Chapter 41

Sunday, June 9 - Monday, June 10, 2002

The Taurus with the modified seat was the choice of the two cars for them to take on a long trip together, but it was just one of several things strange to Dave about this New York run -- in fact, much was different from the trips they'd taken earlier. Dave came into the house after hauling some luggage out to the car a few hours before they planned to hit the road, when Shae waved him to the phone. "It's Eve," she said.

Since the boys were outside playing with Kayla, Shae turned on the speaker phone as Dave sat down on the couch. "You might as well not come this weekend like we planned," Eve told them. "John and I are going to be in Chicago."

"Another seminar?" Shae asked. Eve gave seminars on transsexual issues from a psychologist's viewpoint all over the country, and while she enjoyed it, the travel could sometimes be irksome.

"Not quite," Eve said. "John has accepted a position as an Associate Professor of Engineering at Northwestern University, and I gave my two weeks' notice at Matthews, Barkley this morning. We've got to go look for a house."

"Wow, that's cool!" Shae said enthusiastically. "Do you have anything lined up for a job?"

"Still up in the air," Eve said. "But there are possibilities, both teaching and in practice. I could set up a private practice on my own, but I want to investigate other things first. I'll tell you though; I'll be happy to not be working with people who think sexual issues are something to be fixed in terms of what someone else thinks is proper. Christ knows how I've been able to stay with them as long as I have."

"Well, Chicago north side and Bradford isn't going to be as convenient as Staten Island and Philly," Shae observed. "But it will beat the hell out of Bradford and Philly."

"That's pretty much my thinking, too," Eve said. "Shae, you remember when we were in high school, I was literally counting the days until I could get out of that town, and you were pretty well doing it, too? When I walked down Main Street presenting as myself, rather than Denis for the first time there, I figured it would also be the last time and I'd never come back. How strange it is that I have a number of friends there and mostly people Denis both hated and feared. And really, how strange it is, that I would be accepted there at all."

"I guess we've grown up," Shae smiled. "All of us. If we're not going to see you this weekend, then when?"

"I'm not sure," Eve said, "Everything is still up in the air. But probably in the next couple weeks. Maybe you'd like to go house hunting with us the weekend after next, if we don't find what we want this weekend."

"Or something," Shae told her friend. "Hey, this is going to work out for you, isn't it? I always had the idea you liked Chicago better than New York, anyway."

"Oh yes, much better," Eve said. "I still have friends in the community there, and you do, too, for that matter."

"Yeah," Shae grinned. "I've been wanting to take Dave over there and introduce him to Carl. I need some new shoes, and it's been too long since I've seen him."

"I'd kind of like to see the guy myself," Eve grinned. "Maybe in a couple weeks."

They talked for a few more minutes about other things, but the meat of the conversation was over. Finally, Shae pushed the off button on the speakerphone and commented, "Well, I'm glad it's happening, but I guess it doesn't surprise me. The handwriting has been on the wall ever since Chad and Cheryl moved to Chicago last year."

"I don't suppose your moving here had anything to do with it," Dave smirked.

"Actually, no," Shae smiled. "I think it just put a cap on a decision already made. Oh, well, I'm glad we decided to add the extra bedrooms to the house; I think somebody we know will be weekend guests pretty regularly. Besides, Chad and Cheryl are neat; I think you'll like them, too. It beats the hell out of making a Philadelphia run as often as I'd want to."

"Well, I'd figured on making New York runs every month or so for the foreseeable future, at least while I'm on salary with Dunlap and Fyre," Dave commented. "I figured we'd jiggle it around so Philadelphia was part of the deal."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Having Eve in Philly was one of the big downsides for me moving here at all, although it was never enough to challenge all the upsides."

The big thing that made this trip strange was they had the boys with them. They'd always wanted to go with Dave to see Aunt Shae when he'd made his visits to her, but Dave had shied away from taking them. It came down to the fact it was a ten-hour car ride one way, and he was really doubtful he could handle the two boys on the trip by himself. After all, when they'd come to Bradford, it had been in Dayna and Sandy's motor home with people and things to divert them, and it had been at night so they'd slept most of the way, anyway. Worse, they'd have to endure the trip twice in only a few days.

All that had changed since Shae had moved in the month before. There still was no need for the boys to go to New York, and they didn't have to. Stan and Deborah had, on several occasions, asked Dave if the boys could visit with them for a few days when he made one of his New York runs, and they were going to leave the boys with them in Hartford. With school out, this was a good time to do it. Since Shae wanted to touch base both at Avalon and at WSN, she decided to go along to help Dave with the boys. After some discussion, they'd decided to make the trip an all-nighter, too, so the boys would be asleep for most of it. They left a little before dark on Monday evening -- since it was the middle of June, it was approaching ten in the evening, and sure enough, the boys were asleep by the time they'd been on the road an hour.

In order to prepare themselves for being up all night, Dave had had Kayla come over to watch the boys in the afternoon so he and Shae could take naps. Shae'd had a pretty good one; when she woke up she found Dave had already gotten up and had found him in a spirited discussion with the teenager. "So what were you and Kayla going on about?" she asked to make conversation.

"Thoreau, again," Dave smiled. "Walden is a tough read for a thirteen year old, and I know it from experience. It was hard for me at that age."

"Yeah, you would have read it while I was out in the driveway throwing a basketball around," she grinned. "Is she getting anything out of it?"

"Oh, yeah," Dave said. "Walden is one of those books where there's something on every level. Actually, when Kayla and I talk about it, I'm usually trying to just put the book into the context of the times. A lot of the stuff Thoreau was ranting about just doesn't obtain today; it has to be looked at with the historical perspective before it makes sense. But it still is a powerful book, and I think it's having an effect on our young babysitter."

"Well, I'm glad you're the one she's talking to about Thoreau," Shae laughed. "It is a book, after all, and it's your field. Let's face it, you went to Columbia while I went to a third-rate state college with a reputation for athletics and partying."

"Maybe so," Dave said. "But you came out of it with more than you anticipated when you went there, didn't you? I mean, I know you and Kayla have been having those discussions on women's rights."

"Right, and she asks some tough ones, too," Shae asked. "I sure would like to be a bug on the wall when she gets Eve into a corner on human rights issues."

"Yeah, or at least have a bug on the wall," Dave grinned. "I wonder what got into the kid? She wasn't like that a few months ago. Must have been something that happened when she turned into a teenager."

"To tell the truth, I think we happened to her," Shae said. "I've talked with Emily about it a little. Emily says Kayla has been making sounds about wanting to go to college, and not just to make use of an athletic scholarship, which she'll probably get if she keeps running like she does. Walden may have had something to do with it, too. Now, you know neither Emily nor Kevin have ever had a day of college, so I think Kayla is turning to us as role models a little."

"Well, if that's the case, I guess I don't mind," Dave said. "She's got a sharp little mind, and she's asked me some questions that really affect my thinking about the book. I keep having to remind myself that Andraen is a kid not much older than Kayla, and not an adult. And, I have to remember Andraen's perspective is even narrower than Kayla's. Andraen doesn't have any idea of what human rights are since she doesn't have any to begin with, while Kayla is really a little nuts on the subject. I remember us talking about burqas and bikinis that time, and it seemed to me like it hit her where she lives."

"Oh, hell," Shae snorted, "It did. Dave, if I tell you something can you keep it between you and me?"

"Really good gossip?" he asked.

"No, potentially hurtful gossip," Shae said. "Sort of like what would have happened if Denis' secret had come out while we were in high school. You remember Emily invited me over to use her pool sometime, to give my back a little rest?"

"Yeah," he said. "You went over and used it the tail end of last week, Thursday or Friday."

"Friday," Shae said. "Well, I got over there, to discover Kayla and Rachel splashing around in the pool, without a stitch on between them."

"Ah, a little skinny dipping," he grinned. "It seems to me you've been there and done that."

"Yeah," she grinned. "In fact, I joined them. Neither of them had ever seen a pregnant woman nude before, and I figured it was a good chance for a little object lesson. Anyway, the three of us spent a long time talking. It turns out both girls consider themselves to be nudists. They go for walks in the woods nude, and swim in a swimming hole out at Rachel's. They both realize it's different and something they can't talk about much."

"And that pushes your it's-all-right-to-be-different button," Dave laughed.

"Absolutely," Shae grinned. "Now, it could just be an early teen phase, but it might not be. They seem more committed to it than I was at that age. But it seems to me they have an it's-all-right to-be-different button of their own. I may have made a mistake, but I told them if they were really serious about protecting human rights they ought to think about becoming lawyers."

"I don't think it was a mistake," Dave grinned. "It's an awful big piece up the road from thirteen, and there's plenty of time to change their minds. But if they did it, there's lots of things they could do with it. Legal or social requirements to force women to wear burqas in this country is an improbability but not an impossibility, so I can see where the discussion would have rattled Kayla's chain. But, I have to ask, does Emily know about her budding nudist?"

"Amazingly enough, yes," Shae grinned. "And she seems to be all right with it. In fact, she was in the pool nude with us when I made the comment to the girls about becoming lawyers. I think she thinks it's just a phase the kids are going through. If she humors them and doesn't make it an issue, it may go away."

"You know," Dave grinned. "I never really considered what Emily would look like in the nude, but now that you've raised the issue you've got me curious."

"You may get your chance," Shae grinned. "It turns out there has been some nude hot tubbing going on at Scott and Sonja's. I know the pool contractor hasn't started on the pool yet; I wonder if it's too late to add a hot tub?"

"No, it's not," Dave shrugged. "It just means more money. I'll call when we get back."

"Good deal," she grinned. "Let's face it, we're going to have a house that's ideal for skinny dipping and nude hot tubbing," she replied. "But to get back to what I was leading up to, Emily and I talked about it later when the kids weren't around. Like I said, she thinks it's a phase the kids are going through, that they really haven't considered the realities. Then, I got to thinking. What happens if maybe next month, I were to invite the girls to come to New York with me to help me pack up at the apartment, and leave you behind?"

"Given a chance, I'd just as soon be with you," he said. "But I can see you've got something on your mind."

"I do," Shae grinned. "What if I were to be nice and give the girls a little touch of the reality Emily wants by taking them to Gunnison Beach for a day?"

"The nude beach over on Sandy Hook?" Dave grinned. "I tried to get Julie there once; I think I told you about it. I wouldn't mind trying it some time."

"We may have some time to kill this trip," Shae snickered, without really teasing him. "But I think with the girls, it would be best if you weren't in on it, at least the first time."

"Well, when you put it that way," Dave sighed. "I guess you're right. Just clear it with Emily and Rachel's mom before you do it, though. As for myself, I guess I'd be up for a run over there with you this trip if everything works out all right."

"You know," she laughed quietly, "I could ask around a little and see if I could find a paparazzi who sells to the tabloids. A nice little spread in some supermarket tabloid of 'Shaella Sunrise nude' would probably end the Avalon question once and for all."

Dave shook his head. "You realize that's a nuclear weapon about the size of the half-million-dollar note Stan doesn't know I know about, don't you?"

"Of course," she snickered. "But the little exhibitionist in me is yelling, 'Do it! Do it!' I mean, it would be like the ultimate Curtis Road overpass flash."

"You mean even though we're living out there, you're not going to go for cheap thrills again sometime?"

"Who knows?" she laughed, keeping it quiet enough to keep from waking the boys. "It might be fun."

"You know," he said thoughtfully. "Why do I think it's going to be interesting being married to you?"

"Because it's going to be," she giggled. "You know me, I like my fun."

Shae was driving when they crossed the Hudson River well north of New York on Interstate 84, only about an hour out from the Albright house. The boys were still sleeping, but obviously near the end. The sun was up by now, but it was still a little early for rush-hour traffic, which only began to pick up in the last few miles into Hartford. By that time both Dave and Shae were getting pretty tired, despite their nap the previous afternoon.