Chapter 3

John fiddled with the electronic meat smoker making sure that it was functioning properly. He had just finished slathering the mop sauce over the brisket. The brisket had been in the smoker since six o'clock that morning and was progressing as well as could be expected. At the least, it smelled good.

Emerging from the house, Rose joined him at the smoker. She sniffed the air appreciating the scent of smoked brisket.

She said, "Dad."

Looking up from his efforts to inspect the smoker, John said, "Yes, Rose."

"I don't like the game," Rose said.

"Why?" John asked suddenly concerned.

"It's too childish," Rose answered. "I'm twelve years old now and computer games for little girls don't excite me anymore."

"Ah, you've outgrown it," John said relieved to learn that it wasn't because of a flaw in the game.

He had been expecting that to happen. David had lasted as a game tester until he was thirteen and then had outgrown the games. Lisa had continued until twelve before she just couldn't take the childish themes and concepts anymore. Both kids still would give him advice on how to improve the game, but they couldn't spend hours and hours playing it. They might go through the game twice before it just became too dull.

"I guess. It is just that chasing butterflies across the screen to capture enough of them to cross the rainbow bridge on the flying carpet is kind of lame," Rose said. "I did like the evil laugh of the wicked witches."

It was a nice premise for a game with a beautiful princess, a handsome prince, evil witches, and unicorns. She knew that little girls would love it. The problem was that it just didn't do it for her.

John gave her a hug to let her know that he wasn't upset with her. He said, "Four years ago you would have been ecstatic."

Enjoying the hug, Rose said, "I know. In many ways I think it is a better game than the last one. I just can't get into playing it."

"I guess we'll have to give a copy to little Sarah down the street and see what she thinks of it," John said letting go of Rose.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help," Rose said.

For the past seven years she had played the computer games her father designed and wrote. These were programs for the game market catering to kids aged four to ten years old. In point of fact, it was a very under-served market. The kids were customer representatives and had provided very good suggestions on how to improve the games he wrote. He now had sixteen games currently selling in the market. This new game would give him seventeen titles.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. You're growing up," John said.

"What will you do now?" Rose asked.

"I guess I'll sell the business and retire to John's Farm," John answered.

"Really?" Rose asked getting excited by the news.

While she might miss her friends in school, she looked forward to living in the country. She had a little dirt bike she liked to ride on their homemade motocross track. When no males were around, she even skinny dipped in the stream at that back of the property with Lisa. The two girls felt wickedly wild when doing that. The country was fun.

"Yes. I have a standing offer from Trixor Toys. I think it is about time for me to move onto something a little different," John said with a sigh.

The game business had been fun while it lasted, but those days were over. It had been nice working on a program and sharing it with the kids. They looked forward to each new challenge and offered the kind of criticism that allowed him to improve the game experience. He used to sit there watching them excitedly play. It was personally rewarding to bring so much fun into their lives.

It was almost a crime to be making money as a result of doing something for his kids. The fact was that the games brought in a lot of money. Even the older games continued to sell at levels nearly equal to when they had been originally released. Young children didn't know the difference between a game that was new and one that had been around for eight years. With sixteen titles on the market, he was selling over a million games a year.

Hardly able to contain her excitement, Rose said, "I'm going to tell David and Lisa as soon as they get back from the store. They are going to be so happy to learn we will be moving out to the farm soon."

"I'm sure they'll be happy to hear the news," John said.

Rose said, "Now that Mother is gone, can we invite Stephanie's mother over for dinner?"

Stephanie's mother was Rose's choice as a replacement for her mother. The woman was young, pretty, and had many of the same interests as her father. Among the single mothers, Stephanie's mother was the only one who wasn't a divorcee; she was a widow. Rose thought her father would consider her status as a widow important. There wouldn't be any questions of selfishness or infidelity with a widow that there might be with a divorcee.

Uneasy that Rose was treating Victoria's absence like it was something permanent, John said, "Not tonight. Mr. Buchwald is coming over for dinner."

"Why is Mr. Buttwad coming here?" Rose asked with real venom in her voice.

John barked, "Don't call him that. He's a nice man and deserves respect."

"Dad, you are so naive," Rose said. "I don't care what the private detective's report says. He's bonking Mother."

"Rose, I will tell you this once and I never want to have this discussion again. You don't know what you are talking about. If you ever learn the truth, I guarantee you'll be ashamed of every nasty thing you've ever said about him," John said.

Rose shook her head at her father's continued resistance to hear the truth. She said, "I don't know what to tell you, Dad. Mother has abandoned us."

"I want you to promise me something," John said.

"What?"

"I want you to be polite to Mr. Buchwald," John said.

Crossing her fingers behind her back, Rose said, "I'll be a perfect little lady."

"Good," John said. "Now when your brother and sister get back from the store tell them that he's coming over. Let them know I'll expect them to behave nicely towards him."

"Alright," Rose said sullenly.

Upon hearing the back door close, John bent down to examine the smoker. There wasn't anything for him to do, but he felt like he was supposed to be doing something. The temperature was holding exactly at the value he wanted. Little wisps of smoke were escaping out the top.

He was startled by a voice behind him, "Hello, John."

Getting up, John faced his guest. "Hello, Sid."

"Is that a new smoker?" Sid asked taking note of the shiny exterior. It had that clean fresh appearance new things naturally possessed.

"Yes. You can smoke any meat in it, but I got it to make sausages," John said.

He was planning on making venison sausage that fall. Of course, his plans assumed that he managed to kill a deer during hunting season. If he didn't, he would just make a batch of pork sausage. The sausage stuffer and meat grinder were still on order. He also had enough sheep casings to make five pounds of breakfast link sausages and twenty-five pounds of polish style sausage. That would be enough sausage for a year. They weren't big sausage eaters.

"I've never made sausage before," Sid said. "Is it difficult?"

"Not really. My father used to do it every fall and I would help him out. A couple of years ago I realized that I wasn't passing that knowledge on to my children. I decided to correct that," John said.

The time spent helping his father put up meat for the year was the source of many good memories – the crisp fall air and the smell of hickory smoke. He cherished the good feelings that came from quietly working beside his father. It was a legacy that he wanted to pass on to his children. The modern high tech world separated people from the natural rhythms of life. He felt there was something wrong with that.

"Good for you," Sid said.

"Thanks," John said.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Sid said, "I want to thank you for including my wife in some of your family activities. She spends too much time alone. She really enjoys getting out of the house and around people for a change."

"It was my pleasure," John said.

"I guess you know why I'm here," Sid said.

"Ann tipped me off," John said.

He had been very relieved to get her call a little before midnight. It was good to know that his wife was safely ensconced at a hotel and was in the process of calming down. Ann's statement that it would be a couple of weeks before his wife would be returning home had been disappointing. He wasn't quite sure what was going on with his wife, but he trusted Ann's levelheadedness.

Sid said, "This whole thing with your wife has really upset me. I apologize. It never dawned on me what all of my business trips were doing to your family. My kids are grown and out of the house. It just never occurred to me that I was keeping your wife from being a mother to your kids."

"She bears a little responsibility for the situation," John said.

He wasn't going to excuse his wife's actions. It was her choice to continue making so many trips. She was the one who returned home acting like the dragon lady. It wasn't Sid's fault that his wife didn't listen to anyone except herself when she was at home.

"Well, your wife is shopping with my wife. It appears that my wife is planning on taking over as my PA and requires a whole new wardrobe to do so," Sid said.

It was after midnight when his wife had returned from visiting Victoria. The discussion at home lasted through most of the night. She had laid down the law about what was going to happen over the next few months. Initially the idea of her serving as his PA was unsettling, but he couldn't find any real objections. The more he thought about the idea, the more he liked it.

"Your wife is taking over as your PA?" John asked surprised by the little piece of news.

"Yes. I should have thought of that six years ago," Sid said. "Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty."

"What about Victoria's job?" John asked knowing that losing her job would crush her.

"If she wants to stay on with the company, I'll make her an executive secretary. It will mean a small cut in pay, but she'll have better hours. She'll be home every night," Sid said.

John nodded his head in understanding. He wasn't sure how Victoria would react to that. She valued the money too much to be satisfied with a cut in pay. She enjoyed the power and prestige of being the owner's right-hand person. Even business travel, as irritating and unpleasant as it might be, re-enforced her sense of importance.

John said, "I'm not sure she'll be happy with that. She really does enjoy her work."

"I know," Sid said with a sigh.

Traveling on business was a lonely life. Meetings ate up the whole day, but left long nights with nothing to do. Sid and Victoria had hours of empty time in places where there was little for them to do. As a result, they had spent many an evening over dinner talking about their hopes and dreams. Sid was very familiar with how Victoria viewed her job, what she feared, and what she wanted out of life.

Sid said, "I don't know about your financial situation. If this causes a hardship, I want you to know that you can do some contract programming for my company. I pay top dollar."

"That's not an issue. I'm planning on selling the company and retiring this year," John said.

The events of the previous evening had convinced John that it was time for him to change his life. It was time for his wife to learn that he was now a very wealthy man. He had tried to tell her that in the past, but she wouldn't listen to him. He had even considered the idea of demolishing the house and putting a mansion in its place to make his point.

"Really?" Sid asked. Listening to Victoria, he was of the impression that John didn't make much money at all.

"Yes," John answered. "I'll make enough on the deal that I'll never need to work another day of my life."

"You're a young man still. What will you do?"

John said, "Four years ago, I bought forty acres of land just right outside of town. The kids and I planted a bunch of fruit trees that have started bearing fruit. We've got cherry, apple, pear, and peach trees. Every spring we plant a vegetable garden with corn, beans, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, melons, peas, and carrots. We put up enough food that we don't really have to go grocery shopping except for milk and stuff like that. I've been wanting to retire and live the life of a gentleman farmer."

"That sounds nice," Sid said.

"I love that place. The back of the farm has a small stream that runs along it. David and I occasionally take a break and go fishing. We've caught some pretty nice fish out of it."