Chapter 63: Back to Work

August 21, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"Unbelievable," I said when I read the headline from the Chicago Tribune. "It says here that Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki was nominated as Prime Minister of Poland."

I hadn't had a chance to read the paper on Sunday because it hadn't been delivered before we left for the race track in Michigan.

"So now what?" Kara asked.

"We're in totally uncharted territory. Your guess is as good as anyone's right about now."

"Steve, do you have a minute?" Jennifer asked, poking her head into the kitchen.

"What has the Lord High Ruler of the Universe done now?" I asked with a sigh.

Jennifer laughed, "Nothing. I just need a minute."

I drained my glass of juice and wiped my mouth with a napkin. I got up and walked out of the kitchen, and Jennifer beckoned me to my study.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Veronica is engaged," she said.

"I was just talking to my dad about that possibility last week. Did they set a date?"

"Next June. It sounds like it's going to be a blowout wedding. We'll need to start looking for someone in the Spring so we have enough time."

"A few weeks ago, she suggested to me that she might be able to handle a daytime-only thing."

"I talked to the girls, and we don't think that will work. Having her here at night gives us all so much freedom. And it's not as if we're neglecting the kids."

"It's your call," I said. "I take it we'll want a young person again?"

"Can you imagine a grandmotherly type with Jesse, let alone the other kids?"

"No, I can't," I said, shaking my head. "He's a handful even for us! But if you talked with the rest of the girls, why am I only finding out now?"

"I talked to Jessica and Kara while you were running and to Elyse before she came down to breakfast. I asked them to let me talk to you."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just being swept along the rapids by the women in the two houses!" I sighed in resignation.

"You are," Jennifer said with a smile. "And it's going to get worse. There's a new Sheriff in town, and her name is Birgit! You've seen Jesse fall all over himself to do anything she asks."

"She's even more of a force of nature than he is!"

"Those two are what you would have been if you weren't so submissive and if you'd had parents who encouraged you rather than oppressed you."

"My dad has been great since I came home from my exchange year in Sweden. Even before, he had started to be more on my side, which is why I could"

"Your mom is still the biggest bitch I know," Jennifer sighed. "I'm glad we don't see her very often."

"Same here. I need to get to work, and I guess you need to get going as well."

She nodded, and we hugged, then went to say goodbye to the kids, and each headed off to work.

August 24, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"I don't fucking believe this," Elyse sighed. "How the hell could he accept a lifetime ban?"

We were watching CNN on Thursday evening, cuddled on the couch. Jessica and Kara were taking a walk with Albert and Birgit.

"I think the rules are bullshit, personally," I said. "They aren't saying for sure what Pete Rose did or didn't do, but if he bet on the Reds to win or on games he wasn't involved in, who cares? Now, if he bet on the Reds to LOSE and was throwing games, then we're in 'Shoeless Joe Jackson' territory."

"You know that's why they banned him. The whole 'Black Sox' scandal. Which involved the Reds."

"My real problem is that this would potentially keep him out of the Hall of Fame, which is totally bogus. When you're as good as he is and have the most hits in the history of baseball, you belong in the Hall of Fame. Period. Of course, they could still vote him in, but I doubt they would."

"What happens now?" Elyse asked.

"Who knows? He can apply for reinstatement in a year."

"He should," she said fiercely. "How the heck can you keep a guy with more than fifteen major-league records out of baseball? Not just most hits, but most games played, the only player to play five hundred games at five positions, and most consecutive seasons with at least a hundred hits. I mean, seriously?!"

"We're on the same page. When I get to be MLB Commissioner, I'll fix it," I chuckled.

"Let's go to some games next year and take the kids. We used to have a lot of fun doing that."

"That's a great idea. I promise."

August 27, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"Are you surprised that she's here?" Jolene asked when she saw Becka arrive with Len.

"She had three options, really. First, she could write us all off as hopeless, clueless sinners and never come back. Second, she could return full of fire and brimstone, armed with whatever arguments her preacher gave her to defend her viewpoints. Three, she was moved enough by what happened that she's so curious that she can't stay away."

"Which way are you betting?"

"The third, but the second could be true. If it is, this will be the world's shortest visit."

"What are we going to talk about today?" Jolene asked.

"Sex," I chuckled. "I promised Jorge a topic that would make Becka's brain explode. I already discussed it with Abbie. She's going to start us off by playing a song."

"You are cruel and evil!" Jolene laughed. "But I love it."

We left my study and went to sit in the great room with basically the same groups that had attended the previous time, though the Indian guy, Rajeesh, was missing. Abbie had my boombox and had a CD cued.

"I'm going to play a song called Cascade by Siouxsie and the Banshees," she said with a smirk. "And then I'm going to play one called Just Like Heaven by The Cure."

She played the songs, and I watched for a reaction on Becka's face. It was sour, but I suspected that was because the music wasn't to her taste, more than the words. I wondered if she even got the double entendres. There were several smirks at the end of the first song and even more when the second song began. That one got a reaction from Becka, who frowned.

"That song is disgusting," she said when it finished.

"More than a 'revolver emptying into my mouth' in the first one?" Abbie smirked. "You KNOW what that's implying."

"Gross!" she said, looking like she was ready to bolt.

Len's face showed that he was upset, but from what Peggy and Lisa said, it wasn't because he had a problem with the lyrics but because they offended Becka. Which was, of course, the point.

"Why pick those two songs?" Peggy asked.

"Because Cascade expresses my feelings about sex, death, and the dichotomy of pleasure and pain. And Just Like Heaven explains why I'm here."

"Why you're here?" Lisa asked.

"Steve made me scream, so I ran away with him!" she smirked.

Lisa, Peggy, Melody, and several others laughed, but Becka recoiled.

"But he's married!" she objected.

"How much attention have you paid?" Melody asked. "He has children by four women, all of whom live here! He has two wives! And, to be frank, he made ME scream, too!"

"I WISH he'd make me scream," Lisa added.

"Me, too!" Peggy chimed in.

"That's just wrong!" Becka protested. "How can you all have sex so casually?! It's meant to be one woman and one man, for life, and only after they marry!"

"If that works for you and the person you want to marry, that's all fine and good," Trish said. "It doesn't work for me. Or anyone else in this room, I'd bet. Except for Abbie, we're all over twenty-one, and she's eighteen. How we choose to live our lives is our business, not yours."

"But it's WRONG!" she protested.

Jorge spoke up, his voice gentle.

"A very good friend of mine once told me that it was foolish to try to live your life based on the teachings of dusty old books and celibate old men. That doesn't mean there is no wisdom to be found there, just that not everything they have to say is relevant or appropriate."

He was quoting Cindi — the exact reason she hadn't ended up with Dave, and Julia had.

"But God's word is eternal!"

"Is it?" I asked. "How many wives did Abraham have? Or Moses? Or David? Or Solomon?"

"That was sinful! Just because they were prophets, they weren't perfect!"

"That's funny because Deuteronomy lists some regulations for a man who has multiple wives," I said. "Not to mention the New Testament says that a bishop, or overseer if you prefer, should be the husband of one wife. Why say that if men didn't, at least occasionally, have multiple wives?"

"The point is," Peggy said. "You don't get to decide what's right or wrong for me. I get to do that. And I reject that book you revere as just another misogynistic text where men try to run everything and claim that some god said it's supposed to be that way! Sex feels good. It makes me happy. I like it. With guys AND girls. Why should I not do it just because some pope or priest or preacher tells me not to?"

"Why would you marry someone who wasn't pure?" she asked. "Someone who waited for you?"

"That's your choice," Trish said. "YOU wait. I chose not to. If a guy can't deal with that, it's his problem, not mine. There's no real value to virginity except in the minds of some men. What matters is fidelity — keeping your word. If you promise not to be with another person, then you have to keep that promise. What happened before really isn't anyone's business except yours and whoever you were with."

"It does have value," Becka argued. "It prevents diseases and unwanted pregnancies."

"So do condoms and birth control pills!" Abbie said. "Well, condoms do both. The Pill doesn't stop diseases."

"And," Jessica said, coming into the room, "HIV can spread through blood transfusions."

She sat on my lap and put her arms around my neck. She kissed me, then drew her legs up to cuddle, and I put my arms around her.

"Albert?" I asked quietly.

"Snoozed. Kara and Elyse are hanging out upstairs. He's with them, along with Elyse's boys and Birgit."

"So none of you think you should be with just one man for life?" Becka asked, incredulous.

"I do," Jessica said, sitting up and turning to face Becka.

"Wait!" Becka gasped. "Your husband has sex with other women!" she protested.

"So? That's HIS choice, and we've talked about it. I have no desire to be with another man."

"I don't get it!" Becka protested.

"No, you don't," Abbie said, shaking her head. "Not at all. And until you get your head out of that stupid book, you never will."

"It's not the book," I said. "It's the interpretation of the book and the notion that every single word in there applies to life in the modern world. Personally, I don't think I'm going to Hell for wearing polo shirts that are cotton-poly blends! And I'm sure as shit not going to Hell for eating shrimp, crab, crayfish, or lobster! Or, much more importantly, bacon!"

"But those rules don't apply anymore!" she objected.

"But the ones about homosexuality do?" Henry asked.

"That's different. It's in the New Testament!"

I chuckled, "I know some people who will debate that with you. They argue that the underlying Greek isn't quite as clear as you think it is. But, if Paul can confront Peter or James on circumcision and abrogate the Old Testament, then God's word doesn't seem so eternal after all. Now we have Paul against Moses. Heck, we have Jesus against Moses! Abbie has a point about getting your head out of the book, but I could equally say you haven't REALLY read it!"

"I grew up in a church that was probably like yours," Jessica said. "And so did Kara. We both found it to be stifling and a poor guide for how to live our lives. We do go to church occasionally, but we don't live our lives according to two-thousand-year-old teachings that don't speak to us. It would be like Abbie listening to ABBA!"

There was uproarious laughter, mainly from Abbie, Henry, Trish, Jorge, and me, but a few others as well.

"As if!" Abbie managed to say through her laughter.

When the laughter calmed down, I decided to change the subject a bit.

"The real question," I said, "is how we determine right from wrong and decide what rules to live by. It might be easier just to take a book off the shelf and live by it, but then you're giving up on who you are and substituting the judgment of others for your own. And to me, that leads to a dead end."

"But you can't just decide what's right and wrong for yourself!" Becka protested.

"Sure you can," Jorge said. "And so long as you don't injure anyone else, you pretty much can believe whatever you like and do whatever you like. You might get grief from society like Trish, Henry, and Abbie, or like Steve because of his wives, or like Jennifer and Josie, but they aren't hurting anyone, so nobody can, or should, stop them from making those decisions."

"Aren't some things just wrong?"

"Yes, of course," Jorge said. "Rape. Murder. Theft. Assault. But each of those involves hurting someone else. Do no harm. Or, as Steve likes to say, decide based on what causes the least harm."

"Not the most good?" Len asked.

"No," I said. "Let's say something creates good with a value of 100 and creates harm with a value of 80. But you have another option that creates only 10 good and 1 harm. There's already enough bad stuff in the world, so you want to do the thing that brings the least bad stuff. Period."

"You can't stop bad stuff from coming into the world," Abbie said. "Everything decays. Everything dies. Including the universe, eventually."

"Not God," Becka protested.

"There are no gods," Abbie said. "If there's a being in charge of this world, it has to be who you call Satan."

I chuckled, "Surprisingly enough, the Bible agrees with you. 2 Corinthians says it explicitly, and so does the Apostle John in his Gospel in a couple of places."

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously. Satan is the ruler of this world, according to the Scriptures."

"Well, at least they got THAT part right," Abbie smirked.

"Becka," I said. "What is it that we're saved from?"

"Sin," she said.

"No, I think you're mistaken," I replied. "We're saved from death. That's the real enemy. Not Satan. Not sin. Death. But we're straying from the topic. Right and wrong. And how we figure it out."

We ended up debating that issue for nearly an hour before the session ended, and our guests left. We'd certainly given Becka something to think about again, and I wondered if NOW she'd stay away. If she showed up for the next session in September, there might be hope for her yet.

After the Rap Session, Jessica and I dressed for dinner at Jacquelyn's house. We decided to walk, with me pushing Albert in his buggy.

"Hi!" Jacquelyn exclaimed when Jessica, Albert, and I arrived at her house.

"I don't believe you've met Albert yet," I said.

"Oh my God!" Jacqui gusted. "He's SO cute!"

"Let them come inside, Jacqui!" Mrs. Vickers called from the hallway.

She giggled, "Oops. Sorry. Come in, please."

We walked into the house and were greeted by Jacquelyn's parents. Albert was the center of attention, and Jacquelyn asked to hold him.

"There's something about teenage girls and babies," I chuckled.

"So long as they aren't HAVING them, it's OK," Mrs. Vickers asserted forcefully.

"Well, yes, of course," I agreed.

"Jessica, I hear you're returning to the hospital in a week," Mr. Vickers said. "We're glad to see you've recovered your health."

"Thanks. I feel good, and I'm ready to go back. Steve has been wonderfully supportive."

"He's a fine young man," Mrs. Vickers said. "Jacquelyn adores him, and he's helped her in a lot of ways."

Because I knew Jessica so well, I knew that the slight turn of her lip was a sign she was suppressing a smirk. I hoped it wasn't obvious to the Vickers!

"When does school start, Jacqui?" Jessica asked.

"In two weeks. I'll be a Senior!"

"Are you still planning on Princeton, Rutgers, or Purdue?" I asked.

"Yes. I've already started working on my applications. I'll need the recommendation letter in a few weeks."

"Just let me know the format and how deep you want the BS piled!" I chuckled.

"Deep enough to get me into Princeton! That's where Billy is going. He's the guy I told you about the other day."

I saw Mrs. Vickers roll her eyes and Mr. Vickers stiffen a bit. But Jacqui was almost eighteen, and really, it was her life to lead. I could only imagine their reaction if they ever found out about us. The South Pole wouldn't be as frosty as that situation would be!

"I'll do my best," I said.

"When will Jim return to the karate school?" Mrs. Vickers asked.

"On September 6th," I said. "He's flying back next weekend but needs some time to recover. And then I get some time to recover from running myself ragged trying to run the school and my business and have time for my family."

"Jacqui says you've been doing a wonderful job."

"She's a good student. In fact, most of the kids at the dojo are good students. It's usually only the adults I have trouble with."

Jacquelyn went to check on dinner and announced it would be ready in ten minutes. Jessica excused herself to change Albert's diaper, and when she came back, we went to the table. Jacquelyn had done a great job creating a Cajun meal, something she'd apparently been testing on her parents for several weeks. The food was spicy, but not TOO spicy, and everything tasted great. There was ice cream and coffee for dessert, and after dinner, Jessica and I thanked the Vickers and headed home.