Chapter 5

After showering and a change of clothing, we all sat around to talk.

“Did I hear you right, that you are leaving Dad?” I asked.

“We’ve been married, in name only, for the last five years. Neither of us had wanted to bring up the subject of separation or divorce,” our mother said, shocking all of us. “With Nevada being a community property state, we have talked about it.”

“So, you aren’t mad at each other, just through with being married?” Polly quipped.

“We fell in love, got married, had kids, and he has made a huge name for himself in real estate and real estate financing. To prepare for the inevitable, just last year we divided our assets, and he even recommended I move out whenever I wanted...”

“How much did you get?” Pam asked, getting a mild slap from Polly.

“Enough!” was all our mother said.

“Enough ... to do what?” I asked, getting a love tap from Anne.

“To buy a house anywhere I want, which he would purchase for me using his connections, if I asked him to.”

“Wow, talk about a no-fault divorce,” Anne said.

For that remarkable remark, I gave her a nice kiss.

“Have you given any thought to where you want to move to?” Pam asked her mom, going over to hug her really tight.

“Another reason I came here to see my kids,” she said mysteriously.

“What’s that mean?” Pam wondered.

“Hearing that Robert is gone, changes things, but I could get a nice big home for all of us to live in together. What do you say to that?” she declared.

“You mean move here to Salt Lake City, to be around us?” I said, trying to wrap my head around all of this ‘news.’

“That is one choice, or I convince you to all move with me, somewhere else. If you wanted, you could transfer to another university wherever we ended up. With Paul and Anne becoming a couple, that would be a better idea.”

The light went on, and Anne said, “We could tell everyone we are a couple, a married couple, if we moved out of here and somewhere else, couldn’t we, Paul?”

“If you are pregnant, I wouldn’t want you to stay in school,” I said to her.

“We could be babysitters,” Polly said. “If we could come along?”

“Yeah,” Pam said, “You probably just knocked up your own mother. I’m jealous now, could I get a load from your lover, Anne?”

Looking at Polly, Anne said, “I suppose you want him too?”

“Only if it’s alright with you,” she said to her little sister.

“It sounds like you all are for getting outta Dodge?” our mother said.

“All we need is to pack up, and get our school records,” I was quick to say. “How long do you have your room for, Beautiful?

“I’ve only got it reserved for up to five more days,” she answered, “Ohh, you want to completely move in here, while we plan our escape from Utah?”

“You are smart and gorgeous, and Dad’s loss is our gain, and maybe my little boy or girl.”

That was too much, and I broke into quiet tears.

All five of us got out our IPad’s and started looking for a place somewhere where there aren’t hurricanes, twisters, floods, or earthquakes, in the United States. Not as easy a task as you might think?

Remarkably, we got our list down to:

Indianapolis, Indiana
Cincinnati, Ohio
Memphis, Tennessee
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Denver, Colorado
Chicago, Illinois
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Dayton, Ohio

Polly checked it against the ‘Least Expensive Universities, ‘ with New Mexico, in general, and University of Cincinnati, being statistically cheaper than the other two, gleaning us down to:

Cincinnati, Ohio
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Anne found that New Mexico has the highest concertation of PhD holders of any state.