Chapter 60: A Big Tease?

August 19, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"Who the hell is Dan Quayle?" my sister asked on Friday morning at breakfast.

"A US Senator from Indiana," Jessica said. "He was pretty much a zero as a Senator, so I guess he's perfect for Vice President!"

"Are you saying that he's life insurance for George Bush?" I chuckled.

"Bush isn't exactly a popular guy in this house, so you never know!" Jessica laughed.

"Nobody likes Dukakis, either," I said. "I'd bet most everyone is voting for Ron Paul, though Jorge has always been pretty circumspect about politics, and our foreign friends can't vote. I'd settle for a third Reagan term, but the Republicans foreclosed that with the 22nd Amendment in the late '40s and early '50s. Did you see the headline in the paper?"

"About the president of Pakistan dying in a plane crash?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, too. If I had to guess, I'd say the plane was shot down or blown up. The paper says no 'Mayday' call was received."

"Interesting," Kara replied. "So, how are your morning runs going with Jacquelyn?"

"You've seen her at the dojo. She's lost quite a bit of weight. She started out at about 150, but given her height and bone structure, her doctor thinks she should weigh about 115 or so. Jessica thinks 120, because muscle weighs more than fat, and Jacquelyn is building muscle tone while she's losing weight. And I'm happy I'm running again. It really helps the endurance. I'd love to have a pool, but there's just no way unless we moved way out west or something and bought a lot of land."

"You really like living in the city?" Stephanie asked.

"I do. From the first day Elyse and I moved here, I knew I was a big city boy. She's not, and sadly, some day, she'll take her kids and move out to the suburbs. Anyway, I need to get to work. I'll see you both tonight!"

I checked on Veronica and the kids and then headed to the office. The Board meeting the previous day had been relatively uneventful, though I did get some pushback from both Joyce and Beth about stepping out of day-to-day operations. I wasn't surprised that both Karl and Doctor Lambert agreed completely with my decision. Beth came around when I pointed out how I'd let her and Krista run Four Dimensional Software. In the end, Joyce agreed that it was entirely up to me how I wanted to handle it. I had also shown Jeri's work, though I couldn't convince her to come to the meeting to show it herself.

"The Board really liked your work," I said to her when she came in to the office just before 7:00am.

"Cool!"

"They wondered why you weren't showing it to them instead of me."

"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't! I wanted to, but I totally freaked out just thinking about it."

"I know. They actually asked Julia to dedicate some resources to it, so effective Monday, you can work on it half-time. Our new work-study student will pick up the slack. He starts on Monday."

"Really? Thank you! Thank you!" she gushed.

"You're welcome!"

The rest of the day was quiet, though I had a call from Chris Gibson in Milwaukee asking me to come up on Monday. I checked with Dave and he was OK with that, so I made the arrangements with Chris. As I was walking to get Jessica, I reflected on the fact that I hadn't heard any complaining from Dante. We all thought it was only a matter of time; a question of 'when', not 'if'.

"Hi, Babe! Hi, Alicia," I said when they came out of the ER together.

I kissed Jessica and put my arm around her, and we started down the sidewalk.

"See you Sunday, Alicia," Jessica called over her shoulder.

"See you then!"

"I figured if you were going to be in Michigan for the race, I'd have a couple of the Residents over. You haven't met Mary or Deb; they'll be at the house as well. Just a girls' day."

"You remember that we don't get back until around midnight, right?"

"Yes. Are you still planning to sleep with Elyse when you get home?"

"That was the plan. It's either that or the guest room, because I don't want to wake you, and I'm going to need more than three hours of sleep. And Kara will sleep in the nursery with Birgit."

"Elyse wants to start trying to get pregnant, so it all works out," Jessica said.

"I still have to be up just before 5:00am to meet Jacquelyn for our run, so it's not like it's going to be an all-night sex marathon!" I chuckled.

"Ooh, now THAT sounds like a fun time! Maybe next weekend?"

"Deal!" I chuckled.

"I want to stop taking my pills today," Jessica said. "Are you OK with that?"

"It's up to you, Babe."

"We'll have to use a diaphragm for the next month or so. I was fitted for one when I saw Doctor Robertson for my checkup."

"That's fine. I can even help you put it in!" I teased.

She laughed, "Who?"

"Jackie taught me how to do it," I grinned.

Jessica smiled and shook her head.

August 21, 1988, Brooklyn, Michigan

"Hi, Bill," I said as Kara, Dave, Julia, Terry, Penny and I walked into his garage on Sunday morning.

"You brought some new friends! Where's Jessica?"

"We still haven't turned her into a race fan," I said. "We're working on it. At least she stays in the same room now when we watch on ESPN!"

"It's a start," he said with a grin. "Who are your new friends?"

"Penny and Terry. They work for me, and Penny's my next-door neighbor as well. She's been a friend for quite a few years now."

"Welcome, y'all. Dave and Julia, I guess you're goin' to head over to the King's garage?"

"We are," Dave said. "Good luck, Mr. Elliott!"

"Aw, shucks, y'all should call me Bill at this point!"

They smiled and headed off for Richard Petty's garage.

"We can just walk around?" Penny asked.

"Yes," I said. "But stay out of the way and don't ask for autographs. Everyone is really friendly, so they'll most likely talk with you if you just stop in their garage to watch."

"Cool! What car number is the one your friend works on?"

"Number 7. Zerex Antifreeze is the sponsor."

They wandered off to check out the garage area.

"Go see Red, Steve," Bill said. "We'll still be here when you get back!"

"Thanks, Bill. Good to see you on the pole today."

"I love this track. We have a good chance today. I'm right up in the points standings. I'm on a mission."

"I know," I said.

He nodded and went back to work on the car while Kara and I walked to Alan Kulwicki's garage.

"Hey, Jason," I said.

"Hey, Steve! Hey, Kara!"

Shaking his hand just didn't seem like enough, so we hugged, and then he and Kara hugged and she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Starting eighth? That's pretty good."

"Bill's on the pole. A perfect finish would be Alan and Bill one-two, with Ironhead and Wallace back in the pack."

"I'd prefer it the other way around for the top two, but your solution would work! How are you holding up?"

"OK. I keep busy and I've talked to the racing pastor a lot. He's helping me when I get down. I miss her something fierce."

I nodded, "Me too, but I can't even begin to know what it's like for you."

"Sure you can. Stephie told me you went through this before. You named your new daughter after that girl, right?"

"Yes, we did. She's at home with the nanny today. Pretty soon, Jesse will want to come to a race, I'm sure."

"Everything good with your business?"

"It is. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Come see us next Summer. Come to the race. Emily and LeAnn really want to see you. I'll get you tickets, of course."

"If business allows, then yes, we'll come. I'll even try to talk Jessica into it."

"Good. Bring your brood, too! Now I need to get back to work before I get yelled at!"

We stayed and watched for a bit, then strolled up and down the garage area. We stopped by Davey Allison's garage and he waved to us, but didn't come over to talk. We saw Dave and Julia talking to Richard Petty, and when we got back to Bill's garage, Penny and Terry were waiting for us.

"Boss, this is the coolest! Our passes say we can stay in the pit area during the race. Do you do that?"

"No, because you can't really see the track. Our seats are really good — just past the Start-Finish line, and high enough to see the entire track. The only downside is that we can't get from there to Victory Lane if Bill were to win."

"I've never been to a race live," Terry said.

"Then I'd strongly suggest you come up in the stands with us. I think you'll love it."

We hung out until they pushed the cars out of the garage and onto pit lane. We shook hands with Bill, then met up with Dave and Julia, and the six of us went across the track and up into the stands. We found our seats, and then Terry, Dave, and I went to get hot dogs, chips, and sodas. We had just settled back in when the command to start engines was given.

"That's really loud," Penny gasped.

"Wait until they're actually racing!" I chuckled.

That happened less than ten minutes later when the cars roared by after taking the green flag. Bill jumped out in front and dominated the first 40 laps, though he and Davey Allison traded the lead a few times. Davey could only stay out in front for a lap before Bill would pass him again, and Bill led 36 of the first 40 laps. After that, he stayed right with the leaders but could never get back to the lead.

It was a bad day for the #7 team. The engine on the Zerex Ford blew just over halfway through the race, on lap 104. In the end Davey Allison held off Rusty Wallace to win, though Wallace had led the most laps. That meant that Bill, who finished third, lost ten points on Wallace. Earnhardt had led 39 laps, but managed to get himself a lap down, which caused him to fall further back from Bill. The standings were Wallace with 2873 points, Bill with 2852 points, and Earnhardt with 2716 points.

"Your guy was third!" Penny said. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Yes and no. Good in the sense that it's a good finish. Bad in the sense that the guy who finished in front of him has more points towards the championship. And this is Bill's favorite track."

"How many more races are there?"

"Ten. Basically, if Bill, Rusty, or Ironhead have a bad race, that could knock them completely out of the running. Ken Schrader in fourth has an outside shot, but he'd need to win a couple of races while all three of the others dropped out early or had serious problems. But there's a mix of tracks, and Bill's just not that good on short tracks. If he can hold his own at Dover, Martinsville, and Bristol, he has a real chance to win it all."

After the victory celebration for Davey Allison, we made our way from the stands to our cars. I almost walked to the Daytona out of habit, but remembered at the last second that I'd sold it to Penny. I watched her get in and fire up the engine. She had a real twinkle in her eyes, and I knew she really liked the turbo boost, though she didn't get much chance to use it. Terry waved out the window as she pulled into line, and Dave, Julia, Kara, and I got into my car. We began the slow process of leaving the parking lot, and with only a stop for dinner, made it back to Chicago a couple of minutes before midnight.

Elyse was waiting up, and after giving Kara a quick kiss, Elyse and I went up to her room to see if we could make a baby.

August 22, 1988, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I was on my second cup of coffee during my drive to Milwaukee on Monday morning. I was extremely tired because I'd done a lot of driving on Sunday and had come home at midnight. I got to sleep just before 12:45am because Elyse and I had made love the way she liked now — slow and gentle. I'd woken up four hours later to run with Jacquelyn. I'd considered canceling, but I didn't want to give her any excuses for slacking off. My goal in Milwaukee was to get the work done as quickly as possible and get home so that I could eat dinner and get to bed early.

Chris hadn't flirted or made any suggestive comments on the phone. She'd simply given me a quick description of the programming that she needed done and asked me to come up to Milwaukee. My rough idea was that I had about four to five hours of work, and then I could drive back to Chicago. I'd probably get asked to lunch again, but that would still let me get home by 3:30pm. And if Chris did have other designs, it really wouldn't matter much because I hadn't told her about the requirements for getting tested.

I arrived at the Belarus Tractor offices just before 8:00am and parked in a 'Visitor' spot. I locked my car and started walking towards the door when I heard Chris call my name. I tried hard to remember the greeting, the handshake, and the waddle, and did my best to do them. She laughed and told me that I needed practice.

"New car?" she asked.

"Yes. The Daytona was fun, but it's not super practical with a family."

"From what you told me, I think you need a bus like on The Partridge Family! But for you, it would need to be a 'short' bus!"

"Are you saying that I'm retarded?" I asked.

"You said it, not me!" she giggled.

"Watch it!" I said sternly. "Or I'll have to turn you over my knee!"

"Promises, promises!" she said.

I stopped in to say 'good morning' to Viktor Bykov, then went to the office next to Chris' to get to work. Most of the changes were fairly simple, so I blasted through them quickly, then started working on the sales and delivery projection reports, which reminded me of our pipeline reports. I had almost finished at noon when Chris came to ask about lunch.

"I need another thirty minutes to finish," I said. "If you can wait to take your lunch, I'd rather get the programming done."

"I have totally flexible hours," she said. "Plus, the Russians like you, so if I say I'm entertaining you, they'll cut me even more slack."

"Entertaining me? You? Right!" I chuckled.

"Hey now!" she protested.

"Let me finish and then we can decide who's the bigger smart ass!"

She went back to her office and twenty-five minutes later, I ran the report and checked the figures. It looked right, so I took it to Chris.

"You checked the figures?" she asked.

I smirked, took a step back, and looked her up and down.

"They look good to me!"

"I'm glad you think so. Of course," she said with a sly grin, "it's kind of difficult to tell if YOU measure up with all those clothes on."

"I could strip right here, if you want to get a tape measure," I chuckled.

"I think I have a micrometer around here somewhere," she smirked.

"Now that's low," I chuckled. "Even for a girl from Wisconsin!"

"What's wrong with girls from Wisconsin?"

"Do you know what the difference is between girls from Wisconsin and garbage?"

"No," she said warily.

"Garbage gets taken out once a week!"

"Ugh," she groaned, shaking her head.

"OK. Why do they have to have artificial turf for all football fields in Wisconsin?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"To keep the cheerleaders from grazing!" I chuckled.

"Are you going to keep going?"

"I could switch to blonde jokes," I said.

"I've heard them all. Are we going to lunch?"

"If you want. Sure. Where?"

"My place. Don't you remember? Hot meat with gooey liquid sliding down my throat? Hot, tender meat that gets sauce on your face when you eat it?"

"You drove off before I could even respond," I chuckled. "So Johnsonville brats with cheese for you and barbecue for me?"

"If that's what you want."

"The question is, what do YOU want?"

"Come on. We can discuss it at my place."

"Chris," I said, getting up and closing the door. "I'm not implying anything, because I'm never quite sure if you're serious or teasing, but it's a bit more complicated than you might think."

"So you say. Why do you assume I'm teasing? Or not teasing?"

"I get that you're playing coy. It's actually a lot of fun! I enjoy the banter. But, and I am assuming nothing here, if this is something you want to do, or think you want to do, or might decide to do, there are conditions."