Chapter 22

SANDY - Monday, September 25, 1961

I woke up in the middle of night, needing to pee. I noticed that there was a full moon shining in through the window. I got up, careful not to disturb Steve, and went down the hall to the bathroom. When I came back and looked at him in the moonlight, my heart filled with love for him. Before I got back into bed. I decided that I wanted to be closer to him, so I shed my pajamas and slipped back in the bed, snuggling close to him, happily murmuring tender words to him. I don't think he woke up; he must have been tired from the drive and the emotion.

When I woke again in the morning, I realized that Steve wasn't in bed. Soon he returned from the bathroom, still dressed in the T shirt and boxer shorts he had worn to bed. Again I looked at him, and felt another sudden surge of love and desire. I knew that I needed him much closer, with nothing between us. I said, "Steve, dear love, get those clothes off, and get back here now!"

He shed his clothes, and got back under the covers. He started to snuggle up to my back, but I had other plans! I growled at him, lay on my back, and pulled him to me. He kissed me and said, "Sandy, dearest, are you sure?"

"I'm so very sure! I need you now! It's been much too long, Tigger!"

He kissed me again gently, and started caressing me, saying, "Dear Kitten! Oh, my dear love!"

His magic touch aroused me as much as it ever had done, and I trembled violently when I thought of how close I had come to losing everything we had. I know he felt me shaking, because he kissed me tenderly, over and over again, saying, "Don't worry, dear one. It's all right now. This is a lot better than all right!"

He continued to hold me and kiss me, but soon my need for him took over. I started to run my hands gently over his body, and he retaliated with his fingers, using that special featherlight touch of his. It was such exquisite torture, and I could tell I was having a similar effect on him! Soon we were joined, making up for lost time. It was so wonderful, so gloriously wonderful! We were very still for a while, as we rediscovered the delicious pleasure of being so very close. Soon we began to move slowly, and as we did, everything got so much better! Finally, my body shivered with pleasure, and I cried out, "Steve! Oh, dearest...", as he gasped, "My love!", and then... I felt those wonderful, incredibly powerful, seemingly endless spasms, and I felt like I was floating in space as we both went over the edge.

I think we were both weeping tears of joy! We continued to cling tightly together, whispering loving words and gently caressing each other as we fell asleep yet again.

We both woke after maybe an hour or so. We were still hugging, still needing to hold one another and be held, happy beyond belief that we were together again, and that all was well with us. I felt better than I had in a month, although I knew that I still needed to regain my strength and make some major changes in how I dealt with the pressures of my job. Steve, bless his heart, said, "Dearest Kitten, please allow me to fix breakfast for us."

I agreed that would be very nice. He pulled on some clothes and, after a quick visit to the bathroom, he headed for the kitchen while I rose up. After a bathroom stop, I pulled on a sweatsuit and went into the kitchen. Steve had started a pot of coffee, set the table, poured two large glasses of juice, and was busy making toast and fried eggs with bacon. I went to the refrigerator, and pulled out a jar of marmalade for our toast. We sat down to breakfast, very close next to each other, and, after we had finished eating, I said, "You are absolutely spoiling me!"

"Sandy, my love, just being here with you is so very special for me, especially right now, after that awful situation where I was completely out of touch with you for so very long! I still owe you a camping trip in the Adirondacks!"

I thought back to June, when Steve had called me, telling me that he was suddenly called away, and that the trip was off. I guess something must have shown on my face, because suddenly he was hugging me, and he said, "The hardest part of that was having to tell you that the trip was off. That, and knowing that for at least two months, I wouldn't be able to talk to you or even exchange letters! They told me that my being there was really valuable, but every day I had black moments, missing you more than I could bear!"

I held him closer, and said, "Poor dear, I know. I had those black moments myself, and then I got consumed by the test." I got weepy for a moment, and went on, "Dear love, I pushed you out of my thoughts, and by the end of August, I was totally driven by the test. That was why I was so rotten to you when you got back and called. Oh, Steve..."

He kissed me gently, saying, "Fortunately, that's all past us now. We're here now, together. Our love has survived this, and now it's even stronger because of what has happened."

He hugged me, and said, "I'll clean up here while you get dressed", but I said, "No, WE will do the dishes together, and then we can go on from there. I'd love a ride in that lovely car of yours again!"

Quickly, we washed the dishes and put everything away, although it would have been even quicker if we hadn't stopped to hug and kiss every now and then. I took a quick shower and, since it was a warm, sunny day, put on a T shirt and a pair of shorts. Soon Steve was ready after an even quicker shower, and we left the house. Steve put the top of his car down, and we drove out to the parkway and headed north. He pulled off at an overlook, and we sat there, quietly enjoying each other's company and a magnificent panoramic view.

Finally, Steve asked me, "Want to drive?"

"Of course, but I'll wait until tomorrow. Let's go back and get some lunch, and then figure out the rest of the day and tomorrow. Please, dear, tell me that you don't need to go back until Wednesday!"

"How can I refuse you! I told Murray that I wouldn't be back until Wednesday at the earliest, and he told me that they owed me plenty of time for the nights I had worked here in June, and for when I was away. I'll leave sometime Wednesday afternoon."

STEVE -- Monday, September 25, 1961

I drove us back to Sandy's house, after a stop for two bottles of red wine for dinner. We fixed ourselves some sandwiches, and sat down at the kitchen table to eat. I asked her, "Tell me, how did you let the test get the better of you?"

"I had a good system, and it was working very well for almost a month. We started to get EC's from engineering that were full of errors, and at some point in time, I decided that I needed to review all the temp fixes myself. On top of that, for every problem we fixed, we found three new ones; it looked like we were drowning!"

"Surely, you weren't the only one who could have reviewed the fixes?"

"No, and that was where I first started to go wrong. Somehow I forgot that the others were also competent, and had it in my head that I needed to do it all myself! In fact, a couple of them could have done it better and faster."

"What are you going to do about it now?"

Sandy thought for a minute, and then said, "First of all, I'm going to let go as much as I can. I'm going to get back to working on the machine myself, shooting problems as much as I can; that's the part I enjoy most. However, I'm also going to ask for more people from the engineering groups to be assigned to the test teams; that way, the temp fixes should be better thought out, and they should get turned around faster by engineering."

"I understand about letting go, and doing what is fun. I'll take your word for the last part of what you said; the inner workings of IBM are still a mystery to me, but I'm sure that what you're going to do makes sense."

She hugged me, and then said, "I want to go in to work Wednesday afternoon and sit down with Paul. He told me that I had acquired a reputation as the 'Wicked Witch', and while I'll tell him that the witch is no more, I'll also make sure that I get the engineering people added to the test teams. I also plan to meet with the day and evening teams; the night team will have to wait until Thursday morning."

"While I'm here, I think it would be useful for me to talk to Sarah about some programming questions. Maybe we could ask her to stop by here late tomorrow afternoon. I'm not about to show my face at the lab right now!"

"I'd like that! As you know, Sarah has been a good friend, and has worried about me recently. I'd like her to see that, once again, I am so deliriously happy!"

I hugged her, and said, "Dear love, I think we should go for a short walk around the block, enough to get out again, but not enough to tire you too much. Then I want you to take a nap."

"A walk is OK, but I'm not napping alone! I need you close to me every minute you are here, until you need to leave on Wednesday!"

I said, "Oh, love! I don't want to be apart from you either! But, shouldn't we move back to your room and give Sheila back hers? I think you're strong enough for the stairs by now, aren't you?"

Sandy agreed with me, and we quickly switched the clothes and things between the two bedrooms. I called Sarah at IBM, and said, "Sarah, this is Steve."

"How are you? More to the point, where are you?"

"I'm fine, and I'm here in Poughkeepsie. I was hoping that we could meet for a while tomorrow, say late afternoon? I'd like to talk Reaper programming with you for a while."

"I can do that, but what are you doing here?"

I explained about Sheila's phone call to me, and that Sandy was recovering from a near-collapse and wouldn't be in to work until sometime Wednesday.

"Then she's OK? Is everything is OK with the two of you?"

"Oh, yes; very much so! Could you possibly come to Sandy's house tomorrow? I don't want to be seen at the lab, as you might imagine."

"That's not a problem. Nigel is away for a couple of days, so I'm sort of at loose ends."

I covered the phone, and asked Sandy, "OK if we ask Sarah for dinner here tomorrow? Nigel is away until Thursday."

"Sure!"

"Why don't you come when you can, any time after four, and stay for dinner. Sandy and I would love your company, and I'm sure you'll like Sandy's Mom."

"That sounds nice; I'd like that! I'll see you tomorrow at four. Now, let me talk to Sandy and get directions to her house."

I gave the phone to Sandy, and she passed on the directions, but then they talked for a bit longer, while I cleaned up the kitchen. When she hung up, she gave me another hug, and said, "Time for that walk. The sooner we get back, the sooner we have that nap!"

I hugged her back, having no doubt in my mind of how she wanted the afternoon to end!

Actually, there was a surprise. After our walk, we both slept for a while, and then woke for another session of joyful lovemaking. We had just finished and were cuddling on Sandy's bed, when Sheila came home. She didn't know that we had exchanged rooms, and came up the stairs. She looked in the room, and, with a grin, said, "Good for you! It looks like things are looking up!"

Sandy, embarrassed, cried out, "Mom!", but Sheila went on, "I'm happy for both of you. I assume you put my stuff back downstairs," and went back down.

I said, "Dear love, if she's not upset, there's no reason for us to be, either. You're lucky to have such a warm, loving mother!"