Chapter 25: A Baseball Game, Part I

November 7, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

I left Marcia’s townhouse, walked to my car, got in, and headed north towards Rogers Park. As I drove, I thought about the previous fourteen hours. One thing was certain, and that was the fact that Marcia and I were not sexually compatible, and our views on good sex were quite different. That made me wonder about her experiences in college. One possibility was that she was equally conventional, and the guys were turned off. The other was that she’d been more adventurous and enthusiastic, and decided that was in her past. Either way, one thing it did was confirm we had no future together except as friends.

In the seventeen months I’d been in Chicago, I’d learned a lot about the opposite sex, and I was sure I still had a lot to learn about relationships. I’d made some mistakes, but with the exception of Phoebe, I’d recovered from them. I didn’t consider that I’d made any mistakes with Charlotte, just that we weren’t compatible, similar to how Marcia and I weren’t compatible.

That said, I had changed quite a bit since I’d been with Charlotte, and the things she had wanted to do no longer seemed outlandish or weird, especially after the things I’d done with Jeri, Shelly, Bianca, and others, though it was Jeri who had taken me further than anyone else, despite being the youngest of all the girls I’d been with.

That led me to the request, or offer, Ellie had made. I couldn’t think of a good reason to say ‘no’, especially now that it appeared that Huifen and I were done. I did think it wise to try to speak to Huifen, but she hadn’t returned the call I’d placed to her, so I didn’t know exactly what she was thinking. I’d call her once more, and if she didn’t answer and didn’t call back, I’d assume she didn’t want to speak to me.

I put all of that aside and tried to work out the best way to deal with the information Marcia had provided about the man that all evidence suggested was my dad. The question about meeting him was moot, in that he was dead, assuming, of course, he was actually my dad. It made sense, and enough things lined up that I suspected he was.

After all, the ‘died in a plane crash’ story would have been an improbable coincidence. That said, as I thought about it, it could be that my mom had read about the plane crash in the newspaper, though I wondered if they would have given names, hometowns, and employers in a Cincinnati newspaper. If not, then again, it would be an improbable coincidence. On balance, I had to accept that Marcus Brand, whoever he was, was my dad.

As for the details, I could fit everything together except two things — the date they met and who called whom when mom found out that he’d died. One possibility for the latter was that both things had happened — Mom had called his work and discovered he had died, and later, his roommate found the photo and called Mom.

I suspected that was the solution, or at least close, as I could see Mom telling Aunt Wendy that his roommate had called, rather than revealing she knew where he worked or any other details about him. That left the question of when they met, and there was no way to reconcile meeting at a Reds game a week before I was conceived, because Opening Day was in April, and I had been conceived in February.

Aunt Wendy had said Mom had gone to the game on a class trip as a Sophomore, and that could have happened in September 1961, and that was the first time she had snuck out to see him. She didn’t get pregnant that time, if they had even had sex, but she certainly did in February 1962. That said, Mom had insisted on only one date, which would mean that they met in September or October, he returned to Cincinnati in February, and that’s when they got together. That made all the pieces fit, with only minor discrepancies, the biggest of which was the date of the Reds game.

In the end, though, it really made no difference. My dad had died, and I felt it was unlikely I had a half-sibling. While it was likely my paternal grandparents were still alive, and that I might have aunts, uncles, and cousins, I didn’t feel finding out about them would make a real difference in my life, and certainly not one that was worth the risk of upsetting Mom. I would discuss it with Bev to make sure I was thinking clearly, but that, I thought, would be the end of it.

I stopped at the White Hen in Rogers Park to get ice and then headed to the house.

“Color us surprised!” Bianca said when I walked in with the two bags of ice. “You and Marcia?”

“Don’t read anything into me not coming home last night,” I replied. “Marcia and I are friends and part of what Jeri called her cabal.”

“That bad?” Shelly asked with a smirk.

“Just that nothing should be read into me not coming home.”

“You’re usually more forthcoming,” Bianca observed.

I shrugged, “Seriously, there is nothing really going on between Marcia and me.”

“Are you worried about Huifen?”

“Only from the standpoint that she didn’t return my call. Lily is coming over today, and we’re going out on Friday with Jack and Kristy. I may see Ellie next Saturday.”

“Are you going to call Huifen?” Shelly asked.

“Yes. I’ll call this evening, but if she doesn’t answer and doesn’t return my call, I have to assume she doesn’t want to see me.”

I put the ice in the cooler and then went upstairs to put on clean clothes. Five minutes later, I was back downstairs, having realized I was uncharacteristically short with Bianca and Shelly.

“Sorry about before,” I said. “I was preoccupied and didn’t respond well to your inference.”

“What’s bugging you?” Bianca asked.

“Nothing of any lasting importance,” I replied. “Just something I need to discuss with Bev when I go home.”

“About Marcia...” Shelly asked with a silly smile.

I shrugged, “I think the best thing to say is that I learned something about sexual compatibility that will be important for when I eventually think seriously about marriage.”

“Anyone who doesn’t feel a need to be a virgin on their wedding night absolutely should sleep with their partner before they take the plunge,” Shelly said. “I could not sign up for fifty or sixty years of bad sex.”

“Me, neither,” Bianca agreed. “And that’s a really strong reason not to wait. Of course, how good it feels is an even better reason not to wait!”

“I do think you need to respect someone’s beliefs about that,” I said. “But it would make me very, very cautious.”

“You’d actually marry a girl who wanted to stay a virgin until your wedding night?” Shelly asked.

“That wouldn’t be a reason to reject a girl who I otherwise felt was the right girl, though I’m not quite sure how I’d be able to answer the compatibility question.”

“I’m not sure that’s really a concern for you,” Bianca said. “You’re not going to marry a fundamentalist Christian girl, and I think from experience you know Catholic girls are like Frank Zappa says!”

“I might have experienced that with a certain Catholic girl in this room, though I’d prefer to avoid Joe’s fate!”

“ANYBODY HOME?” Jack called out as he and Kristy came in the back door.

“Front room!” I called back.

They came into the room and over the next twenty minutes everyone arrived, with Lily arriving last, right at noon. The weather was good enough to use the grill, though we brought our food inside to eat. Stuart let me know that he and Tom had Sunday shifts for the rest of the year, which sucked because football looked set to start in two weeks.

“We’re the new guys, so we get the worst shifts in Late November and in December,” Tom said after Stuart had told us.

“We both work Thanksgiving AND Christmas,” Stuart groused. “But when the next batch of firefighters and paramedics come in, we move up the ladder and have more options because of seniority.”

“I, for one, would be glad you guys were working on holidays if I needed you! The same goes for the newest doctors and nurses who I’m sure get stuck with the same shifts.”

“For sure,” Tom said. “New Residents always get the shitty shifts, and they often work thirty-six hours straight.”

“That’s crazy!” Lily protested.

“Crazy or not, it’s how docs are trained,” Tom confirmed.

“And eventually they’ll make more money than anyone in this room except Jonathan if he makes it to the big leagues at the brokerage firm.”

“I still have quite a way to go,” I replied.

“Did you find out the results of your test?” Maria asked.

“No, but it shouldn’t be too much longer. They said no later than the middle of the month. On the assumption that I passed, I scheduled the next test for December 8th. If I pass that one as well, then I’ll be fully licensed to do everything except sell insurance and real estate. There’s one more test to take so I could manage other licensed brokers, but I won’t take that until I’ve worked as a broker or trader for at least a year.”

“Is that your next step?”

“The next step is analyst. When or if I’d be allowed to trade is up to Mr. Spurgeon. One rung of the ladder at a time.”

We had a great afternoon, and after everyone except Lily left, I excused myself to call Huifen. She wasn’t available, so I left a message asking her to call me back.

“How long can you stay?” I asked Lily when I returned to the front room.

“Long enough for some playtime!”

“That sounds good to me!”

I took her hand and led her upstairs to my bedroom.

November 12, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

Late on Friday morning, after a relatively calm week, Mr. Nelson called me into his office.

“Mr. Spurgeon approved the bid from Brown Construction. I called Gerald Brown and let him know. I signed the bid acceptance and faxed it back to him. They’ll start on Monday. That will be your priority, but I don’t think it will occupy too much of your time. We did reference checks on Brown and everyone says they always meet their deadlines.”

“The foreman will bring any questions, concerns, or problems to you, you sort everything out, solve what you can, and if you can’t, come to me. Gerald Brown will be here each Friday for a status meeting with the two of us, but I expect to know about any problem before the meeting.”

“Got it, Boss! What about the furniture orders?”

“All placed, and delivery guaranteed by December 15th. There are significant penalties if they miss those dates.”

“What’s the contingency?”

“Temporary furniture, which they provide.”

“That’ll go over well,” I said flatly. “I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’d put the move on hold until the furniture was installed, otherwise we’re going to have to have people come in on the weekend a second time.”

“I hear you. Let’s worry about that on December 15th, if that happens.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, but keep this under your hat — we’re completely outsourcing the maintenance team. Gary turned in his notice, and they won’t replace him. Paul will be reassigned to security. That frees up a slot for another guy for the Information Systems team.”

“We’re going to need that with those new terminals they’re bringing in.”

“Mark my words, Kane, computers are the future of this business. You knowing how to program them is going to help you a lot.”

“I hope so.”

“That’s it. Keep up the good work!”

“Yes, Boss!”

I left his office and went back to the mailroom. The several hours a week the spreadsheets saved had just been taken away, but without them, I’d have been up to my eyeballs, rather than just busy. Even calm weeks, such as the one that had just passed, were basically non-stop. I liked to keep busy, but when anything at all went wrong, things could quickly spiral out of control and some tasks would be left undone.

“Do we have a construction contract?” Jack asked when I returned to the mailroom.

“We do. They’ll start next Monday. As I expected, I’ll be the main go-between.”

“Not one of the maintenance guys?” Sandeep asked.

I had to be careful about how I answered his question so as not to reveal anything.

“Nick, my predecessor, did basically the same job when we moved here from 444 North Michigan. There isn’t a supervisor in maintenance, just two guys who report directly to Mr. Nelson.”

“How much extra work is that?” Sandeep asked.

“In theory, a couple of hours a week,” I replied. “Mostly it’s about being available to answer questions. The firm we hired has a good reputation for completing their jobs on time and on budget.”

“In Chicago?” Bob asked.

“The unions are usually the problem, but this firm has good relations with the unions.”

And, I didn’t add, Mr. Nelson had bought off the Outfit guy who controlled the unions with a deal for them to use the company box for a Bears game.

“One thing to add,” I said. “If everything goes according to plan, we’ll all need to work New Year’s weekend. Fortunately, we only have five people to move to 29, so we can probably get away with coming in on Sunday only. We can move the currency trader for the Asian market the afternoon of the 31st. And Mr. Matheson’s team is receiving all new terminals and quotation machines, so those will be set up in advance.”

“Saturday is New Year’s Day, right?” Bob asked.

“Yes. And Mr. Thiele’s new people are scheduled to start the following Monday, but that shouldn’t be a problem given we won’t have anything to do; it’s on the Information Systems team to set up the computers and reprogram the phones.”

“What’s the pay for that?” Bob asked.

“Double-time,” I replied.

“I don’t mind giving up a Sunday for that.”

“Me, either,” Jack agreed.

The rest of the day was busy, with no major problems, and at 5:00pm, Jack and I left the office together. Lily and Kristy were meeting us at Star of Siam, and that was easy walking distance for Jack and me, even though it was a bit chilly out, the temperature having fallen from around 55°F when I’d left for work to just above freezing.

The girls were waiting for us, and we were seated right away. We had a nice dinner, then walked back to Water Tower Place to see First Blood, a Sylvester Stallone movie. It had a lot of action, and we all enjoyed it, but the premise seemed far-fetched to me. After the movie, we went for ice cream, and then Lily and I went to the Hancock Center garage to get my car so that I could drive her home.

“Sorry I can’t spend the night,” she said. “But I want to keep my mom happy. When she’s happy, she minds her own business.”

“That’s a good thing. A week from tomorrow there’s football again,” I said. “Join us?”

“Absolutely! And when the games are done, you can tackle me!”

November 13, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

I slept in on Saturday morning because Violet and I had finished our project for our computer programming class. I was meeting Ellie for lunch, but hadn’t decided what to do about the proposed ‘baseball game’ with her friends. My initial reluctance had been because they all went to Loyola, and I hadn’t wanted anything to get back to Huifen, but she hadn’t returned my call, so that wasn’t really a concern.

“Any plans today?” Shelly asked when I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and make a bowl of cereal.

“I’m meeting Ellie for lunch,” I replied. “Beyond that, no specific plans. You guys are still planning on going to the party tonight, right?”

“Yes. You’re welcome to join us, if you want. They’ll have a keg and nobody will ask any questions.”

“What time are you leaving?”

“Around 7:00pm. If you want to go, just be here then, or we can leave the address and you can show up later, if you want.”

“Thanks.”

“What about tomorrow?” Shelly asked.

“I’m having dinner with Costas and Trevor,” I replied.

“Now there’s a threesome I’d pay to see!” Bianca teased.

“Not a chance!” I declared. “It’s a free country, but that is not something I have ANY interest in at all!”

“It’s not very free for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals,” Bianca countered.

“The religious fanatics need to mind their own fucking business,” I replied.

“Especially about fucking!” Shelly exclaimed mirthfully.

I ate my cereal, drank my coffee, refilled my cup, and went up to the attic computer room to update my trading spreadsheets. My returns were beating the market by about eight percentage points, which was good, but not great. What I needed was better information, which I would have starting in March. As I reviewed my holdings, I decided to increase my holdings in Apple Computer, which had showed a significant gain over the course of the year, and I felt they had good prospects.

I also decided to sell my stake in Chrysler, as I didn’t see the stock making the kind of gains I’d need, given I felt it would perform only about as well as the rest of the market, if even that. I decided to replace it with another technology stock — Commodore, who reports said was about to release a new computer, the Commodore 64. If it was successful, their stock would rise dramatically, but it was a good play even if the new computer wasn’t a big hit.

Another stock I considered selling was Coca Cola, which was up over fifty percent for the year, but I felt the prospects of continued growth were good, so I decided to hold it. Finally, there was Disney, which had been up over twenty percent for the year, but I felt it had room for more growth, so I decided to keep it as well. Nothing else warranted close attention at the moment, so I made notes of the buy and sell orders for Monday, then saved the spreadsheet.