Chapter 67: Babies

September 25, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"Good morning," I said. "I'm glad you're here! I missed you the last two Sundays."

"I know," Jolene said. "Thanks for coming to find me and kicking my butt."

"How are things going?"

"Work is fine. Karate is, well, right now it just is. Hope is a teenage girl," she sighed.

"Who has now decided that boys are no longer 'yucky' and wants to start dating," I said.

"How did you know?"

"She reminds me of Doctor Barton's daughter, Fawn. You met her. She's a bit older and plays the violin instead of taking ballet, but you noticed her 'schoolgirl crush'. She's in the 'I want to date, but my dad refuses to let me' stage. And remember, I have a little sister."

Fawn actually hadn't gotten completely past either stage; she still flirted with me, and she still wasn't allowed to go on dates, but Al would allow that fairly soon, based on our conversations. My little sister was a different story, but Jolene didn't know that. I was trying to get her to see that her struggle was normal.

"I'm just so afraid that she'll make the same mistakes that I did!"

"You can't stop it any more than your parents stopped you," I said.

"Aren't you supposed to be encouraging me?" Jolene said, hands on her hips.

"What I'm saying is that even at fourteen, you have to let her make her own decisions. Guide her, talk to her, and help her. But in the end, you can't stop her unless you send her to a convent, and even that might not be enough!"

"You're just FULL of good news. Is that what you're going to do with Birgit? Let her do whatever she wants?"

I sighed, "You listen, but you don't hear. I didn't SAY that. I said you couldn't stop her from having sex if she decided that she wanted to. I'm saying you should help her make a good decision, in any way you can, but with the understanding that it's her decision. You are still her parent, and still have some control over her life, but not as much as you think, nor as much as I think you want."

"I hope we're still friends in fourteen years so I can laugh at you and throw this in your face!"

"I don't think you'll be able to," I said. "My life at home was a living hell because my mom tried to control my sex life, as well as everything else. She failed, miserably. I learned a lot about parenting from watching my parents, especially my mom, and learning what not to do. My dad used to be a problem, but that worked itself out over the years.

"Remember what I said about your fixation on your belt? That the harder you grasped, the less likely you were to get it? Well, the same principle applies here. The more you fight, resist, and struggle against your daughter's sexuality, the more likely she is to rebel and do it just to prove that she can.

"I've met several girls like that over the years. Girls who decide that rebellion is more important than virginity. My point is that when she decides to do it, she should decide for the right reasons. If you try to force the decision, it's likely to backfire. Here's my question for you. Did you talk TO her or AT her?"

"Remember when I said you were the most annoying man that I know? And you asked if you were more annoying than my ex? And I said 'no'?"

"Yes; I remember."

"I was wrong!"

I laughed, "At your service, Ma'am! Shall we spar?"

"I'm going to kick your ass!" she spat.

"Go ahead, make my day!" I said, doing my best Dirty Harry impression.

She was getting better, but her emotions got the best of her, and I threw her three times before she asked to take a break. She wandered to the corner of the training room and stood there, facing the wall. It looked to me like she was trying to calm down and catch her breath, so I just waited. It was a full five minutes before she came back.

"Once more," she said.

"I must break you!" I teased, this time doing an impression of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.

As we started circling, I saw a new determination in Jolene's eyes and she seemed calmer. Something had changed, and I needed to be very careful. She feinted a few times, never following through. That was new for her. She was being patient. Her movements were subtler as well, and the next time she struck, I barely staved off a crushing axe-kick that followed two jabs. Normally, I would have used her momentum to take her down, but I wasn't in the right position. In fact, I wasn't in any position at all as I felt her other leg sweep mine from under me and I went down in a heap.

I recovered quickly and jumped up, wary of another strike, but she was just smiling smugly and slowly shuffling around me. She had never, ever used a kick combination. That was more Taekwondo than Shōtōkan, and it caught me by surprise. I did it occasionally, but she didn't. I hadn't anticipated her changing tactics, and she got me fair and square.

"What did you say?" she smirked. "All's fair in love and war? And you don't love me?"

"I did say that," I said. "You've upped your game. Good."

"I may never get my belt, so I think I deserve a reward for taking you down for the first time," she grinned.

"And what reward is that?" I asked.

"Get that gi off and take ME down to the mat!"

"Your daughter has come here the last two Sundays in a row, checking on you. That might create a bit of trouble at home, don't you think? In fact, it might make her jealous and she'll redouble her efforts. I only have so much willpower, you know!" I teased, dancing back from the half-hearted strike she threw.

"So that's how this is going to be? A war?" Jolene asked.

"To the victor go the spoils!" I chuckled.

We began sparring again and as I'd feared, Hope came into the dojo less than five minutes later. We stopped sparring and Jolene shot me a look that was a combination of an evil look and a look of thanks.

"Hi, Hope!" I said.

"I just came to check on my mom and make sure she's not getting into any trouble!" she giggled.

"Hope Autumn Baxter!" Jolene exclaimed, exasperated.

Hope rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You must be really frustrated to be that upset! Though I guess he kicks your butt every time, so that's the norm!"

"Actually," I said. "I was kicking her butt, but your mom seems to have figured something out. She just took me to the mat."

"I bet!" Hope giggled. "How many times have you taken HER to the mat?"

She was pushing the edge of the envelope, but I could safely keep teasing Jolene indirectly.

I laughed hard, "Plenty! We're done, so you can take her home with you."

"Want to walk us home?" she asked, batting her eyes at me.

"I have two wives and three kids waiting for me at my house," I said, deflecting her request.

She frowned and turned to walk outside.

"You have your hands full, that's for sure!" I teased Jolene.

"Oh, shut up!" Jolene said, trying to sound upset, but she couldn't help laughing.

After they left, I locked up the dojo and headed home to shower, eat, and watch the race. Surprisingly, Bill had qualified second, and started on the outside pole. Even more surprisingly, he led from lap 40 to lap 128, before surrendering the lead to Alan Kulwicki. Both of them stayed close, but except for lap 275, when Kulwicki led, neither of them could get past the leaders. Wallace and Earnhardt were in competition all day, and the myriad of caution flags helped ensure that none of the three got lapped, which was a common occurrence on a short track.

Bill held his own, and although Darrell Waltrip, Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace, Ken Schrader and Geoff Bodine were ahead of him, he finished a respectable sixth. The best news was that Dale Earnhardt finished eighth. That finish dropped Earnhardt back to third overall in points, and moved Wallace up to second, though he was still 124 points behind Bill. Earnhardt's deficit was 140, and fourth place Terry Labonte was now 482 points back with five races to go.

"Charlotte in two weeks," I said. "And then another short track — North Wilkesboro. Bill's been holding his own, and I think he's in pretty good position to win it all."

"When does the season end, Tiger?"

"November 20th, in Atlanta," I said. "The track where Stephie and Jason got married."

"Wow, that would be a fitting ending, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would."

September 29, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"Everyone in the conference room!" I called out. "I'm invoking executive privilege for the Space Shuttle launch!"

It would be a bit crowded with everyone in there, but it was the only TV we had in the office. I turned on the TV as everyone filtered in. It was 10:30am, and I'd heard on the radio that the launch was progressing after a delay for weather and fixing a problem with the crew's suits. With less than seven minutes left, I'd called everyone in. This was to be the first launch since the Challenger disaster over two years ago.

"Did he just say they were going to delay?" Charlie asked.

"Maybe," I said. "Someone asked for a possible hold at T minus 31 seconds because of a slight increase in cabin pressure."

In the end, the issue was resolved, and the countdown continued, and at 10:37am Discovery blasted from the launch pad and began its ascent. I, and pretty much everyone in the room, held their breath as the shuttle passed the critical 'go at throttle up' call that had come just before Challenger had exploded. There was a collective sigh of relief as the ascent continued, and when the solid rocket boosters separated, people began leaving the conference room to get back to work. I stayed about five more minutes, then did the same.

I was working on the PRIME to IBM RT conversion that I'd written a proposal for a few weeks before. I'd written two other proposals, but we hadn't heard back from those companies yet. I'd also installed two Unix servers. Dave was keeping me busy, and the new work was an interesting diversion from working on our flagship software. In addition to that, I was spending time with Jeri working on the software for the Archbishop. If we got the other business, I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to get all of it done any time in the near future.

Just before lunch, Dave came to my door.

"You're going to be hearing from Dante any minute now," he said.

"Now what?" I asked.

"He wants all of his programs ported to Windows. And in usual Dante fashion, he wants it yesterday. I suspect you'll get an earful on the price, too."

I shook my head, "That is the LAST thing we need right now! What did you tell him?"

"That we'd have to dedicate two or three programmers to do it, and we only had two people who were versed in Windows at this point, and if he wanted it, he'd basically have to pay for it at consulting rates."

I laughed, "I'd love to bill the next two months of my and Jeri's time to Dante at full price!"

Dave nodded, "Yeah, and he knows you would! My new programmer starts Monday, so in theory I could put him on the PRIME conversions, but I can't pull you and Jeri off the church stuff; we have a signed contract. The best we could do is have you start working on it part time in about two weeks, and then you and Jeri focus on it together in about a month. The only other option is to try to train someone or hire someone, but that ends up in the same timeframe, if not longer. Greg could probably learn fast, but I have far too much work for him as it is."

The phone buzzed and Kimmy said that Dante was on the line. I asked her to wait two minutes and then put him through.

"So, what do you want me to tell him?" I asked Dave.

"Tell him we can start working on it November 7th. No sooner. That gives me time to figure it out. And this can't be a fixed price deal. It has to be consulting rates. If he wants a fixed price, then we can't start on it until mid-January. That way, we can finish the work for the church, train someone else, and actually have time to do a proper proposal."

"OK. He's going to blow up."

"What else is new?" Dave laughed as the phone rang. "Good luck!"

I rolled my eyes and picked up the phone.

"Hi, Dante. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"I just talked to that idiot Dave. He thinks he can fuck me over. Do YOU think you can fuck me over?"

"Dante, if you want my help, insulting my staff is not the way to get it. Why don't you start over and tell me what the issue is."

"I called with a simple request, and according to Dave, you can only do it at consulting rates, not for a fixed price, and that it's going to take at least a month before he can put enough staff on it to maybe finish it by Christmas! And that's not even a guarantee."

"Dante, when someone comes to you and asks for something new that you've never done before, how do you handle it? Do you just give him a fixed cost right away and stop everything else you're doing to fulfill it?"

"Designing a new piece of electronic test equipment is different from writing some programs! There are schematics to draw, parts to order, certifications to get!"

I suppressed a sigh. He had no clue how much work actually would have to go into these changes. And I wasn't likely to be able to convince him of that fact.

"If it's really that easy, feel free to find someone else to do it," I said.

"That shit again?!"

"What do you want me to say? What you're asking for isn't easy! In fact, I'd be willing to bet you can't find another firm in Chicago right now which could do this for you in the timeframe you expect for the price you expect. And if they aren't in Chicago, it'll cost you even more and probably take longer. What you're asking for is brand new! Nobody can have more than eight months' experience, maximum. We only started looking at it in the last month or two. This isn't easy. It's not a small request.

"Because of that, if you want this immediately, we have to do it as a consulting project. And that's going to cost you. But I have to ask you an important question. Is it worth the money we're talking about having it just to have it? To spend potentially tens of thousands of dollars to have something new and shiny that won't make one whit of difference to your business right now?"

"Fuck you, Adams!" he said and slammed down the phone.

"Wow," Penny said. "I heard what he said AND heard the phone slam down, and you didn't have it on speaker!"

"It's just Dante being Dante," I said. "He's like a toddler. He sees a toy, and he's going to throw a fit until his mommy buys it for him."

I heard Dave laugh from the door.

"It went about like we expected?" he asked.

"He said 'Fuck you' and slammed the phone down when I told him that he was spending his money just to have something new and shiny, and if that's what he wanted, we were going to charge him for it."

"You said that just to piss him off," Dave said.

"I'm not going to toy with him or play his games, Dave. He started off by insulting you, and that set the tone for the conversation. It's my opinion that we only take this project if it's a fixed bid, with a complete project plan, and after the first of the year. It's your decision."

"You think he'll call back?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," I said. "If I remember correctly, we're not doing anything but Novell and cc:Mail support for him right now."

"And any changes to the custom software we wrote for him, but there hasn't been much of that in the past couple of months. Think he'll cancel his support contracts?"

"He might. He actually has some alternatives there," I said. "We aren't the only game in town for Novell and cc:Mail support."