Chapter 66: Summer of ‘93, Part II

June 27, 1993, On the road from Iron Mountain, Michigan

It had been a quiet, relaxing week. The kids had behaved very well, with only a couple of mild ‘Jesse versus Birgit’ episodes. Jesse spent a lot of time palling around with Nicholas, and that helped keep the two siblings apart. Elyse and Kara had shared me, with Elyse getting more than just her ‘usual’ Tuesday night, and I’d visited Jodie two additional times to ride horses and make love in the meadow by the stream.

I had talked to Abbie on Thursday and she told me that Bill Elliott had finished 10th in the race, and that Jimmy Hensley had finished 28th in the #7 car with Purolator sponsorship. Bill was up to 15th in the championship standings, but was over 600 points behind Dale Earnhardt who looked like he was going to run away with the Winston Cup.

Jason had talked to the Mercedes dealership service manager as well as to both ‘late model’ teams that ran at Rockford. He hadn’t made any decisions but to me it seemed like my prediction that when the season ended, Jason would move to Chicago was accurate.

Abbie had also told me that the Bulls had won their game on Sunday and that there was a huge celebration and parade in the city. She’d said everything was quiet at the house and other than the usual bills and a letter from Tina Hoff, there wasn’t anything interesting in the mail, nor had there been any phone calls. She also mentioned that Samantha had friends over several times, and had been out to see her horse and had been to the airport to get in some flying time.

I hadn’t had any calls from work and that made me very happy. Things had been humming along with the exception of Jeri leaving, and it seemed they had continued to do so while I was away. I’d have a pile of work to do on Monday, but it was worth it to have had the time with Kara, Elyse, and the kids. The only thing that was negative was the big one - Jessica.

I spent most of the drive back thinking about what I could do about that situation. Fortunately, Matthew, Michael, and Nicholas were playing with the Game Boy or reading books, so they didn’t interrupt my thoughts except when we made the usual bathroom stops along the way. Despite having all that uninterrupted time to think, I didn’t have any better ideas about what to do than I’d had when we’d left Iron Mountain. And that depressed me.

The key was not letting that depression take over and control my life, which it easily could, but all the while trying to stay on an even keel and not go to the other extreme. So far I’d done a decent job with help from Kara, Elyse, Samantha, and Bethany, the Tetrarchy, assisted by Jennifer, Kathy, and my male friends. If only Jessica would give enough of an opening that Kara would accept her back, I felt we could work through anything.

When we arrived home, after unpacking, I looked through the newspapers that had accumulated and saw that while we’d been away, a British mathematician, Andrew Wiles, had submitted a proof for Fermat’s Last Theorem that appeared to be correct. In addition, the Unabomber had struck again, this time at the University of California and at Yale. His original bombs had been sent to Chicago back in the late 70s, and the FBI still hadn’t caught him. Despite starting out with bombs in Chicago, whoever it was hadn’t struck here since 1980.

The last item of note was that a woman in Manassas, Virginia, Lorena Bobbitt, had cut off the penis of her husband John after an argument. That made me wince, and reminded me of all the times that Jessica, and others, had playfully threatened to do that to me. I was surprised to read that doctors had been able to reattach the severed organ, even after the wife had thrown it into a field out the window of her car!

Later that evening, we watched CNN and saw that President Clinton had ordered cruise missiles fired into Iraq to destroy the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in the Al Mansur district of Baghdad. Some of the missiles were fired from the Persian Gulf, and I wondered if Aimee had anything to do with that.

June 28, 1993, Chicago, Illinois

“I see the world didn’t end,” I said when we gathered in the ‘Gretzky’ room for the leadership meeting on Monday morning.

“You do know it doesn’t revolve around you, right?” Cindi asked.

“Says the woman who thinks it revolves around HER!” Dave teased.

“I don’t see any contradictions in those two statements,” Julia laughed.

“Did anything important happen while we were gone?”

Cindi, Dave, Julia, Tasha, Zo, Zeke, Kimmy, Sam, and Charlie all shook their heads, and Mario and Barbara both said ‘No’ over the speakerphone.

“It was a nice quiet week,” Julia said.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” I asked with a grin.

“Who? Me?” Julia laughed. “I’d never, ever say that drama seems to find you, Steve!”

“Did Brenda start today?” I asked.

“She’s in with Chris right now filling out her tax forms and getting her badge and alarm codes,” Kimmy said. “Once she’s done, Kajri will start getting her up to speed.”

“I created all of the necessary accounts on the computers,” Julia said. “And set her up with access to the legal software source code. Does she need anything else?”

“Not at this point,” I said. “Unless Sam or Dave think differently.”

They both shook their heads.

“Elyse was slumming with me in the UP, so Kimmy, please give the financial report,” I said with a smile.

Everyone laughed and the meeting proceeded as usual. Everything seemed to be firing on all cylinders and moving along well. And that was when things had come off the rails in the past. If we could at least get through the summer with everything running smoothly, I’d be happy.

Just before we hung up, Mario told me that Mario Lemieux had married his girlfriend Nathalie Asselin on Saturday; something he didn’t expect would make the Chicago newspapers.

After the meeting, I went to my office and attacked what appeared to be a mountain of paperwork in my ‘In’ box. I was always amazed at the sheer amount of paper that was generated by doing business. My goal was to get through the paperwork, return my messages, and respond to emails before lunch so that after lunch, I could start on my new project. I was going to teach myself HTML with a goal of creating a page for the World Wide Web.

July 4, 1993, Chicago, Illinois

“Jason is pretty bummed,” Abbie said as she helped me make the final preparations for the Fourth of July party.

“I bet. Hensley crashing in turn 2 on the first lap and finishing 37th sucked. Bill didn’t do all that much better, even though he was running at the end, 20th isn’t going to help him much.”

“What really bummed Jason out was that Loy Allen beat them.”

“In the end, this season is going to suck majorly for so many reasons. And the capper is Ironhead winning another championship. He’s 250 points ahead now and looks strong. Bill’s 16th and more than 700 points back.”

“Are you going to the Michigan race?”

“That’s the plan. We’re driving, though. Are you going up early?”

“Yes, on Wednesday. Josie is lending me her car since Jessica’s isn’t available. Did you invite her to come today?”

“I did, but Jorge said she refused. He’s coming with Trish.”

“Are those two EVER going to become an actual couple?” Abbie asked.

“Jorge’s snake-bitten,” I said.

“And I’m the snake that bit him,” my sister sighed, coming up behind us.

“It wasn’t just you,” I said. “He’s had lots of other problems with relationships.”

I put down the bowls I was carrying and turned to face my sister. I saw Ed give a nod, and I gave Stephanie the briefest of light hugs. She smiled broadly.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“If you two don’t mind, there are a few more things in the kitchen to be brought out. I need to get the fire started. Everyone else should be showing up in about twenty minutes.”

Ed, Stephanie, and Abbie went back to the kitchen and I arranged the charcoal on the brick barbecue grill. Just as I lit the coals, Pete, Karl, Kurt, and Dave all walked into the backyard with their wives. I greeted everyone and then more guests began arriving. As usual, the men took turns manning the grill, and Elyse, Kara, Jennifer, and Stephanie ensured there were drinks in the coolers and plenty of snacks in the bowls.

“I hear you’re going to Hawaii for five days,” Pete said.

“I’m going with Kara to a Chemistry symposium in Honolulu. I get to be arm candy!”

The guys laughed hard.

“Compared to HER?” Howard said from behind me, laughing hard. “Suuuuurrrreee!”

“I don’t get compared to the WOMEN, I get compared to the husbands!” I grinned. “The only bummer is we only have one opportunity to hit the beach.”

“If she wears that white bikini, they’ll have to call out the National Guard!” Kurt laughed.

“I was thinking of getting a Speedo for the trip,” I grinned.

“No!” came the chorus from the guys.

“I didn’t say I’d take pictures!” I grinned.

“Just the thought!” Karl said, making a face.

“Hang on!” Kathy said laughing. “ALL OF YOU have been in the sauna naked with him! The Speedo would show less!”

Several of the women laughed and the guys all decided that staring at the glowing charcoal was the best idea they’d had in their lives. That ended that conversation and we talked about baseball, the Bulls ‘three-peat’ and our plans for the rest of the summer, minus trips to the beach in Hawaii!

We served everyone burgers, brats, and hot dogs, and when there were no more takers, I fixed myself a plate and went to sit with Kara, Kurt, and Kathy. We had a quiet talk about Jessica, but Kathy had been unable to get her to talk. I relayed what I’d heard from Jorge and Al Barton the previous week, and the consensus was that there was little any of us could do at this point. I could tell Kara wasn’t happy about the conversation, and when we finished eating, Kathy took her aside.

“Steve, do you have a minute?” Samantha asked.

I nodded and followed her into the house, and was surprised when she led me to my study.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Maria is pregnant,” she said.

“Don’t look at me!” I said reflexively.

Samantha laughed, “No, I wasn’t accusing you. I know you weren’t with her. I have the complete scorecard from St. Martin!”

I shook my head, “I’m going to ban you from talking to Kara!”

“Well, the rest of what you call the Tetrarchy agrees with the two of us.”

“I take it Maria got pregnant in St. Martin?”

“Yes, but she was with four different guys so she has no idea who the father is.”

“Damn,” I said.

“She got drunk, let herself get picked up by different guys the first two nights, and then went home with those two Dutch guys on Sunday night. She’s panicked.”

“I bet. So?”

“Do you think I could ask Doctor Bethany to talk to her?”

I nodded, “I’d say that’s a good idea. You know Bethany will talk to her about having an abortion, right?”

Samantha frowned, “You know my position on that, but Doctor Bethany is an excellent counselor.”

“Let me get her,” I said. “I don’t think Tom will mind if we borrow her for five minutes. Just wait here.”

I left the study and found Bethany in the backyard and asked Tom if it was OK to steal her away for five minutes. He nodded his assent and I led Bethany to the study.

“Uh-oh,” she said warily. “What’s the problem?”

“Neither of us, Sweetheart. Samantha has a request for you.”

“One of my friends got pregnant, by accident, and I wondered if you might talk to her.”

“How old is she?”

“Eighteen. She graduated with me in May.”

“Let me give you a card and she can call me at the hospital and arrange to come see me. Is she Catholic?”

“Yes.”

“You do know that ethically I have to discuss all options with her, and I might counsel her to get an abortion?”

“That’s what Steve said when I asked him about getting your help.”

Bethany took a card from a small case she had in the pocket of her skirt, and handed it to Samantha. She left the study and I stopped Samantha from following her right away.

“I hope you see why I was so adamant about alcohol,” I said.

Samantha nodded ruefully, “And I’m glad I listened to you. The sad thing is Maria was never like that. I talked to a few of our mutual friends who’ve known her a lot longer and they said she wasn’t crazy or wild.”

“What happened isn’t uncommon when teenagers get their first taste of real freedom after being on a tight leash growing up. It’s why I give my kids freedom when they’re little. That way they’ll handle it better when they get older.”

“She never drank, never smoked, and never had sex before she went to St. Martin. She did all three the first night.”

“And all of you need to learn the lesson from what happened to her. And make sure all of your extended groups of friends learn it, too. You can have fun, but you have to be responsible about it. Do you know if she’s had an STD test?”

“No.”

“Don’t worry about it. Bethany will take care of it. Hopefully, Maria will call her.”

“I hope so. She’s in real trouble. Her mom and dad will completely freak out.”

“Given the circumstances, I think there is only one reasonable course of action. It’s like Bethany when she was thirteen.”

“But you oppose abortion!” Samantha protested.

“Life doesn’t always give us good choices. Sometimes you have to choose the least bad one. There’s another lesson to learn.”

“Why is being an adult so difficult?”

“A question I ask myself almost every day,” I said. “Let’s go back to the party.”

Samantha followed me out of the study and we rejoined our guests.

July 8, 1993, Honolulu, Hawaii

“How did you manage THIS?” Kara gasped when we walked into the suite at the Honolulu Hilton.

“I just made a phone call,” I grinned.

“I may skip my meetings!”

“Forget it, Honey! You came to Hawaii to hobnob with a much larger ‘Chemistry Mafia’ than usual!”

“Are you going on the spouse events?”

I chuckled, “Let’s see, me, less than twenty guys and over a hundred women. What do you think?”

Kara giggled, “Most of them are in their fifties or sixties! I thought you didn’t like older women!”

“Maybe the maid will be a cute Hawaiian girl!” I grinned.

“Now THAT is the husband I know and love. But you know the STD rule hasn’t changed!”

“I know. I plan to get some sun, and relax. I wanted to go on the volcano tour, but that would require a night away on Hilo, and I don’t want to be away from you! I’ll go on the one to Pearl Harbor, instead. And I promise to look good on your arm for the formal dinner tomorrow night! I’ll fend off the bored spouses, vacationing college girls, and lonely islanders while you sit in air-conditioned conference rooms and are bored to tears!”