Chapter 49

On Monday, Georgie had just been put down for his nap when Becky arrived. I introduced her to Dee, and all three of us went into the office. “Oh wicked! One of the new tower cases, and a CD-ROM! You weren’t kidding, this is awesome! And this is a Roland MT32, I saw them in the music department at Federated but never seen one hooked up to a computer. How does it sound?”

We spent the next two hours, playing music, then she played some of the games I had that used it. “OK, now I’m jealous. When we first met, you were getting basically a toy computer. Now, you have one of the best ones I have ever seen! How can you afford this?”

“Well, I bought it in Japan, it was a lot less out there. And here, see these frames on the wall? Most of these are games I have written, that is my other income source. I clear almost as much a year from that as I do in the Marines.” I then showed her the covers and described each of them. “This is my first one, I still make over a thousand a year just from that. And also I have a monthly column in the magazine Dee works for. So all told, that is what largely pays for my toys. Plus come next year this is a tax write-off, so most of it I will get back. Plus I get money from a few other sources, so I get by.”

Georgie woke up and Dee went upstairs to take care of him. Almost as soon as she left Becky was in my lap, and we shared a soft kiss. “Not bad, a game designer. I know you had told me that before, but I never really got it. Now that I see those covers and all those other awards, now I really do get it. You could pretty much make a living doing that if you needed to.”

“Yeah, but it’s not as steady. The first quarter is always the best, the Christmas sales bump that one a lot. But other months, it can be pretty small. But if you average it all together, it is pretty good. But it’s also a lot of work. I put in probably six to twelve hours a week or more into it, and not everything I write sells. Some I sell for peanuts, a few I have even given away. But I will be making more now that I am back. I was clearing a good chunk by appearing at conventions, and now I can do that again. If I come down a few times a year, you will have to come to one of those if you want to hang out with me. Over three or four days I will put in maybe six hours, between doing presentations and running games. But I clear several hundred dollars for that, plus they pay for my hotel and expenses.”

“Not too bad, we will see. But I admit, I am interested now. I am gonna have to look into it, you have gotten my interest now I admit.”

Dee came in at that time, and Georgie was right behind her. Becky got off my lap and dropped to her knees in front of him and introduced herself. He grinned at her, and soon we were all in the living room as Dee got us a snack. Becky and I talked about what to do next, and she suggested a movie. I told her that sounded good for me, and after looking in the paper we decided to see a vampire movie she was interested in.

So saying goodbye to Dee and Georgie, I followed her back to her place. We kissed for a few minutes once we were inside, then she said she was going to go change. I stood up a few minutes later when she came back wearing tan shorts and a blue blouse. We kissed for a few more minutes, and asked what I wanted to do as we still had a few hours to kill. Becky laughed, and took me by the hand and we walked to the door.

A half-hour later we were at a small computer store, and Becky was explaining to me how MODEMs worked. This was one thing she knew a lot better than me, and soon I had a MODEM, and the required cable as I looked around the store.

It was a small one, and the guy was in his 50’s. It was a bit cluttered, and I could see a back room with a bunch of computers, sitting on shelves or stacked on the floor. I started talking to him, and Becky introduced him as Cliff. He asked me what I was using, and when I said a “Culver Systems” he blinked, saying he had never heard of it.

“Oh, that’s because I built it myself.”

“Oh Cliff, it’s a killer system,” Becky said. “80386-25, CD, tower case, VGA, Pete here even has a Roland MT32, first one I ever heard in action. It sounds amazing!”

I could see that had earned some respect from him. “Don’t see many like that. How much it set ya back?” And he blinked when I told him the price, then added that was without the Roland, I had that from an older system I had. “Still damned low, where did you get it?”

“Oh, a small shop I had been going to in Naha for a few years. I just got back from Okinawa last week, I’ve been there for the last three years. They do a lot of manufacturing, and with the exchange rate at around 175 yen to the dollar, it makes things really cheap. I was planning on waiting until next year to upgrade again, but since I was leaving I made the jump last month and went for it.”

The three of us then started a conversation I was well used to from work. He looked again and grinned. “Marines, right? IT?”

“Yep, I guess the hair kinda gives it away. I saw the Dolphin tattoo on your arm, so I should not even have to guess Navy.”

“Yep, Nuke plant operator. Was on the Gato for three years, then Mare Island until I got out. Long time ago. Worked for an engineering firm for a few years, then when they got bought out by Northrup I took a golden parachute and opened this a few years ago.”

“Well, looks like you are doing well. I’m going up to Yuma next month, but will be moving back here in about two years when I get out. Not sure what I wanna do, but it will be in computers.”

“Well, I would stick to corporate for a bit. Times are booming for us small shops, but it ain’t gonna last. I already see four or five new shops closing within a year, there are just so many of us right now. I’m doing alright, mostly because a lot of those I worked with before come here, and their friends.”

I thanked him for that, and then he told me to wait a second and went into the back. He came back and handed me a black and white box with a large red music note across the front. “Here, just got this in last week in fact.”

“AdLib Music Synthesizer Card. I’ve been reading about these, but this is the first one I have seen. One of the magazines earlier this year called it a ‘Roland in a Box’. Is it really that good? I have not actually heard one yet.”

He then took us to the back, and indeed it was packed full of old systems. I saw Apple II, Commodore 64s, Atari 400 and 800 systems, and a bunch more. His system was a generic IBM clone case, but had push buttons on the top so he could get inside easily. He lifted the top and pointed out the card inside. Then he fired it up and had some shareware jumping game running. And the music sounded great.

“Yeah, that is just about what mine sounds like, but I imagine this is a lot cheaper.”

“Oh yeah, just this one card and speakers is all you need, around $200.”

“Oh yeah, a lot cheaper. I think between the MT32 and card I spent around $400. Does this do general MIDI?”

“Nope, just playback. It has no inputs or outputs. Just MIDI music and composing internally. So you can compose a MIDI track and put it on a disk and put that in a MIDI instrument. But for somebody like Becky here, this would be all she needs. Oh stop looking at me that way Becky, you told me you were only interested in music for games. What I mean is that unless you use a keyboard or write music, this is enough.”

Becky grinned and nodded. “Yeah, but I can appreciate how it sounds. Any chance these will drop in price any time soon?”

“Yup, in about a year or two. There is another company working on a better version, but still has a ways to go I hear. It will have full MIDI capability and speech. When that or one like it hits the market, these will likely drop like a rock. But until then, this will be the king of the hill.”

“OK Cliff, you sold me. Give me two of them.”

“Two? Why two? And if you got a Roland already, why this?”

“Well, one for me and one for my stepmom. I gave her my older system, and I think she would appreciate this. And the other for me, as I need to keep abreast of the new stuff. And I bet it is only a matter of time before most companies start to drop the MT32 support. So when that happens, I’m ready.”

I then looked through the stacks, and stopped. “Hey, is that a Compaq Portable?”

“Yup, took it in on trade a few months ago. Just collecting dust, the XT line is dead now, unless somebody is a cheapskate. It’s a nice little rig, if you want a portable the size of a sewing machine.”

There was a piece of paper taped to the top. 8088, 640k RAM, ST-225 hard drive. I smiled and asked him how much. And when he told me $200, I told him to add it to the cards. Becky followed me back to the front, where I went to one of the cases. Yep, perfect. I called Cliff over and pointed to the card inside the display case. He laughed, and said $100. “OK, I also want an external 2400 baud MODEM. How much total? And do you give a military discount?”

“Hell Pete, let’s just call it $675 for everything. Hell, I even got a few more things I will grab in the back and toss in. That work for you?”

“Deal, one sec, I need to go get my checkbook.”

By the time I had finished writing the check, I saw the small stack he had added. It was all used, but still nice. A 3.5” floppy drive, a 1200 baud MODEM, 2 joysticks and controller card, and a full-sized switching keyboard, and a serial mouse. “You will probably find the keyboard on that thing sucks, this came with it, he only used the one that came with it when he took it on the road.”

“Thanks, but this is not for me. A friend of mine could sure use it though. I figure this will be good enough for her, and she can play some games on it also. I still have my old CGA monitor in the garage, how much for a video card?”

“Oh, it’s already in. That’s a monochrome-CGA, just plug it in and it’ll work.”

I thanked him again, and he handed me a business card. “Here, on the back is my BBS line and a code for customers. When you register use that, and you get special access. Give me a call or come by and tell me your user name, and I will set you up with even more access. I gotta admit, this has been the best sales day I had all month, and you have a good eye for a deal.”

Once we were back in the truck I suggested lunch. “Goodness Pete, you just dumped like two weeks pay on just computer stuff. Can you afford that?”

I grinned. “Well, yes and no. Remember the computers I bought when we first met? Well, one was for my girlfriend at the time and her family. When Linda moved out she took it with her, and I had been planning on getting Mandy and her mom a newer one. They have my original IBM, but it died a few months ago. I figure this would be good for them, and it’s kinda similar to the old SX64. I pop in that card I bought, and it will be almost like a new one. I really am not rich, because mostly what I am spending since I got home is savings. I really did spend very little in the last three years.”

“I guess so, how much have you spent since you got back?”

“You don’t want to know. This truck is the biggest expense by far, the most expensive thing I ever bought actually next to my motorhome. What I just spent, that is almost a months pay for me actually. But my actual expenses are just going to be insurance. I paid cash for this truck, and my motorhome. I live rent-free, eat for free, and all my medical is free. I take home about $800 a month in the military, and spend less than half that on average. Dinner a couple of times a week, a few drinks, a few books or magazines, things like that. That and the money I make from the games just piles up in the bank. So a couple of times a year I just go a little crazy and get myself some toys.”

“OK, I can see that I guess. Yeah, I make over double what you do, but I also got rent, utilities, food, and a lot of other expenses. So while I have more income, you have more disposable income. And from what you said, you save a big chunk of that.”

“Yeah, about right. I could probably live on my savings for about two or three years, even if I did nothing else. And now that I am back here, I’m sure I will be spending more. The entire island of Okinawa is smaller than LA, so just in gas I will be spending more. Sometimes I actually only filled my tank once a month, I only drove maybe 50 miles a week.”

Becky grinned when she saw me turn East on Vanowen. And a minute later we pulled into Rico’s. Her cousin was not working, but soon we had our burritos, and they were just as good as I remembered. “I can’t believe you remembered this place, and how to get here.”

“Well, it is the best Mexican food I ever had, and it’s not hard to find. And we were close, so I wanted to try it again. So we still have a few hours to kill, where to next?”

“Well, let’s make this your choice. I wanna help you get that set up for your friend, I have never seen some of the things you got. So we can go to my place and do that, or we can do it at your place. I got all the tools at mine, and I can even load in a bunch of games she might like.”

“OK, your place it is,” I said, and pulled onto the street towards her house. When we got there we pulled out the computer and the bag with things that would be going in it. Becky set up a plastic tablecloth on her dining room table, and came back with a small case of tools. In about 15 minutes I had the case opened. It was all tightly packed in, and dusty. She told me to grab the computer and took me out to her car.

Out of the trunk she pulled a small compressor for inflating tires, and in a few minutes I had the worst of the dust and other stuff blown out. Then back inside I hooked it up and got it running. “OK, DOS 3, some games, a spreadsheet and word processor. Nothing I can not put back on. I assume you have DOS disks?”

“Sure do, 3.21 even. Let me go grab my case and we can get started.”

As she got the disks I pulled out the upgrade card I had gotten. The instructions were pretty simple. Pull the CPU from the motherboard, plug the cable from the card into the slot, run the configuration software. And boom, an old 8088 XT was transformed into a 10 MHz 80286 with 1 MB of RAM. Even better, it could still access the original memory, so that 1 MB was all expansion memory.

Nice! He really did give me a deal, as the RAM alone was worth almost what he charged me for the card. I pulled the old CPU and Becky was back and watching as I installed the card. I fired it up, and it worked like a champ. And it did load a tad faster, even with the increased boot due to the card overhead. She handed me the disks, and once the drive was cleaned and the OS installed, it was running even better than my first computer did.

I loaded the software, glad to see it came with a real-time clock, and memory manager. Then we spent about two hours as Becky went through her game library, installing about 2twenty games on it for Mandy. Kings Quest 1 and 2, Bard’s Tale, Starflight, even one called “Leisure Suit Larry”, that Becky giggled and said was a graphic version of an older game called “Soft Porn”.

“It’s really not that bad Pete. Oh, you can type things like ‘fuck girl’, but it also recognizes ‘love girl’. And nothing really obscene, anything dirty is covered with black boxes. It’s kinda funny actually.” A bunch more went on, but I had a feeling the Bard’s Tale one would get the most use. I threw on a spreadsheet, and the only thing I still needed to install was a word processor. Becky did not have WordStar, and I did not want to put on one they would have to learn, as they learned how to use that on the old one I had given them.

Finally, I shut it down again and added the joystick card and MODEM. And once it was all configured Becky helped me install the software, then went and ran a phone cable to the back. “Here, I just printed this off. It’s a list of every BBS in the area I call. Here, let me show you how this works.”

We swapped places, and she quickly got all of the places entered, and we called a few of them. She logged onto them with her account, and soon I was looking through one after the other. “Yeah, I think she will like this. But it may make calling her tricky, as whenever she will be on the phone will be busy. But I bet Mandy and Rosie will love it. I will put on a few more things at home, and then bring it to them in a day or so. Cliff really gave me a great deal.”

“Yeah, that is why I took you there. He has the best shop in the area, and he is a real sweetie. Whenever I need something, he often had it cheaper than I could get it even with my discount at work. No software really, but for hardware that is the place to go. Especially if you want something used.”

Once everything was all installed, we went to sit on the couch and started to talk about what I was going to do for the rest of the week. “Well, on Thursday I am driving to Idaho, and will be there about a week. Until then, I was just going to see what happened each day without plans. But there are a few friends I am gonna look up, and I was hoping I could see you at least one more time before I left.”

She smiled at that, and reached out and took my hand in hers. “I would like that a lot, I am so glad you are back. You really made me feel special last year, and you are as big of a geek as I am, which I love. It sucks you will be so far away, but you’re right, it’s really not all that far. And I think meeting up in San Diego once a month or so would be nice. Maybe even go down to Ensenada, I got some family there we can visit.”

“That would be great. Give me a month or so to settle in, then we can start making some plans if you like. Hmm, the first holidays will be Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I will be coming here for those so we can meet if you like. After that, that would be President’s Day in February. We can plan a trip then. I will have a 96 hour pass, that’s four days off. I get off work Thursday evening and do not have to be back until Tuesday morning. We can meet up there Thursday night, then Monday go home. How about Friday in San Diego, Saturday we drive to Ensenada, then back to San Diego for Sunday night? Can you take that much time off work?”