Chapter 27

Vicki’s turn:

Having sisters is a lot of fun, especially when they’re REALLY smart. I remember feeling awkward about being “the smartest kid in the class” before I moved out here with Dad and Kim. Around here though, “genius” is kinda average, and we don’t talk about it much -- we just have fun doing whatever we’re doing, which is usually either working in the lab or flying or family or whatever else.

I’m REALLY enjoying my newest sister, Mandy. She’s smart, she’s funny, and it’s kinda scary that she looks very nearly like Cindy. She was a little shy at first, but she got over that in about two days. We work together a lot, and today we were working on filtering out repetitive light reflections -- same stuff being reflected, but from slightly different reflecting surfaces, with differing delay times. I know -- human brains do this routinely, but robots don’t know how, until you program it into them.

Anyway, Cindy was over at another white board, arguing with pTerri and Vivek about something when her phone buzzed. She looked at it, grinned, punched the button and said, “Good morning, Mizz Patel. How are you today?” She listened a minute, grinned some more, and said, “Yes ma’am, but you’ll want her dad there, and he won’t be back until tomorrow.” Then, “Yes ma’am, that’ll probably work out. If there’s a conflict, I’ll call you.”

She punched the button, put the phone back in her pocket, walked over to us. “Mandy,” she said, “we should have expected this, but I thought it wouldn’t come this quickly. You and me are being summoned by the powers-that-be. In this case, that means Dr. Hoskins and some others, over at Auburn.”

I saw Mandy get a worried look. She said, “Cindy, I’m scared! What did I do wrong?”

Cindy grinned and said, “You didn’t do anything wrong at all. I don’t know the story yet, but I think you’ll like what happens next. Anyway, I have to call your dad and give him a heads-up, so he’ll be attending with us. Now Mandy, we need to be “twins” tomorrow, and we need to look like college students, so that means shorts and Auburn T-shirts. You’d better get used to that look, because I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re going to be, beginning tomorrow.”

My new adopted sister has academically arrived.

Bill Carmody’s turn:

Odd text from Cindy just arrived, saying: “Meeting tomorrow at 9am. You, me, and Mandy at Dr. Hoskins’ office. This is a ‘work meeting’ for Mandy, I think.” Hmm. OK, I’ll be home tonight, and we’ll see.

Thought about it a bit. Got a chill up my spine -- is Mandy ready for Auburn? Have to grin. The more appropriate question would be -- is Auburn ready for Mandy?

For most of my adult life I’ve listened to parents talking about their kids hitting the teen years. Mandy’s thirteen. I’ve heard of all kinds of horror stories from teens. My heart skipped beats when I found out I was the father of a teenager. I thought I had at least a decade before Elise reached that age, and BANG! Mandy’d dropped into my life.

First time I saw her, first time we talked, the day I brought her to HER new home, watching her just jump in with Donna and Elise and even Willie – all that trepidation went away.

Now she’s being summoned to college. With Cindy.

Cindy’s turn:

I didn’t request this meeting, but I had an idea how to steer it favorably. Simple solution: Cookies! Got a crew working: Mandy, Vicki, Rachel, Derek. 9 plates this time -- everybody wants some.

Anyhow, it’s now morning, and I loaded Mandy and Mister Bill into my SUV. My “faculty” sticker helps with parking. Arriving at the campus, we grabbed the cookies and walked to the Administration Building, took the elevator up to Dr. Hoskins’ office. His receptionist directed us to his office. ‘The usual suspects’ were there, plus a face that I didn’t expect to see: Jack Haggarty. Odd! Whatever, and I introduced Bill and Mandy to them all. Fairly good coffee, and the cookies were a hit!

Finally we all were seated, and Dr. Hoskins began: “Bill, Mandy, I thank you for coming over this morning. I need to explain a bit. I’m the president of this university, so I get a lot of autonomy in my decisions. But I actually serve at the pleasure of the Directors and Regents, and Mr. Haggarty sits on our board of directors.”

He continued, “I got a call from Jack last Friday morning, advising me that ‘Cindy has a twin sister’, and umm, ‘encouraging’ me to invite you over for an evaluation. I take his suggestions very seriously, and act quickly upon them. In this case, I’m very happy I did.”

“Mandy, you’re not quite twins, of course, but the resemblance is astonishing. If you’re anything like her at all, we’d be delighted to have you enrolled and studying here, as quickly as possible. Would that be acceptable to you?”

Mandy said, “Thank you, sir, and I’m honored that you’d consider me. But please understand: I have a LOT of catching up to do. I’m learning calculus, physics, and robotics as quickly as possible, but I worry that I may not yet have the prerequisite knowledge for those courses.”

Dr. Hoskins said, “Cindy, put your faculty hat on for a minute. Is she ready for Bren and Ram?”

I said, “Sir, give me and Nikki about three more weeks, and she’ll be ready.”

Dr. Hoskins said, “That’s about what I figured. Mandy, one more question: Have you given any thought to what you’d like to study? Jack was hoping to have you in pre-law.”

Mandy said, “Thank you, sir, but my sisters and I are electrical engineers. Well, technically I’m NOT, but it’s kinda what I’m doing. I hadn’t really considered anything else, and in view of our lab projects, I can’t imagine that anything else would be applicable.”

Dr. Hoskins said, “See, Jack? I told you so.” Then, “Mister Carmody, do you have any thoughts or questions?”

Mister Bill couldn’t speak -- he was wiping tears. Just shook his head.

Mr. Haggarty said, “Mandy, Cindy, I owe you an apology, in some ways. Let me explain, and Mandy, you probably didn’t know about this, but a couple of years ago, Cindy saved my hide, and the hides of some of my associates, when we were on a jet charter out of Birmingham. She had very little experience in Citations at the time, but that didn’t bother her much, as nearly as we could tell. A guy can find many virtues in an act such as that.”

“Since then I’ve tried to repay her, and I know that’s probably not possible. I don’t mean to embarrass you, Cindy, but I’ll always be grateful, and I’ll go to bat for you anytime I get a chance, but honestly, Lady, what could I begin to give you?”

He paused, smiled at me, then, “And Mandy, without saying it too loudly, the same goes for you. When I saw you pulling that plane out of the hangar Friday, I knew I wanted to pave the way for you, if I could. I hope this doesn’t embarrass you too much. Nothing I can give Cindy, but since YOU’RE her sister, I can help YOU.”

Mandy said, “No sir, I’m not the least embarrassed. And I thank you. Actually, I thank ALL of you, and I hope I can measure up to what you expect of me.”

Dr. Hoskins said, “Thank you, Jack. Bill, ladies, if you have any questions or further thoughts, don’t hesitate to call me. My door is always open to you. And now, Dr. Patel, could you please get with Mandy and Bill, and see to her enrollment? And please convey my deepest sympathies to Dr. Stebbins, upon the arrival of his newest headache.”

Jack Haggarty’s turn:

OK, we all shook hands, spoke pleasantries, and they left. I remained for a few minutes to talk to Paul. A few cookies (somehow) remained, and I stepped over to grab one while Paul took another. We grinned at each other, and Paul said, “Jack, I’d kinda heard about the Citation stuff. I have to say, if you had to pick some random person to save your butt, Cindy has to be at the top of the list.”

I said, “Paul, let me tell you a secret: She probably doesn’t know, but Cindy is a beauty, and I’d follow her anywhere! Hope my wife doesn’t figure it out. And Mandy -- Lord, I wish I could take her home with me. And while we were sitting here, I concluded that the two of ‘em were the smartest ones in the room -- dunno which is the smartest. I listened to Mandy, her vocabulary. We didn’t scare her at all!”

“That’s an entirely different breed,” Paul said, “and I have to tell you, they’re breaking the norms for me. Usually, the engineers are like hermits or some such. They really don’t want to socialize with faculty, unless they have to. Those girls are entirely different. Smarter, funnier, and seriously pretty. Worse, when it comes to technical issues, they can school you in excessive detail.”

“Paul, I need to get back to the office,” I said. “I need to wrap up some stuff for 3Sigma. But while I’m thinking about it, if you need money for Mandy, contact my secretary. Mandy doesn’t know it, and shouldn’t, but your budget for her doesn’t have much of a lid on it. As far as I’m concerned, whatever she needs, she gets. I mean, I couldn’t do it for Cindy – she never needed it. So Mandy gets it, in proxy.”

“That’s rather surprising.”

“Paul, we were flying back from that Miami football game. Our charter pilot had a heart attack. He was unconscious. If Cindy hadn’t been that ball of curiosity and capability and personality to get a free ride, and if Cindy hadn’t just looked at the situation and taken charge, I would be dead. That’s not a ‘maybe’ or 50-50. That’s a hundred percent reality – dead. That’s the biggest religious experience I’ve had since I was baptized when I was twelve.”

I continued. “I read the news article. Two inches of a column in the paper. A minute and a half on the news. That was sterile. I was THERE. That redheaded teenager said, ‘Y’all move Geno back there and make him comfortable.’ It was a command. Damned straight we did it. Then ‘I need a volunteer to read a checklist.’ I sat down next to her and she handed me the book and said ‘Turn to the tab that says ‘descent’. Now read... ‘ And she landed that thing. I’m here. Because. Of. Cindy. And this is paying it back just a tiny bit.”

Cindy’s turn:

Mizz Patel called me. “Cindy, you said three weeks on the math?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “We’re into college-level math with her. I think that if we have a bit of time for her to exercise what she knows now, Bren and Ram will be happy. I don’t know how or WHY she has a handle on it...”

Mizz Patel’s voice smiled. In that little shrine of saints in my life – people who’ve seen me on my way – Aneeta Patel’s probably on the highest pedestal. “I asked myself the same questions, Cindy – why would a middle school student from a rural school system even CARE about math at this level? – yet you, and several who’ve followed you, have showed up in my university.”

“She’s one, Mizz Aneeta,” I said. “I won’t lose sleep by saying that.”

“But you find a fly in your soup, I understand.”

“Yes, ma’am. You remember meeting my guidance counselor, Mister Hardesty, correct?”

“Yes. I remember his letter, and I remember not really believing what he said. How does that play into things?”

“You know that since I’m kinda bein’ faculty here, Doctor Hoskins and Doctor Stebbins tossed me a stack of applications for transfer into the engineering department, right?”

“Part of that is MY fault,” she lilted. “I wanted you in there because you’re decidedly NOT hidebound and stodgy.”

I smiled. I didn’t KNOW that SHE was behind that. “Mister Jim’s son’s application was in that stack.”

“And that is a problem?” she asked.

“A quandary,” I said. “Billy Hardesty’s NOT stupid. ACT is twenty-eight. SAT composite is 1400.”

“Those are good scores.”

“Yes ma’am. Good. Capability. Like one of those big pickup trucks all jacked up with the over-sized tires, all kinds of capability. And it runs from the trailer park to the Walmart parking lot and that’s all...”

“And your finding was...”

“Not in MY engineering department. Not yet.”

She shook her head. “Now we are YOUR engineering department. Cindy...”

“He’s not ready. I have his transcripts from Ditchwater State – freshman year. Math ain’t cutting it. He didn’t even TAKE a math...”

Her eyebrow arched. “What was he studying?”

“Kinesiology – Physical education...”

“Let me make an assumption – sports?”

“All-state level in high school. Got recruited to play football.”

“Ahhhh...”

I sighed. I remember Billy Hardesty. He’s almost three years younger than me. Good-looking guy – a very favorable distribution from Mizz Ann and Mister Jim. “He tore up a knee in spring practice. End of football career.”

“Oh my...”

“He’s got the brains,” I sighed. “It’s just that in Alabama if you’ve got brains and you’ve got football skills, football is VERY attractive. I remember him going on about playing for Alabama or Auburn. The thought that if he showed off in Ditchwater U, he could transfer...”

She shook her head. “And reality strikes. Suddenly a career choice as a high school coach is not a goal.”

“You know how dreams are for some people, Mizz Aneeta. I can just see inside his head, watching football on the weekend with his dad, and he sees those guys making MILLIONS and he’s actually pretty good himself. A college career, drafted to the NFL...”

“Many dream. Few are chosen,” she said.

“And Billy’s gotta change his goal, so he chooses engineering. But he’s not ready.”

“I’m sure you have a plan...”

Cindy’s always got a plan.

Here’s what actually happened to get me here.

“Into each life, a little rain must fall,” Dan says. Sometimes I want to strangle him. Yeah, he’s my husband, but that doesn’t stop him from being a butt sometimes. Pissing me off, Dan’s parting words this morning were, “Cindy, welcome to my world. Sometimes, you have to do paperwork.”

Today, I’m enjoying the “fringe benefits” of being on faculty at Auburn. In this case, probably because I’m NOT “senior” enough, I got tasked with reviewing prospective “STEM” transfers from other colleges. STEM is short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, in other words, what I do – make the world work.

Most of this is easy, but sometimes it’s not. Hey, if you’re already an Auburn student, you can transfer from some Liberal Arts basket-weaving major into STEM if you are suitably brain damaged. Doesn’t matter, and we don’t care. But if you’re transferring in from another college, we review both your transcript and your ACT scores. No point in burdening either the college of Science or Engineering, if you can’t hack it.

Anyway, second cup of lousy coffee, (Next time I’m bringing my own) and I’m two-thirds thru the stack, when I ran across another lousy one, from one “William Hardesty”, from -- Podunk Junction, as I refer to it. Hmm. Looking at it, he doesn’t belong here. ACT is 28, transferring from a Division II college, prior major was “Physical Education - Kinesiology”, GPA was (barely) 2.8.