Chapter 10

I was up and dressed after finishing my morning bathroom ritual when I heard my mother yell from downstairs. “Michael!” she shouted. “I just saw a little girl climb up into the Tree House. She looks just like Belinda, but so young. What’s going on!”

Smiling to myself as I headed, two-stepping it, downstairs, “It’s only Michelle mom.”

Turning the corner at the end of the stairway I met her head on. “And who is this Michelle?” She asked, arms akimbo, barely moving as I whisked past her toward the French doors and out into the backyard. I laughed and called back over my shoulder, “I’ll tell you all about it when I get back in a while.”

“Boy they were early,” I said to myself as I dashed across the lawn. Just as I reached the tree, Lindie started up her side of the tree. She winked at me with that great smile booming at me. “Catch me if you can,” she yelled and dashed up.

Gentleman that I am not, I got there first, pulled up and inside. I smiled down at her, reached my lips to hers for a brief morning welcome and then it was her turn to climb into our sanctuary.

“Wow, this is so cool,” Michelle was saying as she scooted around the room, surveying the years and years of hand prints going back over twenty years of our lives. Then her left hand came to rest on the most special set of hand prints, ours from when we were 14. Michelle turned smiling toward Lindie and said, “Hey, I found it!”

There was that swift “Look” from Lindie and whatever Michelle was going to say next was cut off. Only an “Oh,” came out followed softly with an apologetic, “Sorry.”

Lindie coaxed Michelle over to her lap and gently said to her, “We haven’t told Mikey anything yet. OK?”

“Sure,” she answered, then added, “Can I sit on his lap while we talk?”

I nodded my head and Michelle, scooted over my way and sat on my crossed legs as I was back against the opposite wall from Lindie. Her legs were crossed too. It was then I noticed something just a little different.

Michelle still had her hair tied with that bright blue ribbon but as my eyes turned back to Lindie, she turned and pointed to hers. It was BLUE too!

In all the years, I’d never seen her with anything but a red or yellow ribbon in her hair. Lindie shuffled a little and her dress rode up her a little and not only was she NOT commando, but her panties were blue too. What is going on, I thought to myself.

Lindie spied me looking at her crotch and lifted her dress a little, waving it at me. Michelle picked up on that and well, she unsnapped her shorts and ran down the zipper a bit saying, “Me too!” as she showed off she was wearing blue all over too.

I laughed and told them they looked like twins. They picked up on my joke and laughed too. Then Lindie said, “Well, that’s almost a truth.”

Michelle, leaned against my chest and put her right arm around behind me, hugging herself nice and tightly to me. Lindie smiled at the sight in front of her and then she let the smile fade as she took a deep breath.

I sensed she was about to start with the truths she felt I needed to hear, but I wanted mine out in the air first. “Can I say something first?” I asked.

Lindie nodded and I told the two of them, “Well, I have a little problem. Or not so little of a problem.

“You see, two weeks ago I made a huge blunder. I’m not sure if you know it but I’ve been a computer software engineer for the last five years. Anyway, to be brief, I was working at a customer site and had to clear the master server. I asked the office manager if they had been backing up their data regularly and she said, ‘Yes!’

“What I neglected to ask was, what their impression of ‘Regularly’ was. It was supposed to be done twice a day. I also neglected to test the data tapes to make sure they were good.

“Big mistake. Anyway, I cleared the server and then asked for the backups. I almost began to cry when I saw the two week old date on it. Then it didn’t work. The next oldest one was a prior week.

“My boss called in a crew of twenty people and it took us a 72 hour run over a weekend to recreate all the missing data. All in all, I was told two things: It cost my company in excess of $250,000 and that I could find another job.”

Michelle said softly to me, “They fired you?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“But, it was the office manager’s fault!” she protested.

Lindie understood immediately and told Michelle, “It was easier to blame Mikey. Office managers are sometimes harder to replace.”

“Oh, sorry,” Michelle genuinely said to me and hugged against me in solace as I continued. “I haven’t told my mom yet. You guys are the first one’s I’ve told. I’m going to have to move back here until I get another job.”

The next thing that happened surprised me. Both Lindie and Michelle said in unison, “Great!”

My head spun. It took me a little time to settle back from my admission and their response. I looked from beaming face to identically beaming face. They were actually glad I was fired? Then rationality flooded in and I realized it was because I’d said, I’d have to move back home. Quickly Michelle, in her infinite wisdom, looked up into my face and said, “We can help you move!”

“Wow,” I said to myself, I was really getting to love this kid, my small Lindie perched in my lap. I kissed her on her forehead and she beamed at me with her Lindie smile as I told her, “That would be great.” Into every dark closet, a little light will shine. Especially if it is one of my Lindie’s smiling at me.

“OK, my turn,” Lindie said softly as she took a steadying breath.

“Michelle, come over here for a second, please,” she started.

“Mikey,” Lindie continued when Michelle settled by her side. “We look just alike, don’t we, Michelle and I?”

“Absolutely,” I answered.

“Well,” she continued. “I told you that I’d had a couple of failed relationships, right?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Well, it’s hard for a single mom to date. Most guys want their own children, not someone else’s.”