Chapter 28

Looking worried, Stephen stopped at the front door of the house. He turned to Nestor and said, “Hagar, can you check out things in the house before I go in?”

“Are you expecting a problem?” Nestor asked with a grin.

“Yes,” Stephen said. He had several theories for what was happening, but no evidence sufficient to select one theory over another. Of course, the worst one was that Magus told her the key to getting him to propose. The problem with that theory was that it wasn’t very likely.

“What kind of problem?” Nestor asked.

“Mel and Magus are up to something,” Stephen said.

Nestor asked, “How do you know that?”

“She talked to Magus,” Stephen answered. “It is possible that she wanted to know how to get me to marry her.”

“That’s likely,” Nestor said.

“I’m too young to be married,” Stephen said.

“You are young,” Nestor said.

“Of course, that’s not the only explanation for her visit to Magus this afternoon,” Stephen said. “It is not even the most likely one.”

“It is just the one that scares the hell out of you,” Nestor said.

“That’s right,” Stephen replied. “Now go inside and scout out the situation.”

Nestor went into the house anticipating some scene designed to trap Stephen. It was ten minutes before he stepped out of the house with a puzzled expression on his face.

“What is it?” Stephen asked.

“You have company,” Nestor said.

“Company?” Stephen asked puzzled by the answer. Entertaining company wasn’t very conducive to invoking an involuntary proposal. Company didn’t fit any of his other theories either. There had to be some sort of trick.

“Yes, there are five young women waiting for you,” Nestor said.

“Are they gorgeous?” Stephen asked getting concerned.

“No,” Nestor said.

“I wasn’t expecting anything like that,” Stephen said. “What should I do?”

“Go in,” Nestor said.

Stephen entered the house wondering what he was going to find. There were six women, including Mel, seated around the living room. All of the women were staring at him. He looked down to see if he had some sort of stain on his clothes. He didn’t.

Smiling, Mel said, “You’re home.”

“Yes, I am,” Stephen said. “What’s up?”

Mel said, “Magus was telling me that law students usually form study groups.”

“Yes,” Stephen said.

“I want to introduce you to your study group,” Mel said gesturing to the five women.

Stephen looked at the five women thinking that outside of a few minor variations that all of the women in the room could have been sisters. It didn’t seem natural that so many women with so many features in common would all be in one place. He said, “Isn’t kind of early to be forming a study group?”

“Magus picked them out,” Mel said.

“Really?” Stephen asked.

Mel said, “Yes. Let me introduce them to you. This lovely red head is Megan O’Neil.”

Stephen looked at the red head. She was wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt that was about two sizes too big and sweat pants. It was impossible to tell what she looked like under the baggy clothes. Outside of her hair color, she could have been Mel’s twin.

He said, “Hello, Megan.”

“Hello, Stephen,” Megan replied.

Mel said, “Would you like to tell Stephen how you came to be here?”

“Sure,” Megan said. “I’m graduating from Notre Dame this semester. I had applied to a couple of law schools and got accepted, but none of the schools gave me a scholarship. The problem was that without a scholarship there was no way for me to go school. I was telling a professor of mine about my financial situation and she told me that she couldn’t help me, but she knew someone who would solve my problem for ten dollars and a favor. The next thing I know, she’s holding my ten dollars and I’m on the telephone talking to some guy named Magus.”

“Ten dollars and a favor is the Solutions Incorporated standard fee for an individual seeking a solution to a problem for the first time,” Stephen said.

“That’s what my professor told me,” Megan said.

“So what happened?” Mel asked.

Megan answered, “Magus arranged a full scholarship for Harvard Law School and housing. I hadn’t even applied here.”

“That’s the same thing that happened to me,” one of the other women said.

“Me, too,” another woman said.

“Same here,” another woman said.

“Ditto,” said the woman wearing a University of Alaska sweatshirt. “No one mentioned anything about me being part of a study group.”

Mel said, “Isn’t that interesting?”

“I smell a rat by the name of Magus,” Stephen said.

Mel pointed to one of the woman and said, “Would you mind introducing yourself?”

“I’m Georgia Persikka, and I’m graduating from the University of Georgia.”

She was a mousy looking woman with long brown hair. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of the University of Georgia on it. She had large metal framed glasses with thick lenses.

“Nice to meet you, Georgia Persikka from Georgia,” Stephen said.

“I’m Susan Korn, and I’m graduating from the University of Iowa.”

She was a plain woman with medium length brown hair. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of the University of Iowa on it. She was wearing a pair of granny glasses perched on the end of her nose.

“Nice to meet you, Susan,” Stephen said.

“I’m Rebecca Hamilton and I’m graduating from Colgate University.”

She was another plain looking woman. Her brown hair was cut short. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of Colgate University on it. She was wearing a pair of large hoop earrings.

“And last but not least, I’m Denise Bering, and I’m graduating from the University of Alaska.”

She was another plain looking woman. Her blondish brown hair came down to her shoulders. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of University of Alaska on it. She was wearing a pair of brown frame glasses.

“Nice to meet all of you,” Stephen said. “I’m Stephen, and I’ll be graduating from Harvard at the end of this summer.”

There was a murmur of acknowledgments from the five women. They were all looking at him as if he was a strange beast of some sort.

Stephen said, “The semester isn’t over. I would expect all of you to be studying for your final exams.”

“I would be except Magus paid my way here to see my living quarters. A limousine picked me up at the airport and dropped me here. His email said that Mel would be taking me to where I would be living,” Denise answered.

Mel said, “I guess we should all go over to the house right now.”

“A house? I was expecting a dorm,” Georgia said.

“It’s a house. Magus found a nice twelve bedroom house for you.”