Chapter 27

STEVE -- Monday, October 16, 1961

My trip back today wasn't as bad as the trip up last week, although there were still some traffic delays, this time mostly due to road construction. I finally got back to my apartment not too long after eight o'clock. After bringing up my bag and a quick trip to the bathroom, I was on the phone, calling Sandy.

She answered, cheerfully, "Good evening!"

"And a very good evening to you, my dearest love! How did it go at work this afternoon?"

"Dear Steve, I've been hovering over the phone, waiting for your call. Just hearing your voice is so wonderful! As far as work was concerned, Paul's first reaction was to see if he could hire you for IBM in Poughkeepsie! He's going to see what might be available for me in one of the IBM offices in Washington, preferably in the Federal Systems operations. I think he was genuinely sorry that he would be losing me, although he did wish us both the best of luck. He said I've been doing an outstanding job. Dear, I've been lucky to have him as my manager for the past two years; I think he really cares about the people working with him."

"Yes, I can see that. I noticed that, in the Reaper meetings last spring, he was always open to the others in the meeting, and also a very considerate person. I think, in this regard, we've both been lucky so far in our careers. Murray is certainly a bureaucrat, and also very politically motivated, but he's always been considerate and helpful."

I continued, "Sandy, love, do you still think you could come down for the first weekend in November?"

"Try and keep me away, dearest love!"

We talked a bit longer, and I told her that I would call her in a few days.

SANDY -- Monday, October 16, 1961

Of course, I knew that Steve would call as soon as he got back home, but it was still good to hear his voice on the phone. I was looking forward to being together again in a few weeks!

I hung up the phone, and, with a happy smile on my face, went into the living room, where Mom was watching something on TV. She asked, "Was that Steve?"

"Yes, Mom. He's back home. Oh, I love him so much!"

She got up, turned off the TV, and sat down next to me on the couch. She said, "Well, we've both been lucky in our loves. Your father meant everything to me, and when he was taken away from me, I was devastated! We were really very close for so many years! I still miss him, but I knew that I had to carry on for you and Mary; he would have been so proud of you both!"

I hugged her, and neither of us said anything for a few minutes; Mom was sniffing and her eyes were wet. Finally, I said, "Mom, Papa and I had a special bond. I think he was delighted when I became so interested in the machinery on the farm. I also was crushed when he died, but I knew that he would have wanted me, and also you and Mary, to go on with life. That knowledge made many dark moments in my first year at Syracuse bearable. Now it's your turn; it's so good to see you and Walt enjoying each other's company."

"Yes, I've been happier than I've been for years, especially now that I'm getting such a fine son-in-law!"

"Steve is a dear, isn't he? Right now, I'd like to get out to the library for a few minutes before they close, if that's OK with you."

"Yes. I'm so glad to see that you're reading again, now that you are working sensible hours."

I was soon home from the library, curled up on the couch with the two books I had borrowed. I started what I thought was a mystery 'Anatomy of a Murder', and found that it was, in fact, a fascinating story about the trial for a murder that had already taken place. The setting, in the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan, made me want to visit there sometime! I lost track of time while I was reading, but finally put the book down just before eleven, and went to bed. I hoped that Steve would like it also.

A few days later, after work, I stopped by Arax for the pictures. Most of them came out fairly well, and I left the negatives to get more prints of several, including the woodpecker and the best ones of Steve and of me, along with the one of the two of us together. I wanted to browse some in the bookstore, so headed for Arlington. I parked on a side street, and on my way to the bookstore, there was a little art gallery with some interesting landscape paintings on display. Intrigued, I went in, and one picture immediately grabbed my attention. It was the very place where Steve and I had gotten engaged! I knew that we had to have that painting! Fortunately, while it was not inexpensive, I could easily afford it, and after I wrote a check, they wrapped it for me and I took it home, the bookstore forgotten for the moment.

I got home, and took the painting and my pictures in. Mom was getting ready to go out, but I said, "Mom, you have to see these! I have the pictures we took last weekend, and something else that I knew I had to have the minute I saw it!"

I showed her the photos first, and then unwrapped the painting. She looked at the photos, at the painting, and back again at the photos. She said, "I can see why you had to have that painting. It's where you were when Steve asked the question, isn't it?"

I said, excitedly, "Yes! We took those pictures that day. I've ordered more prints for each of us! I'll take the painting down to Washington with me when I go in another two weeks."

STEVE -- October 20, 1961

Since I got back from Poughkeepsie, I got involved in reprogramming the Reaper application to take advantage of what Sarah had pointed out to me. I told Sam about the new technique, and when I mentioned that it would speed up one of the most critical innermost loops, he became quite excited. When I went on to tell him about Sarah's role in it, he again got very interested in her background and capabilities. I suspected that he was going to try to hire her, but didn't think that she would be interested in leaving IBM. The next morning, I called her in Poughkeepsie, and asked her if she had any thoughts about training materials for teaching Reaper programming. I told her, "I don't want to be the only person here who can program this beast, and anything that the two of us can put together for training will make my job a lot easier!"

"Let me think about this for a day or so. It's certainly not like normal computer programming."

"Anything you can come up with will be most welcome. And, thanks again for the wonderful lunch, and your kind offer. I know that Sandy and Sheila plan to get together with you soon to talk about it."

Sam must have told Murray about my becoming engaged, because the next time I saw him, after congratulating me, he said, "Well, there's some good news for you. You are scheduled for a promotion in January, which will give you a slight increase in your salary. More important, the housing allowance is much more generous for someone with dependents."

"That will certainly help, although if Sandy is able to arrange a transfer to one of the IBM offices in this area, her salary will be several times what I'm getting from the Navy."

"You know, the Navy doesn't own you forever; you can leave after your four years are up. Rest assured, we would be very happy to have you continue here as a civilian employee! Our pay scale may not quite match IBM's, but it would be a lot more than you are getting now."

I thanked him, telling him, "I will certainly keep that in mind. I like it here, especially if I don't have to spend another three months in Germany!"

When I finished my work on the Reaper application, I turned my attention to the acceptance test, which, by now, had become a suite of programs. I completely rewrote two of them, using the new approach and also adding some switches and breakpoints to help with debugging.

The next week, there was a large envelope from Sarah in the mail. I opened it, and found a memo outlining what she saw as the differences between normal programming and the tricks needed to exploit the parallelism of Reaper. It looked like a good start. I decided that we would assume that the trainees would need to have some traditional programming experience, and before we went into Reaper specifics, we needed to introduce some concepts related to its parallelism and how to take advantage of it.

Of course, Sandy and I talked on the phone several times each week. We had both finished the books she had told me about right after I left. I asked her, "Did you know that a movie had been made from 'Anatomy of a Murder'? It was more than two years ago, so we'd have a hard time finding it now, but it got excellent reviews!"

"I'd really like to see that sometime!"

"I'll keep my eye open for it around here. There are some theaters that specialize in foreign films and others that have particular merit."

She had planned to come to Washington the Thursday after Halloween, but on Monday that week, she called, saying, "Dear love, I think it would be better if I moved my visit a day later. It's that time for me again, I'm afraid. I'll stay an extra day to make up for it!"

I said, "Dearest, come whenever it works best for you! Just seeing you, having you here again, means so much to me!"

She said, "Yes, but this way we'll have more time for romping in the hay!"

"Dear Kitten, how can I argue with that! I'll expect you Friday, then. Are you driving?"

"No, I'll drive to LaGuardia airport and fly down on the new Eastern shuttle. It's very inexpensive, and you don't need a reservation!"

"That sounds great! Let me know when, and I'll be there when you arrive at National Airport! It will be so wonderful to see you again!"

"I'll leave work in time to get the six o'clock flight, so I should get in not much after seven! Let's go to the Indian place for dinner!"