Chapter 48

Once I got home, I went ahead and went into the garage. I moved a few boxes and made room for whatever was coming the next day. Then once back in the house, of course, Dee pumped me about how lunch went. She grinned when I told her I had a date the next night.

“Oh, I’m glad of that Pete. A date tomorrow, and dinner with Mandy on Saturday. You are already filling up your schedule. What about next week?”

“Well, I am gonna see if I can hook up with Holly on Sunday. After that, I’m gonna look up some of my old friends. Keith, Peggy, and Mike, go over to the Castle and see Skip, and see what else I can think of. Then start getting some things together to go to Idaho.”

“Yeah, it’s too bad you had to miss the wedding. It was great, and I really loved meeting Kim and her family. They are great people, but it was a bit sad too. I doubt your dad told you, but we took a drive out to your old place. He cried when he saw it. I remember your pictures from the trip, but it is even worse now. Sometime in the last year, somebody tried to burn the house down, it looks horrible. The land still sits unused, and I could tell he was heartbroken.”

I smiled ruefully and said I knew how he felt. At that Georgie started to cry, and I told her I had to make a call as she went upstairs. I picked up the phone and reading a number on the wall and dialed as I walked into the office and shut the door.

Barbara screamed when I told her who I was and immediately started asking me how I was doing. I gave her a brief rundown of the last four years, and asked to speak to Mr. Flushing. After I promised to come to see then when I was up there he finally got to pick up the phone.

“Sorry, but I have a meeting in just a few minutes Pete. But I’m glad to hear you are back home.”

I told her it was OK, but I wanted just a few minutes of his time. I told him my idea, and he paused. “Hmm, I’m not sure, but that might actually work. I still have the old paperwork on file here, let me do some digging on my end. By the time you get up here, I should have a good idea if this is workable or not. This is not my normal specialty, but I think I know somebody I can talk to and see if I can make things move.”

I told him that sounded great, and I told him I would be there next week. I talked to Barbara for a few more minutes, then hung up. I called Dave, and he told me they were all set for me to arrive. “Kim and Jeff don’t really have room for you, you know. So we figured you could stay here if that’s alright. We figure that might be better than staying on their couch.” I told him that was fine, and he told me Kim was at work, but he would call her when she got home and tell her the news.

The next day the moving truck showed up on time, and within an hour everything had been unloaded. Most of the boxes were in the garage, but some were in the office. We broke down Dee’s computer, and after sticking it in the closet I soon had her new one set up.

I had set up a menu system so she could quickly access the software I had already put on it, and she then opened one program after another. I had installed a newer version of WordStar than she had before, and she then opened Windows.

“OK Pete, what exactly is this?”

“Well, it’s kinda like the system a Macintosh uses, but not quite. It really does not do much, but some think it is the wave of the future. But there is a basic word processor on it and a few games. They say a new version will be out next year though, and it should be better.”

“Yeah, this is kinda strange. But hey, it does have Go. So that will be fun if I got time to kill.” I set up my computer next, and she whistled once I fired it up. “Wow, that is really nice. Even one of those new CD drives. But what are those other boxes you have sitting on top?”

I grinned, and turned on the boombox I put next to it, and fired up King’s Quest. And as soon as the music started playing, she jerked. “Oh wow, that sounds amazing! Is that what that box does? Play music?”

“Yeah, it’s actually made for musicians and instruments, but hooked up to a computer it lets me play real music if the game supports it. There are some cards coming out soon that should do it better, but I got this a few years ago. Here, let me show you what else it does.”

I fired up a player and started the James Bond theme, then the Axel F theme from Beverly Hills Cop, some of a few dozen songs I had already gotten from others. “That’s amazing! All I get are beeps and bloops, do you think this is what is coming to everybody?”

“Yeah, I think so. The sound in most computers is not even as good as an Intellivision, but I bet this will change everything. There is a card out already called the AdLib, that does this also, and is cheaper than this setup I have. But in a year or so they say there will be cards with speech capability, so I am just gonna use this until those come out. I expect that will change things a lot.”

“Yeah, I bet. Oh, you get a MODEM with this?”

“Nope, no reason to. I could not have a phone in the barracks, so did not see the point. Why?”

“OK, go get one. You know about CompuServe, well there are other things out there now. They call them ‘Bulletin Board Systems’, or ‘BBS’. They are mostly run by hobbyists from their home, and do a lot of the same things for free. You can download programs from them, and do a lot of the same things the paid services do. I can show you how they work, some of them are kinda fun.”

Georgie came in, so I sat him on my lap and played King’s Quest for a bit as Dee got her software loaded onto her “new” computer. But he quickly got bored, and went back out to watch TV as Dee showed me some of the BBS systems in the area.

I was intrigued. She called several of them of them, and they all had something different. Lots of games, some pictures, one even had a large selection of MIDI files! I had Dee grab a bunch, and she explained to me how “downloading” worked with a program called XMODEM. We put a bunch on a disk, and soon I was smiling as “The Final Countdown” then “The Never Ending Story” was playing.

Dad came home and came in with Georgie in his arms as “Mandolin Rain” was playing. “Wow Pete, is that coming from your computer?” I then went through it again, showing him my toy and playing several of the songs I had. He was impressed, but said it was a lot of money just to listen to music.

“Yeah, but I got a good deal on it, and sometimes I would set a bunch of songs to play as I was writing something. It’s kinda nice, being able to select a bunch of songs I want to hear when I want to hear them.”

“Yeah, just don’t expect music from a computer to ever replace albums or tapes.” We all laughed, and I headed upstairs to get ready. I threw on some slacks and a polo shirt. Then after shaving put on some Stetson, remembering how Becky had liked it last time. Then I sat and read the rest of the chapter of Mouse before it was time for me to head out.

I looked up the address in the Thomas Guide, and it was only a few blocks from where Becky worked. Soon I was pulling up in front of a small house, and saw it was the address. Becky smiled when she opened the door, and asked me if steaks were alright. I told her of course it was, and when I walked her to my truck. I opened the door for her, and once she sat she started to give directions. It was a nice little place off Laurel Canyon, and the steak was amazing. We shared half a carafe of wine, and it was the best steak I had eaten since I had left LA a year ago.

Once we finished we drove back to her house, and she asked if I had to leave soon. “Nope, my entire night is yours, Becky.” And with a smile she opened her front door and we went in. As soon as it was closed, she was in my arms and we were kissing. It was a nice, gentle and lingering kiss. Finally, she broke and rested her head on my shoulder. “I wanted to do that yesterday, but was not sure.”

“I’m glad you did, I did also. So this is your new place?”

“Yep, let me give you the nickel tour.” It was a small two bedroom bungalow, but it was set up nicely. Her computer was now in the smaller bedroom, and one wall was covered in bookcases, full of computer books and boxes of games. And next to each game was a folder. I looked at her and she nodded, and I pulled one out. Inside were sheets of paper, with notes and maps for the game it sat next to. “I like to keep it all organized, in case I decide to play it again. If they have a disk inside, it will have the save game files, so I can pick up where I left off if I want to.”

“Wow, very well organized. New computer too?”

“Yep, 80286, got it last year. EGA graphics, a lot better than what I had before.”

I nodded, and we moved to the living room and sat next to each other holding hands as we talked about computers. Once I told her about my new system, she said she had to see it. “I have heard about the Roland MT32, but don’t know anybody that actually has one. I would love to see your setup, it sounds killer!” I promised she could, and made a tentative date for Monday. It was her day off, so we decided she would come over for lunch, and we would see where we went from there.

And a short time later, we turned towards each other and were holding each other tight and kissing. I rested one hand on her waist, and the other in the middle of her back. Hers both went around my neck, and we spent quite a while just kissing. She felt amazing against me, and after a few minutes our mouths opened and the kiss deepened. Finally, our lips separated and she slid into my lap, and then we simply held each other as we caught our breath. Her head was on my chest, and we both sighed contentedly.

“I have to admit, I missed this Pete. I was hoping when you kept in contact and then told me you were coming back we could get together again. But you are leaving again soon also.”

“Well, yes and no. I am only going to be a few hours away, and will be back here on long weekends and vacations. Odds are that I can come by at least once a month, and for a week at a time every few months. This will not be like last time, where I am gone for an entire year or more.”

“Oh, I think I would like that. That might not be so bad.”

“Nope, and we could always get together on weekends at say San Diego or Palm Springs. That is about two hours for each of us. I could come on weekends sometimes, or you could come up and visit me. I am going there in about three weeks to check out where I am going to be stationed, and try to find an RV park. I have a motorhome, and am going to be staying there most times so I do not have to live in the barracks.”

“What are the barracks like? In the movies, it is like a bunch of guys in one big room.”

“Oh, that’s just for training. Mostly, it is kind of like a dorm, or a motel. Two or three guys in a room, about the size of your bedrooms here. We all share a bathroom, and some have a large bathroom for the entire floor. But no kitchen, the chow hall is kinda like the buffet we ate at. As a Corporal in Japan, we had enough room I had a room all to myself, but a community bathroom in the center of each floor. I am told in Yuma I will likely have to share a room, so I will likely spend most nights in my motorhome. That way I can have my privacy, and also be able to cook since we can’t have food in the barracks. Also no alcohol in the barracks, so I can have that also if I want. Not quite as nice as an apartment, but a lot cheaper.”