Chapter 26: Not Exactly as Planned

June,1985

Larry and I headed to his office, relieved to see Al in a much better mood. As we pulled out Jack’s foundation plan and started thinking about how we wanted to lay out the atrium, a thought occurred to us.

We may have been a bit overzealous in our time estimate.

The first thing we realized was, that extending the oddly dimensioned column lines out to the atrium, would mean that all the windows would be different sizes and would look very strange.

Larry suggested that we use standard dimension steel and adjust the offset distance so that standard dimension horizontal beams would connect to the asymmetrical verticals of the building itself.

We needed to get the Dunphy steel ‘spec’ book, (Specifications) to be sure of the exact connection dimensions.

We weren’t trusting anything that Jack had done at this point.

Since the face of the building was 350 feet exactly, we decided to go with eight, 40’columns with a 30-footer right in the middle. That would make the face of the building look completely symmetrical. Since we figured on using standard dimension steel to connect to the asymmetrical building girders, we decided we better check to make sure the rotation of the asymmetrical’s was figured right. We were both studying the details when we realized that, even if Tim had ordered the specified girders, Jack had them all oriented 90° off!

Larry said, “Jesus Charlie, we really ARE gonna have to start this whole thing from scratch. Not only was Jack a crook, as it turned out he’s a horrible architect. This whole project was doomed from the git-go.”

“I think one of the people we’re going to need for this will be a structural tech.” I suggested.

Larry chuckled. “I think Morgan McElroy would be perfect for what we need. He’s the guy that looks like a taller version of ‘Eddie Murphy’, but, he’s kinda quiet and shy. He’s a whiz with everything structural and before he started working for us, worked for a steel manufacturer drawing up spec sheets.”

“Who else do you think we’ll need? Of course, you know I want Linda.”

Larry smirked at me, “Duhh, I would have never guessed.”

Larry thought for another second then said, “I was thinking about Allison Mackey. She’s not as artistic as Linda, but she’s extremely versatile and experienced. I also know she’s finished with the project she was working on and I wouldn’t feel like I was poaching someone’s best draftsman. When it comes to basic drafting, she’s even faster than Linda.”

“How many people do you think we’re going to need?”

“I think these three will be enough to get us started. I’ll tell Sam, that when we get to the point we need to start cranking out individual residential units, then we could probably use three or four more.”

“That sounds good. Since you know everyone much better than I do, I’ll just let you make that call.”

“You’re going to be shocked, Charlie. I’m guessing, that virtually everyone will volunteer to work with us. No one EVER volunteered to work with Jack! Several draftsmen, including Linda, actually threatened to quit if they got stuck working for his overbearing, arrogant ass.”

“I think I’m going to have to have several meetings with Stan. How many of those will you want to attend?”

“Very few if any, Charlie. When you were out with Linda, Stan made it pretty clear he thinks you walk on water. Sam and I almost busted a gut thinking that if you DID, it wouldn’t surprise us. If I have any specific questions, I’ll just make sure you ask him for me. I’m starting to get a good vibe on this project, but I think you and I are going to have to spend some seriously long hours to stay ahead of the construction.

“We also have to make DAMN SURE”, Larry continued, “that we check and double check every sheet. We can’t afford any screw ups. I just wish we didn’t have to use Jack’s idiotic dimensions all the way up. One good thing, however, once we make sure the first floor is correct, the other 11 will basically just be copies. At least as far as the structural sheets go.”

We were just about finished checking our sketch when I realized it was already after six. I flashed Mary, “Hey sweetie, I’m sorry I’m running late. I probably won’t be home till after 6:30 PM. Is that gonna mess up dinner?”

“Don’t worry Charlie, we have dinner started but we can slow it down enough to have it ready as soon as you get home. Just flash me when you’re a few miles away and dinner will be on the table shortly after you walk in the door. Oh, and by the way EVERYTHING is going great! Greg got home about 45 minutes ago and told us he had an idea you were going to be running late.”

I felt Greg cackling, “Sorry Bud, we ALL had a feeling that you and Larry were being a bit ‘braggadocios’, as far as your time estimate.”

“Yeah, well, we discovered that Jack’s orientation of the verts was OFF 90°. If we hadn’t caught that we would’ve ended up creating an even bigger mess.”

Greg started laughing, “So you’re telling me, he was just one big Jack-off!”

“You got that right.”

I flashed Mary at 6:35 PM and told her I was about five minutes away. She told me everyone was sitting at the table, eagerly awaiting my arrival. Just as I turned into the driveway I noticed that Bob’s van was parked in the street.

My first thought was, “Oh great, Bob could join us.”

Then my heart began racing. My vision didn’t have Bob and Linda meeting until our wedding! I felt my breath getting short.

I bolted through the front door, fearing the worst.

This can’t be happening!

I was beginning to hyperventilate and Mary was desperately flashing, “Breathe Charlie come on, B R E A T H E. Everything is fine.”

“But they weren’t supposed to meet tonight! Oh God, oh God.”

Then Bob flashed, “She’s the ONE, isn’t she Charlie? Please, please, tell me SHE’S THE ONE.”

Then, before I could answer, Linda, (who was staring into Bob’s eyes and her back was to me.) flashed, “Charlie, OH GOD! Please, PLEASE tell me that Bob’s THE ONE you said was ‘looking for me’!”

“YES! I just didn’t think you two were going to meet until our wedding. My premonition had you getting together for the first time at Bob’s DJ booth.” I said it out loud, as I sat down next to Linda at the table.

Bob looked at me, “Oh God Charlie, you better thank God I met her now. If I would have seen her for the first time at your wedding, I would’ve been useless. You might have ended up with the ‘Chicken Dance’ as your first dance.”

Greg smirked, “THAT would’ve been HORRIBLE!”

Linda giggled, “Am I going to get an invitation? When is it anyway?”

“Saturday, July 20th. We’re gonna have it right on the patio, and you know better than to think I wouldn’t invite you. After all, that’s when you were SUPPOSED to meet Bob!”

“There is no way I could have waited till July 20^th, Charlie. I might’ve ended up raping you well before that.” She was still giggling and then said, “Sorry Bob, but you already know how I feel about Charlie.”

“I do, and you already know how I feel about Mary and Jamie.”

Mary said, “Why don’t we eat before everything gets cold and carry on this conversation afterwards, in the pool?”

Everyone was in agreement and we all went back to eating. It was funny, because Bob and Linda must have been using “The Force” to cut up their pork chops and eat. They NEVER took their eyes off each other!

Mary, Jamie, Greg and I just kept grinning at each other while watching Bob and Linda. We all knew that Linda, somehow, had already developed the ability to communicate silently with Bob. I flashed to them that she had already started with me, earlier that day at work.

We were just finishing eating when Linda broke the reverie by saying, “Oh my God, I just realized that Bob and I were having a deep and intimate discussion and weren’t saying anything out loud! Do all four of you do that too?”

Mary smiled at her. “Yes we do. It’s really handy when we’re somewhere and don’t want anyone else to know what we’re talking about.”

Linda giggled, “You have a good point. Are there any other amazing things you guys can do? I know Charlie’s like some kind of ninja warrior, after what Sam said he did at work. Sam just told us that he couldn’t tell us HOW he did it.”

Bob looked in amazement at Linda and said, “Charlie never told me. What happened at work? Was that before Dad got kidnapped?”

I nodded my head.

Linda continued, “Yes, these eight gang guys came in dressed like FBI agents and started tearing the place up, threatening everyone and trying to steal the evidence we had against Jack. They herded all of us except Sam, Larry and Charlie into a closet and locked us in.

“We heard a ton of screaming. It sounded like somebody was beating the crap out of somebody. About 10 minutes later, an Illinois State Trooper let us out of the closet and we saw seven unconscious guys on the floor and one unconscious guy on top of a van!”

Bob was now laughing.

Linda continued. “When the FBI guy got there, the REAL FBI guy, I think his name was Callas, he said it looked like the aftermath of a Chuck Norris movie. Sam said he couldn’t tell us HOW Charlie did it, just that he did it ALL BY HIMSELF! We all figured Charlie must be some kind of a Black Belt Ninja Guy.”

Bob was now laughing uncontrollably. “I don’t know how to break this to you Linda, but Charlie doesn’t know SQUAT about karate. You’ll discover, that neither of us need to.”

Linda was looking like “Alice in Wonderland” as she was grinning at Bob and I. She said, “But Charlie DID do all that by himself, RIGHT?”

Bob chuckled, “I have absolutely NO doubts. At least he left their pants on!”

Now Linda had a dumbfounded look and asked, “What do you mean, ‘left their pants on’?”

Everyone was now laughing. Mary smirked, “Linda, there’s a whole lot about these three JAMOKES that you don’t know yet. It’s kind of a long story. Why don’t we go for a swim before they start telling you about all of their escapades?”

“That sounds like a great idea! Let’s go and put our suits on”, I said.

“But, Bob just told me you almost never wear suits?” Linda was putting on a bewildered smirk. “Are you afraid to ‘get nekkid’ in front of me Charlie?”

Now Greg was smirking at my red-faced reply.

“NO, well, ... NOT REALLY, ... maybe, but, but, I was just trying to be polite for you, Linda.”

EVERYONE was smirking at me now.

“Okay fine!” I said, as I strolled over by the patio door and stripped in less than 10 seconds. Everything would have been great, except I forgot about my SHOES. When I tried frantically to pull my legs through my pants I found myself headed nose first towards the floor.

About one foot before my most embarrassing moment, I found myself being held up by something.

BOB!

It was a strange feeling, as he slowly stood me back up, Linda was simply dumbstruck.

“Whaa, whaa, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” Linda exclaimed. She looked at Bob, who was flashing a goofy, toothy grin.

“As much as I LOVE teasing my brother, I’ll NEVER allow him to get hurt if I can help it. I owe him too much. He’s rescued my ass, more times than I can count.”

Bob chuckled, as I felt myself being picked up about 2’ in the air. “Let’s help him get undressed!”

Linda was giggling as Mary and Jamie were taking off my shoes. Linda was looking at my quickly stiffening, purple helmeted warrior. “You certainly have nothing to be ashamed of here, Boss,” Linda gasped.

Bob grinned, “Greg, if you’ll get the door, I think Charlie needs to ‘cool off’.”

“You KNOW we’re going to pay for this don’t you?” Greg chuckled, as Bob carried me out to the pool and dropped me in the deep end, after lifting me up about ten more feet.

The clan was all standing by the pool, laughing and slowly taking their shoes off when I came up for air. “Are you guys gonna swim with your clothes on or WHAT?”

Linda was the first one to climb naked on the diving board and executed a perfect swan dive. She swam over to me as everyone else got in the pool.

She gave me a boisterous kiss, that gave way to a more soft and soulful finish.

“Are you okay Linda? We didn’t freak you out too bad, did we?”

“Oh God NO! What started out as maybe the worst day of my life, is turning out to be something that every girl dreams about. And THEN SOME!” She kissed me on the cheek and swam over to Bob, giving him a kiss that could melt glaciers.

LINDA took a deep breath “I guess I should explain. Just as I was leaving my apartment this morning, my scumbag ex-boyfriend shows up and says he wants to get everything that’s his out of the apartment. We both chipped in 50/50 for all the furniture but he announces that he thinks it’s ALL his since some of his money went to pay for it.

“I told him I had to get to work and that I had changed the locks because I didn’t want him coming in if I wasn’t there. He slapped me and called me a bitch.”

(Bob was looking at me angrily and I just shook my head, letting him know THAT shit wasn’t happening again.)

“He said he was coming over Saturday and that I better be there.” Linda continued as she tried to fight back her tears, “Then on my way to work, I started thinking that at least I had Charlie. But then I discovered that Sam was about to get fired and Charlie had QUIT! My entire world was imploding.

“At this point, I felt that Charlie was my only lifeline, so I went running out to catch him before he left. I told him how much I loved him and begged him not to leave me. He held me in his arms and suddenly I felt as safe and loved as I ever had in my life. He told me he would NEVER leave me but that he had something to do. He said I had to trust him.

You have no idea how hard it was for me to let go of him.

“I went back inside, straight to my cubicle. I felt dizzy as I sat back in my chair wondering what was going to happen next.

“More than an hour went by and I heard Sam talking to Larry. Sam sounded excited as I saw him run out the door. I went and talked to Larry to see what was going on. Larry smiled and said, ‘It seems that Charlie’s at it again! He went and talked to Stan, completely on his own. That kid must have some kind of magic, because Stan just called Sam and said the project was back on, as long as Charlie was the one calling the shots. Sam told me to give him about 15 minutes and then I was supposed to go over to McGillicuddy’s and meet them.’

“Even though I wasn’t invited, somehow I knew I had to go too.”

Linda sighed and gave Bob a big hug. She took a deep breath before going on.

“That’s when I knew that my life was at a crossroads. It was the strangest feeling. By rights, I should’ve just stayed at work. I wasn’t even sure that I wouldn’t get in trouble if I left and went to McGillicuddy’s. I screwed up my courage, as much as I could, and drove to McGillicuddy’s. All the way there, it felt like my life was about to take a huge turn. I just wasn’t sure if it was for the best or for the worst.

“When I went into the bar, I tried to act normal, so I told Sam I wasn’t going to be left out. I had a feeling he was about to fire me. Charlie, when you said you wanted me, for your assistant I wanted to tell the world that I loved you!

“Then you took me outside and completely burst my bubble.

“I was trying to absorb everything you were telling me, but I was SO wrapped up with my own feelings that my head just started spinning. Somehow, when I heard Mary asking you if you needed a ‘hall pass’, out of pure desperation, I started listening to you. At first I thought I was just dreaming it. But it seemed so real, I had to ask you. When you told me that you had already found your soulmate and she was your fiancée, it felt like you ripped my heart out.

“Then I heard you say something about being in an open relationship with Jamie and Greg. I had never heard of such a thing. When you asked me if I thought I could love more than one person, I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, “NO DAMMIT I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU! But I didn’t, then really started to listen to what you were saying. When I made that joke about my sex life, it really was the truth. When you said that Mary has at least six orgasms every time you’re together, I just thought you were bragging.

“Then, all of a sudden I heard Mary ask you AGAIN if you needed a hall pass! This time it was even clearer and I felt like I could almost see her face, even though I’d never even met her before. When you told me that all four of you could communicate this way, I started feeling like ‘Alice in Wonderland’, going down the rabbit hole. When you told me that my soulmate was out there searching for me, the doubting part of me wanted to think you were just trying to brush me off.”