Chapter 3

Every Friday afternoon at the university, the geology department pizza party was held as a result of an anonymous donation to the department. Only a handful of people knew that Ed was the donor. Ed made it a point to work on Friday’s so that he could attend the party. It was something that he enjoyed, not because he was paying for it, but because this was a time when people let their hair down and discussed their studies. Ed lived to talk about rocks.

This was the first pizza party of the school year and a number of new students were in attendance. Ed enjoyed talking to the new students, and made sure that every year he attended the first pizza party. It was his chance to discover their hopes and dreams for the future before they became totally involved in the program.

One of the new graduate students was Kim. She had decided that she should pick up her MS before it was too late for her to return to school. She came over to Ed right after he had taken a bite out of his slice of pizza and said, “Hello, Ed.”

He turned and saw her for the first time since his graduation party. Checking her out, he saw that she had lost a little weight, but not much. Rushing to eat his bite of pizza, he waved his hand in the universal gesture of wait while I finish chewing and then I’ll talk to you. Once he had swallowed his bite of pizza, he said, “It’s so good to see you again. I thought you had dumped me.”

Frowning at the idea that Ed had even considered that, Kim answered, “I’ve been in therapy working through a number of issues. After Lily finished treating me, I chose to follow up with another therapist. I didn’t want to see you until I knew that I could deal with facing your wives.”

Setting the slice of pizza back on its plate, Ed asked, “And now?”

“Now, I know I can.”

There was a surety and honesty in her voice that he had never heard before. Curious as to how she could say that with such confidence, he asked, “How do you know that?”

She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “I’ve spent every night this week in a Lesbian bar.”

This was an extremely surprising revelation. Ed wondered if this meant she was sleeping with women. However, that wasn’t something he could ask outright. He asked, “What does that mean?”

Smiling, she said, “Last night I danced with a woman all evening and even hugged her without feeling ill. I know that I can deal with women now, even women that love other women.”

There was no doubt in Ed’s mind that Lily was a miracle worker. Smiling at her, he said, “So does that mean I have an assistant for my consulting?”

“You bet,” replied Kim. She hugged him, almost knocking his slice of pizza off the plate in the process, and said, “I was hoping the offer was still on the table.”

“What about your business?” asked Ed setting down the plate.

At his concern for her business, Kim smiled and said, “I hired two people to cover the store for me. One to work the front and one to work the back.”

This was good news for Ed since he had consulting work that had piled up recently. He would be able to use her assistance on a number of them. Most of his time was spent collecting ore samples. With a helper, he could cut the time spent at each location in half. He asked, “That’s good news. I think you’ll find that your work as my assistant will more than cover the cost of employees at the store. When would you like to start?”

Smiling, Kim said, “Actually, the woman that I have working the front counter is some sort of local new age guru. She helped me expand my line of products and sales have tripled. She’s paying for all of us at the store.”

The news that she had actually hired a woman was incredible. He had sent several women over to interview for that job, but she had sent each away with the weakest kinds of excuses, even telling one very capable candidate that the position had been filled when it hadn’t. Rather than make a big deal out of it, he replied, “That’s great.”

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “Aren’t you going to make a comment about me hiring a woman?”

“No,” replied Ed. Eyeing the pizza with hunger, he added, “I know Lily is one of the best at what she does.”

“She’s a Druid, just like you are,” said Kim. There was something otherworldly about the Druids, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Ed and John had that quality, and then she had recognized it in Lily.

“Yes, she is,” replied Ed.

Having hoped for more of a discussion about that topic, she realized that he wasn’t going to accommodate her. She wanted to learn more about the Druids and asked, “So how does one become a Druid?”

“If you are called, you will know,” replied Ed. There was no way that he would send someone to the Gods or Goddesses without knowing for a fact that they were called.

Frustrated, she changed the subject. “So, what are your plans today?”

This had been a busy day for Ed and was going to remain busy until late. This morning, he had walked through the IRS office marking up suspect tax forms. That was followed by three hours in his lab analyzing mineral specimens from several mines around the world. He was performing a detailed analysis of the matrix in which crystals grew and wanted to compare the chemical and structural compositions from various locations around the world. Then it was this pizza party. After that, he was supposed to go to the Fusion Foundation for another meeting concerning their fire fighting efforts. After dinner, it was a photo shoot. He answered, “Busy day today. Tomorrow is not going to be so busy.”

Shyly, Kim asked, “Could I visit you tomorrow?”

Hesitating just a second, Ed considered what might happen if she came to the house. It wasn’t clear to him how she would interact with Kelly, Beth, and Ling. He answered, “I’m sure that Kelly, Beth, and Ling would enjoy seeing you.”

“Ling?”

Ed hadn’t realized it until now, but Kim didn’t know about the marriage with Ling. He answered, “Our new wife.”

Expecting some hint of jealousy, Ed was surprised when she said, “Cool. Two men and three women, I bet you guys must get quite a workout.”

Ed laughed and said, “We are looking for another husband.”

Shaking her head, she accepted their lifestyle but knew she could never live within that kind of marriage. Although she enjoyed her time with Ed, she didn’t love him in the way that the rest of the family loved him. When she married, she wanted the man for herself.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Simms. Smiling at Ed and at Kim, he said, “I see that you know each other. My past and present students together.”

Kim replied, “Ed and I have known each other for a long time. We are rock hunting buddies.”

Professor Simms knew that there wasn’t a better recommendation than that and said, “I have great expectations of you.”

While the professor and student talked, Ed finished his slice of pizza. Looking over the remaining pizzas, he was depressed to see that all of the pepperoni pizzas were gone. He settled for a slice of a plain cheese pizza. Eating it, he looked around at all of the people talking animatedly about rocks and smiled happily to himself.

Checking his watch, he realized that he had to leave to reach the Fusion Foundation on time. After saying good bye to Kim and Professor Simms, he grabbed another slice of pizza and headed out to his meeting. As he stepped out of the building, he realized that he had been eating a lot of meals on the run lately. It reminded him of when he was working full time and trying to go to school full time.

Arriving home late from the Fusion Foundation meeting, he entered the dining room finding everyone in the middle of the main course. As he sat at the table, Marguerite came out of the kitchen and, with hands on her hips, glared at him. Upset, she said, “You missed the appetizer and the soup courses.”

With a negligent wave of his hand, Ed replied, “I’ll pick up with the main dish.”

Marguerite stomped out of the room and returned with a plate of Shrimp Scampi. Smelling the dish, Ed said, “It smells good.”

Correcting him, she said, “It smells great.”

Laughing, Ed replied, “Really, I didn’t notice.”

Taking a piece of bread, Ed dipped it into the buttery sauce. He tasted it and, winking at Ling, said, “Hmm, it tastes familiar. What is this dish supposed to be?”

“Barbarians! I work for Barbarians!” cried Marguerite as she headed into the kitchen.

Everyone around the table laughed at the exchange. Even Marguerite knew that Ed liked to pretend that he didn’t like the food just to get a rise out of her. Ed said, “Busy day.”

John asked, “We’re not supposed to discuss business at the dinner table, but I’m very curious about the Fusion Foundation and what you decided.”

“Five new planes,” answered Ed. They had initially purchased high load lift helicopters and now were expanding the fleet to include planes for dropping water and fire retardant chemicals on the fire. Two plane crashes in the Forestry Department motivated the decision.

“Good,” answered John. He had hoped that is what they would decide, but he wasn’t going to voice his preference. It seemed like the entire summer was spent fighting fires and the effect on the equipment was significant.

Kelly asked, “Anything interesting happen to you today?”

Smiling, Ed said, “Yes, as a matter of fact. You won’t believe who I ran into today.”

“Who?” asked Ling.

“Kim,” replied Ed as he looked around the room to see the reactions that various people had to the news.

Kelly replied with a very polite, “Oh.”

“It appears that she has been hanging out at lesbian bars recently,” said Ed.

“Oh?” asked Beth. The idea of Kim hanging out at a Lesbian bar was very interesting. She glanced at Kelly to see how she took the news.

Ignoring the real news, Kelly focused on the rest of his statement. She asked, “Lesbian Bars? There are Lesbian Bars in Phoenix?”

Shrugging, Ed said, “I guess so. I’ve never heard of one, but then it’s highly unlikely that a lesbian would invite me to that kind of place.”

Puzzled, Ling asked, “Why would she hang out at a lesbian bar?”

“She says that she did it to get over her fear of lesbians. She even danced with one all night and hugged her at the end of the night,” answered Ed.

Less willing to accept that Kim had changed, Kelly said, “I guess we will see.”

Nodding, Ed answered, “Yes, I guess we shall. I invited her over tomorrow.”

Beth and Kelly exchanged a look as Ling watched with a curious expression. Of the three, Ling had never really dealt with Kim and didn’t understand her fear of women that enjoyed women in a sexual fashion.

Ed ate his Shrimp Scampi while the women talked about Kim. Much of what Kelly said was not very complementary, but Beth was much more understanding. Ling’s response to the matter of being afraid of lesbians was that it was stupid. Her position reflected her attitude towards fear in general. If a person is afraid of something, you face that fear until it’s gone.

When the main course was finished, Marguerite brought out a salad. Ed looked at the salad and noted that it was a garden salad rather than a lettuce salad. As soon as she had set down the last plate, Ed smiled at Marguerite and asked, “What kind of rabbit food is this?”

Marguerite answered, “It’s a garden salad.”

Afraid of what was coming, Kelly and Beth shook their heads in the hope that Ed would notice and stay silent. Ed said, “All you have to do to make a salad is cut a head of lettuce into quarter slices, throw a slice on a plate, and pour half a bottle of Thousand Island Dressing on it. This looks like you were out weeding the garden.”

Upset, Marguerite stood there staring at Ed with her hands clenched into fists. She was about to blow and John’s laughter wasn’t helping. Ed waited until she was really worked up and said, “By the way, I entered you in the International Private Chefs Culinary Contest.”

Mouth open, Marguerite stared at Ed in shock. The rest of the family expressed their surprise that Ed would think of doing that. The entry fee was twenty thousand dollars, and only the best private chefs in the world competed in the week long event. Whispering, she asked, “Are you serious?”

Nodding his head, Ed answered, “Very serious. Submitted the paperwork a month ago and got the acknowledgment today.”

She faced five days of preparing three meals a day with blind judging of the meals based on presentation of the dish, nutritional value, and taste. As her face turned white, she said, “I only have two months to get ready for it.”

Nodding, Ed said, “Yes, that sounds about right. I gave the details to Cathy to give to you after dinner.”

As the magnitude of the gesture solidified in her mind, she suddenly threw herself at Ed and kissed him while hugging him tightly. The excitement she felt was clear to everyone around the table. When she finally released Ed, he said, “The rules say that you can have an assistant. You might consider taking Bob.”

Flustered, Marguerite didn’t know what to do next. Finally, she said, “I better get in there and work on sauces for the soufflé.”

As she ran towards the kitchen, she stopped to return to Ed and hug him one more. So excited that she could hardly focus, she ran back to the kitchen shouting, “Thank you. Thank you.”