Chapter 60: Blown Apart

August 4, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"I have something for you," Cindi said.

"I have no doubt!" I chuckled.

She smirked and handed me a box labeled 'Motorola MicroTac 9800X'.

"A cellular telephone?" I asked.

"Yes. We got them for Ralph, Zeke, and Andy. It beats the hell out of pagers. We got one for you, too."

"These things are outrageously expensive!"

"Actually, we were offered a very, very good deal on them. I called in some favors and we got all four of them for less than the cost of a single phone at list price."

"That's a hell of a favor!" I smirked.

"It's all about knowing the right people. You know that. The monthly charges aren't too bad, and we'll drop the pagers."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for you or Mario or Barbara to carry one?"

"Part of the deal for the phones is that you carry one. And talk up how great it is. The same goes for our support guys. Think that through for a moment."

I laughed, "That explains how you cut the deal. We're doing marketing for Motorola and the phone company!"

"Exactly!" she grinned. "So, whenever you meet with a customer, or your doctor friends, or an attorney, just show them the phone and tell them about it. That's all you need to do. Heck, just use it and people will ask you about it!"

"Just like you and the Bar Associations."

"You know, I'm more than just the best-looking woman who works for you!" she said with a smug smile.

"Every time I look at the NIKA bank statements, I see that! Thanks, Cindi!"

"You're welcome!"

I thought about what Cindi had said and chuckled to myself. I wondered what Dante would say. Of course, knowing Dante, he already had TWO cellular telephones. As I thought about it, the ER could use them for their on-call people. A pager required a call back. With one of these telephones, you could talk directly to the person and shave minutes from response time. I'd have to mention it to Al Barton, though it wouldn't surprise me if he already knew about the technology.

In fact, as I thought about it, I realized just how these devices could revolutionize the world if they could be made smaller and cheaper, and the rates could be brought down. For me, just the notion that my wives or kids could reach me anytime, anywhere, was enough to be willing to buy each of them the devices. But I was getting way ahead of myself. For the time being, the value would come from Cindi being able to reach her support team quickly and easily.

I opened the box, plugged in the phone to charge, and got back to work.

That evening, Elyse, Matthew, Michael, and I went to dinner with her parents. They'd arrived the previous day, which was better than the original plan of them coming up the week following Michael's birth. Elyse had told her mom not to come, starting an argument that Elyse had won by simply putting her foot down. That had only increased the tension because they had never really come to terms with our relationship, nor the idea that their daughter would have children without being married, nor, perhaps worse, that she never planned to marry. The only plus was that they planned to head back to Ohio early on Saturday morning.

August 5, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"I was ready to kill my mom," Elyse said after we'd bid her parents goodbye.

"Now what?" I asked.

"She had a fit about Abbie. It didn't help that Matthew showed her his 'goth' pictures. The recent ones, where his hair was dyed."

"Oops," I chuckled. "When did that happen?"

"Yesterday, while you were at work. I was surprised nothing was said when you took us to dinner."

"I think they know better at this point! It's too bad Lauren isn't living with Katy! That would make their heads spin even more!"

"I heard all about Jennifer and Josie, and Stephanie and Jorge. I swear, my mom is taking lessons from yours in being intolerant."

"And your dad is a really nice guy. I guess we're in the same boat."

"Except between Jennifer, Jessica, and Kara, your mom doesn't dare say a word because she wants to see her grandkids. Are they still coming up on the 17th?"

"Yes, for the NIKA Board meeting and shareholders' meeting. That's why the meetings are set later in the afternoon. They'll drive up that morning. They'll go home on Saturday or Sunday. I did warn my dad about our new housemate. I'm not sure if he'll say anything to my mom, but you know him."

"He's never said a negative word around any of us."

"He's given me his opinions, but when he does, it's once, he's clear about what he thinks, and then he lets it go. Personally, I think he'll get a kick out of Matthew's 'goth' phase."

"It's so funny that Jesse absolutely refuses to do that."

"Why? You know darn well he's my shadow. If I don't do it, he won't do it. But, and you can NOT repeat this to anyone, I'm going full goth for Halloween. I'm even getting a henna tattoo and a clip-on piercing!"

"Where?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Glans, of course!" I chuckled. "And I'll show it off at the party!"

"Great! Cindi in body paint, and you waving your dick around. Should I just call the cops right now and arrange for them to be there before the party starts to save us all some time?"

"Nice," I chuckled. "No, it's a nose ring. I want to have Matthew dress up, too, if that's OK."

"Jesse will be jealous as hell!" Elyse laughed.

"Good. He needs to be taken down a peg."

"Birgit's been taking care of that," Elyse said. "She has him wrapped tightly around her little finger! Just like she has you!"

"True. But there's a consolation. Jennifer is working on some sort of joint costumes for Jesse and Francesca. She's already talked to Carol, but she won't tell me what the idea is. But, if Carol is cool with it, it can't be TOO crazy."

"True. Let's go back inside. You need to get ready for karate."

After karate and lunch, I spent some time with the kids and my wives. Guys' and Girls' Night went off without a hitch and we had a great time. There was one important thing that had happened — just before the girls left to go to the city, Jamie and Jackie announced that she was pregnant and due in January.

August 6, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"What the fuck, Squirt?" I growled, dragging her into my study.

"She ASKED to come. She wants to hear what you have to say."

"I don't give a flying fuck what she wants! I told you she is NOT allowed in this house. Period."

"Well, she's here, and the only way to get rid of her is to make a scene."

"Did you tell her she could come?"

"Yes."

"Oh for fuck's sake! There were no ambiguities in what I said. I was crystal clear. I swear, I don't know what's gotten into you. Why would you do that? What the hell does this girl mean to you?"

She looked down at the floor. There was something else going on of which I wasn't aware. What could my sister be doing? Why was she inviting Becka here? Becka and Len. Len. Stephanie wanted Len at the house and the only way to get him here was to invite Becka!

Everything fell into place, including my sister wanting me to have sex with Becka. That would break the spell Becka had on Len. And that was all fine and good if this was just a 'permission slip' issue. But then why go to the lengths? If it was just a fuck, I couldn't imagine Len saying 'no', given that Melody had been prepared to invite him to the 'Truth or Dare' game.

"Squirt, what's going on between you and Len?" I asked.

"What?! Nothing!" she said harshly.

I knew her better than that, and she should have known that I did.

"OK, Squirt. Now, I'm SURE something is going on. You wanted Len to be here badly enough to go against me by inviting Becka. And you want me to fuck her. The only logical conclusion I can come to is that you want Len, and not just as a dalliance."

"I don't know what I want," she sighed.

"You better figure it out right quick because you can NOT toy with Jorge or lead him down the primrose path. If you don't want him, TELL him."

"But that's just it, I'm not sure."

"Then cool your jets until you figure it out. I'm serious about that. Now, I'm going to go out there and destroy that holier-than-thou girl's world view. She asked for it; she's going to get it. Both barrels. Right between the eyes."

"Don't be an asshole."

"You haven't even begun to see how much of an asshole I can be. She's going to run from the room with her tail between her legs, thinking I'm Lucifer and everyone else here are demons. Just watch."

"Shit," she sighed.

"You started it," I said flatly. "I'm going to finish it."

I walked out of my study, leaving my sister standing with her mouth open. About ten minutes later, we were ready to start. There were a dozen students which I thought was a great turnout, given that it was Summer. Of course, half of them were Melody and her friends, but that was OK with me. Katy and Lauren were there as well, along with Henry, Trish, and Abbie. And Jorge. I didn't know if my sister would come in or not. Jolene came in just as we all sat down in the great room.

I started out by asking everyone if they believed in God or not, or if they were agnostic. I did get one outlier response from one of the students that was Hindu, but for the most part, everyone identified their beliefs as I expected — Katy, Lauren, Becka, Trish, Len, and Jorge all stated a belief in God, and Henry, Abbie, Lisa, and Peggy all claimed to be atheists. The rest of us, except the Hindu guy, were all agnostic.

I asked Abbie to tell us why she was an atheist, and I heard exactly what I'd expected to hear — that the world was a nasty, vile, evil place full of death and destruction and believing that a god had created it made no sense. As I hoped, that sparked a discussion that had Becka on the defensive quite quickly, asserting the truth of the Bible. She walked right into a trap when I asked her how many books the Bible had, then asked Jorge, and they answered with two different numbers.

That generated even more discussion which left Becka spluttering and unable to defend her position without larger and larger appeals to authority, which were promptly rejected by the Catholics in the room who pointed out that if one was going to appeal to authority, their church had been around a lot longer than Becka's Bible church. She ran into even more trouble when she tried to use the Bible to defend her views and between Jorge and me, we quickly demolished her claims.

"Why are you guys picking on Becka?" Len finally asked, sounding very annoyed.

"She's the one making crazy claims," Abbie said. "If she can't back them up, then why should any of us believe them? Steve seems to know the Bible better than she does and he certainly doesn't think it says what she thinks it says. And neither do Jorge nor Trish, nor any of the other Catholics."

"But she has a right to believe what she wants to!" Len protested.

"But not to force her beliefs on anyone else," I replied.

"You see, Len," Jorge said gently, "Being a Christian is about loving one another. I don't necessarily disagree with everything Becka said, but the one thing I haven't heard from her is love. Look around the room and see how different everyone is. Are you so sure that you know better than everyone else? That you can be so sure that you're right? Sure enough to tell us all that we're wrong and going to Hell?"

"The truth is the truth," Becka said.

"What is truth?" Jorge smiled, quoting Pontius Pilate. "Let me ask you this. In this room, there is a summa cum laude graduate from UIC who scored in the 96% percentile on their LSAT and was accepted to Kent College of Law for the Fall. Who is that person?"

"I have no idea," she said.

"I'll go further," Jorge smiled. "That person goes to church every Sunday morning."

"Well then, that narrows it down to one of six people. It must be Lauren."

Henry, Abbie, Trish, Jorge, and I all laughed.

"It's me," Trish said.

"You? But how?"

Jorge held his finger up, indicating he had something to say, but needed a moment. There was a quick, whispered conversation with Trish, which ended with her nodding in agreement to whatever it was that he had asked.

"Because you judged on externals," Jorge said. "You saw Lauren, who looks like what you think a law school student might look like. You saw Trish, and saw nothing but black makeup, black clothes, and black hair. If Trish is willing, perhaps she'll show us Patricia."

"Sure," Trish said with a smile. "I need ten minutes, and Steve, if I could borrow some surgical scrubs from Doctor Jessica, that would help. We're about the same size."

"Sure. Give me a minute."

I went upstairs and asked Jessica to borrow some scrubs. She arched an eyebrow and said 'yes', but because I was in a hurry, I promised to explain later. She handed me a set of scrubs and I took them downstairs to Trish. I led her to the shower in the basement and waited while she washed off. She'd asked if I wanted to help, but I'd told her we'd never get back upstairs if I did! Ten minutes later, I accompanied a freshly scrubbed, red-headed Irish girl back upstairs.

"Holy shit!" Jolene laughed. "Uh, sorry. But, wow!"

"I agree," Jorge smiled. "Wow!"

She went and sat next to Jorge on one of the couches. I was a bit surprised when she took his hand. But it made sense, given he'd asked her to step out from behind her mask and she might need a bit of support.

"You're beautiful," Becka said. "Why would you ruin it with all that makeup and those clothes?"

"Because that makeup and those clothes better represent who I am. Intolerant people won't let me be who I am and join their club."

"Club?" Becka asked.

"The Bar Association," Patricia said. "I could never get into law school looking like Trish. Or if I did, I wouldn't be taken seriously. And if I was, who would hire me? But here's the really stupid part. Trish, my 'goth' alter ego, is a virgin who has never smoked or done anything other than drink an occasional beer or mixed drink. But Trish can't go to Mass on Sunday morning without being stared at and thought of as a sinner. You treated me that way. Would I be welcome in your church as Trish?"

"Uh, no."

"But if I show up as Patricia, dressed like you are, I'd be accepted. Despite the fact that Patricia is NOT a good girl and has done all kinds of things, I'm sure you consider sins."

"Becka, you're judging a book by its cover," Jorge said. "And your judgment was way off because you didn't bother to actually try to get to know Trish or Patricia."

"Do you remember what I said about the Pharisees?" I asked Becka. "Well, you're like the one who prays and says how happy he is not to be the sinner praying next to him. But which one was accepted by God?"

"Uh, the sinner," she said quietly.

"Yes. And do you remember what Jesus did with the woman caught in adultery? He didn't condemn her. Why?"

"Because he told everyone that whoever didn't have a sin should throw the first stone. And everyone was a sinner."