Chapter 126: Edelweiss

Saturday, May 14, 1983

Ten hours of sleep does a body good. Well, mostly. Sometimes it’s too much and you just wake up groggy and out of sorts.

This wasn’t that. I woke up feeling great and full of energy. Checking revealed that Angie was probably not up yet, so I got through the shower quickly, then dressed in a polo and dark jeans.

I fixed a bowl of cereal and sat down. I’d long since mostly switched to nutritious things and pretty much actually enjoyed them. Some of it might always be remembering who I would be if I didn’t watch my weight, but most of it was simply that I’d reprogrammed myself to like things that were good for me.

As I was sitting, I heard Angie mumble a “Good morning!” to Mom, which Mom returned, and then the bathroom door closing. Mom came in a few seconds later.

“Hi, Steve! How was the show?”

“It was really good. We had some opening night jitters, or Friday the 13th glitches, or whatever, but I’m not sure the audience even noticed, based on the reaction.”

“Good! I’m glad. I know how hard you all worked on it!”

“I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“We are, too! We’ve been looking forward to it since we heard that’s what you were doing!”

“So have I. I was happy to see it on the list of choices.”

She paused a bit, then sighed. “I’m a little apprehensive.”

“About?”

“Paige’s parents.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Sam’s talked to them, but only a little. I haven’t. I’m not sure what to say.”

“They know Angie and Paige are dating. If I were you, which I’m definitely not...”

She chucked at that, nodding.

“I’d try to do what you’d do if it was Gene’s parents. Be polite, friendly, and don’t get into anything about it being unusual unless they do. Even then ... I mean, if Gene’s parents had pooh-poohed the whole thing, I’m sure you’d have said something noncommittal and moved on, not argued with them.”

“They pretty much did, and we did,” she said, chuckling. “I liked Gene, but ... well, Jasmine fits with you. Gene didn’t fit with Angie, not really.”

I nodded. “That was always my feeling. Gene’s a much better fit for our friend Sue.”

“Really? I hadn’t heard much about that. I’m glad. He didn’t deserve to be heartbroken, but then not breaking someone’s heart is no reason to stay together.”

“Definitely,” I said, thinking of all sorts of things that aren’t a reason to stay together that I’d treated as if they were.

“The thing is...” she said, drumming her fingers on the table just a bit, “Angie and Paige do seem to fit, from what I can tell. At least ... more than Gene. I don’t know that I’d expected that, but then I don’t know why I wouldn’t have.”

“That’s what we all think, Mom. Starting with Angie and Paige, of course. How well? Who knows? But more? That’s obvious.”

“I don’t want to get into anything with them, but it seems ... awkward.”

“It might be, but I think it’ll just turn out that they’re people who want the best for their daughter, and you want that, too. I mean, for both Angie and Paige. Since I haven’t really met them much, though, maybe I’m wrong.”

“You don’t think Angie will mind...?”

“I don’t. I don’t see how she could, really.”

Mom laughed. “I can! I minded Ma plenty of times. When she even thought there was something — which there almost never was — she was all over it.”

“Different relationship, maybe. In any case, no, I don’t think she’ll mind. If she did, I think there’d have been some behind-the-scenes maneuvering to get you and the Seilers to go to the show on different nights.”

“Huh. Well, that’s obvious, now that you mention it!”

“What is?” Angie said, coming in, wearing PJs, a towel wrapped around her hair.

Mom suddenly looked nervous, or embarrassed, or both.

“That, if it was a big deal, you and Paige would’ve gotten the Seilers or Mom and Dad to change nights,” I said.

“Oh. That.” Angie said, blushing just a bit, too. “I admit to being nervous, but Steve says he’s been nervous about that plenty of times...”

“I have,” I said. More times than Mom and Dad would ever know, too.

“So, it’ll work out, I’m sure.”

“Thanks. I was just ... nervous,” Mom said.

“It’ll be fine,” Angie said.

“It will,” I said.

“Or we’ll make it fine,” Angie said.

“That, too,” I said.

“Thanks, kids,” Mom said.

“Thank you,” we both said.

Everyone hugged, then Angie headed off to get dressed.

“I’ll let you eat,” Mom said. “I know you have that computer thing to go to.”

I nodded. “I’m not sure if we’ll go in June, so this is probably it.”

She got up and headed off to do ... something. I had no idea what, but it likely had to do with keeping the house running efficiently.

Angie came back in after about twenty minutes, dressed and ready, getting her own cereal.

“Interesting conversation?” she said.

“Fairly,” I said.

She nodded, then ate.

Once we were in the car, Angie turned to me and said, “Spill!”

“Pretty much what I said. Mom was having ‘What do I say to the Seilers?’ questions. Since nothing’s a secret or a surprise, I told her to treat it the same way she’d have treated, say, meeting Gene’s parents.”

“To be honest, I don’t know either,” Angie said. “You handled it better. I’m nervous. Sometimes Paige sounds like it’s completely fine and other times she sounds like it’s maybe touchy. They know she dates both guys and girls, but this is the first one where it’s lasted this long. I mean, either. They’re probably waiting for it to fall apart.”

“In retrospect, I think Camille and Francis were doing the same for a little while,” I said. “Just ... quietly. Then Camille in particular started getting enthusiastic about it not falling apart. I mean ... not that Francis wanted it to, so much as I think Camille was more invested in Jas getting past date-of-the-week and into something more stable.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if the Seilers are that way, or exactly how much they know,” she said, shrugging. “I haven’t been around them nearly as much as you were around Camille and Francis. Right now, with two girls, there’s no meeting with the father, no shotgun warnings, nothing. Plus, we started ... what, over a year later? That makes a big difference.”

“It does,” I said, nodding.

“I’m maybe looking forward to it. Your guess is still as good as mine, maybe better, over how long this lasts, but it’s ... it’s where I care what her parents think, in general. Not like future in-laws, but past where that’s at least a consideration.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “I got to that point much too quickly with Camille and Francis, in retrospect.”

“Nah,” she said. “You’ve always been looking for ‘the one.’ That’s obvious. You’re patient ... and, I mean, really quite patient, considering ... but you’ve always been looking.”

“I suppose so,” I said. “I don’t want to rush, though.”

“You won’t. You’ve got conflicting regrets. Rushing into marriage with your ex, and then finding out how wrong you were for each other and still sticking it out way too long. You won’t rush, because you found out that wasn’t a good idea, but you’re very eager to find someone who’s right for you. The good part is that we all think you most likely did, so now there’s no rush and you have a lot of time. The bad part is maybe also a good part. If you find out now there’s a deal-breaker, it’ll really suck, but you won’t get over twenty years of suck out of it. Not that there was much sucking in those twenty years, if I understand correctly.”

“Consider yourself whapped,” I said, chuckling.

“Done,” she said, sticking her tongue out.

“Also ... yes, very little sucking. Far too little. I have no way to know, but my guess is that Jas and I still haven’t had sex as many times as my ex and I did, but we’re likely way too close, considering a year and a half versus well over twenty.”

“Duh,” she said, then giggled. “No matter who, if it was just incompatibility you wouldn’t wait like that.”

“Nope. Never again. Though, more around the whole relationship than sex.”

“Also ‘duh,’” she said, grinning.

We made it to HAAUG in time for the speaker. If last month’s speaker had been a bit of a ‘Rah, rah, Go Apple!’ presentation, this month was a bucket of cold water. I’d have titled the presentation ‘What the Hell is Wrong in Cupertino!?’ and run with it.

His thesis was pretty much that the Apple III had been a disaster (albeit three years ago, now), and the Lisa was a disaster (which it undoubtedly was), and all Apple had done in the intervening years was to slap a coat of paint on the II with the IIe. It was hard to argue with that. I’d have found it nearly impossible without knowledge of the Macintosh project, which (of course) I could not possibly have known about.

He closed by hoping Apple would do something big, and soon, and that it wouldn’t be a ten thousand dollar system no one could afford. They would, as it turned out, but again, there’s no way I could’ve known that.

Had I told anyone in this room that within forty years Apple would be one of the most valuable companies in the world, no one would’ve believed me. But, then, if I’d told one of the people in this room that, within forty years, his namesake corporation would be one of the most dominant players in data center computing (a term that itself would be meaningless in 1983), he wouldn’t have believed me, either.

This time we didn’t need to wait. I’d barely even gotten the computer plugged in, and hadn’t even connected the monitor, when Michael came over. Adam was nowhere in sight, but then I hadn’t seen him earlier, either.

“Hey, Steve! Hi, Angie!” he said, shaking hands. “I saw the show last night! That was really impressive!”

“Thanks!” she said.

“Thanks!” I said. “I saw you a couple of times, but the first time I was talking with one set of people and the second I was...”

“Mobbed by cheerleaders. I saw that! Something I’ve never had happen to me!”

He grinned and chuckled as he said that.

“If you’d told me that would happen anytime before ... well, heck, it’s fifteen months now, I guess, but still ... I’d have suggested mental health counseling.”

He laughed loudly at that.

Angie said. “I suggest that all the time. Big brother’s nuts!” She made a rolling gesture with her forefinger next to her head.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I can see it! Anyway, really, quite some show. I don’t know where you find the time.”

I shrugged. “It’s one reason I’m not that serious about computers. I can do Drama and Debate, plus classes, but much more would be a problem. I mean, Student Council, but that takes less time than you’d think, though mostly that’s because everyone does their part.”

“I can do classes and business, so ... yeah. I get it. Took me forever to get things up and running and sustainable, but was a great feeling to get it working.”

“And now you have to say goodbye to it.”

He shrugged. “I’ll find something else, I’m sure. Besides, college will probably take up all of my time.”

“That’s what I hear, anyway.”