Chapter 55: Two Minutes for Tripping

September 30, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“Well, this ought to be interesting,” I grinned. “When will Cynthia’s parents be home?”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Jesse replied. “And I’m not sure ‘interesting’ is the right word, Dad.”

“What exactly did her grandma see?”

“Just us coming downstairs, dressed. And Cynthia pulled the duvet over the bed and closed the door.”

“Her parents will be suspicious, but you weren’t caught red-handed. Mary and I had a similar situation when I was fourteen. Her dad called my dad. You can imagine your grandmother’s response.”

Jesse nodded, “I bet that was fun.”

“She grounded me. It didn’t help that I’d been caught in bed with Becky not long before that.”

“Seriously?!” Jesse laughed.

“In that case, I could truthfully say nothing had happened. I spent the night at her house after a New Year’s party and she came and got into bed with me. We were clothed and her dad liked and trusted me, so other than him talking to my dad, he was cool.”

“I don’t think Cynthia’s parents are going to be ‘cool’ about this,” Jesse replied.

“Both girls had STI tests, right? And you were responsible about birth control?”

“Yes.”

“Then there’s nothing for us to do. Make sure you tell your moms so they know what’s likely to happen tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

I left Dad’s study and went back to the coach house. My moms were due back from their lunch, so I just popped Mario Kart 64 into the console. I was totally disappointed that we’d been interrupted, but I felt bad for Libby because she was the only one of the three of us who didn’t get to have the other two go down on her. I also doubted we’d have another chance, because of school, hockey, and my upcoming dance date with Kelly when I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend.

“Home already?” Mom One asked when she and Mom Two came in about fifteen minutes later.

“Cynthia’s grandmother came to check on her,” I said, putting down the Nintendo controller.

“So ‘hanging out’ was having it ‘hang out’?” Mom Two asked with a smirk.

“Yes, Mom,” I replied, rolling my eyes at her dumb joke.

“What happened?”

“Cynthia, Libby, and I put our clothes on and got to the stairs before she came upstairs,” I said nonchalantly.

“I think your dad had a similar situation to that more than once!” Mom One said.

“He told me when I told him what happened.”

“Where were Cynthia’s parents?” Mom Two asked.

“Milwaukee. Her older brother is thinking of going to UW Madison.”

“What did Cynthia’s grandmother say?” Mom Two asked.

“That she was going to tell Cynthia’s parents and that I was, quote, ‘in serious trouble, young man’.”

“What did your dad say?” Mom One asked.

“He made sure all of us had STI tests, made sure we were responsible about birth control, and told me about getting caught with Mary and Becky, like I said. He said it would be ‘interesting’.”

My moms laughed.

“Your dad is not like his mom in any way!”

“No kidding!” I agreed.

“And don’t think I missed the bit about two girls!” she said with a smirk.

“And?” I asked.

“Nothing. We trust you to be responsible and to make sure the girls really want to do what they’re doing.”

“What are you going to say to Cynthia’s parents?”

“That it’s normal for teenagers to experiment and that nobody was hurt. Do you think they’ll call Libby’s parents?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea. I don’t know Cynthia’s parents or Libby’s parents.”

“We’ll deal with it,” Mom Two said. “Do you know if the girls read Bethany’s book?”

“Both of them did,” I replied.

“Good. What are you going to do for the rest of the day?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll go hang out with Dad and play some video games.”

October 1, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“Sorry about the interruption,” Jennifer said when she, Josie, and I sat down in my study early on Sunday afternoon.

“You should apologize to Leigh!” I replied.

“You are STILL incorrigible!”

“You were instrumental in making me who I am!” I grinned.

“True,” Jennifer replied, “though I think we probably could have done with a bit less drama in our relationship.”

“You think? So?”

“I heard from Valerie Schmidt and to say she’s pissed is a royal understatement.”

I shrugged, “Let me guess, her innocent little angel was corrupted by our lecherous son?”

“And his slutty friend.”

“I got the impression from Jesse that he and Cynthia had been together and that Cynthia was the main instigator. And that Libby was less experienced than Cynthia and Jesse.”

“That’s the impression we have as well,” Josie said. “Jesse wasn’t as careful as he thought he was, which is how we found about his ‘friend with benefits’.”

I laughed, “I really wish we’d had that term when we were his age! So how did you leave it?”

“She wants to have a meeting with us and Libby’s parents.”

“‘Us’ as in you and Josie or ‘us’ as in the three of us?”

“The three of us.”

“When?”

“She’s expecting us this afternoon.”

I shook my head, “Sorry, but she can have her little snit at some point when I’m not hosting a Rap Session. Tell her to pick another time or do it without me because I have twenty-five guests arriving in about twenty minutes.”

“We’ll go,” Josie said. “If she bitches, I’ll point out that we’re raising Jesse.”

“God help her,” I chuckled. “Let me know what’s said. We’re in agreement, right?”

“That Jesse is YOUR son?” Josie asked with a smirk.

“I meant about Jesse not being in any trouble! And, to be honest, I was a bit surprised, given Jesse’s personality.”

“I think Cynthia talked him into it,” Jennifer said. “He was careful not to fix any blame, but I got the drift it was something Cynthia cooked up with Libby.”

“Now why does THAT sound familiar?” I chuckled. “Anyway, let me know what comes of this.”

“You’re not curious how far they got?” Josie asked.

“Yes, but no,” I replied. “If you know what I mean.”

Jennifer and Josie stood up, so I did as well. They left my study and I went to find Leigh, who was talking with Kara in the kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “Just a minor issue with my son.”

“Which girl?” Kara smirked.

“Girls,” I corrected with a grin.

“So he IS you!” Kara giggled, something she very rarely did these days.

“Seriously?” Leigh asked. “Your fourteen-year-old son was having a threesome?”

“Allegedly,” I replied. “They were fully dressed when they encountered one of the girls’ grandmothers. What happened before that, only the kids know.”

“Plausible deniability?” Kara asked.

“That’s the way I would play it. One set of the girls’ parents demanded a meeting this afternoon, but given the Rap Session starts in about twenty minutes, I declined. I have no concerns about Jennifer and Josie handling this. All the kids are the same age, and they followed the guidelines in Bethany’s book about STI tests and being responsible about birth control.”

“Steve, you’re seriously OK with this?” Leigh asked.

“I’d violate my personal ‘Prime Directive’ if I wasn’t,” I said. “I can’t be a hypocrite.”

“You? At fourteen?”

“A foursome,” I replied smugly.

“You’re serious?!”

“He is,” Kara said mirthfully. “That was long before we started dating.”

“How the heck did you get involved in crazy sex at fourteen?” Leigh asked.

“Ask Jennifer to tell you our story while I’m in South America,” I chuckled.

I heard the front door open and a few seconds later Ben and Elizabeth came into the kitchen with Shoshana. They said ‘hello’ and Kara, Leigh, and I got up and all six of us went to the great room to await the rest of our participants. Everyone arrived and we started on time.

“First,” I said. “I’ll be in South America two weeks from today, so Elizabeth and Henry will run the Rap Session. Please try to keep the mayhem to a minimum!”

Everyone laughed and I waited for the laughter to subside before continuing.

“We recently bought a Panasonic Digital Palmcorder that I’m going to have Kara set up to record the Rap Session, so I don’t miss anything. If anyone objects, please let one of us know.”

Nobody voiced an objection at that point, so I said, “Next, Holly should introduce her guest.”

“This is Jackson Morris,” Holly said. “He’s a Sophomore at IIT and we’ve been studying together this semester. I asked Steve if I could invite him, and here he is!”

“Welcome!” I said, as did many others.

“Thanks,” Jackson said. “I hope you don’t mind if I’m quiet and just absorb what’s going on, at least at first.”

“That’s fairly common,” I replied. “But speak up whenever you feel moved. Now, let’s pick up with the discussion from last time. We didn’t come up with an answer, except that we all agree that education is a key component in eliminating all forms of discrimination.”

We spent the next two hours trying to work out some kind of articulable standard, but, in the end, each attempt ended up being subjective in some way.

“I think I can summarize the majority position,” Sophie said. “And that is that laws which are subjective are dangerous to liberty. And before Patricia objects, I believe she agrees when we’re talking about Free Speech and criminal statutes!”

Patricia laughed, “Given that ‘void for vagueness’ is a thing, and because I’ve challenged subjective speech laws, I can’t really argue with you. That said, given the current treatment of gays and lesbians as ‘second class citizens’ in many regards, something needs to be done. But, as we’ve seen, there isn’t a consensus even amongst a group who are the least racist, least sexist, least-homophobic people I know.”

“My concern is,” I said, “and I think you can appreciate this, is that the rights of Christians to hold and express their beliefs has to be protected, even if they oppose what they call the ‘homosexual agenda’. Without freedom of conscience, we aren’t free.”

“That’s a fairly lengthy debate,” Patricia said. “We’re out of time so I think we’ll talk about that in two weeks.”

“Oh sure,” I chuckled. “When I’m not here!”

“I think there are more than enough people who agree with you to make your points - Becka, Claire, Mattie, Leigh, Natalie, Nicole, Sophie...”

“That sounds like a harem!” Jackson said, speaking for the first time.

“There’s WAY more truth to that than you might think!” Becka said, causing everyone to laugh.

Everyone got up to get snacks and began filtering out. Sophie hung back and asked to speak to me privately. I agreed and we went to my study.

“You win,” she said.

“Win what?”

“All those girls have slept with you, I’m sure; well, maybe not Nicole because she’s fifteen. It’s my turn.”

“Your turn?”

“I think I have to,” Sophie said.

“Nobody HAS to do anything,” I replied. “If you want to, that’s a different story. If you feel compelled, then it’s wrong. There are no conditions on coming to the Rap Sessions.”

“People here still think I’m a little girl even though I’m eighteen and a Freshman in college.”

“I beg to differ,” I replied. “YOU think they think that, but I don’t believe anyone else does. You’ve participated in the discussions, been in the sauna naked a few times, and the ONLY thing you did was the same thing Holly did - express fairly extreme surprise at the fact that Becka and Mattie would so casually have sex with Bill and Matt.”

“And I got grief for my reaction.”

“Yes, you did. And over the past year you’ve come to terms with what happened. You make great contributions to the Rap Sessions and you’re much more open-minded.”

“I think I’m the only virgin in the room! Well, except maybe Nicole.”

I didn’t think that was the case, as a couple of the college Freshmen likely hadn’t had sex either, but that was neither here nor there. And I was positive Holly was still a virgin, and she was a Junior.

I shrugged, “True or not, so what?”

“I guess I feel like I’m not an adult when kids younger than me have had sex.”

“Again, so what? If you want to wait until you get married, you wait until you get married. This is the one thing only you can judge, and you can’t compare yourself to anyone else. If there’s one thing you SHOULD have learned over the past year, that’s it!”

“Sorry,” she said, looking down.

“Sophie, look up, please,” I said gently.

She looked up, her eyes glassy.

“You’re a sweet, wonderful young woman. There is literally nothing wrong with you. I mean that. Will you do something for me?”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Think about what I’ve just said, and everything that’s been said over the past year. Come see to me after I get back from South America and we’ll talk about this. OK?”

She nodded, “Sorry.”

“There is nothing to apologize for. You have to be true to yourself.”

“Thanks. You wouldn’t have a hug for me, would you?”

I nodded and held out my arms. I gave her a nice hug and she snuggled close, putting her head on my chest. When I released her, she kissed my cheek and left the study. I followed her out to find Kara talking with Leigh. She and Sophie said ‘goodbye’ and Kara and I went to the kitchen to begin preparing for our family dinner. Jennifer and Josie came in about twenty-five minutes later.

“So?” I asked.

“Libby’s parents were actually reasonable,” Jennifer said. “They’re a bit concerned about her experimentation, but the gist I got was this wasn’t her first experiment. Cynthia’s parents weren’t so reasonable. They accused Jesse and Libby of seducing their daughter. Libby’s parents took exception to that.”

“I had the same impression,” Josie said, “Libby’s parents aren’t freaked out about what happened. Cynthia’s parents on the other hand think they’re all ‘too young’ to even be kissing.”

“Wanna give me the box score?” I asked.

Jennifer laughed, “Libby isn’t being punished, but Cynthia is grounded for two weeks and they don’t want Jesse or Libby around her. They were put in an interesting trap because both Libby’s parents and we knew something they didn’t.”

“Which was?”

“Their little angel is on birth control pills!” Josie smirked.

“Oops!” I chuckled. “That kind of takes the wind out of the sails of their argument.”

“I pointed that out,” Josie said. “That’s when they backed off a bit, though I think they’re going to go after the clinic for prescribing the pills.”

“Good luck with that!” I replied. “Minors in Illinois have access to birth control and abortion without parental consent in many instances. The school nurse can’t give Jesse an aspirin without your permission, but the clinic CAN prescribe birth control pills or hand out condoms and not even talk to the parents about it. When they’re teenagers, my daughters could get an abortion without parental consent, and there’s little or nothing I could do to prevent it. In most cases, the clinic is prohibited from even talking to the parent! How did that come up?”

“Libby’s parents. Libby appears to have told them quite a bit.”

“Interesting. What did Jesse say?”

“I don’t think it bothered him all that much because he and Kelly are probably going to be a couple after the dance on the 13th, so that would be the end between him and Cynthia anyway. I think Cynthia knew that.”

“And yesterday was her playing her hand the best she knew how?” I asked with smirk.

“Could be,” Josie said. “She and Jesse appear to have worked their way through The New Joy of Sex to the ‘threesome’ point!”

Kara had a giggle fit.

“Jesse isn’t Steve, Kara,” Josie said. “He may be doing some experimenting, but you know he only ever wanted to be with Francesca.”

“The way Steve wanted to be with Birgit,” Jennifer said. “But I do think you’re right that Jesse and Kelly will settle into a nice, comfortable relationship that will last for a while.”

“Amber isn’t going to be happy about that in a couple of years,” Kara said.

“I still put odds on Jesse ending up with Lara,” I said. “Anyway, it sounds like there isn’t going to be any real fallout.”

“I agree,” Jennifer said. “I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks. See you in an hour or so for dinner.”

“Yep!”

She and Josie left and Kara and I continued making dinner.

October 2, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“The world must be ending!” Mario declared over the videoconference system. “Steve at an Executive Committee meeting?”

“What’s next?” Cindi smirked. “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together ... mass hysteria!?”

Everyone laughed.

“Actually, it’s Cindi’s concerns that have me here,” I said. “She’ll explain when it’s her turn. I have no clue how you guys run these things now that Stephanie is in charge.”

“Smoothly,” my sister said. “And efficiently.”

“Thanks, Squirt!” I retorted in feigned annoyance.

“On THAT note,” Stephanie said, “we’ll begin. Elyse?”

We went through the usual reports, which were simply longer, less efficient versions of the summaries I received, but I knew that sharing the details in this meeting was important, as I’d done that when I ran it. They saved Cindi’s report about EB Systems for last, so that it didn’t distract everyone from the other issues which needed to be dealt with. When it was time, Cindi gave the same basic overview that she’d given me the previous Tuesday.

“I’ve prepared a flyer which we’re sending to all our customers, starting tomorrow,” she said. “It’s the last item in your folders. It emphasizes the problem with the lock-in which makes it impossible to extract data without help from EB, and which risks complete data loss if the encryption keys are somehow lost. I’ve spoken with Sam and Terry about the right way to do this so we can offer the same feature, which would include escrowing the security keys. There are quite a few challenges, but Terry and Julia are assigning Steve, Penny, Sam, and two of our new coders to work on this project, with Penny as team lead.”

“Loki help me!” I groaned, causing everyone to laugh.

“Sam, Terry, and I will have a design completed by the time Steve returns from South America,” Julia said. “A design which honors our commitment to our customers.”

“How bad will this hurt us?” Mario asked.

“We’ll probably lose some customers who decide solely on price,” Cindi said. “But given the time it takes for a conversion, we’ll have time to counter the FUD. That said, every customer EB takes actually hurts their revenue for several years. It’s a fool’s errand on their part, similar to what happened to BLS years ago. I spoke to both Chickasaw and Hastings Mill, and neither of them are interested in a race to the bottom. There may be some short-term pain, but in the long run the three of us will be in good shape and EB will be financially unsound.”