Chapter 34: Intimidation

November 29, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"Hi, Doctor Barton!" Jessica said as we walked into his house.

"Hi, Jessica! Hi, Steve! Hi, Kara!"

"Hi, Al," I said, shaking his hand.

Kara gave him a light hug and kissed his cheek. His eyes twinkled and Jessica rolled hers. This had become a pattern and was just a subtle way for Kara to tease Jessica.

"Hi, Steve!" Fawn said, skipping into the foyer.

"Why, hello, young lady!" I said with a big smile.

She giggled and skipped away, and Doctor Barton turned to lead us into the house.

"Don't flirt, my foot," Jessica said under her breath so that only Kara and I could hear.

I just chuckled. I had done it to get Jessica's goat, and it had worked. Jessica playfully slapped me on the arm.

"You're heading back to Indy tomorrow?" Doctor Barton asked.

"Eight weeks of Medicine," Jessica said. "Then I'm back for an oncology rotation at Loyola."

"I thought that was the roughest," Doctor Barton said. "Chemotherapy is about as close to being a witch doctor as anything I can think of. Giving your patient poison to save their life just seems a bit counter-intuitive, not to mention the low success rate and horrible side effects."

I'd winced at the words 'low success rate' and Kara put her hand on my arm to reassure me.

"It could be worse," Jessica said. "I could be on a pediatric oncology service."

"Only saints and angels there," Doctor Barton said. "You have to be or you're likely to drink or drug yourself to deal with the utter despair. My save rate is pretty good, but it hurts when I lose a patient. They lose most of their patients. Give me the ER and trauma surgery any day."

"I understand your job is mostly administrative and teaching. Do you get much time in the ER?" I asked.

"The previous Head of Emergency Medicine rarely set foot in a trauma treatment room. I take at least one shift every week, and I put myself on the on-call rotation. I don't see how I can run the ER without actually working there! I think you understand my thinking; you're a programmer and let other people run your company."

"I think so," I nodded. "I understand my wife had a good interview right before our trip to Boston."

He nodded, "She impressed the committee. I'm pretty confident that she'll become an Emergency Medicine Resident in June."

"It's a bit early to ask, but at some point next Fall, I suspect we'll need to make a trip to Russia for my friend Tanya's wedding. Do you think you'd be able to see your way clear to give Jessica two weeks off?"

"Tiger!" Jessica protested. "You can't ask that!"

I chuckled, "The nice thing about not being part of your little fraternity is that I can ask whatever I want!"

Belinda laughed, "You're learning fast, Steve. Don't let them suck you into their insanity."

"I won't," I said. "I have enough of my own to worry about without adding any more!"

"That's for sure!" Jessica agreed.

"When the time comes, Jessica can put in a request and we'll see what we can do. If it's at the wrong time, she'd miss a couple of weeks of a rotation and that might set her back a bit. But, she's already looking at six or seven years to complete her surgical Residency, so it's not that big of a deal."

"Doctor Barton, I plan to get my license after my first year of Residency. I'd like to be able to do a rotation with MSF if the hospital would participate."

"We do have a relationship with them, so it might be possible as a PGY3 — that's the third year, for those here not in the fraternity! Make sure you remind me at the start of PGY2 so you can apply for the program."

Gerry came into the room just then.

"Dad, some friends are going to see the new Star Trek movie tonight. Is it OK if I go with them?"

"So long as you're here for dinner, that's fine. Who's taking you?"

"Joey's mom," he said.

"We saw that last night, Gerry," I said. "It's pretty good. There are some really funny parts. I think you'll like it."

"Thanks for not spoiling it for me!" he said, heading back upstairs, where I assumed he was talking to his friend on the phone.

"Steve, would you like me to play for you?" Fawn asked.

"I'd love to hear you play!" I said.

Fawn gave me a really cute smile, then went to get her violin. Jessica rolled her eyes and Kara laughed softly. Doctor Barton and Belinda were clearly amused as well. Fawn played three pieces, all of which were performed flawlessly, at least to my untrained ear. When she finished, she curtsied and flashed me a beautiful smile. Jessica elbowed me in the side, but not hard enough to cause me to react.

After a very nice dinner, which was followed by coffee and pie, we thanked our hosts and bid them goodbye.

"She's really laying it on thick!" Jessica said. "And you're just egging her on!"

"He's teasing YOU, Jess," Kara giggled. "Fawn is even further off limits than Penny, because there is no way Steve is going to mess up his relationship with either you OR Doctor Barton for her."

"And Lyudmila? What's the difference?"

"She was over eighteen, first of all," I said. "And I do not have the same relationship with her mother and father that I have with Doctor Barton. Not even close. It's kind of a corollary to my rule about girls in relationships."

"So what about this teasing with Kathy and Kurt?" she asked.

"Again, a different story. First of all, it's all just hypothetical at this point. Second, my relationship with them is very different from the one with the Bartons. And third, who knows what will happen fifteen or sixteen years from now, assuming that they have a girl. I'm just having fun teasing you, Babe."

"If you didn't have to worry about the legal or relationship issues, would you go for it?" she asked.

I chuckled, "That's like saying 'Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?'!"

"In an ethics class that I took," Kara said, "they asked all kinds of hypothetical questions. You know, things like if you could commit a murder and be guaranteed to get away with it, would you do it?"

"I'm not even sure what those questions are supposed to measure," I said. "It's kind of like asking someone if there were no rules, would they follow the rules? Honestly, it's that kind of dilemma that always brings me back to my own guidelines of trying to do as little harm as possible."

"Not 'do no harm'?" Jessica asked.

"I don't think that's possible. Every decision we make, even the most benign, has the chance of hurting someone. We go to Connie's for pizza. If we decide to go to Bacino's or Pizzeria Uno instead, Connie's is harmed by losing our custom, and so is the waitress who loses out on my tip."

"Isn't that pushing things a bit too far?"

"I don't think so," I said. "It's demonstrating the point that even a relatively benign choice, like which restaurant to eat in, has the potential to cause harm, even if it's in minute amounts. And the cumulative effects of everyone's choices can cause severe harm — Connie's could go out of business, and everyone who works there would lose their jobs. I'm not saying that should paralyze us — just that we should admit that it's not possible to avoid causing some amount of harm, no matter how good our intentions and no matter what choices we make. That's why I say we do the least amount of harm."

"I suppose that makes sense," Jessica said.

"It's served our husband reasonably well, though in the past he didn't always think things through sufficiently before acting."

We walked into the house and went to the kitchen to make some tea, and then went to the Indian room to relax.

"Do you want us to come down next weekend?" I asked. "Or do you want to come here?"

"You're coming down for our anniversary weekend, so I'll drive up on Friday night this week and go back to Indianapolis on Sunday. Medicine is a pretty calm rotation, and I'll be working regular office hours."

"What are we doing for our anniversary?" Kara asked.

"The same thing we did on our wedding night!" Jessica said. "Screwing ourselves silly!"

"I was thinking more about dinner and gifts," Kara giggled. "But I won't object to sex. Ever!"

"Do we really need to bother with gifts?" Jessica asked. "It's not as if any of us need anything and we all have enough money to buy the things we really want."

"What about Christmas and birthdays?" I asked.

"I kind of feel the same way, though I guess we need to do something for the kids."

"Santa Claus?" I chuckled.

"Heck no! If we buy our kids gifts, why let some make-believe fat guy in a red suit take the credit?" she demanded.

"Are we all agreed, then?" I asked. "No gifts for each other for our anniversary?"

"Yes!" both girls said.

They'd just made my life infinitely easier.

December 1, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"Steve?" Kaitlin said, touching my arm to get my attention because I was deep in my 'zone'.

"What's up?"

"There's a man here to see you. He didn't have a business card, but said his name is Alfonso."

"I have no clue who that is. Did he say what he wanted?"

"No. He just asked for you by name."

I got up from my desk and walked out to the reception area with Kaitlin. I saw a dark-haired guy who looked to be in his mid-30s wearing a leather jacket.

"I'm Steve Adams. Can I help you?" I asked.

"I'm a friend of Anthony's."

I suppressed a sigh. Anthony and Connie were not giving up. I'd hear out whatever this guy had to say, and then decide what to do about it. Whatever it was, it was going to be forceful.

"I've severed my ties with Anthony, so I'm not sure what it is that you want."

"Just a quick chat in private," he said.

"Let's take a walk and get some coffee," I said, wanting to get him out of the office.

We walked out the doors and I turned to head for the coffee shop where I usually bought my morning coffee. Once we were far enough away from the union hall, I spoke.

"You can tell Anthony to go straight to Hell," I said.

"He asked me to give you a message."

"You can take that message and shove it up your ass," I said forcefully. "You have two choices. Walk away and never come near me or my family again, or I'll take it up with some friends of mine who'll make sure you never come near ANYBODY ever again. Got it?"

"You don't want to threaten me," he growled.

"That wasn't a threat, Alfonso. That was a promise. Now, get the fuck out of here and tell Anthony to fuck off!"

"You're going to regret this," he hissed.

"On the contrary. I'm going to walk about four blocks and take care of this problem once and for all. And YOU are the one I'm going to tell them about."

I turned on my heel and started to walk away. I smiled when I heard him call me from behind. I did my best to compose a stern face and turned around.

"Don't," he said. "I'm just a messenger."

"Then take the message back, exactly as I gave it."

"I can't say that to him!" he said.

I chuckled, "Just tell him that you're quoting my exact words. And tell him that if he sends anyone else, or bothers anyone I care about, I'll go straight to Little Jimmy Marcello to have this problem solved. Permanently. «Capisce»?"

"«Sì ho capito»," he said with a smile.

"«Buona!»" I replied.

"You aren't Italian!"

"No, but I listened to my «padrone» often enough to learn a bunch of words and phrases. Do us both a favor and stay out of this. Anthony is out of his league here. You realize where you met me, right? Do you think I'd be in an office rented from a union hall without connections? And I'm friends with some very important folks here in Chicago, if you get my drift."

"I was told you were from Cincinnati and had gone off the reservation."

"I AM from Cincinnati, and I did have a personal relationship with Don Joseph Grossi for years. But he's gone now, and I'm working with friends here in Chicago. Just relay the message, Alfonso."

"You wouldn't be interested in hiring me, would you?"

"Are you a computer programmer?"

He laughed, "No. I can fix just about anything you put in front of me if it's mechanical. Computers are voodoo!"

"If you want a legitimate job, I have quite a few contacts in the construction business. One of them is always looking for guys who are really good with mechanical equipment. Deliver the message, and if you want, I'll put you in touch with some people. I'm sorry that Anthony put you in the middle of something without warning you what was going on."

"Like always at my level," he said, shaking his head.

I nodded, "I was there. I was a low-level guy, and just did what I was told. I'm not Italian, so I could never really be involved at the higher levels."

"Can I ask you something?" Alfonso said.

"Sure."

"Why turn nice after you put on the tough-guy act?"

"Why make enemies when you can make friends?" I said.

He nodded and extended his hand. I took it and we shook, and then I walked back to the office.

"Is everything OK?" Kaitlin asked when I walked in.

"Just fine. He was just delivering a message for a guy in Cincinnati that I know. No big deal."

She cocked her head and looked at me, clearly believing that there was more to the story, but knowing that she wasn't in a position to ask.

"OK. There's a phone message for you from a Doctor Bauer at IIT. He called about ten minutes ago."

"Thanks. I'll call him back right now."

I took the pink message slip and went to my office and dialed Doctor Bauer's office number at IIT.

"Hi, Doctor Bauer, it's Steve Adams," I said.

"Ah, yes. I'm working on signing up companies to interview on campus in the Spring. I'd love it if NIKA would join the recruiting fair."

"I'm not sure if we'll have any openings in June, but we can certainly participate."

"Understood. We'll put you down on the list for now, and you can let me know in February. I also wanted to talk to you about an internship program like the one that Nuvatec has. Would you be interested? Scott said he and Bill would be happy to help you set things up on your side."

That would certainly help make up for hours that Tasha and Penny couldn't work during their school year.

"I'll have to run that by Julia and Elyse, but I'd love to do that. I'm sure that we could only take one person, though. Also, Penny told me that she sent in her application and she was accepted. Are you able to provide any scholarship money like we discussed?"

"It was a bit tricky, but because she would have basically had a free ride at UofC due to her parents working there. She's a standout student who comes with your recommendation, so Dean Stauffer was amenable to offering her a full scholarship. Have her parents call me, please, and we'll work out the details."

"Thanks, Doctor Bauer," I said.

"How are things going for you personally?"

"Great!" I said. "Kara is finishing the first semester of her Junior year and Jessica is about halfway through her fourth year of medical school."

"And your son?"

"Jesse is growing like a weed. And my friend Elyse is pregnant, and due in late May or early June."

"I've thought about asking you to speak on campus, but I'm not sure that your unconventional lifestyle would play very well, even if you only talk about school and your business."

I sighed, "I know. I've heard that before. It's why I've stepped back as the face of the company as well. Some people just can't deal with how I wish to live my life."