Chapter 8

The doorbell rang. It was the high point of my day so far.

Freedom isn't over-rated, but it can be boring.

I put down my book, Harrison's A Stainless Steel Rat is Born. I'd decided to re-read the series in chronological instead of published order. I stretched and answered the door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked astonished.

"That's the thanks I get for breaking out of maximum security to come see you."

Robbie's grinning face was just the tonic I needed.

"Maximum security?"

"Parker's been on the warpath all day. I had to slither through the sewers, then climb the tower and hand-over-hand across the high tension lines to get over the wall."

"We don't have a wall."

Robbie pouted. "Sims, you take all the fun out of life."

I shrugged.

"Okay, so I waited till he was busy in the library and made a break for the parking lot. My little Rodrigo did the rest." Robbie had a Honda that her dad had given her for her sixteenth birthday, and for some reason had named it Rodrigo. I'd tried to explain that cars are always female. She'd nodded, and it was still Rodrigo. "But if he knew I was coming to see you, it'd be worse."

I grunted in agreement.

"Grab a couple Cokes and let's go up front and throw a football around."

"I'm retired," I pointed out.

Robbie cocked her head and looked at me for a second, then turned, went down the steps, and headed for the front of the park. I grinned, got two Cokes out of the refrigerator, and followed.

"So when do you come back?" Robbie asked. We were on the front lawn about ten yards apart, just throwing lightly.

"Not sure," I said and tossed the ball back. "Parker said two weeks. If he meant that literally, I come back a week from Monday. If he meant ten school days, it'll be the next Tuesday cause of Labor Day next week."

"You know," she said, sailing the ball straight into my stomach, "it's hard to believe that Parker would do something like this. I mean, you two have had your problems, but to lie and set you up?"

I threw the ball back and waited. I figured about three seconds should do it. One-elephant. Two-elephant. Three-elephant.

"I didn't mean... It's not that... I..."

I grinned. "Robbie, it's time to breathe now."

I waited while she relaxed. After a second, she grinned back and side-armed the ball to me.

"You're right," I said. "This is a little over-the-top, even for Parker. But to understand, you have to think like an aging bureaucrat."

"I'm not sure I can."

I tossed the ball, then waved toward the swing set. We grabbed the Cokes and went to sit down. "The first thing you have to realize is that I was ruining his plan."

"What plan?"

"Try to imagine you're an aging administrator."

Robbie started swing. "He's not that old, is he?"

I grinned, pushed off, and tried to catch my swing up to hers. "Perhaps you haven't read my corollary to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. He says time is relative. I say aging is."

"Really?"

"Yep. Look, we're sixteen. Most of the time, to us, anyone over thirty seems ancient. But intellectually we know it isn't, it just feels that way. To a six-year-old, we're ancient."

"Speak for yourself, kemo sabe."

I grinned, though she couldn't see me. We were swinging arcs of maybe two-hundred-and-twenty degrees, but I was about ten degrees behind her. "Anyway. Parker is somewhere between mid-forties and early-fifties. It seems old to us, but we know in the real world it isn't that far gone. But..."

"Yes?"

"In the world of public education it kind of is. Somebody who hasn't made principal by fifty or so, probably won't."

"Okay, say I buy all this. I'm not sure I see the connection to you getting suspended."