Chapter 359: Donna has a Very Good Day

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 (Continued)

Vanessa did indeed knock on our door exactly one very enjoyable hour later. Julia knew her mother well, so we'd already stopped and were under the covers, ready to restart if Vanessa had been distracted, but no such luck.

Julia called, "Come in, Mom."

Vanessa came in, sat on the side of the bed, saying, "Prof's VERY excited about your future in the sciences, Mark. He was before, but now he's like a little boy in a candy store. It's very good to see him so happy. You're giving us a very interesting time. It's quite a change from the quiet retirement we were imagining a couple of years ago."

"I couldn't begin to describe how much I've benefited from what you've given me, including a daughter that gives me more than a few 'interesting times' herself. Ouch! Hey, I meant that as a compliment!

^-- "I agree with what Prof said just before Julia dragged me out of the room; about the situation in three years from now, that is. I like his image of my directing a large laboratory too, although I've got no idea how laboratories run yet. Getting the $216 billion from the FBI's spying is actually looking useful now, rather than just more numbers in a bank account that we'd never get around to touching. I'm sure we could set up a hell of a good lab for that much money."

"I'm sure it would be a world leader, and very productive if you were in charge of its science. As Julia so politely requested, we did tell your parents about your latest development. We've got some questions about minor aspects of it, but they can wait until we're together at lunchtime. Julia and Carol, I hope you're ready to apply yourselves to several hours of diligent studying?"

"Yes Mom." | "Yes Vanessa."

"Good. Get up, get showered, and get the books open. I'll bring your lunch down at lunchtime. You can work through it because you've got several hours of lost time to make up for."

"Yes Mom." | "Yes Vanessa."

Vanessa got up and pulled the covers down to enforce the girls getting out. She continued, "You come to lunch, Mark, if only to stop you distracting the girls. How's the study going?" She had a mischievous look on her face, so she obviously knew what she was asking.

I'd prepared an answer because I'd expected Julia to ask it, but she'd been too busy to think of it yet. I said, "Very well, thank you for asking, Vanessa. I'm about 50% of the way through. It's speeding up slightly because I'm having less trouble from not knowing prerequisite material and I've confirmed that almost none of the schoolwork I'd done before the DHS kidnapped me in the previous school year has changed in this one."

Julia stopped halfway to the bathroom, turned and asked me unhappily, "You were studying while we were having sex?"

I activated the Faraday, waited for all the panels to slide into place, then said, "In the last hour I got thirty hours of studying done. That's a LOT of work; as much as you'll do between now and your first exam. I could be extremely busy the next several days because of the mini-war, and I'm sure that the reason Vanessa asked that question while you were in the room was to give your ego a little message: it's going to have to get used to me doing multiple things at once rather than focusing on you. Hundreds of thousands of hours of productivity would be lost over our lifetimes because you wanted me to be 'polite' by paying all of my attention to you. That piece of etiquette is for normal people who don't have attention to spare so they end up doing a poor job if they split it. I didn't do a poor job of making love to you, did I?"

Carol quickly spoke up, "You did a great job as always, and I think it's wonderful that you can do several things at the same time. You never have to stop your important work for me, Mark. You're my Lord, so you do whatever you want."

Which left Julia with no possibility of objecting. She said, "I was just surprised, is all. You and Carol are both right. Thank you, MOM, for making sure my ego never has a chance of getting big."

Vanessa said, "Getting any bigger, you mean. It was my pleasure, Julia. You were very bossy to Mark when you dragged him to see us and when you dragged him away again. You were getting too big for your britches. Turn the cage off, please Mark, so the girls can shower and get some britches on."

I hit the button, while Julia apologetically said, "I'm sorry, Mark. I have been too egotistical lately, and I might've reacted badly if Carol hadn't set me right."

Vanessa told me, "Don't keep them talking long. The last thing they need is another sex session by way of apology."

"I won't, Vanessa."

I re-engaged the cage after Vanessa walked out, just in case Julia wanted to rave about my new ability again.

I answered Julia, "Your ambition and leadership is a large part of what I love about you, and it's certainly a large part of the value of what you do for me. Plus you were right to drag me to talk with parents because I'd considerably undervalued the effect of those abilities. Vanessa also criticized you for dragging me away, which was just SILLY of her. I WANT you to drag me away whenever you're so horny you can't stand still, haha.

^-- "While I think of it, how come you understood so quickly how important my new abilities are? I now understand why I didn't understand that originally, and I would've thought you had the same lack of perspective."

"Umm. I felt it rather than understood it. Mom and Dad say having an education is 'very important', and they're talking about ONE education. You can get hundreds of educations, and keep on getting more of them even when you're working, for all the rest of your life. That's got to be thousands of times more important than 'very important', so I got a thousand times 'very excited'. I didn't really understand why until I heard Dad's explanation."

"Yeah, he was very convincing."

I disengaged the cage again, and we went through to the bathroom.

In the shower I thought of another topic to ask about, "How come you were so confident about being able to get David several girls to choose from? I would've thought it was hard to find even one girl willing to spend a week in a hotel room with a guy who's not currently her boyfriend."

"It'll be easy. I'll tell the girls to spread the word that whatever girl hooks David will get to go to Noumea and Italy."

"Wow. I know girls are enthusiastic about shopping, but I didn't know they'd be willing to compromise themselves that much for it."

"Shopping in ITALY! Plus that's only part of the bait. Spending two weeks in a small group with you is the biggest inducement. There are many girls who'd do much more than sleep with David for the opportunity of being with you so long. You're the most famous high-school kid in the world, you're rich, will be gorgeous in a few weeks, and all the other reasons. David will be fighting them off."

"I will admit to being famous now - I have to admit it because I see myself every time I turn the TV on - but I sincerely hope that'll fade away in a week or two. Even if a girl leaps onto David immediately, when she sees my fame fade away, won't she get cold feet?"

"I doubt it, but even if one or two do, David will have his pick of the others. It's not worth worrying about. You don't really care that David comes or not, do you?"

"No, not really. I was just trying to be a good host and follow your lead of inviting people on these trips who're being helpful to us at the time. If David hadn't been here today, I never would've thought of him. Enough about him, but on a related matter: You said that girls would chase David in part to have two weeks with me. Unless you object strongly, that'll only be one week. I was thinking of not coming on the Italy trip."

Julia was genuinely puzzled, "Why not?"

"How to put this delicately: Because it'd bore me to tears. I've been on five of your overseas shopping trips now, and they're no fun for me any longer." They were no fun at the beginning either, but there was no need to mention that.

"They're not? Everyone seems to have a fantastic time?"

"All the girls do. And the guys do if they haven't been to that city before, but I've done everything I want to do in Rome and Milan. If you, Carol and Donna needed someone to protect you, I'd certainly go with you, but you always take guards and the worst that's happened is some pinched bottoms, plus I'm rarely with you when the stores are open anyway. Mom and Dad will be at home, so I might do a family thing with them. Or maybe Dad and I will go on a little fishing trip together. A male bonding thing."

"Okay, I guess. But it won't be as good without you."

"Julia, it'll be EXACTLY the same without me. From about three days before the trip until after we get back you don't even notice that I exist. You're totally focused on the shopping. Even when you come back to the hotel each night after the stores close - which is often very late if a fashion house puts something on for you - you sit with the other girls and talk clothes. If I'd told you I'd go on the trip but had stayed at home instead, there's at least a 50% chance you'd arrive back with no idea that I hadn't been with you. That may be an exaggeration, but not by much."

"I'm really that bad?"

"You're that FOCUSED, yes. It's not 'bad' because the other guys and I plan our excursions, but I've already done all the excursions I want to in Rome and Milan, so it'd be boring to go again."

"We don't have to go to Rome and Milan. We can go anywhere in Italy. Mom and Dad are traveling around."

"You DO have to go to Rome and Milan. That's where the best clothing stores are, and that's what you and the other girls are most interested in. I heard the breakfast conversation, and it was ALL about Rome and Milan. No one would forgive me if I made you spend most of the time elsewhere. Plus there's nowhere else I particularly want to go in Italy. It's a girls' trip, so you do your girly things. I can easily find something else to do during that week."

"But I wanted to get you some new clothes. You'll need many new clothes by then, and there are some fantastic men's clothes in Italy."

"Somehow that doesn't quite manage to change my mind. Good try though." Carol giggled.

Julia looked at Carol suspiciously, and Carol explained, "Every word Mark said is true, except he understated it. How many guys do you know who'd happily go on girls' shopping trips the way Mark has? I'm surprised he didn't beg off four trips ago."

"It doesn't seem right to go without him."

"You mentally go without him every trip. Mark was only slightly exaggerating when he joked about your not noticing if he missed the plane. We'll have a great time, especially with introducing Donna to it. Mark can do his male bonding things with Dad, or whatever else he wants to do."

"Maybe we should cancel the trip?" half-suggested a depressed Julia.

I gave her the answer she wanted, "You have to go. The winter ranges will be coming out, and you and the girls have to see what the trends are. Besides, it's not just this one trip that I'm talking about; it's all the future ones as well. Canceling would mean you never have another shopping trip, and you don't want that, do you?"

"All of them?"

"Unless you were going on a lingerie shopping trip. Is there a lingerie fashion capital of the world?"

"No."

"See, the fashion industry just isn't organized with guys in mind; it's for girls. You go enjoy your trips and I'll find a guy-thing to do while you're away."

"But it doesn't feel right to separate for a whole week. You won't have Carol or Ava with you either."

"It'll be GREAT. I'll be able to wear the same clothes all week, and no one..."

"YOU WOULDN'T! You're joking, right?"

"Relax. Even I know that I'd have to change my underwear at least twice."

After some more discussion, Julia reluctantly agreed to go on her trip without me. She was quite depressed by it, but I had no doubt she'd bounce back as the trip got closer.

In case you're wondering, this wasn't part of any sneaky plan of mine. The reason I wanted to avoid the week long shopping trip was because I wanted to avoid the week long shopping trip, and that was even before Julia had mentioned that "There are fantastic men's clothes in Italy," which I knew all too well already. They do have some extremely good men's clothing in Italy - even I have to admire the quality of some of the stuff I've bought there - but I'm certainly not so impressed by them that I'm going to buy more while my body is still changing.

Lunchtime had the four parents, Donna and me gathered together. Until most of the additional 150,000 insane people in and around Corvallis went home, we were staying inside our homes as much as possible. That was particularly hard on Donna, but I had a couple of things to say that should cheer her up: "Donna, I heard Carol and Julia talking about having a week-long girls' shopping trip to Italy, going in the plane when Vanessa and Prof go. Don't tell them I told you, but I think they're intending to invite you along on..."

"WHEEE!"

Vanessa yelled, "Don't disturb their studies," but she was WAY too slow; Donna was already out of the door and sprinting for the Kids' House. Donna may have gained some weight up top, but her legs haven't lost any of their ability to move her pretty damned fast. She hadn't thought to use the tunnel either, but the overlooking hillsides were now cordoned and patrolled a great deal better than they used to be, and Donna was neither the prime nor an easy target. News of the fate of the previous gunman should act as a disincentive for any potential snipers too.

Mom said, "I guess that means Donna's going to Italy. It'd be difficult to stop her now."

I hadn't really been usurping Mom's authority much as I've several times recently heard the parents comment about Donna's improving maturity. Donna had BEGGED to go on the last foreign trip, and hadn't quite managed to convince Mom, so I was pretty confident it'd be acceptable now. It was time Donna got lucky.

We discussed that a bit. None of the previous girls' trips had experienced any trouble - having two uniformed guards with the girls had helped considerably, even if their holsters were empty. Julia, Carol, Ava, Jill and Jan (our two female guards) were old hands at shopping in Italy now. They knew how to get around and quite a few useful Italian phrases, as well as all the ESSENTIAL phrases like, "Do you have this in the next size up?"

I explained that I wouldn't be going on this trip and why. Mom worried that I wouldn't be there to guard the girls, but, "I'm not with them most of the time anyway, plus having me around might actually cause more trouble next trip because of all the resurrection drama. They'll be much safer if you send a third guard in my seat, because he could stay with the girls while they shop. You'll have to pay him some danger money though, because he'd be risking his sanity."

Donna's going, even though I wasn't, was accepted.

I told the parents, "I've begged out of the shopping trip because they're far too girly for me. While the girls are away, I don't want to get together with a bunch of guys and get all masculine for a week, but I wondered about us going on a little fishing trip somewhere, Dad. Two or three days somewhere natural and quiet. Except that it'd leave Mom all alone in the house, unless you'd like to come too, Mom?"

"Not me! Sounds like a perfect father-son activity to me. Vanessa wants me to cover for her while she's away, so I'll have plenty to do. I might take some of my friends to DC and spend a few days there. Catch some shows, visit some art galleries and museums. We'll have a cultural time while you're splashing around in a boat with slimy fish and smelly bait."

"Count me in, Mark," agreed Dad happily. "It sounds even better than visiting art galleries and museums."

"Good. I can pretty much guarantee we'll catch plenty of fish."

"You can?"

I nodded: sight blob to search the water for them, capture them in an NP-box, move them to our bait, and jam them on a hook if they're not hungry.

"Now that's what I call a useful son!"

"Speaking of things aquatic, I was hoping to be able to borrow your jet please, Vanessa, to fly somewhere for a week's scuba diving. I had Noumea in mind, although I haven't researched it much yet. I'd invite a dozen guys and they can bring a girlfriend each, and I'd take half a dozen of my favorites for me. I was thinking of taking Donna too, because I'm sure she'd love to learn scuba diving."

"Is it safe?" asked Mom.

"Most of the learning is in a swimming pool watched by an instructor, and when she dives in the ocean, I'll be with her. She couldn't be safer. You know she's a very good swimmer. She'll have a blast."

Vanessa commented, "I was wondering how long it'd take you to ask to use it for something significant. When were you thinking of?"

"It doesn't much matter. Ideally shortly before the Italy trip, but that's only a small consideration. Any time during the second half of summer would be great, to give Ava time to heal enough to participate. Knowing her, she'll want to learn to scuba dive too." My kiatsu could guarantee that Ava's arm would have healed enough by whenever we go on the trip.

"If you're away for a week, then the plane will have to return home in between. That'll be a long trip for the crew, so they'll need to sleep between their return and my using them next, which will block out at least a day and a half. Does flying down one Saturday morning and returning the next Saturday morning suit you?" (Sometimes when the plane is very busy, especially if it's going to be flying a particularly long trip, Vanessa will temporarily employee a new co-pilot to give one of ours a couple of days off, as it's a really bad idea to overwork pilots. We prefer not to hire strangers though, so try to schedule our trips so it isn't necessary.)

"Sounds great. The timing isn't critical, and that'd work nicely."

"Have a look at the schedule to find two adjacent open weekends, and let me know."