Chapter 59: I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way

January 2, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“I spoke with Liz today,” I said to Estrella when I arrived home.

“Your company lawyer?”

“Yes. And as much as we both want to be together, she was adamant that we need to be able to say that our affair was limited to Argentina, and that you move to the dorms as soon as IIT opens them for international students at the beginning of August.”

“It’s unfortunate,” Estrella replied softly, “but necessary, as I very much want to work for your company.”

“When the time comes, you’ll need to get the appropriate visa and work towards your green card.”

“Yes, I’m aware. My father has already been in touch with an immigration attorney in Chicago. It’s the same one that Doctora Alejandra used.”

“Good. If you run into any problems, let me know.”

“Did my father’s payment reach your bank account?”

“Suzanne let me know it was in the account this afternoon,” I answered. “May I ask what visa you have?”

“One which allows me to be here to investigate colleges. My other visa becomes valid in August.”

“You can’t work on that visa, can you?”

“No. Once my student visa is active, I can work on campus, or in a job which is in my field. But I know internships aren’t available except to Juniors or Seniors at your company.”

“We have made exceptions, but the person you’ll have to convince is Doctor Dave Kallas. He’s our Director of Development, but also teaches Computer Science at IIT.”

“You hired a professor?”

“He was one of NIKA’s founders, and took time off to get a PhD.”

“Wow!”

“He’s the one who will make the decision about hiring you as an intern, and as a full-time employee, so you need to demonstrate your skills for him.”

“I’m sure, with your help, I can do it!”

🎤 Jesse

“Hi, Jesse!” Mom Two said when I came into the kitchen later that evening. “How was your day?”

“Good. But I need your help. In order for Macrina to visit, her mom wants to get to know you, Mom One, and Dad. I want to invite them for dinner, and was thinking Saturday.”

“There’s nothing on the calendar right now, so I think that would be OK. Mom One is changing and will be down in a minute, so we can check with her. Did you talk to your dad?”

“Not yet. I’ll do that in a few minutes, and if he’s cool with Saturday, I’ll call Mrs. Kennedy and invite them.”

“Who all would come?”

“Macrina and her parents for sure; I’m not sure about her older sister or her brother. I’ll make sure to ask and let Dad know.”

“So this is getting serious?” Mom Two asked.

I shrugged, “Maybe. She’s cute, Orthodox, and likes me, so I want to see her. She thinks her parents are being overprotective, but I know it can be WAY worse!”

“Let me guess,” Mom Two smirked, “you turned on the charm?”

“Of course!” I beamed. “She said I was a ‘young gentleman’!”

“And a turkey!”

“Now what?” Mom One asked, coming into the kitchen.

“Just our son being his usual smug self!”

“I want to invite Macrina and her family for dinner on Saturday. Mom Two says it’s OK, but I need to check with Dad.”

“It’s fine with me,” Mom One said. “I guess this is serious?”

Mom Two and I both laughed.

“That’s the same question I asked,” Mom Two said. “Her parents won’t let her spend time with Jesse unless they meet us.”

“How much do they know?” Mom One asked.

“Enough,” I replied. “Macrina’s older brother plays for Downers Grove, so they know I have two moms, and that Dad shows up with his girlfriends.”

“Then I suppose you should speak with your dad.”

“Yep.”

I went to the main house to see my dad.

“Dad, do you remember Macrina?” I asked.

Dad smirked, “How could I forget the future Mrs. Jesse Block!”

I rolled my eyes, “Can we be serious, please?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Macrina’s mom won’t let her come here unless she meets you and my moms. I was hoping you could invite them to dinner.”

“There’s nothing going on Saturday,” Dad replied. “Did you check with your moms?”

“They said the same thing. I’m not sure if Saturday is too soon, but I’ll call Macrina and check.”

“Make sure you ask if they have any dietary restrictions.”

“It’s not a fasting period.”

“I meant food allergies or anything like that,” Dad replied.

“Oops,” I chuckled. “OK. I’ll ask. OK to use the phone?”

“Always.”

I went to Dad’s study and dialed the Kennedys’ house. Mrs. Kennedy answered, and I invited their family to dinner on Saturday evening. We discussed what dad had suggested, and agreed on a time. I asked to speak to Macrina, let her know, then after we said ‘goodbye’, I went back to Dad.

“All set,” I replied. “It’ll be Macrina and her parents. They don’t have any food allergies, and they’ll arrive sometime around 5:00pm for dinner at 6:30pm. That gives you enough time to get Aunt Chess from the hospital.”

“Sounds good. What would you like me to serve?”

“How about shrimp stir fry?”

“Awesome!”

🎤 Steve

After Jesse left, my wives, daughters, and I went to karate practice. When we arrived home afterwards, I called Yuriko and asked her to come by the house so we could discuss the situation. She arrived about thirty minutes later and we went to my study where I explained what I’d discovered.

“Such silly rules,” she said when I finished. “I am sorry I misunderstood what it meant that I was able to work while studying.”

“It’s OK. From what I can tell, there are no problems with you visiting here, studying here, or sleeping here, so long as you maintain your dorm room. Helping around the house on occasion is probably OK, but it can’t be anything formal.”

“It seems as if it can be like I proposed, or at least close.”

“The concern the attorneys and my friend at the State Department have is that if you were to, say, cook meals every night, the government could call it a job, even if we weren’t paying you.”

“That seems quite silly. Almost as silly as I was when I was thirteen!”

“I agree. As I said, I even called a friend in the State Department, and I discovered that the US basically makes it impossible to immigrate or get a work permit, and if you can, it takes forever. That said, my karate instructor spent nearly ten years making the necessary arrangements to emigrate to Japan.”

“He’s moving there?”

“Yes. He’s retiring, and going to live near the dojo in Oguni.”

“So, like Robert-san?”

“Yes. They met in Vietnam during the war. But back to our situation, the risk is really all on you, given that you could lose your student visa if you do too much around the house.”

“I believe it will be fine. Does your daughter cook?”

“All my kids can cook. And clean. And do laundry. And all the other things needed to keep the house running smoothly. We’ll just follow our original plan, and you’re welcome to help out, if you wish.”

“And will you visit me?”

“If you want.”

“I very much enjoyed being with the big, strong American man who I dreamed about since I was thirteen!”

“And I very much enjoyed being with a beautiful Japanese woman!”

“What day may I begin?”

“As soon as you like. You should speak with Suzanne and Natalie - both of them are at UofC. Suzanne lives here, obviously, and Natalie is here every weekend.”

“Is Suzanne here?”

“Yes, she should be in the ‘Indian’ room with my other wives.”

Yuriko laughed softly, “So, as a Samurai of old, with multiple women!”

“I daresay they don’t see themselves as ‘concubines’! Though I know that could actually be a position of status under the Samurai code.”

“Does your wife run the household?”

“My junior wife handles all the finances, but otherwise we do things as a team. At work, the management is mostly done by women.”

“I believe Sakurako shared the secret with you.”

I smiled, “Yes, that her grandmother actually ran the compound, except for the dojo. And that in a certain situation, it was impossible for a man to lie to a woman!”

Yuriko laughed softly once more, “My grandmother said the same thing to me!”

“Speak to Suzanne and she can help guide you as to how to integrate into our family.”

“She’s the youngest, right?”

“By far. And she only came to us about two years ago. Let me introduce you.”

Yuriko and I left my study and went into the ‘Indian’ room where I introduced her to Suzanne, and the two of them left to talk in my study. When they had gone, I settled down on the floor pillows with Kara and Jessica to cuddle.

January 4, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

On Friday I met Ben Jackson at Maxim’s at 11:30am as we’d agreed.

“All settled in your condo?” I asked.

“We are. We’re one floor below Samantha Spurgeon’s condo, but at the opposite end of the building.”

“You know, I don’t think I ever asked what your wife does.”

“Free-lance interior design.”

“How did that work while you were on your round-the-world trip?”

“We planned well, so she finished up her projects, then deferred anything else until we returned. It’s the first long vacation she’s had since she started after she left the design firm she worked for after graduating from college in 1963. Our longest vacation before this one was our honeymoon, which was ten days in Tahiti.”

“We tend to take week-long vacations at several times during the year. It works better with my wives’ schedules and it gives us plenty of time to decouple and relax.”

“Doesn’t that violate the guidelines for vacations at NIKA?”

“It’s good to be the king,” I chuckled. “But they aren’t mandatory. You just get extra time if you take the full two weeks and go completely incommunicado. My schedule has always been flexible.”

“How is the new business unit doing?”

“Just a few beta customers right now for backups, email, and web hosting. We’ll go live on February 1st. Once things settled down with those, then the team will start working on a fully-hosted version of the legal software which can be accessed via a web browser. At least at first, it will be limited to no more than 10 seats, as it’s really meant for a very small office. It’s cost-effective at that level. As the number of seats approaches 25, the amount we’d have to charge monthly makes it less cost-effective than putting a dedicated Linux server in an office.”

“You might find bigger firms are willing to pay a premium to not have to worry about it.”

“True. But we need to walk before we run! Your turn. What’s the plan for the Lundgren Foundation?”

“I’m getting to know the current members of the Board. Do you have any input you’d like to share?”

“Sir Danny Hunter is, without question, the best Board member, followed closely by Alec Glass, though his daughter creates problems at times.”

“I still can’t believe her involvement with the Chicago mob!”

The things Ben didn’t know about me and the Mob could be the plot of a novel, but I didn’t think it wise to share them with him. So far, despite all the federal action against the Outfit, nothing had occurred which concerned me. That said, Peter Scuderi was still around, and rumor had it, he was still active, despite all the top bosses being in the pokey.

“Well, she’s serving a life sentence without parole in Texas, so she’s no longer a problem, except by association. Samantha gets a pass for her dad because the world views her as the abused party.”

“That wasn’t in the papers!”

“Sorry, not that way. Of all the things Noel Spurgeon might have been, he never abused Samantha. And to be honest, he didn’t abuse the girls, except for secretly videotaping them. Their parents felt they were abused, but according to Samantha, Noel had zero difficulties in charming the panties off very willing teenage girls.”

Nor did I, for that matter, but I wasn’t dumb enough to videotape them, Birgit’s opinion of me being a ‘dumb boy’ to the contrary notwithstanding.

“Let’s just say that you and I might have different views on that. You have three daughters, so I would expect you to be a bit more concerned.”

I laughed, “You need to meet my daughters! I think you might discover that they have zero interest in me controlling that aspect of their life. And I can’t be a hypocrite.”

“Three wives now? You’re collecting them?”

“There have always been three girls, since I was fourteen. It just took time to find what we call the ‘permanent third’, but now we’re getting off-topic.

“What do you think of the rest of the members?”

“All of them were very good choices to fix the disaster which led to Margaret Lundgren giving up control. The only real dissension is over Father MacGregor, because he is adamant about abortion and birth control, and votes against all of those proposals. That said, I’m not sure I’d replace him, because a dissenting voice is valuable. That’s probably the biggest challenge you have - the current board all pretty much see eye-to-eye on everything.”

“You haven’t been directly involved for a couple years, right? Just for the ER and birthing center?”

“Correct. And obviously, I’m in touch with Doctor Bethany Krajick about the Michelle G. Easton Center.”

“She’s in Sweden now, right? And that’s your doing?”

“Yes. She needed to see what it means to raise ‘free-range kids’. I encouraged her to go because she was falling for the trap of infantilizing teens that is going to see society break down completely. Meet my kids, both boys and girls, and their close friends, and you’ll see what I mean.”

“I heard your son encouraged his teammates to throw their ‘participation medals’ into the trash!”

“You heard correctly. I don’t believe handing out trophies or medals to the last place team helps build self-esteem. All it does is teach kids that they’ll be rewarded for simply showing up, not for excellence. That’s another thing that’s going to lead to societal breakdown - the sense of entitlement. Why strive to be the best if you are rewarded for mediocrity?”

“You pay all your employees per a set scale!”

“And we don’t hire mediocre people! Those who don’t pull their weight are gently encouraged by their peers to get with the program. If that doesn’t work, then by management. If that doesn’t work, we encourage them to seek alternate employment. Most do. We rarely have to terminate anyone for performance. Anyway, did you have ideas for programs or fundraising?”

“Some, but I need to finish a complete review of all the programs. I figure I’ll have that done by the March Board meeting. I’ll complete the evaluation of the current membership of the Board as well as all staff by then as well.”

“Sounds good.”

“What’s good here?” he asked.

“The veal Parmigiana is to die for, though I can’t have it because it has heavy breading and is served with a spaghetti base. I’m going to have their specialty chopped salad with roasted chicken.”

“I think I’ll try the veal. You know, I never asked, but do you drink beer?”

“No. It has too many carbs. Distilled liquor has a different sugar profile. Wine isn’t a good option, though I do have a glass on occasion. Have a beer if you want.”

We ordered, and Ben did have his beer. He also thoroughly enjoyed the veal, and when we finished, he picked up the check.

“Come hang out with us a week from tomorrow,” I said. “We can play some poker!”

Ben shook his head, “I’ve heard about that! I think I’d be doomed!”

“Then have some good bourbon, good fellowship, and play pool.”

“What time?”

“7:00pm at my place.”

“I’ll see you then, if we don’t speak during the week.”

“Sounds good. I’m happy you’re in Chicago.”

“Other than the political corruption, me, too!”

🎤 Jesse

“Adi, this is Karli, Libby’s girlfriend. And you know Libby, Kwame, and Chenelle from school.”

We were having dinner early, because, after pizza, we were going to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which had a running time of nearly three hours.

“Hi!” Adi exclaimed.

Everyone greeted her and we headed for Giordano’s.

“Does anyone have any dietary restrictions?” Libby asked.

“Technically, I’m not supposed to eat pork, but I like pepperoni!” Adi said.

“Same here,” Libby replied. “I don’t eat bacon or ham, but I do eat pepperoni.”

“Nobody should go through life without bacon!” I exclaimed. “Nobody!”

“I thought your church had rules about what you can eat,” Kwame said.

“Fasting rules, which limit certain days. I have «ekonomia», which is like a dispensation, if you’re Catholic, because of hockey.”

“I go to a Pentecostal church,” Chenelle said. “So I have no clue what you guys are talking about!”

“It’s probably better to forget about religion,” I replied. “This is supposed to be a ‘date’ night, not a philosophy or theology discussion!”

“Speaking of which,” Libby said. “Karli is going to come to the Hangout on Sunday. Chenelle, do you want to come?”

“I’m not sure my parents would be cool with that,” she said. “Let’s just say there are things my dad thinks I shouldn’t know!”

I laughed, “Like most parents on certain topics!”

“Not yours, from what I hear,” Karli said.

“My parents are different,” I replied.

“You can say THAT again!” Libby exclaimed.

“My parents are different,” I repeated.

“You are so goofy!” Libby declared.

“A-hyuk!” I grinned, imitating Goofy.

Libby and Kwame both groaned and Karli, Adi, and Chenelle all rolled their eyes.

“See what you did?” Kwame said, shaking his head.

“Nobody has to do anything!” Libby protested. “That’s just Jesse being Jesse! You mostly see him on the ice where he can’t be goof ... silly.”

“Nice save,” I chuckled.

“When does hockey start again?” Adi asked.

“Our first practice is at 5:00am on Monday!” I replied. “And our game is Saturday morning.”

“I hate those early-morning practices,” Kwame groused.

“I’d rather do that than have them after dinner,” I replied. “But most of our practices are right after school - Tuesday through Friday. Only Monday was a problem because of their house league games.”

“You might have a point,” Kwame allowed.