Chapter 52

Linda leaned into the cockpit. "How much longer?"

"A little over an hour," Kathy answered. "Bored?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just had a great time at the retreat, then all of a sudden there's nothing to do."

"Your games?" Madison asked, his eyes automatically sweeping the instruments even as he talked.

"They're boring, too. I miss everybody already."

Madison glanced at his daughter as she knelt and leaned forward to be somewhat between the pilots. "What about Mr. Wainwright and Margaret?"

Linda smiled. "They're cuddled up together, sound asleep."

"Maybe you should have brought your guitar, after all."

Linda giggled a little. "I don't think they could have slept with me trying to play the same chords over and over. Besides, my fingers are too sore. I have blisters," she said, holding her left hand out for Madison and Kathy to see.

Bill glanced at his daughter's fingertips. "Ouch. Maybe you went at it a little too long."

"Yeah, that's what Dave said. But it was so much fun. The first thing I knew, it was hurting when I pressed on the strings, and there were already blisters. Dave told me to leave the guitar alone for a couple of days. He said that the next time he was in Denver he would pick up some stuff at a guitar shop to coat my fingertips. But he said that the best thing to do was to just let them heal for a few days so that the calluses could begin to form. But I like the guitar so much it's going to be hard to wait."

Kathy glanced over at Bill, knowing that he had picked up on the mention of Dave. Sure enough, there was the beginning of a frown. "What about the girls?" Kathy interjected, trying to derail the direction the conversation was headed.

"Oh, they're great. I can't remember when I've laughed so much or had such a good time. They are so smart. And they say things together, kinda like identical twins sometimes do."

Kathy chuckled. "The girls aren't the only ones that do that. I've heard all three of the women do it, especially Laura and Diana."

Linda frowned. "How do they do that? It's a little eerie sometimes. But they just laugh about it, and sometimes seem to not even realize that they're doing it. That swimming they did wasn't exactly like the synchronized swimming I've seen on TV, but it was beautiful, anyway. And Dr. Boswell swims like a fish. They say she's a genius and had a couple degrees by the time she was sixteen."

Her enthusiasm rising, she settled back onto her folded legs. "Those ATVs of theirs are great. Ann told me to go to the bathroom before we went out. I thought she was kidding, but when we went off that thrill hill of theirs, I knew why."

Madison caught himself before he cringed. "Kitten, that sounds a little dangerous. Maybe..."

"Oh, Daddy. I was riding with their teacher. She was way calm compared to Arlene and the others. I don't think I'm ready to ride with Arlene just yet. I about screamed myself hoarse as it was."

"Uh, Kitten, ATVs can be extremely dangerous. A lot of kids and grownups too, for that matter, have been hurt and even killed on those things. Granted that they're fun, especially with all that space to ride in at the retreat, but nevertheless..."

"Daddy, you don't understand. You know that I'm not reckless or stupid, and I only drove for a little bit in a big flat place. But ... I don't know quiet how to say it, the girls are smart and different. They're not like any of the girls at my old school, let alone the ones at my new school. Sometimes it's hard for me to even keep up with what they're saying. One will say a few words of a sentence, then another one will answer before the first one is even done. After it goes back and forth like that for a while, I have to struggle to not get lost. And when Dr. Boswell is with them, she does it, too."

"Well, Baby, they've been together much longer than you've been around them. They have a common background and such. Maybe they're not being all that considerate of you if they do that."

"Oh, Daddy. That's not what I mean. If I miss something, they tell me. But it's fun doing that. Real fun. They're smart. I have such a good time just being around them. But I'm going to have to work hard to catch up with them with video games, too. They're so fast. But they're showing me how."

Arranging herself more comfortably, she continued, "They showed me their classroom — well all of them did, the women included. Dad, they have real computers with gigantic, high-resolution screens that are the best there is. Not like the junk that we have at school. Heck our teacher barely knows more about computers than I do. But Dr. Boswell and Laura are teaching everybody to write programs. Not just simple stuff like we've had at school, but real programs. And they all know how to take a computer apart and put it back together. And it works afterwards. I've got a lot to learn, but Dr. Boswell makes it fun. She says that the school has every major program that's on the market. What we have at my school is a joke in comparison.

"They had a diagram of their new classrooms and labs. The rooms are a mess now, but they're going to be great when they're finished. I just hope I can keep up." Laughing, she said, "Boy, that's a first. I've always been bored with school."

Madison glanced over at his daughter. "Jeff showed me around. The new classrooms are indeed going to be great. For that matter, even the way that they've set up that conference room is beyond anything I've ever seen in a school."

"Daddy, Dr. Boswell has already ordered a computer for me. She says it will be there when we get back, Tuesday. But it will still be in the boxes. She says that I will get to assemble everything the way I want it, and install all the software as part of my education. Then I get to take out boards and memory, then put them back. She says that later, I'll completely dissemble the whole thing to the bare case, then reinstall everything, so that I can better understand what things do. Laura does the teaching about the computers and the programming, but Ann has, like, grown up doing it because of her mother's old job."

Bill couldn't help but smile as he listened to his daughter's enthusiasm. It's been so long, he thought, as she continued.

"Dr. Boswell says that she could already have tested all the girls out of high school, but she wants to teach them some practical things about life before they graduate. She says that the emphasis in public school doesn't prepare students for life, or college. She said that with Carla's permission, the class is going to keep duplicate books for the farm, and she has contacted the accountant to have his input into the class after she finishes teaching us basic accounting. But the farm will be a practical application that is ongoing, and will make what we're doing real. She's already teaching about investment and the stock market."

Coming up to her knees, she hugged her father from behind as best she could in the cramped cockpit. "Thank you for letting me go to school there. I'm going to love it. I already love it. They almost had to drag me out of the classroom, and it's just their temporary classroom," she finished with a tinkling little laugh that Bill hadn't heard much in a long time.

Kathy answered the radio, changed to another frequency, then spoke again. After a moment, finished with the radio traffic, she turned to Bill and said, "I guess that I should be relieved to be moving out of my apartment. It surely isn't much, but I have some really fine neighbors that have become friends. I'm going to miss them."

"So. Go visit them when we have downtime," Bill laughed. "But I know what you mean. I hate selling our house. We've been in it a long time. There are a lot of memories..." His voice almost faltered before he caught himself. "But, at least, we won't have to spend time house hunting. We've got one ready-made," he tried to jest, fooling neither of the females.

Linda reached over and hugged him tight. "I'm going to miss her," she quietly said, tears welling in her eyes.

"Yeah," Madison said so quietly that Kathy wasn't sure that she had heard him.

"You guys want anything to drink?" Linda said trying to get her mind off her mother.

Madison and Kathy both told her, "No."

"Okay, I'm going to try and find something to read," she said moving back into the passenger compartment.

A little later as they started their descent, "Sounded like that controller recognized your voice," Madison said, looking over at Kathy.

"Why? He didn't say anything different."

"Yeah, but even on the radio, he sounded different."

"Well, he did ask me to drink a cup of coffee with him, and he's a good-looking guy," Kathy said, acting nonchalant, but trying to watch Bill out of the corner of her eye.

"Well? Did you go out with him?" Bill asked, then was appalled that it slipped out of his mouth.

Kathy grinned over at him. "And why would you care?" she teased.

"Kathy, I..."

"Of course, I didn't go out with him. And you very well know why."

Bill's eyes did their automatic sweep through the window, then across the instruments before turning to Kathy. "I'm so messed up right now. And I have no right..."

"Bullshit. You have every right, if you want to call it that. And I know you're hurting. You certainly have the right for that, too. But if that judge signs the papers tomorrow, you'll be a free man. Time to go on with your life. Oh, I know the divorce won't be final for a while, but you can sell the house, change your address to the retreat, move what you need to, start your daughter in a new school, maybe even date a new woman..." She left it hanging as she grinned over at him.

When Bill made no response, she continued, "Now let's see if I can kiss that runway again, like the last two times. I did have the best instructor there is, you know, but the wind is gusting pretty hard today. I might screw this one up." Concentrating, she carefully watched her descent.

As the deputy's car turned into the drive, Diana entered Cramer's name into the security system. Turning to her husband, she said, "Laura and I will meet her out back. Why don't you watch TV for a little while? We'll spend some time getting acquainted, then give you a call."

"Baby, she just came to shoot on the range..."

"Yeah, that might be it. But she might just have come to check out our Alpha Male. We noticed her looking at you before. Now disappear for a little while. We'll check out your future wife and give you a call."

The giggle she finished with didn't fool him one minute. Diana was serious about this, he knew. Surely the deputy is married. She's young, but she's got to be twenty-two or twenty-three. Someone has bound to have caught her by now. As good looking as she is, she's probably had a flock of guys hanging around her since puberty. Probably just doesn't wear her wedding ring on duty. I'm pussy whipped already. I don't need more pussy, he grumbled to himself as he dutifully headed for the living room.

Diana and Laura were standing in the back when the deputy parked and got out of her car. Diana checked her out with a critical eye. Beautiful face, long, full head of striking hair, really dark, but with auburn or red highlights, Diana decided. High breasts shown to good advantage with that tight top. Long slim legs, small waist. Altogether, a knockout package. Yeah, Jeff will like that.

Diana put out her hand. "I know that we hit you with a lot of names last time, so to refresh your memory, I'm, of course, Diana, who just talked to you on the phone, and this is Laura." Deliberately, Diana didn't remind her that she was Jeff's wife.

Cramer laughed and shook hands with both of the beautiful women, awed at their vitality and beauty. "Hi. Please just call me Joyce. I really appreciate this. We have qualifications coming up in a couple of weeks and I haven't practiced much lately."

Diana and Laura flanked her as they walked to the back door. "Oh, we thought that you were probably preparing for a match," Diana said.

"We have some coming up later, but, well, if I don't shoot a hundred on our qualification course, I'll catch all kinds of flack, being on the pistol team, and ... Well, being a woman, and young, there are some of the older guys that think I've overstepped my bounds a little. They can't say too much if I ace the course both times."

"Way to go, girl," Diana said. "That's the attitude. We like to shoot, too. We've spent quite a bit of time on the range until last week. We got involved with a farm in the valley and haven't managed to get back on the range lately."

In the kitchen a little later, Laura asked, "Like some coffee while we get acquainted? We'll start lunch in a little bit."

As she sat at the table, "Sure," Cramer said. "I have a cup of coffee in my hand every chance I get, particularly in the winter. Speaking of that, last winter, I got stuck directing traffic on a bad wreck. I guess we were out there a little over four hours. This lady came by, stopped for a second, rolled down her window and asked how I took my coffee. I told her lots of cream and two sugars. A little later, she came back through and handed me a big cup of coffee, smiled and kept going. I didn't even get a chance to get her tag number so I could call her and thank her. But I surely did appreciate the coffee. I was about to freeze."

Laura put cups on the table while Diana got the pot. "We've got just about every kind of soft drink there is, and a wine cellar, too. Of course, the wine is out if we're going to the range, but the drinks are over there," she said, pointing to a large refrigerator at the other end of the kitchen. "You don't have to ask, any time you want one, just take your pick. We'll carry some to the range with us when we go."

"So, you're going to shoot with me?" Cramer asked as Diana poured coffee for them.

"Yeah," Diana said. "But it will just be Laura and me, and Jeff of course. The girls are in school, catching up a little on the time they have missed lately."

Cramer smiled back at the women, thinking, Oh, great. They're going to shoot with me. I wanted to run through the course a couple of times, then shoot one of those trees. Now I'll have to babysit a couple of civilian women, worrying about one of them accidentally shooting me.

Almost as if she could read Cramer's mind, Diana said, "Jeff runs a very strict range. When you're done firing each stage of the course, he wants you to secure your weapon in the holster, step back and come to parade rest. We've shot several of the states' minimum standard courses, but you'll have to show us Colorado's."

Suddenly Cramer had the distinct feeling that she was missing something, but she wasn't exactly sure what.