Chapter 5: The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

Sally was already boiling the potatoes when Carl brought in the groceries. “Take your boots off, and don’t be stomping around. Cecie needs her rest. Put the cream in the fridge. Your job is to make the salad; I will advise you.”

Two hours later, Carl pushed back his chair. While fumbling with his belt, Cecie’s eyes rounded in alarm. “What are you doing, Carl?” “I just need another inch.” Sally tittered, “You have enough inches already. Let’s go outside on the patio and digest.”

Carl explained his new career path. “The reality is, PCs aren’t being repaired much these days. Windows grinds to a halt at about the three-year point, and by then businesses have depreciated the whole value. New PCs are faster and cost less. The exception is “Windows ME” which fails immediately. So my time in the Nerd Corps is going to be ending. I need to become skilled at building and maintaining web sites.”

“What about you, Cecie?” “Well, people still eat, so my job at the diner is pretty secure. I wish I didn’t have to stay at Laura’s, though. Her attitude and her kids wear me out.”

“Carl, what do you think?” “Sally, I’m right with you.” (He kneels.) “Cecie, will you be my roommate?” “You can’t be serious. Wait, you are serious?”

“Please, say you will. Pay a little rent. I’ll be your not-bellied piglet, and Sally will feed us. We want you.” “OK, I agree.” There was a three-way hug. “All right, I have a confession to make. The bus district paid me a million bucks after squishing my estranged husband. So, for the next year, your rent is going to be $5 a month, each. If for some reason you two are quarreling, Cecie can come up and stay in my second bedroom.”

“Not going to happen,” affirmed Carl. “In the afternoon, you can go fetch your stuff from Laura’s place. For sleeping tonight, that’s up to you. Tomorrow night, though, Carl and I have a date. You can join us, or have a quiet evening at home. It’s your choice.”

“Fair warning, though, I don’t wear anything when I sleep.” “Me too.” “Me three.” “All right. Big day tomorrow. I’ll see you youngsters tomorrow afternoon.” Sally took off for bed.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “Sure, let’s clean up the kitchen.” Quietly, they finished up and went down to the lower unit. Wordlessly, they stripped each other and crawled into Carl’s big bed. She placed her tit into his palm and backed her ass into his crotch, cooing. In no time they were asleep.

The next morning Carl roused himself and wandered toward the bathroom. Cecie was brushing her hair; she looked down and giggled. “Get in the tub and have your shower. Meet me at the diner for your breakfast. And don’t go waving that around, Darlene already has fantasies about you, Carl. Kiss me, mnph! I’ll see you soon.”

At breakfast, Cecie was swamped and could only smile in Carl’s general direction. At CCS Carl’s boss met him at his bench. “We have a big problem. According to corporate, our prime manufacturer has been shipping PCs to us with a virus in the video driver. We have to withdraw them from the sales floor and recall the ones already sold. You are going to be cleaning the recalls with anti-virus and replacing the bogus driver. Then the unsold inventory has to be re-imaged with clean operating systems, new drivers, and new activation keys. It’s a mess!”

Carl regarded the pile of hardware needing repair. “Boss, we have to finish this before the end of summer; back-to-school sales are critical. I’d like to explore a strategy and I’ll get back to you on Monday. OK?” Carl opened up a new PC and began carefully documenting the steps needed to purge and re-image the operating system.