if I could find some information on BMWs, as I didn't know much about them. I was mentally leaning toward the SAAB, but a lot would depend on how much it cost. I had no idea about that, but figured I'd get the basic information from the magazines.

Kara arrived just before 3:00pm and when Stephanie let her in, she came right to the sunroom to see me.

"You're really OK?" she asked.

"Yes. Just a bit banged-up, but I feel pretty good, all things considered. Aspirin is keeping the aches and pains at bay, and the whirlpool is helping."

"Big Brother, you sit. I'll help Kara bring in her stuff. She's sharing with Elyse, right?"

"Yeah. Get her a house key and a room key from the box in the kitchen pantry. They're marked."

They left, and I leaned back in the lounge chair and closed my eyes. I was still more tired than I usually was, but otherwise, as I'd said to Kara, I was doing OK. About an hour later, the girls came into the sunroom to let me know that Kara was moved in and unpacked. They were going to make dinner and directed me just to stay where I was. I didn't object.

After dinner, Penny arrived as she usually did on Wednesdays, and after checking to make sure I was OK, and that there was someone else with me, Alice went home. Penny snuggled into the lounge chair with me and put her arm around me. Kara and Stephanie disappeared, leaving Penny and me alone.

"Are you feeling good enough to go upstairs?" she asked quietly.

"Probably not, Penny. How about we just cuddle? Maybe by Saturday I'll feel like it. I have to see a doctor on Friday to get checked out."

"I can check you out!" she giggled.

"I'm sure THAT part still works! But I need my neck and head checked."

"What about your car? Your Trans Am was so cool!"

"I'm going to get a new car. I'm not sure what. I'm going to go looking tomorrow and hopefully get one by the end of the day Friday."

"How does that work? I know you have insurance, but what happens?"

"In this case, because the other driver was at fault, his insurance company gives me money to replace my car. They don't give me what I paid for it, of course, because it was four years old. They also gave me money to pay for the hospital, my doctor visit on Friday, my plane ticket to fly home, and other stuff that I wouldn't have had to pay for if the accident didn't happen. And they add some to make sure I would agree not to sue."

"That's cool. Was anybody hurt badly?"

"Well, my friend Emily has a pretty bad concussion, which is when your brain gets banged around; the truck driver had a broken leg and nasty cut on his arm. The driver who caused the crash died."

"Whoa! But you guys weren't hurt too bad. How?"

"She pulled over directly in front of the semi and got hit. That started a chain reaction. I managed to stop and not hit anything, but the guy behind me couldn't stop fast enough and hit me. Another car hit him, and there were at least two other cars that hit each other. It's just one of those things. Just somebody not paying attention and all that happened."

"To die because you weren't paying attention just seems so sad," Penny said.

"I'd say dying, no matter what the reason, is pretty sad. Sometimes it might be necessary, like if you're defending your family from an attacker, or defending your country from an invasion, but it's still sad."

"Like your girlfriend from back in eighth grade."

"Yes," I said.

We lay together for a couple of hours, kissing occasionally but mostly just cuddling. When it was time for Penny to go home, I walked her to the door and watched her as she walked slowly home, stopping several times to look back at me. I waved as she went inside. My being hurt really bothered her, and I began to see that she did love me, perhaps as much as Jackie and Stephanie had said that she did.

"She's cute," Kara said. "How serious is this?"

"Serious enough, I suppose. I like her a lot, but she's pretty young. She's only fifteen."

"I wish I'd met you when I was fifteen!" Kara exclaimed.

"No, you don't. I don't think the fifteen-year-old Kara was ready for Steve Adams. Heck, I'm not sure that the seventeen-year-old Kara was."

She sighed, "I was a very different person then."

"What did Doctor Mercer say about continuing your counseling?"

"She suggested the same guy you're seeing, Doctor Alborg. I think she figures that if it worked out OK for you and Bethany to see her, it should be OK for both of us to see Doctor Alborg. And it might be beneficial."

I smiled, "Because you told Doctor Mercer that you want to get back together with me."

"Maybe!" Kara smirked. "Seriously, though, we talked when I was here, remember? We have a long way to go before anything like that happens, if it ever does."

"But you're ready for Steve and Kara bare together?" I chuckled.

Stephanie laughed. "Nice play on words about the bears!"

"He has his moments," Kara said. "Yes, I told you I was ready for that. Are you?"

"It's complicated. We need to talk more before anything like that happens."

"We'll have plenty time!" she said with a smile.

The dynamics of the house were going to change in a serious way. With Kara and Sofia living with me, I'd have to tread carefully so as not to create a situation that led to open warfare between them. I also had to take into consideration my relationships with Penny and Elyse, as well as my relationships with Bethany and Tatyana. I had, at one point, hoped that my Senior year would be simple, but it appeared that it was going to be just as crazy as the previous seven years, if not crazier.

I stayed up a bit later than I had the previous days, deciding to head to bed around 10:00pm. Kara gave me a goodnight kiss on the cheek and then went to her room. Stephanie and I went to my room and, as she had the previous nights, waited until I was safely in bed before she lay down on the air mattress to sleep.

On Thursday morning, I felt well enough to try to run. I started off slowly, but even at a slow pace, my head was pounding before I'd gone even ten blocks. I decided to try walking at a moderate pace and that helped. I didn't walk the full remaining distance of my run, because I wanted to be back about the same time I would have had I run. I figured I'd wait until I saw Doctor Kulczycki before I tried to exercise again.

Stephanie had breakfast waiting for me, and Kara joined us as well. We went over the plan for the day, which was to visit the library, then go grocery shopping, then visit a couple of dealerships. After breakfast, we walked to the University of Chicago library and found the magazine archives. I looked at the index of periodicals and found a couple of issues of Car and Driver that looked promising, plus one of Road & Track. The girls wandered around the library while I read several reviews.

I quickly realized that the BMW, at over $19,000, cost more than twice what my Trans Am had cost, and the SAAB Turbo was nearly as expensive at $17,000. Of course, both those were the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, but I expected that I wouldn't get the price down even close to the $13,000 price tag on the Dodge Daytona Turbo Z. A review of the Daytona called it one of the ten most-wanted cars.

I could afford to buy any of the cars, but wondered how practical it was to spend $20,000 on a car when everything, including taxes, was factored in. The reviews of the BMW and SAAB warned about higher maintenance costs due to being foreign cars, and I had to take that into account as well. My Trans Am, other than regular oil changes, tune-ups, and a set of tires, had been almost maintenance-free.

I paged through the magazines and found a review in Car and Driver of the Mustang GT and it was positively gushing. A loaded Mustang was in the same price range as the Daytona and had better performance. I'd always liked Pete's Mustang and decided to add it to my list of possibilities. The more I thought about it, the less I felt like I'd spend the money for the BMW, and the SAAB was interesting more because it was Swedish than anything.

I found the girls, and we walked back to the house. I updated my notes in my notebook with what I'd discovered and found a Ford dealer as well. We made a grocery list and Kara drove us to Jewel, as her car was more comfortable for three than my sister's Nova. I suddenly wanted the Mustang because it would completely smoke the Nova, not that the turbocharged Daytona was a slouch. I pushed that thought out of my head, because it wasn't a practical reason to decide one car over the other.

One thing I'd have to do was get a new radar detector. The old one had been installed in the Trans AM and I was sure that the behind-the-grill receiver unit had been wrecked, but even so, Cincinnati Microwave had a new unit called Passport which was the size of a deck of cards and would mount on the windshield or on the dash. I'd seen an ad for it in one of the car magazines.

While we were putting away the groceries, the phone rang. It was Emily calling to tell me that she was home and was doing OK, though she still had headaches. She was on bed rest for at least a week and joked that she'd be happy if I'd come down and keep her company. We chatted for a few minutes, but she was too tired and her head hurt too much to talk too long. I told her I'd check up on her in a few days and we hung up.

I called information and got the number for Cincinnati Microwave and ordered their Passport model. The person who took my order said that delivery would take about two weeks.

That afternoon, after lunch, we made the rounds of the four dealers so I could get an idea of what the cars were like up close. The Ford and Dodge dealers were cool and took their time to talk to me and go over the cars. The Ford salesman was pretty aggressive and handed me an offer on a loaded, jet-black Mustang GT. The price seemed reasonable, but I let him know I had a few more cars to look at and that I'd be back the next day for a test drive.

Both the BMW and SAAB dealers were stand-offish, seemingly not believing that I could afford the cars that interested me. When I asked about pricing at the SAAB dealer, the salesman made a point about what he called the 'availability' charge, which to me seemed like a way to boost the price beyond the MSRP because the cars were in limited supply. I saw the exact model I would have wanted on the lot and pointed that out, but the salesman said that the charge was 'standard' and 'authorized' and he couldn't waive it.

The BMW dealership wasn't much better. I didn't see any bogus charges on the sticker, but it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to negotiate much of a deal. When everything was applied on the sticker, and I figured in the tax, the BMW 323i would cost me around $22,000, which was just too much to spend. I thought about Becky's BMW, and the fact that her mom and dad also each had fairly new ones as well, and decided that being a lawyer must pay pretty well.

On the ride back home, Stephanie and I discussed the cars. She liked the Mustang GT, but thought the Daytona had a nicer interior. I agreed with her, because the model I'd looked at had really nice leather seats, an upgraded sound system, and a few other extras. The Mustang also had upgrades, but I didn't think the seats were as nice. But that wasn't going to be a deciding factor. I decided to test drive both cars, let both salesmen know I was looking at the other car, and see what I could work out.

When I arrived home, I reviewed the notes I'd taken, then called both the Ford and Dodge dealerships and arranged for test drives on Friday afternoon. I let both salesmen know that I was looking at the two cars, and that at the end of Friday, I'd buy one of them. I figured that was going to get me the best deal, and because I already had an offer from the Ford dealer, I made sure to arrange to test the Daytona first, so I could gain some leverage.

I called my dad to discuss things with him and he gave me a few pointers about negotiating. I wasn't financing, so the dealers couldn't play games with monthly payments or interest rates or anything like that. The same was true because I didn't have a trade. It was an all-cash deal, and all they could do was give me a price. He suggested I simply tell them to give me their best possible price, and I'd decide between the two offers. I thanked him and told him I'd let him know what I ended up buying.

On Friday morning, the girls walked with me to Doctor Kulczycki's office. I filled out some paperwork, and a few minutes later, I was ushered into an exam room. The nurse came in and took my temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, then took a vial of blood for testing. The doctor came in just as she finished. He asked why I was there and I explained about the accident and explained that I also wanted a complete physical because I hadn't had one since starting college.