Chapter 10: Equilibrium?

August 1, 1982, West Monroe, Ohio

Soft laughter reached my ear from Cincinnati via the magic of the Bell Telephone Network.

"That is just TOO funny!" Angie declared.

"Funny? Why do you find it funny?"

"College boy breaks up with girlfriend and has serious falling out with his best friend. Swears newfound chastity and is almost instantly propositioned by two High School girls who are 'off limits' because he decided High School girls are too immature, despite dating two other High School girls. It's like the plot to one of those teen angst dramas like James at 15 or maybe a soap like Days of Our Lives!"

"So now I'm a source of amusement for you?"

"Constantly!" Angie said, laughing again.

"I think I'm going to move to Mount Athos," I declared.

"Where?"

"The 'Holy Mountain' in Greece. It's exclusively for Orthodox monasteries, and women aren't allowed to even set foot on the mountain."

"I don't see you as a monk!"

"It does have its attraction."

"You like girls too much! And besides, what would I do for entertainment?"

"Very funny!"

"You do know it is possible for a guy to say 'no'!"

"Obviously! And YOU know I've said 'no' to several girls."

"Yes, but I'm certain you, in true college boy fashion, want both girls!"

"There's a difference between what we want to do and what we should do."

"Well, if you've learned that and can figure out which is which, there may be hope for you yet!"

"Seriously?" I asked.

Angie laughed softly, "Guys aren't known for being smart in that regard. My friend Anna has bent my ear a lot about her boyfriend. Well, the guy she wants to be her boyfriend. Let's just say he does NOT know the difference between those two!"

"I don't know," I chuckled. "It sounds like a LOT of fun!"

"And if you think you have drama with Jocelyn, you have NO idea. The stories she's told me about him and his friends would take a dozen novels to relate, and he's our age!"

"So you're saying that's not the way to have a well-lived life?" I asked.

"Not even close! How much drama do you really need, given the sacrifices you have to make for your medical training?"

"Way less than I have right now."

"So, what do you plan to do?" Angie asked.

"I told my mom it would be rude to refuse such reasonable requests, and I would just suffer through it!"

"You did not!"

"I did, but Mom knows I was pulling her leg. I've said stuff like that to her before. Always in jest, mind you."

"So what are you doing today?"

"Staying home where it's safe!"

"So now you're going to hide out for the rest of the Summer?"

"No, just today. I'll go to work and karate tomorrow."

"I'll see you Friday. Call me if you need to talk about Jocelyn. Or anything else."

"I will. And thanks, Angie."

"You're welcome."

We said 'goodbye', and I hung up. I went up to my room, grabbed my copy of Stranger in a Strange Land, and headed for the patio to read.

August 2, 1982, West Monroe, Ohio

"So now you're afraid of two High School girls?" Amelia teased on Monday morning.

"I seriously do NOT need that kind of complication in my life. Though I might make an exception."

"NOT! HAPPENING!" Amelia insisted.

"Thank you for making my point for me!"

"There's a BIG difference between fooling around and having a threesome involving your own sister!"

"Perhaps," I smirked. "But in all seriousness, I'm just looking for balance, and getting involved in that way with anyone, let alone High School girls, just doesn't seem to me to be a way to achieve balance."

"Probably not, though I don't think my sister is looking for a long-term relationship."

"So what? An end-of-the-Summer fling?"

"Why not? She's not dating anyone, and she'll probably go to college in Florida or Arizona."

"I just want the rest of the Summer to be calm and uneventful."

"Poor baby," Amelia teased. "Girls want the good-looking, fit college guy with the huge ... earning potential!"

"Nice delivery," I grinned. "Would you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Ask your sister to back off a bit. We three have a good time together, and I don't want to mess that up."

"I'll try, but she's her own person, just as you are and just as I am."

"I know," I replied. "Shall we get to work?"

"Yes, but you have to tell me what you REALLY think about Debra Winger!"

"Smoking hot, and there is no way I'd kick her out of bed for eating crackers!"

"Of course not!"

We both laughed and walked into the hardware store to begin work.

August 5, 1982, Circleville, Ohio

"Ready for school to begin again, Mike?" Mrs. Malenkov asked at dinner on Thursday night.

"Yes. I actually head back two weeks from tomorrow to move into my dorm."

"When do you start looking for medical schools?" Mr. Malenkov asked.

"Well, I know the ones I want to apply to already," I said. "But it doesn't really start until I take the MCAT the Summer before my Senior year. Once I receive my scores, I can start the process. Well, I can send applications beforehand, of course, but I'm taking the MCAT at the first opportunity, so I'll wait until I get my scores to apply."

"If it's not prying, how are you planning to pay for medical school?"

"Student loans, grants, plus the money I'm saving working each Summer. With my grants, a small scholarship, and some money from my parents, I do not have to borrow money for my undergrad degree. I'll also work Summers for two years after I get my undergraduate degree, but then clinical rotations start, and I'll be in school full-time, year-round, and won't be able to work. And there is no pay for those rotations, even though I'm working as what amounts to a trainee doctor. Finally, I'm going to apply to be an RA for next year, which will let me save my room and board money."

"You'll have enough to live on those last two years?"

I nodded, "I've done very conservative calculations, and so long as I work as I've planned to, I'll be fine. The money I'd save being an RA would give me a nice safety net. My big concern is my car lasting until I finish medical school, but it's expertly maintained by a friend in West Monroe, and he's confident he can keep it running fine for another seven years."

"That really does put a real crimp in any plans to marry or start a family before you finish medical school," Mrs. Malenkov said.

"Mom!" Katy protested.

"It was an observation, honey. That's all."

I nodded, "And an accurate one. But that's not something I'm going to worry about at this point. My main focus is to finish my undergrad degree and ace the MCAT. At that point, I'll reevaluate. And that's less than three years from now, and Katy would only be twenty! She'll still be in college."

"And you're thinking about that?" Mr. Malenkov asked.

I smiled, "Is that your way of asking what my intentions are towards your daughter?"

He laughed, and Katy glared at him.

"I suppose it is!" he said.

"For now, we're dating. You just heard why I can't say more than that!"

"And if your financial situation changed?"

"Then I'd reevaluate," I said. "But barring winning the Ohio Lottery, which I don't play, by the way, I seriously doubt that's going to happen."

Mr. Malenkov nodded, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a slight smile. Suddenly, I felt VERY uncomfortable. If he was implying what I thought he was implying, it was a deal I wasn't prepared to make. I glanced over at Katy, who looked as if she might explode, which made it clear she understood her dad the same way I did. Our next private conversation was going to be VERY interesting.

That opportunity came when, after we helped with the dishes, Katy told her parents we were going for a walk. And she was fuming mad.

"I'm going to kill him!" she declared as soon as we were about fifty feet from the house.

"So you DID get the same drift I did from what he said."

"It was pretty obvious! I almost told him I am NOT for sale! At ANY price!"

I decided to try a bit of levity.

"Sure you are," I chuckled. "The price is an engagement ring and wedding ring!"

"That's ME selling, not HIM selling!" she growled.

"And you think so little of me that you think I can be bought?" I asked gently.

Katy took a deep breath and let it out.

"No, I guess not. It's just it almost seems like one of those dowries, you know, like offering fifty cows or whatever so a guy would marry your daughter."

"I'm not quite sure what I'd do with fifty cows," I chuckled.

Katy slapped my arm moderately hard, "Why are you joking about this?"

"What else should I do? Take it seriously? Negotiate? Use his offer as leverage with another girl's parents? Last I checked, we aren't in some tribal village in Africa or India or wherever they still use dowries! Laughing about it just seems like a better choice than getting angry. Well, staying angry, I guess."

"You aren't tempted by the idea of having no debt? Or less debt?"

"Tempted? Sure. But you know I have my plans worked out."

"But would you accept that kind of help?"

"It would depend on the situation, I guess. And what kind of help was offered. And if there were any strings attached. If, for example, you and I got engaged and your dad offered to help us cover our expenses while we're both in school, I don't think I would refuse. Would you?"

"I always wanted to make it on my own, don't you?"

"That's a pipe dream given what it costs to become a doctor. I already have help from my parents, from grants, from a scholarship, and from gifts from family friends. Honestly, with only a few exceptions, I'll take help from wherever I can get it. I'm not going to break the law, but short of that, or something like your dad was implying, why not? Your parents are going to pay for college for you, right?"

"Yes. I meant, you know, once I graduated or got married."

"And I guess I've accepted the fact that until I get a few years into my Residency, I'm going to need help, and finances will be tight unless my wife contributes significantly to the family budget. I don't have any 'macho' problems with that; it's just the way it has to be. Or stay single. That said, you know what does piss me off?"

"What?"

"That your dad got me thinking once again about something which I didn't want to think about for a few years! THAT pisses me off more than his thinly-veiled offer to cover some of my medical school costs in exchange for marrying you."

Katy smiled impishly, "If we DID get married, we could do it when we wanted, and as much as we wanted, and nobody could complain!"

"Last I checked, there wasn't some sort of force field preventing it, which a wedding ring dispelled!"

"But still! Sleeping in the same bed? Waking up in each other's arms? Wild sex? It's tempting!"

"Katy Malenkov!" I chuckled. "Are you suggesting I take your dad up on his offer?"

"We wouldn't have to wait to fool around!"

"You want to do it that badly?"

"There are times when it's the only thing I think about. Don't you have times like that?"

I grinned, "I'm a guy. What do they say? Men think about sex every seven seconds or something? It's a totally made-up statistic, but at times, I think it might be accurate!"

"I think I understand why the old women at church try to marry everyone off when they're our age!"

"Yes. It's their solution to the problem. They know about hormones and that we want to screw like bunny rabbits. They also know faith isn't a strong enough deterrent for a lot of kids. So they try to at least get the kids paired off and engaged. According to my grandmother, back in the Old Country, the girl would often move in with the guy's family right after the betrothal, and nobody blinked."

"My dad's mom said something like that, too. That once the betrothal ceremony occurred, the couple was allowed to act as if they were married. The crowning was kind of an acknowledgment of that fact."

"Which isn't the position of the Church, but the Church is pragmatic about things like that. Not officially, mind you, but via «ekonomia» from the local priest. If you think about it, it's not completely out of line given that betrothals were taken as permanent commitments."

"What do we do about my dad?"

"I'd say just let it go for now. If he brings it up again, then you should say something."

"And tell him to mind his own damned business!"

"You are his business," I said gently. "I think your dad just wants you to be happy and comfortable. He's trying to look out for your best interest."

"By selling me to you? Or buying you for me?"

"I bet you anything that is NOT how he meant it," I said gently. "He knows you have five years of school before you could even get a regular, full-time job. I have seven years of school and a year of being an Intern before I even get anything resembling a regular paycheck. It's purely a matter of finances, and he's a banker, for Pete's sake! That's how they think!"

"So, just an entry in one of his dumb bookkeeping ledgers?"

"What's the old saying? When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?"

"You know Dad bought a computer for his office to do ledger work? He has an Apple II with a program called VisiCalc that lets him enter the numbers from a ledger sheet and do all the calculations automatically."

"Just keep me as far away from those infernal machines as possible!" I grinned.

"You know, if I get my degree in computers, we'll probably have one in the house. I already have one in my room."

"Talk about a leap!" I chuckled. "You just assumed we're getting married!"

Katy was silent for a few seconds, then laughed, "I guess I did! But you know what I meant."

"I did. But I have zero interest in those machines. It was fun to play chess against the computer a few times, but I'd much rather play against a person. And video games, like some people play, don't hold my interest at all. My friend Dale had an Atari 2600, I think it was called. I played it with him twice but just couldn't get into it."

"Don't hospitals use computers?"

"I'm sure, but I can't imagine doctors use them! They'd be for billing and stuff. Every doctor I've been to, or hospital I've been in, has everything on paper. You know, the charts. It's a permanent record of everything that happened, and you can carry it around with you. Even your little computer is too big to carry around."

"You don't think they'll make smaller ones?"

"Some of the guys at school had calculators from a company called Texas Instruments that could do a lot of stuff, but they just had little red lights, you know, like that handheld football game Sears was selling a few years ago. There were a bunch of guys in my High School who played with those. But a full computer? In your pocket? I don't think so."

Katy laughed, "You really don't know anything about them, do you?"

"No."

"The computer I have in my room has more processing power and more memory than NASA used in the Apollo spacecraft to send the astronauts to the Moon!"

"Didn't they have big computers on earth?"

"Sure. But even those weren't very powerful compared to what we have now, and the one in my room can do stuff those big ones in the early 60s couldn't do."

"I'll leave all of that to you electronic brainiacs!" I chuckled.

"And I'll leave bloody trauma to you sawbones! Yuck!"

"Are you calmed down enough to head back to the house?"

"Sure. Let's go listen to some music and hang out before you have to go home!"

We walked, hand-in-hand, back to the house, where we listened to music, drank Cokes, and ate potato chips before I headed back to West Monroe.

August 6, 1982, West Monroe, Ohio

"Want to hang out with us tonight?" Amelia asked when we met in the parking lot of the hardware store.

"My friend Angie is coming to visit, remember?"

"I do. Bring her along."

"What did you want to do?"

Amelia smirked, "How about going to see The Last American Virgin?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea; Angie's pretty conservative."

"OK. Are you bringing her to the pool tomorrow?"

"Yes. We'll meet you there. I'm hoping Jocelyn will come with us, but I'm not sure she will."

"Have you talked to her?"

"She called twice this week, just to say 'hello', but I'll take that. At least she's talking to me."

"And she's going to Purdue?"

"I talked to her mom, and it's not quite as easy as Jocelyn implied. I guess she's having problems getting into the dorms and getting a reasonable class schedule. But Jocelyn is insisting it will all work out."

"She has all that set for Taft, though, right?"

"Yes. Well, she did. I'm sure she's going to withdraw from her classes and stuff. I think she'll lose her deposit for the dorm, but that's all."

"You seem to be holding up OK."

"I don't really have a choice," I said. "This certainly isn't even remotely close to my ideal situation, but it's where I find myself."

"You could just ask her to marry you."

"Right now, that would be perhaps the dumbest thing I could do for both our sakes."

"Oh, I agree. I was just putting it out there."