Chapter 57: A Blast From the Past

December 2, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

On Monday morning, the NIKA executive team met with Jackie Phelan and Jeremiah Brown, our architects, and Gerald Brown, from Brown Construction, to discuss razing the Annex and constructing our new building, as well as plans for remodeling the original building once everyone had moved to the new space. Gerald Brown's firm would be doing some of the work, but his primary role was as general contractor, supervising firms that specialized in constructing multi-story office buildings, as well as ones who handled razing buildings, something Brown Construction didn't do.

"As I noted," Eve said, "we'll have everyone in our leased space no later than December 30th. Demolition can begin anytime after that."

"Weather permitting, demolition will begin on January 2nd," Gerald Brown said. "If there's a Snow Emergency, which is defined as two inches of snow, we wouldn't be able to park equipment on the street. I've built five snow days into the demolition schedule, so that shouldn't be a problem. We won't have that problem during construction, as except for delivering concrete, we can avoid using the street.

"Executives who park between this building and the Annex will need to make alternative plans for parking until at least the end of April," Eve announced. "See me for options; NIKA will cover the costs."

"Is there any possibility that the city will screw us?" I asked.

Jackie, Jeremiah, and Gerald all laughed.

"This is Chicago, so you can count on it!" Gerald declared. "But with the Alderman on board, we should be able to clear any concerns quickly. To avoid any hassles, my bid included one hundred percent union labor, and that's a requirement for all the subs as well. We also have the advantage that my firm is certified minority-owned, and Jackie and Jeremiah are certified as minority- and woman-owned. And before Steve gets his libertarian hackles up, those designations don't mean anything for private contracts, but they do keep the jackals at bay, including your Alderman."

"What-ever," I said lightly, rolling my eyes in my best Birgit impression.

Elyse and my sister both laughed.

"Steve's become mellow in his old age," Stephanie said. "And he knows that WE are certified women-owned-and-operated because SKJ Partners has three female partners and owns the majority of the shares, not to mention what the all-female executive team holds."

"Again, what-ever!" I chuckled. "Steve is simply accepting the reality of doing business in this city and state. But he chooses to live and work here, so..."

"Also, in a move that had Steve's libertarian hackles up," Eve said, "we applied for a TIF subsidy, and that was granted this morning. That will defray about ten percent of the overall project cost. It would have been foolish to leave that money on the table."

"It was Stephanie's call," I said. "I provided an opinion."

"Which, believe it or not," Stephanie said, "boiled down to 'take the money and run'!"

Everyone laughed.

"He is getting mellow in his old age!" Jeremiah said with a grin.

"Says the guy who's only a few years younger than I am!" I retorted.

"Steve," Jackie said, "Gerald and I spoke with Siobhán, and we have a plan for moving the cherry blossom mural."

"Thank you."

"The biggest challenge is the «tatami» mats," Gerald interjected. "As you know, they have to be ordered from Japan. I have Nellie working on sourcing them. We're confident we can have them in time, but you never know. That was called out in the bid."

I nodded, "I understand. And Eve assured me you can work around my office when remodeling this space."

"Yes."

The original building would be remodeled into conference rooms and an auditorium and would be the main place where we greeted and entertained clients and other visitors and held 'all staff' meetings. The new building would be maximized for working space, with each group having defined their ideal work environment. Penny and I would be on the 5th floor with the executives, while the rest of the development team would be on the 4th floor.

"I was surprised you nixed the idea of a sauna in your office," Jackie observed.

"It was tempting," I replied, "but it's a luxury we don't really need. Work isn't nearly as stressful as it was ten years ago when I first considered the idea for our current space."

"I don't think we have anything else for Steve unless he wants to get into the nuts and bolts of construction and move schedules."

"He does not!" I declared firmly. "Thanks, everyone."

I left the conference room and returned to the office I shared with Penny.

"Any surprises?" she asked.

"No. I just don't like having to move the development and support teams to leased space for six months. That'll be a pain for everyone, especially us because we'll have to walk to the other space for team meetings every week."

"Forget that! It's the snacks that are the REAL problem! Not to mention the pool table, ping-pong table, foosball tables, and the big screen TV!"

"Poor baby. You could ask Eve for an office at 550 West Jackson if you wanted."

"And move out of here? No way! Bob would never let me move back!"

"He did suggest to Stephanie that it was an ideal opportunity to have you move to a regular development office. I vetoed it."

"I can't believe he still has a problem with it after six years of working here! I've shared an office with you since day one!"

"And you know Bob's job is to keep an eye out for anything that might cause Human Resources problems. I find much of what he says to be complete nonsense, but the government ... never mind. I'm going to rant, and you've heard it all before!"

Penny laughed, "So true!"

"And we have work to do. We need to finish these modules and get them through the QA process by the December 15th code freeze."

"That's a Sunday."

"Yes, and you know developers set their own weekly schedules, and some choose to work Saturdays. The QA team will lock out changes at noon on Sunday and begin release testing on the following Monday."

"Remember when we just saved our code in a folder and ran the compiler to build the project?"

"With four or five developers, we could get away with it. That would be a nightmare of epic proportions now!"

"Are we switching to Subversion for source code control?"

"As with every pre-release open-source project, the question is whether some significant change will occur before the formal release. We've looked at it, and it seems stable enough, but we're going to wait. We also looked at arch, but to me, it seems overly complicated. Brenda and I agreed we'd stick with CVS through at least the next development cycle. We'll look again late next year."

The phone buzzed.

"Steve," Kimmy said, "I have Dante for you."

"Put him through, please."

She did, and Dante and I exchanged greetings.

"If it were your money, would you put it into GlucoTech?" he asked.

"In a heartbeat!" I said firmly. "I discussed it in a roundabout way with Jessica and got very positive vibes. And no, she won't say a word to anyone. She's as mercenary as you are!"

Dante laughed, "I won't rehash the old argument, but you're still a bleeding heart when it comes to your staff! OK. I'm going to have my attorneys draw up a funding offer and present it to them. If they agree, I'll want you to visit quarterly to confirm what they report. Same fee structure, of course."

"Agreed. I take it you're going to pass on the others?"

"I'm taking a hard look at CSN Stores in Boston, but the others are going nowhere in the long run. I think CSN may be onto something with a digital marketplace, similar to Amazon with books. The real risk is that Sears gets serious about an online presence. If they turn their catalog business into an online business, they'll own it."

"They don't appear to be making any real effort," I said. "But that could change. I take it you own Amazon stock?"

"Of course, just as you do. What do you think of Amazon Web Services?"

"I think it's a smart move. They've built a great platform, and making the APIs available allows third parties to build web applications on the Amazon platform. It might be a way for someone to steal Sears' thunder, though not having Sears' customer list and history of mail order is a big challenge. When do you plan to present your proposal?"

"By the end of the week. I don't want someone sniping me! I'll want you to make another trip when we close the deal, then quarterly, as I mentioned before."

"Will do! Enjoy your holidays."

"You, too! I'll be in touch."

We said 'goodbye', and I hung up.

"Anything you can share at this point?" Penny asked.

"No specifics, but I'll be going to Arizona every quarter to get a status update."

"What company?"

"As much as I love you, Pretty Penny, I can't say until after Dante closes the deal. I signed an NDA."

"You could prove how much you love me!" she said invitingly.

"I do, every day, by sharing my office with you!"

"You are just no fun! No fun at all!"

I leaned over and kissed her cheek, she smiled, and we both got to work. A few minutes later, adium chimed, and I pressed Command-Tab on my Mac to activate it.

SongOfSolomon7: Little Red Riding Hood is no longer welcome at Grandma's house. Or her parents' house. Or her former church!
NIKASteve: Are you OK?
SongOfSolomon7: Absolutely! Everything is set with Tabitha and John, and my dorm and tuition are paid until the end of the semester.
NIKASteve: Did they formally kick you out?
SongOfSolomon7: I received a letter of disfellowship yesterday for grave, unrepentant sin. I'm going to frame it!
NIKASteve: I take it you were as explicit as you intended?
SongOfSolomon7: Yes! "Dad, Robert, Pastor Dwight, I watched a man fuck his wife, and right after that, I sucked his dick without him washing while he licked my pussy. I begged him to fuck me really, really hard, which he did, but I had him cum in my mouth instead of my pussy. I swallowed his cum, then he put it in my butt before I had my first kiss! And all of that with his wife watching! Later, I let him cum in my pussy, on my face, in my butt, and in my mouth, and we fucked for two days straight! And I plan to do it again!"
NIKASteve: I'm surprised none of them had a stroke!
SongOfSolomon7: My mom ran screaming and crying from the room, my dad looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and Pastor Dwight looked at me like I was Satan incarnate!
NIKASteve: But no actual health problems for them?
SongOfSolomon7: No. I was told to get out, so I left and went back to Trinity. Are we still on for 4:00pm on the 14th?
NIKASteve: We are.
SongOfSolomon7: You should meet my friend Nadia!
NIKASteve: You want to be careful about who you tell.
SongOfSolomon7: I didn't name names, and she has no clue who you are. She's DarkDreams82 on AIM, and she'll know you if you identify as the Big Bad Wolf.
NIKASteve: I'll think about it.
SongOfSolomon7: If you do, she won't say a word to anyone and won't change anything else in her life. But she has fantasies she wants to explore. You'd be perfect. And once it happens, she'll disappear.
NIKASteve: Interesting.
SongOfSolomon7: Just think about it. Later!
NIKASteve: I will. Later!

🎤 Jesse

"Were you serious about what you suggested last time?" Missy asked when we went up to my bedroom after school on Monday.

"In suggesting it as something we could do? Yes. I'm pretty much open to anything."

"A guy?"

"Anything heterosexual!" I chuckled. "I'm actually not interested in a threesome that involved a guy, either."

"Concerned you might not 'measure up'?" Missy teased.

"I have ZERO interest in being around any erection other than my own! You know I'm cool with Tim and don't mind him joking around, but zero interest. Do you have any interest in being with a girl?"

"Gross! No way! Er, sorry."

"I didn't take it that you objected to my moms, just that you weren't interested. Would you have a threesome?"

"I bet YOU would!" Missy declared.

"Been there, done that," I said smugly.

"I don't think I could do it in front of someone else. That would be too much like porn."

"Believe it or not, I've never watched even a single frame of porn."

"I thought you guys had Cinemax," Missy said. "Birgit talks about it."

I laughed, "Birgit likes to tease about 'Skinemax', but it's not really porn. I've seen a few R-rated movies that were close to what Cinemax shows."

"Like?"

"Eyes Wide Shut is probably the best example. My dad doesn't restrict what we're allowed to watch."

"Have you seen Basic Instinct? You could see Sharon Stone's cooch! My mom about lost her mind because she didn't know that was in the movie when she and my dad watched it."

"Did you see it?"

"No. I heard them argue about it, and the videotape disappeared. Want to see mine?"

"Your videotape?" I teased.

"NO! My cooch, you idiot!"

"Oh. I suppose."

"Jerk!" Missy exclaimed, but she was laughing because she knew I was teasing. "And that thing you wanted to do? We can try it."

She began undressing, and I quickly followed suit.

🎤 Matthew

"What's bugging you?" I asked Maggie as I walked her home after Gary had dropped us at my house after drama practice.

"You know what's bugging me," she said quietly. "I can't stop thinking about being with you."

"And you know why we can't," I replied.

"Chelsea," Maggie said sullenly.

"Not to mention what you've maintained since I've known you — that you have to be a virgin on your wedding night."

Maggie sighed deeply, "I know, but I can't stop thinking about it, and I want to. I really want to."

In an alternate reality where Chelsea and I weren't a couple, I'd want Maggie as my girlfriend, but I didn't live in an alternate reality. In this reality, Chelsea and I were committed, and nothing was going to change that. I couldn't imagine a future without Chelsea and the kids we'd have together, and I wasn't going to do anything that might jeopardize that future.

"And doing that would hurt you, me, and Chelsea," I replied. "No matter how much you might want it, it's not something you should do, and it's not something I'd even consider doing. That has zero to do with what I think about you and everything to do with how much I love Chelsea."

"But you'd want to, right?"

"We've had this conversation," I said gently. "The problem with answering that is that it's not a consideration, and I'm afraid that an affirmation would only encourage those thoughts you're having."

Maggie didn't say anything else, and when we reached her house, I felt it was a really bad idea to hug her, so I didn't. She turned and went into the house looking sad, but I didn't know what else I could do. I turned and quickly walked home, then went to my room to lie on my bed and think.

"Something bothering you, Matthew?" Mom asked when she came to the door about fifteen minutes later.

"Not anything I can't handle," I replied. "It's not me."

"Maggie?" Mom asked.

"You know?"

"Well, unless you broke up with Chelsea over the phone after she left for the city this morning, I can't imagine what would have you in an obvious mood."

"No chance of that!" I declared. "Though Maggie wishes there was."

"I've seen how she looks at you," Mom said. "I take it she said something?"

"For the second time," I replied. "It started right before she broke up with Mark. She said she got turned on kissing me on stage..."

"Shocking, given you are your dad's son!"

I laughed, "If there is anything that I could possibly be less interested in than details about how I came to be, I don't know what it is!"

"Trust me; I understand! Sorry I interrupted."

"It's OK. Anyway, once she broke up with Mark, she made it clear she wants to go to bed with me, but then says she wouldn't hurt Chelsea that way. She pushed hard today, I mean for her, and made it clear she'd give up her promise to God to stay a virgin and implied strongly she wants me to break up with Chelsea."

"And you aren't interested in your dad's setup, even if both girls would accept it, which I can't imagine."

"That works for Dad," I replied. "But you know none of us kids want that. Sure, Jesse has girlfriends, and Birgit has boyfriends, but both of them say they want the same thing I do — to marry one person, have kids and grandkids, and stay together for life. Nobody wants Dad's arrangement."

"I assume you told Maggie 'no' firmly and unequivocally?"

"I made it clear that I love Chelsea, and that was never going to change. I even said that doing it would hurt all three of us, something I could never imagine doing. The problem is, I think Maggie is obsessing."

"I know I'm ancient," Mom said with a smile, "but as a teenager, I obsessed about sex, starting around age thirteen, and so did many of my friends. It's normal. The key is to not allow that obsession to overwhelm and control you. I had that happen, and it was a serious struggle to control it. Believe it or not, your dad helped."

"I don't believe it!" I declared.

"You know he and I were together at Aunt Jennie's wedding, but then we didn't fool around again for a long, long time. I think that's actually what ensured your appearance in the world!"

"Uhm, I may only be fourteen, but I'm pretty sure that doing it is what causes pregnancy, not abstaining!"

Mom laughed, "Obviously, but it's what helped us build a very good relationship that resulted in your dad and I having two wonderful boys together and me having an amazing career. If it had been just about sex, it probably wouldn't have lasted. Think about you and Chelsea, how close you were, and how deep your relationship was before you even kissed the first time. I mean, a real kiss."

"It makes perfect sense," I agreed. "I'm just concerned about Maggie because I have to see her every day, and we're in drama together. If she doesn't figure out how to get past it, it's going to cause serious problems."