Chapter 77: A Man of His Word

December, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

In the morning, I woke up at my usual time to find Kara already awake and apparently watching me sleep. I kissed her and then we got out of bed so that I could shower and she leaned against the counter in the bathroom while I did. She took a shower after me, and we went back into the bedroom to dress. Elyse was sitting up in bed, stretching, so I went over and kissed her.

We headed down to breakfast and after I ate, I kissed the girls goodbye and left for work. I picked up Dave, and we drove out to Nuvatec, where, as I expected, Scott called me into his office.

"Now do you see what I was talking about?" he asked crossly.

"I do," I agreed. "I screwed up, Scott. In a major way and I have no excuse. I'm sorry. What are we going to do about Charlie?"

"We aren't going to do anything. You'll continue as you planned. She's innocent until proven guilty. If she is guilty, then it's up to the disciplinary committee to decide on the appropriate punishment, which could be a reprimand, suspension, loss of credit, or expulsion. But for purposes of the class, continue as you had planned before this revelation."

"She had me completely snowed," I said.

"To be honest, and off the record, she had me snowed as well. I believed her when she said that she wasn't involved. If only Callie had named Charlie, she might be able to get by. The fact that Bert named her pretty much sinks her."

"She comes to study group at my place every weekend and usually spends the night in my guest room on Friday and Saturday. I'm a bit uncomfortable with that, but I don't know any way to prevent that without tipping her off or explaining myself. That's especially true with finals coming up."

"You aren't involved with her in any way, are you?"

"No. As I said, we dated some last school year, but we've just been friends for quite some time."

"Hopefully Doctor Bauer can limit any blowback on this. A lot will depend on how low Callie is willing to go to try to save her own skin or drag others down with her."

"I'm really sorry, Scott. I failed to exercise good judgment and almost got caught badly."

"You wouldn't be the first leader who was destroyed by not being able to keep his dick in his pants. I hope you learned your lesson on that."

I nodded, "It didn't get that far, but I understand your meaning."

"Good. Now, get to work."

Before leaving the house that morning, I had skimmed the headline 'India Gas Leak Kills 500' and had resolved to read the article when I returned home, and if necessary, call Anala. I spent a full day at work, doing my best not to think about the cheating scandal, and then headed back into the city with Dave.

After dinner, I picked up the newspaper and read the horrific story about the disaster at a Union Carbide plant in some place called Bhopal, India. A leak of a chemical called methyl isocyanate had already killed 500 and the death toll was rising. Thousands more, possibly hundreds of thousands more, were expected to be sickened. It was, safe to say, a disaster of epic proportions. I took a moment to call Anala and ask her about it.

"That's in Madhya Pradesh," she said, "which touches Gujarat, so it's close to my relatives. The phone lines are jammed, as I'm sure you can imagine, so my parents can't get any information about their parents or my uncles or aunts."

"I really don't know what to say, except I hope that there's a full investigation and they find the cause."

Anala sighed, "It's unlikely given how things work in India. Union Carbide and the Indian government will blame each other, and argue about which of them caused this disaster, but neither will care about the truth; it will be about one assigning the blame for this fiasco to the other. The people will be ignored."

"Now that sucks. Union Carbide should cooperate and if they are responsible, they should pay compensation. Sadly, that rarely happens, at least not in any meaningful way. I believe in doing no harm, but if you do, then you need to do what you can to make it right."

"Exactly," she agreed.

"I miss talking to you, Anala. Would you come for dinner some night soon?"

"I'm actually free on Friday; Prajesh will be out of town."

"Great! See you then!" I said.

Wednesday's mail brought the formal request to testify at a hearing set for Tuesday, December 11th. Kara received her letter requesting a written statement and Bert received his letter requesting that he appear on the 11th as well. I knew that was going to be a rough week.

On Thursday evening, Penny arrived at her usual time, but Sofia intercepted her for a chat. I had no idea what it was about, and Penny simply giggled when I asked her about it. Penny and I made love as we usually did, then showered together. We had some time left, so we sat on the loveseat in my room and cuddled.

"Mom and Bart said that I could stay home when they go visit their friends on the 21st! Will you stay with me?"

"I have to take Sofia to the airport that afternoon, but I'll come over after dinner. You're sure that they won't come home early?"

"I told you they never have. And I'm sure they would call me. It'll be fine! I want to sleep with you all night!"

"Sleep?" I chuckled.

"Well, you know what I mean! After we fuck. Then we can sleep. Can you really do it five times?"

"Yes, Penny, I can do it at least five times!" I replied.

"Did you want to do that other thing with me? The one I asked about?" she said.

"Only if you want to."

"No, I asked if you wanted to do it," she said.

I chuckled, "Yes."

"Good. Then you can teach me how to do it. If I don't like it, I just won't do it again. That's what you taught me, isn't it?"

"It is. How are things going otherwise?"

"Fine, I guess. We have our Christmas concert at school on the 20th. I'm singing in the girls' choir."

"Would you like me to attend?" I asked.

Penny got a big smile on her face.

"Would you? I thought you had exams!"

"I think a couple of hours of music might be just what the doctor ordered. I'll just arrange with Elyse to help me study for my accounting exam during the day."

"Cool!" she grinned. "Now, if I could just show you off as my boyfriend, it would be perfect!"

"Ask your mom!" I teased.

"Adults!" she groused.

"Oh, we're not so bad!" I grinned.

"YOU'RE not. My mom and Bart are a pain in the butt!"

"I think all parents are," I said.

"You won't be. I think you know exactly how to treat kids. You treated me great even before I decided I wanted to fuck!"

I laughed, "You aren't my daughter. That makes all the difference in the world!" I said.

"True. Gross!" she laughed.

We cuddled for a bit and then I walked her to the door and watched her scamper home. The temperature was only around 10°F, and I got chilled just in the twenty seconds it took Penny to go from our door to hers. I grabbed a sweater from the closet in the front hall and went to the kitchen to make some tea, then went into the great room and lit the gas fireplace and sat in front of it.

"Cold?" Katy asked, moving to sit beside me.

"I stood on the front porch for about 20 seconds in a t-shirt and shorts. It's damned cold out there! Want to warm me up?" I teased.

"Right here?" Katy giggled. "On the rug in front of the fireplace?"

"I'm game if you are!" I teased, knowing that she wouldn't agree because of Kenneth.

She laughed, "You and I both know better. You like Kenneth, which puts me off limits, and I prefer a one-woman man. Not that your offer isn't tempting," she said, lightly running her finger down my arm.

I chuckled and put my arm around her and gave her a quick hug, then released her.

"How are things with Kenneth?" I asked.

"Good. Very good, in fact. He asked me to move in with him when I graduate," she said.

"And?" I smirked.

"Maybe. I guess it depends on getting a job in Chicago. Of course, he does have something I really, really want!"

"Oh?" I grinned. "I have that!"

She giggled, "Well, that, but he also has two season tickets to the Chicago Bulls. Just two rows back from the court! The Bulls drafted Michael Jordan from North Carolina and he's going to be the best player in the league very soon. Heck, Chicago might actually have a shot at the NBA Championship!"

"And the Celtics?" I asked.

"They have a great shot at the championship this year, but I've been in Chicago for four years now. I'll always be a Celtics and a Red Sox fan, but I'm getting used to the Bulls. Kind of like you and the Black Hawks."

"Someday I'll get season tickets for the 'Hawks, though I might have to move to Pittsburgh to get my fill of Penguins hockey! Sadly, they need a few more players to play with Lemieux before they can contend."

I finished my tea and got up and shut off the fireplace.

"I'm going to head to bed," I said. "Want to join me?" I smirked.

"Yes, but no; you know why," Kay replied. "See you in the morning," she said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

I headed up to bed and was quickly asleep.

Friday was a perfectly normal day both at school and at home, though more like it had been in the past, because Anala joined us for dinner. After dinner, she and I went to the Indian room, and she lit incense in front of Krishna, and then we sat down with some of her father's excellent tea.

"How have you been?" she asked.

"Up to my eyeballs in the cheating scandal at IIT," I said.

"You did not cheat! You certainly don't need to."

"No, of course I didn't. But some friends of mine did and there's a whole lot of crap hitting the fan. I'll be fine, but it's been somewhat distracting."

"Otherwise everything is OK?" Anala asked.

"I think so," I said, nodding my head slowly. "I'll be heading to Ohio once school is done, and then Jennifer and Tatyana are visiting. Then I start my last semester at IIT. After graduation, both Bethany and my little sister will move in and I'll start my new business. It's going to be exciting, to say the least."

"Yes, it will. How are you doing with your self-examination and your decisions for the future?"

"I think that's also fine. It's just figuring out which possible future is the right one from an interesting range of futures."

Anala nodded, "Yes. That is the question for you. I think you'll do just fine. I shall watch with great interest!"

"And you and Prajesh?" I asked.

"He is actively looking for a house. I would not be surprised if he finds what he's looking for in the next few weeks. Once he buys it and moves in, we can think about moving forward."

"I hope I'll be invited to the wedding!" I grinned.

"Of course! You and all your housemates. It will be a fantastic party!"

We talked for a couple of hours before I took her home.

Saturday was another typical day — breakfast, programming with Penny, karate with Kara and Sofia, and then lunch with my housemates and Bert, who had decided to stay in the guest room until Monday. Callie hadn't left him any notes or messages since the first threatening one, and he figured it would be safe to go back to the dorms.

I went to find Wen, who was in the study room. We went back to my study and began working on the review problems that we'd been assigned. We worked for a good three hours before we took a break to get some green tea.

"Now that our project is over, can I check out your Macintosh?" she asked quietly.

I smiled, "I think we can manage that. When are you going to Thailand?"

"On the 23rd. The timing doesn't matter, really; we're Buddhist and don't celebrate Christmas."

"Does your family practice religion?" I said.

"Not really. Buddhism isn't like Christianity or Islam. It's just sort of a guiding principle of life, a philosophy, at least compared to your Western ways."

"When do you come back?" I asked.

"On the 12th. It's only two days before class starts, but I wanted to have as much time at home as possible. I don't think I'm going to try to do this next year. I'll just go home next Summer and then stay through the year."

"They close the dorms during Christmas. If you want, you could probably use a guest room. Just let me know as far in advance as you can."

"Thanks. Once I graduate, I'm going to move in with my brother, at least until I get married."

"Cool," I replied. "Shall we go check out the Macintosh?"

She smiled, and we went into the study. I shut the door behind us and sat in my chair. Wen sat in my lap as she usually did and started messing with the mouse while I gently squeezed her small breasts, ran my thumbs over her nipples and softly kissed her neck. After a couple of minutes, she let go of the mouse and turned so that I could kiss her. Our tongues tangled, and she threw her arms around my neck. After about two minutes, she broke the kiss, got off my lap, straightened her sweater, and went to the door.

"I'm looking forward to it," she whispered.

"Me too," I said.

She left the study, and I went to work on my summary paper for my world religions class. I finished it just before it was time to make dinner. After dinner, I chose to relax in the sauna, then sit quietly and read The Hunt for RED OCTOBER while others did their own thing. About 10:00pm, Sofia came to sit with me.

"Is everything OK?" she asked.

"I just needed some quiet time. I'm ready for bed whenever you are."

"We can go up now," Sofia said.

I was tense on Monday, and everyone noticed — the girls who lived with me, my professors, and my friends. Even a sauna and a wonderful massage in the evening from Elyse couldn't relieve the tension. I had managed to avoid any run-ins with Callie, though Bert had one confrontation that resulted in her screaming at him as he quickly walked away from her.

Scott had given me the day off on December 11th so that I could attend the hearing as summoned.

Bert and I arrived at the hearing room at 9:00am, along with a few other students. Scott was there, along with Doctor Bauer, though they were not on the committee that was chaired by Dean Stauffer. I was pleased to see that of the six members besides Dean Stauffer, I knew four of the professors and the student representative. The only professor I didn't know was from the Architecture Department. The Chancellor and the Provost were there, as well as an independent attorney who advised the committee.

We all sat in the room while the meeting was called to order and the process was explained. Once that was complete, everyone was asked to wait outside, and we'd be called in one-by-one to answer questions. I was called first.

"Mr. Adams, this isn't a legal hearing, and we do not ask you to swear, though we remind you that if you are untruthful in any of your responses, you could be referred to the disciplinary committee. At this time, there are no proceedings or complaints against you. Again, this isn't a legal hearing, but you are entitled to have legal advice if you think you need it. Do you have any questions? Or do you wish to have someone to advise you?"

"No. I do not have questions and I don't believe I need legal advice," I said. "I'll answer any questions you pose to the best of my ability."

"Would you please explain your relationship with Miss Callie Shepherd?" Doctor Stauffer requested.

I reiterated what I'd disclosed to him and to Doctor Bauer the previous week and pulled no punches in explaining my errors. There were a few questions from the members of the committee, which I answered as best I could. Of course, there were several about what I would characterize as the attempted seduction.

"And you were fully aware of the accusation against Miss Shepherd when you danced with her and kissed her?"

"I was aware that she had named me as a character witness, yes. I made a grave error in how I acted around her. I will point out that Doctor Bauer is aware of the situation. I called him on Sunday morning to tell him what had happened and then met with him and handed him a written statement which I believe he provided to the committee."