Chapter 48: Transitions

June 7, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"So what did I miss while I was away?" I asked Penny when she came into the office just before 8:00am.

"Not much, really. The newbies started last week, but otherwise, nothing important. I'm glad school's out! Of course, you've missed most of the time I've been here full time!"

"And I'm going to miss some more. One of my messages from yesterday was from Chris Gibson at Belarus in Milwaukee. I'll be going up tomorrow."

"To work on HER or on programs?" Penny teased.

"She received both barrels of crazy last time. I think my life might be just a bit too crazy for her. And that's fine. I have my hands full as it is."

"Your new daughter is adorable! Kara is SO lucky!"

"You'll have one of your own someday, I'm sure."

"Maybe ten years from now! I need to graduate from college first, and that's three years. Then I need to find the right guy, get married, and be a couple for a bit before we have kids."

"I'd say that's a good plan. Are you and Terry dating regularly?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing serious right now. He's a nice enough guy, and we've gone out a bunch of times. We'll see."

"I suppose I should go and greet all the new employees," I said.

"Good luck getting two words out of Jeri!" she said.

"I know. But so long as she does what Alonzo needs her to do, she can be as quiet as she needs to be."

"I did get her to talk to me when we were alone, but she doesn't say much. She's scared of her own shadow! I can't believe she still lives at home and has never been out of Illinois!"

"YOU still live at home, Pretty Penny!" I teased.

"Not by choice. Mom wouldn't let me move into the dorms and you don't have any spare rooms because you keep having kids!"

"Cut Jeri some slack," I said. "She'll loosen up, eventually."

Penny lowered her voice, "What that girl needs is a good fucking to loosen her up!"

"Penelope Margaret O'Neil!" I growled. "That's totally inappropriate!"

Penny stuck her tongue out at me, then muttered, "What a grouch!"

I chuckled and went out to greet Jeri, Joey, and Jefferson. That thought made me chuckle — all of their names began with 'J'. If we'd hired Jody, then all four of our new hires would have had names starting with 'J'. It was just one of the strange coincidences that meant nothing, but was interesting nonetheless.

I shook each of their hands and welcomed them to NIKA, and made sure they knew that I was available for any questions they might have or any help they might need. I was still a bit concerned about our expenses, but revenue from custom programming and general computer and network support was picking up. I knew Elyse was keeping a close eye on things, and that made me feel a bit better, but didn't completely relieve my unease.

June 8, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"You could be kicked out of the club, you know," Chris said when I walked into her office at Belarus in Milwaukee.

"For what?"

"You failed to give the club greeting! And you didn't do the club walk!"

"Uhm, Mr. Bykov walked me over to your office after we had tea," I protested. "I'm not sure that would have been the best idea!"

"So you're embarrassed to be in the club?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"No, look, can we just get to work?" I asked.

"As club president, I think your punishment is that you have to take me to dinner again."

"I only have a half-day scheduled here today, and I don't think it's fair to bill Mr. Bykov for my time if I'm not really doing anything."

"OK. Lunch, then. We can go to Waukesha for Ponza Rottas. You can leave from there, and I can come back to work."

I chuckled, "All that to get me to buy you lunch? All you had to do was ask!"

"Good to know! Now, let's put you to work."

She handed me a list of changes that were needed for their inventory and billing system, and I went to the office next door to get to work. I finished all the changes in just over three hours, then spent another hour with Chris, testing and verifying that everything was complete. At 12:15pm, she signed off on the statement of work, and I put it into my bag to give to Elyse so that she could generate an invoice for my time and travel.

"If you're leaving straight from the restaurant, we'll take both cars," Chris said. "I'll see you there!"

I got into my Daytona and followed her dark blue Ford Escort along Bluemound Road until we came to West Moreland Boulevard in Waukesha. A few minutes later, we pulled into the lot of Jimmy's Grotto and parked. I followed Chris inside and we were quickly seated and placed our orders — two pepperoni Ponza Rottas and two Cokes.

"So you would have taken me to lunch no matter what?" she asked.

She was smiling and her eyes twinkled, which I thought gave me a chance to tease her without getting into any real trouble.

"As I said, all you had to do was ask."

"Then it's not really a punishment for failing to follow club rules. I'll have to think of something else!"

"Hang on. I didn't say it wasn't punishment, just that I'd have done it if you asked!" I chuckled.

"You brat!" she laughed. "So being with me is punishment?"

"If you say so!" I said.

"That's not what I said! I was asking a question!"

"I distinctly heard you say that being with you was punishment! I'm not responsible for your inability to communicate clearly!"

"You're going to twist every single word I say, aren't you?"

"Who? Me?" I asked innocently.

"Yes, you! You know exactly what I meant!"

I just smiled and took a sip of my Coke. She was fun to tease, and under different circumstances, I might actually have pursued some kind of relationship with her. But our talk the last time had been pretty clear, and though she hadn't come right out and said it, my complicated life was a bit much for a girl from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She also didn't strike me as the type to be interested in a married man, but then again, she had asked me to lunch on a pretext and was obviously flirting. It seemed to me like that was just her personality, not anything serious.

We talked a bit more about the Brewers, how she'd come to work for Belarus, and her family back in Sheboygan. She had a favorite nephew, Jared, who was six, and he had an older brother, Joey, who was nine. She also had two nieces who were one and three. I told her about my kids, and the addition of Birgit to the family. She gave a rueful smile and shook her head.

"So your life goal is to get as many girls pregnant as possible?"

"It might seem like that, but no, not at all. I'm very careful except when there's an express intent to make a baby. I enjoy sex as much as the next guy, but I sure don't want anyone getting pregnant unintentionally!"

Our food arrived before Chris could respond, and we started eating.

"How is it?" she asked.

"Just as good as last time! I really like the consistency of the cheese, nice and gooey, and the pepperoni is perfectly spiced. Add in the crispy crust, and it's probably the best pizza I've had. You obviously like it, too."

"Well, of course!" she laughed. "Why would I bring you here if I didn't?"

"Who knows? I guess it could be the atmosphere, or maybe you just like hot meat in your mouth and gooey liquid sliding down your throat?" I smirked.

"You did NOT just say that!" she laughed.

"Say what? I was talking about your meal. What were YOU thinking about?"

"Give me a break! You know darn well what you meant! Talk about a dirty mind!"

"Says the girl who immediately took what I said the wrong way and thought it was about sex! Now, which of us REALLY has the dirty mind? Hmm?"

"You JERK!" she laughed.

"You walked right into that one! What did you ask before? If I was going to twist everything you said? I believe you have your answer!"

She cocked her head and looked at me, and I got a funny feeling that things were about to move in a direction that I hadn't been expecting.

"What am I going to do with you?" she smirked.

"Hey, you invited me to join your club and invited me to lunch!"

She took a bite of her Ponza Rotta, and then a drink of her Coke.

"What time do you have to be back in Chicago?"

"I was planning to be there by 3:30pm, which means leaving here no later than 2:00pm. Why?"

She lowered her voice so that I could just hear it over the music.

"I thought maybe I'd like to try some hot meat and gooey liquid."

I took another bite of my lunch so that I had another few seconds to think before I responded. I wasn't sure what she was angling for. Well, beyond the obvious. I quickly thought back to the conversation we'd had the previous time I'd visited Belarus. She'd asked me if my mixed signals were about problems at home. My conundrum was that I couldn't quite figure out if what she'd asked was meant to be an invitation, or just a question about why I seemed to be available when I was married.

She knew the whole story, or at least enough to matter. She knew about Jessica and Kara, as well as about Jesse and Matthew and their moms, and she knew about Birgit's recent arrival. Chris knew I was unconventional, and I'd implied strongly that I had some room to play around, and that it wouldn't be cheating. I hadn't come out and said it, and she hadn't asked, but I thought the parameters were clear enough that she might actually be serious, not just teasing.

That left me with a dilemma which I had to solve in another couple of seconds when I finished chewing the food in my mouth. I could delay another couple of seconds by taking a drink of my Coke, but then I'd have to speak. It seemed like an eternity, but I knew that from the time she'd spoken the last word of the sentence until I set my Coke down, only about five or six seconds had passed. I decided I'd respond in kind.

"Well, I like my meat tender, juicy, and dripping, where the sauce gets all over your face when you eat it!" I replied, keeping my voice low as well.

"We do have good barbecue in Wisconsin!" she smirked. "And of course, Johnsonville has brats with cheese in them!"

I laughed, and it seemed like I'd found the right response. Playing her little game, which now seemed to me to be just verbal sparring, though again, I wasn't really sure. We each had a few bites of our lunch left, which we quickly finished. We each downed the rest of our Coke, and after I paid the check, we walked outside to our cars.

"This was a lot of fun," I said. "Can I take you to lunch next time I'm here?"

"That depends," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

"On what?"

"First, you have to follow the club rules."

I laughed, "I'll try to remember that one."

"Second, we eat at my apartment."

"I suppose. And what exactly are we going to eat?" I smirked.

"Hot meat with gooey liquid sliding down my throat and hot, tender meat, juicy, and dripping, where the sauce gets all over your face when you eat it, of course!" she giggled.

Before I could respond, she hopped into her car, started it, and waved as she drove off, leaving me standing there, open-mouthed. It took me a couple of seconds to recover, and then I walked the few steps to my Daytona. I got in and turned the ignition, then backed out of the spot, and pulled out into the street to head for home. I made good time, so I went to the office to work for an hour before I needed to walk to the hospital to meet Jessica.

"How was your third day?" I asked after we embraced and exchanged a kiss.

"Long and boring. I didn't get to scrub in even once this week! I spent all my time chasing labs, doing paperwork, doing pre- and post-op rounds, taking patient histories, and generally doing scut work!"

I took her hand, and we started walking home.

"I guess that's kind of to be expected, isn't it? You're effectively a first-year Resident again because of the way they handle emergency medicine and trauma surgery training. Not to mention that you have the next two days off to take your oral exams."

"I'd MUCH prefer an oral exam from YOU, Tiger!" Jessica giggled.

"I didn't think it was THAT kind of exam!" I teased. "Who knew?"

She laughed, "Given that it's all doctors, and mostly men, I'm surprised that ISN'T a requirement for females who want medical licenses and certifications!"

"Is it really that bad?" I asked.

"Pretty much. You met those medical students down in Indianapolis, and heard my stories about the doctors going through nurses, Residents, and medical students like a tornado. There's blatant sexism, blatant trading of sexual favors for grades and advancement, and outright discrimination against women. Generally speaking, I have to be twice as good as a man to be considered half as good. Not everyone is like that, of course. Doctor Barton isn't, though you know he was quite the playboy when he was a medical student and Resident."

"And I'm not?" I chuckled.

"Oh, you are, Tiger, but I've never, ever seen you treat a woman badly, feel that she owed you sex, traded sex for job advancement, or harassed anyone. The girls mostly come to YOU. You aren't the predator; you're the prey!"

I laughed, "You aren't the first one to say that. So why call me 'Tiger' if YOU are the predator!"

"Because you're a Tiger in bed!"

"But you called me that BEFORE we'd done much more than kiss, Babe!" I chuckled.

"Kara might have mentioned a thing or two about your prowess before we got engaged," Jessica giggled.

"Uh-huh. So THAT'S why you married me!"

"No, but it's a fantastic side benefit! Anyway, how was your day?"

"Good. I spent the morning in Milwaukee at the Russian tractor company, and then about an hour in the office before I came to meet you."

"How's your friend with the penguin club?"

"Fine. She's a real Smart Aleck and likes to spar verbally."

"Two of your key criteria for friends, especially female friends! You and Melanie are the WORST when you're together."

I chuckled, "True. Though you've heard my sister and me as well. Jorge asked us if we were five years old the other day. We both responded 'Yes!' to that question."

"And your eldest is following right in your footsteps on that one! He's a real stinker at times."

"I suspect all the kids will be. In fact, can you imagine any of my kids NOT being like that?"

"No, probably not! Do I detect a possible dalliance in the offing?"

"She flirted, and made a bunch of suggestive comments, and implied she was interested, but last time I was up there, she was kind of taken aback at my complicated life. I don't have any plans to go to Milwaukee to see her, if that's what you're asking."

"I was just curious. Speaking of girls, what ever happened with Melody?"

"She's coming to her first karate class on Saturday morning. I helped her work something out with Sensei. She's working during the Summer to earn money to help pay for school."

"Where does she live?"

"In the dorms. She's taking a Summer class which lets her stay there, and between her student loans, a small scholarship, and what she earns from working in the bursar's office, she's doing OK. She'll have a huge set of loans to pay back, though. And I'm not quite sure how well being an archaeologist pays. I suspect eventually she'll end up as a professor somewhere, though she talked about going on 'digs' between her BS and Master's degrees."

"If we weren't married, I'd be having a heck of a time trying to live on what would be left of my salary after paying my student loans. Some people even borrow money to complete their Residency, especially in places where hospitals don't pay well. Not that UofC pays me like a queen or anything, but some residents earn as little as $15,000 a year!"

"Damn," I said.

"And it's worse for programs that still have Intern years separate from Residency. They aren't paid. Instead, they receive room and board and a very small stipend."

"Whoever designed this system had their head up their ass, that's for sure!"