Chapter 85: The Fourth of July

July 4, 1997, Chicago, Illinois

“Hi,” Liz said when I opened the door on Friday morning.

“Hi!” I replied.

We hugged and I stepped out onto the porch.

“How was your last semester at school?”

“Busy! I am SO glad I’m done!”

“Did you have fun in Saint Martin?”

“You should have been there!”

“Most of the girls have steady boyfriends,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t have minded!” Liz replied with a huge smile.

“What happened to the guy in your government class?”

“We dated, but it was nothing too serious because he was going to Georgia Tech for grad school and I’m going to John Marshall for law school.”

“Are you going to be living at home?”

“No. I’m sharing an apartment with a girl I know from High School who got a CS degree and is working for First Chicago. You’re welcome to visit any time!”

“Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

“But will you take me up on it?”

“I can’t offer you what I think it is you want,” I replied.

Liz smiled, “Sure you can! I think I can learn a lot from you, as a mentor, and I’d very much like it if we can ‘adult’ from time to time.”

“What about dating?” I asked.

“Everyone says it’s very difficult to have time for a real relationship in law school. Would you like to be my mentor and ‘adult’ with me for three years or so?”

“I think you’d be better off with an attorney as a mentor.”

“For that part of my life? Yes. For everything else? No. I’m sure you can arrange for one of your lawyer friends to mentor me.”

“Probably.”

“So?”

“I’ll do my best,” I replied. “You seem to be a bit early for the party.”

“I know. Do you think we could?”

I smiled, nodded, took her hand and led her down the steps from the porch and onto the walk.

“Where are we going?”

“Penny’s house. She offered a guest room with a wonderful queen-size bed and a private shower.”

“How long do we have?”

“About two hours.”

She squeezed my hand and we walked next door to Penny’s house. We went in through the unlocked door, upstairs to the guest room, and quickly undressed. We kissed, touched, and ‘adulted’, finishing two hours later with a loving shower. We dressed, exchanged a soft kiss, and then headed back to the house so I could help with the final preparations for the party.

“She looks even happier than the previous times,” Kara said quietly.

“I hope you don’t mind if she’s an occasional lover for the next few years. She’d like me to mentor her, similar to what I’m doing with Ailea.”

“Steve Adams training lawyers! What’s next? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together?”

“Mass hysteria! Of course,” I continued in a conspiratorial voice, “only women can actually be hysterical.”

“I’ll show YOU hysterical, Snuggle Bear, if you make one comment about me having a uterus!”

“Touchy, touchy! I’m going to prepare the grill. I’ll need to start the fire in about twenty minutes.”

“I thought you just did!” Kara teased.

“A charcoal fire!”

We both laughed, then hugged, and then I went out to the backyard. I got the charcoal and kindling from the shed and began building a fire, showing Jesse, Matthew, Michael, and Albert how to do it. They’d watched before, but refreshers were always valuable.

“Why don’t you use lighter fluid like they did when we went camping?” Albert asked.

“Because I don’t like my food tasting like lighter fluid!” I replied. “It’s quick and easy, but I think the food tastes better when I use the wood strips and a bit of paper instead. Was it Dave using the lighter fluid?”

“No. One of the other dads.”

Just as I finished assembling the wood and charcoal, Dave, Julia, and their boys arrived, followed almost immediately by Kurt, Kathy, and their three kids. From that point on, it was a steady flow. We were going to have more people than ever because Charlie had invited some of her friends, there was a larger contingent of naval officers, a number of the kids’ friends, some of our new Rap Session attendees, plus the ‘usual’ gang. I was happy to see Monica and Amelia arrive, as I wasn’t sure what was going to happen after my talk with Monica the previous Saturday.

Pete, Kurt, Tom, and Dave manned the grill and turned out a continual stream of burgers, brats, and hot dogs, while their wives ensured we didn’t run out of buns, toppings, and snacks. Jesse, Matthew, and Dave’s boys kept the coolers full. I changed garbage bags as necessary, and did anything else needed to keep the party, and the food, rolling along.

“Have fun this morning?” Penny asked quietly when she came to stand next to me while I was putting a new plastic bag in the container we used for recycling.

“Thank you for the use of the private space,” I replied. “With Joyce, Jake, and their kids here, we basically ran out of room.”

“She’s not your usual type.”

“If by that you mean her build, you know darn well that what’s inside is more important than what’s outside.”

“Duh,” Penny smirked. “It’s MUCH more important to have it inside!”

“Uh-huh,” I said with a grin.

“I know for a fact you liked putting it inside!”

“Perhaps.”

“I should have brought my Nerf bat!” Penny growled.

“Good luck with that,” I replied smugly. “I know someone who would take serious exception to that!”

“She’s too busy with her Girl Gang to notice! Look at her over there, holding court, even with the older girls!”

“Queen Birgit I, Empress of the Universe!”

“I don’t see Francesca,” Penny said.

“Her mom turned down our invitation. I see Amber is taking what she considers her rightful place!”

Penny laughed, “You and I both know that eventually those two are going to be doing what you and I did on my fifteenth birthday!”

“Signs do point that direction,” I replied. “And in true Penny fashion, she’ll demand he do it.”

“And unlike his dad, he won’t debate her for MONTHS!”

“There’s only a three-year gap, which is a big difference.”

“Oh, please! Six years is no big deal!”

“Now. It was when you were fifteen and I was twenty-one.”

“Ancient fucking history,” Penny sighed.

“And a long time ago, too!”

Penny laughed, kissed my cheek, and went to find Terry. As I carried the full bag of bottles and aluminum cans to the side of the house, I saw Henry and Patricia coming up the walk with Jorge Luis in a baby carrier, with Gabby right behind them. I quickly put the bag down and hurried to greet them. We all hugged, and I brought them into the house, and then into my study.

“I figured this is the quietest place, and it’s usually off limits. Feel free to hide out in here anytime you need to.”

“Thanks,” Patricia replied. “We’re only going to stay a few hours, but I will come in here to feed Jorge. I think it’ll be way too noisy for him anywhere else.”

“Whatever you guys need!”

Henry set down the bag of baby supplies he was carrying, which I was sure contained all the necessary accoutrements for changing dirty diapers, and likely a spare ‘onesie’ for Jorge and clean blouse for Patricia. I smiled as I remembered having packed those kinds of bags many times in what at times seemed to be the distant past.

We headed out to the backyard and Elizabeth, Ben, Gabby, and I did our best to control the swarming mob of young girls who all wanted to see the newest ‘cousin’. When the burgeoning riot finally calmed down, Jesse came over and handed Henry a ‘Lucy nickel’.

“This is for Jorge,” Jesse said. “It’s the last one we didn’t give out.”

Patricia gave him a hug and Henry shook his hand, and they thanked him profusely, before he went back to hang out with his friends, with Amber so close it seemed as if they might be attached at the hip and shoulder.

“She has close protection detail?” Patricia asked.

“Francesca’s mom turned down our invitation, so Amber is making sure that she doesn’t lose her place to a redhead!”

“We do tend to attract men in droves!” Patricia replied with a smirk. “Kathy’s girls are getting big! I haven’t seen them in over a year.”

“All of them are,” I replied. “The law says we have to feed them and that causes them to keep growing!”

“As if you would EVER want your kids to stay little!” Joyce said coming up to our small group.

“There are times,” I said wistfully. “But yes, it’s good to see them grow up. Joyce, I think you met Patricia, Henry, and Gabby a couple of years ago.”

“Yes, at a Halloween party, but I see a fourth!”

“I’ll leave you with them to get an introduction. I see a former submariner who I need to speak to about the next phase of this party!”

“What’s that?” Henry asked as I turned to leave.

“Sorry,” I said, turning back. “Clayton Johnson has orders to report to the USS John F. Kennedy. This is doubling as his going-away party.”

“How long?”

“A thirty-six-month assignment. The JFK is heading to the Middle East.”

“Damn, that’s a long time away from home,” Henry said.

I nodded, “It is. And we should all be grateful there are men and women willing to make these kinds of sacrifices to protect the country. Now, if we could just find some politicians who don’t think having a strong military means you have to use it.”

“Amen to that,” Patricia said.

I went over to Jake, and then he and I went to gather Brian, Howard, Aaron, and the other sailors. They had a number of gag gifts for Clayton, as well as some actual gifts for Charlie, which we got, along with the case of scotch they’d chipped in to buy.

“Make sure nobody under twenty-one drinks,” I said. “I asked Pete, Kurt, Dave, and Tom to keep an eye out as well.”

“Yeah, that’s the LAST kind of trouble we need,” Brian said. “What happened to your jackass neighbors to the south?”

“Thank Loki, they moved about five months ago. The new owners haven’t moved in, so today we have nothing to worry about. That said, with as many people as we have here, I’m sure Chicago’s ‘finest’ will tour the alley a few times this afternoon. Somebody grab that crate with the whisky glasses, please.”

Jake picked it up and we all trooped out to the back yard. Howard jumped up on a chair and got everyone’s attention.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! May I have your attention, please!”

It took a moment, but everyone quieted down.

“We’re here today, to give our good friend, Lieutenant Commander Clayton Johnson, a proper Navy sendoff! And we want to express our sympathy to Missus Johnson who is going to seriously miss his Johnson over the next thirty-six months!”

The gathered crowd exploded in laughter, and I saw several parents whispering in the ears of the cousins, likely explaining the joke. It took a good minute for the laughter and catcalls to die down.

“We have some gifts for our friends! Aaron, Brian? If you please.”

The first gift was one I’d suggested and which had met with universal agreement amongst the sailors. Brian handed Charlie a box, and as soon as she had it in her hands, she gave me a ‘look’. She opened the box, saw the contents were as she expected, then looked straight at me.

“Boss, you’re an ASSHOLE!” she declared.

“Why thank you very much!” I replied with what could only be described as a ‘shit-eating grin’.

“What is it, Charlie?” Cindi prompted.

“Three dozen C-cell batteries,” Charlie replied causing our gathered friends to explode in laughter, applause, and catcalls.

“Aaron?” Howard prompted.

He took a box to Clayton who opened it, broke up laughing, and held up the boxes of tissues for everyone to see.

“Look at the bright side,” Aaron teased, “you could have had a submarine assignment! You know what those bubbleheads do!”

“I don’t think that man would fit in a submarine!” Lieutenant Nomura, a pretty Japanese woman who had just joined the JAG office at Great Lakes, said.

“We hide with pride!” Jake stated firmly.

“Yeah, the salami!” Aaron teased, causing everyone to laugh again.

I happened to see Monica, who looked absolutely scandalized, but there wasn’t much I could do about that now. I realized I probably should have warned her at just how bawdy the sailors, and their wives, could be. Brian handed Clayton a much smaller box which he opened. He pulled out a miniature ‘Mae West’.

“What’s this for?” he asked, providing the perfect straight line for Howard.

“Your Johnson! You can’t have that thing dragging you to the bottom if you have to abandon ship!”

More raucous laughter and catcalling ensued. The rest of the gifts were serious, and then the bottles of scotch were opened and offered to all of the adults. Most of the men took them, but only about a third of the women. Kara, Kathy, Samantha, and Jeri offered those who declined the scotch a choice of bourbon, vodka, or other liquor, and soft drinks to those who didn’t imbibe.

“To our friend and shipmate, we wish you luck, and a safe return!” Howard declared. “Clayton!”

“Clayton!” all of the Navy men bellowed, and everyone drank down their shot.

“I would be remiss, at this point, if I didn’t ask everyone to refill their glass, so we can toast our fallen comrades.”

All the glasses were refilled.

“To our friend Nick, and all those others to whom we’ve had to say ‘goodbye’ over the years, I say, we miss you! To fallen comrades!”

“Fallen comrades!”

After everyone had their drink, the party returned to what passed for a ‘normal’ party at the house. I walked over to where Monica was standing, and I could tell she was very upset.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have warned you.”

“I sent Amelia inside. That was a disgusting display!”

“As I said, I was remiss in not having warned you, but every single one of those men in uniform put their lives on the line for you and me every single day of the year. I personally knew the sailor they toasted by name, Nick Evans. He was married to Doctor Bethany before he was killed in the line of duty.”

“Oh! She never told me that.”

“Because it wasn’t relevant to her helping you and Amelia. I guess what I’m saying is, I would hope you could see your way to cutting them a bit of slack.”

“But the disgusting jokes?”

“Men who stare death in the face on a regular basis don’t have the same concern about social niceties that you think should control their behavior.”

“But aren’t they stationed here in Chicago?”

“Nick was stationed here in Chicago,” I replied. “He was on temporary duty in Guam when he was killed. Clayton has been in Chicago for ten years and now is going to the JFK for three. Some of his work will be on the deck of that aircraft carrier, widely regarded as the most dangerous working environment in the world. Sailors die even during peacetime, and sadly, we’re at war.”

“I can’t believe they said those things in front of the kids!”

“My kids, and the cousins, which is what we call the kids of close friends, have heard it all before. Remember, we don’t hide the world from them.”

“Were you in the Navy?”

“No. My dad was a Chief Petty Officer during World War II. I met most of these men through Pete Carston, the tall, distinguished man with a US Marshal badge on his belt. He’s a friend from High School who worked for NIS, well, now it’s called NCIS, which is basically the Navy’s detective force. He introduced me to Commander Karl Schumacher, who now sits on NIKA’s board. I met Jake at IIT when he was in ROTC. The rest I met through those men.”

“I think we’ll leave,” Monica said.

“I wish you wouldn’t, but I understand. This was a bit over-the-top, and I’m sorry I didn’t warn you.”

“I’ll see you in the office, then.”

I nodded, and she went into the house. I went to find Bethany, who was, unsurprisingly, with Kathy, Jackie, and my wives.

“She didn’t look at all happy,” Jessica said.

“She’s not. Bethany, I think a phone call might be wise.”

“You should have warned her.”

“I realized that as soon as I saw the look on her face. I apologized for not warning her. She’s taking Amelia home.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jackie said. “Our sailor friends were behaving the way they do when they’re in their own little group.”

“I suggested she cut them some slack given the nature of their jobs, but I don’t know how much effect that will have.”

“Steve?” I heard a male voice say from behind me.

I turned to see Bob Larson with a grim look on his face, and Deborah, with a bemused look on her face. I suppressed the sudden urge to roll my eyes, Jesse-style, and after communicating with Jennifer with a look, led them into the coach house.

“What’s up?”

“That kind of behavior, with people from NIKA here, is flat-out unacceptable.”

“Nobody is required to be here, Bob. The ones who are, are mostly long-term friends. The one exception to that is Monica Gerhardt.”

“And do you realize she could file a harassment complaint?”

“Nobody MADE her come here today,” I replied. “She was invited, along with over a hundred others.”

“Being asked to a party by your boss, or his wives, is tantamount to a requirement to attend.”

“Bullshit,” I replied. “People are free to do as they please, and they all know it, and they’re respond for their own decisions, and they know that, too. If she’d said ‘no’, I’d have just said ‘OK’ and let it go.”

“Is she also in your self-defense class at the dojo?”

“Yes, along with her daughter.”

“Which they pay for?”

“A small fee that goes towards paying the rent on the building, electricity, and so on. I don’t get paid by the dojo.”

“You’re too involved in the life of that employee. It’s one thing for senior executives to socialize, it’s another thing to bring staff, especially low-level staff, into situations such as this. With all your friends in the Navy, I would have thought you would understand the issues of fraternization between enlisted and officers. That’s what this amounts to. There are no enlisted men or women here, are there?”

“Grace Smith, who works for Melanie, is a former Petty Officer, but she’s a civilian lawyer now.”

“Would those officers be permitted to have enlisted men at a party like this?”

“A ‘going away’ party? Absolutely. All it takes is approval from the Base Commander. It was done when Karl left for Italy. So long as the most senior person in authority approves, it’s permitted.”

Bob was silent, and I was sure it was because he realized the corner he’d accidentally backed himself into. But he recovered quickly.

“And yet, there are appropriate and inappropriate behaviors even with permission.”

“Yes, of course. The UCMJ, as well as the whole ‘good order and discipline’ idea. I get your point, but it’s not so simple. A number of ‘staff’ were friends before they came to work for NIKA - Jodie Billings, Claire Colson, Chris Gibson, and Penny, to name a few.”

“Penny is a problem unto herself, but you’ve put that discussion off-limits.”

“For your safety, Bob,” I grinned.

“Which is part of the problem. In any event, what happened today can happen in your private life, and while I’m uncomfortable with it, with management. But it simply can’t happen with staff, even if they were friends before you hired them. The power relationship is such that they could feel compelled to be here.”

“Deborah?” I asked.

“Philosophically, I agree with you completely and unequivocally. Legally, Bob has a point. In the past, when you really knew everyone, there wasn’t much of an issue.”

“But...” Bob started.

“Bob, let me finish!” Deborah said firmly. “The chances of someone making a complaint were infinitesimally small, and you were running almost no risk of trouble. You don’t know everyone as intimately now, which is something you, yourself, have complained about. Because of that, the risks are much greater, precisely because you won’t know the individuals well enough to properly judge their likely reaction.”