Chapter 19: Getting To Know The Neighbors

Our doorbell rang promptly at six and I let the new family in saying "Robert, Grace and Janet, come on in. Supper is ready if you don't mind my girls cooking we can sit down and eat." Robert said "Lead the way" My two girls had the table set and were ready to dish out enchiladas, refried beans and rice. Grace commented "Sure smells good. Did you girls cook these yourselves?" Kim said "Yes we did and no help from dad. We do most of the cooking now and dad only exercises the smoke alarm occasionally." Everybody got a chuckle out of that one as we all sat down.

We all told a little about ourselves like Kim losing her mom in the accident, Tammy losing her whole family in the fire across the street, my getting roped into coaching the cheerleading squad and then accepting a position as the technology teacher. I also mentioned that I have an electronics design consulting business working on industrial control equipment. Robert seemed stunned as he said "I am starting work at the refinery in Texas City doing control and instrumentation work. Chances are I'll see some of you designs there." I replied "You just might since I did most of their systems." Grace piped in with "Hey guys, enough shop talk. Let's eat." So we did. But while we were eating, Janet asked me "Are your designs ladder logic or microprocessor based?" Quite surprised she knows the difference I replied "They're microprocessor based and I'm surprised by that question." She casually replied "I talk with dad quite a lot and he showed me." I looked questionably at Kim and she said proudly "My dad explained that to me too." It turns out these girls are going to fit into the technology class quite well. I just hoped the boys in the class didn't get too intimidated.

After dinner we had a light conversation about the neighborhood and all that has been going on. My girls of course had to drag out the 'Stitch-in-Time' catalog to show off their pictures. All three of our guests were suitably impressed. It was quite late when they left. As I escorted them to the door I mentioned "If you guys need anything just let us know. We like helping friends." Robert said "We will." and left.

The next morning we went down to the law office and talked with my lawyer. He told us "The furnace company had been sued before for the same situation and lost. They appealed and were turned down so the precedent had been set. He said the award in that case was $300,000 and it involved only one death. Our case is for wrongful death of three people so we will go for three times that amount with a little extra for your expenses Greg. We are asking for 1 million even and I think they will settle out of court if they know what is good for them. These big companies hate bad press." During all this Tammy just sitting there with saucer eyes unable to believe what my lawyer was saying.

When we got back home Tammy asked me "Did he actually say one MILLION dollars?" I answered "Don't count your chickens before they hatch but, yes he did say one million." After lunch I said "Hey girls, since we all have the day off how about a move and supper out?" Their smiles betrayed their answer as Kim said "Well gee dad I'm not sure but if you insist." I gave her a swat on her bottom and told them both "Get ready and we'll go. Your choice of movie." It seemed like two seconds later they were dragging me out the door. So what did we end up seeing? You guessed it – a chick flick 'When Harry met Sally'. Actually I kind of enjoyed the movie especially since I was seated between two gorgeous ladies as a bonus. We held hands throughout the whole thing.