Chapter 57: The Things You Have To Do After You Get Married and Before You Start School.

Kay's turn:

It was a great weekend with Troy and his family on the boat. We thought we had a fifty-fifty chance of the other two families coming into the cove while we were there and we won that bet. Ha, Murphy, eat your heart out! When we got home we took the time to put things away but we had to spend some time with Sammy and Sandi. Siamese cats can be demanding and ours felt slighted by being left alone all weekend; they didn't have their personal servants (us) around to cater to them.

Rob and I talked about getting in the hot-tub but neither one of us had the energy to open it up and it was late enough for us to get ready for bed, so we headed for the shower. We did the usual things you do in a shower, we got ourselves clean. It had been a long weekend and while swimming kept us from stinking, it wasn't the same as washing thoroughly with soap and water. We washed each other, overlooking nothing and some areas received extra attention, much to our mutual pleasure. Of course, that resulted in a longer shower than necessary to get clean.

We were still drying when I said, "Rob, before I met you, I never even considered showering with someone else." I smiled at him.

"Didn't you shower in school after P.E.?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I meant. In school the showers are communal but most people avoided contact with each other."

"Only most people?"

"Most tried to respect the privacy of the others around them but there were some girls who appeared to be friendlier than others. They were rare and even those girls tried to be discreet. No matter what you've heard, the girls' locker room and shower is not a hot bed of lesbian sexual activities. I never understood why boys and men always seem to have that image whenever the subject comes up in conversation."

"Wishful thinking, Kay, wishful thinking."

"Brute! Beast! Misogynistic Neanderthal!" I said with a look of disapproval. Then I blew it by laughing.

"It's not all boys and men but it's like what you said of the girls in the locker room, most. I didn't say I thought that way. I'm only trying to help you with your understanding."

"I bet, if that was the case, you wouldn't be grinning from ear to ear."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, right," I said sarcastically.

We went into the bedroom; the cats jumped off the bed and went out the door. As soon as we were on opposite sides of the bed we turned it down and climbed in. We turned the lights off and settled in together. We were in our most common sleeping position, we kissed and snuggled and went to sleep.

During the night I woke up when one of the cats jumped onto the bed. I had rolled away from Rob in my sleep and was facing away from him. I turned over and looked at him in the faint light in the room. I was feeling a little needy so I ducked under the covers. I quietly and gently got closer to him. I was going to see how excited I could get him before he woke up.

I had my fun but he woke up easier than I thought he would. We'd had a big weekend and I thought he'd be too tired to wake easily. I should have known better. I was working on him when he reached down and started to stroke my hair. I was busted. I crawled up for a kiss and that started the fun and fireworks. We lost an hour or more of sleep but we were well satisfied when we went back to sleep and I thought it was worth it.

When the alarm went off, it was time to get up. Rob sent me to take a rinse off shower while he went to get the coffee going and pull out some things for breakfast. I dressed in cargo shorts and a polo shirt, there wasn't the need for good clothes in school that there was in the office. I went to the kitchen.

Rob had a steaming cup of coffee in his hand and another on the table next to a yogurt and a spoon. I slipped into the seat and grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit. We ate and talked about the weekend. We'd had a good time and talked about how comfortable we'd been with Troy and his family. I wanted to call Troy but Rob suggested I wait a couple of days before I did.

"He's got your email address, doesn't he? Things are going to be hectic for you this week as you settle into school. I'm sure he and Alice will have their hands full with Holly and Gary doing the same. Don't forget, Alice is a teacher and has to get control of her classes this week, too. Give them a chance to contact you first."

"Okay but if I haven't heard from them by Friday I'm going to give him a call."

"What are you going to do first today?"

"I'm going to check with Bert Symes about changing my name. I'm married now and I want people to know it and acknowledge it."

"Okay, give me a call sometime when you get a chance today. I want to hear how things are going."

When I was finished with the yogurt and orange, Rob came with me to see me out the door. I gave him a big kiss and turned to leave. He gave me a swat on my rear as I went out the door. I took two steps and then looked over my shoulder, smiling while I bent over slightly to wag my butt at him. We both had a laugh and I went on to my car.

"Don't forget to get updated parking passes for all three cars. I love you," he called after me.

He was waving as I drove off and I waved back at him. I could see him in my rear view mirror, he was still in the doorway when I turned the corner and lost sight of the house.

At school it was next to impossible to find a parking spot anywhere near the admin building, I ended up parking on the other side of the Aerospace Engineering building. That parking lot was hidden by the building from most of the campus so there were plenty of open parking spots. That was the good news; the bad news was I'd have to do a lot of walking today to set everything in motion for the semester. It was a good thing for me that I had almost all of my books already. I didn't want to play pack mule for a ton of books like I had to last year.

I went to Bert's office and signed the clipboard to see him; I used my new name and smiled. I was married nearly a month and this was the first semi-official piece of paper I'd put my new name on. There were only three people before me, so I sat down to wait for him. Five minutes later someone came out of Bert's office with Bert behind him. Bert picked up the clipboard and called a name. The girl sitting opposite of me got up and went towards him. He scratched something on the board and then the two of them went into his office.

I pulled out my Kindle and was reading when the guy next to me said I can't wait any longer as he got up and left. The guy across from me looked at me and shrugged, then he put his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Twenty minutes later I was sitting alone and bored. I was too anxious about the things I had to do to sit and read. Instead I sat and fidgeted while I waited. Another guy came up and put his name on the clipboard before sitting down. "Have you been here long?"

"I've been sitting about twenty minutes. Bert seems to be taking ten minutes for each of us, he's due anytime now."

As I said that, Bert's door opened and he followed the student out. As the student went on his way Bert looked at the board and then said, "C'mon in, Kay, and tell me how your summer went."

We went into his office and I sat down across from him. "The summer was good, very good. How was yours?"

"It was about typical for my summers here. My wife and I spent a week in Las Vegas. We spend enough there to be comped for our room and meals. It works out that we spend about the same as if we went to a resort for a week. I have more fun and she gets to go to some shows. I'm more interested in you and what you did."

"Do you want the details or is the Cliff Notes version good enough?"

"Give me the highlights and if I have any questions, I'll ask."

"I was able to get a spot in the intern program but you should already know that."

"I do. There were four of you in the program but you're the only one I advise. What did you think of it?"

"I think I learned a lot and I had fun, too. I even got to do an engineering project by myself. I had my assigned mentor watching over my shoulder but I did the project."

"We're waiting for the company to send us their evaluations of the four of you. They'll be integrated into your academic record."

"Then you didn't hear about Wayne yet?"

"Wayne?"

"Wayne Benton, he was one of us at the start of the intern program but he got thrown out after the first week."

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good. I hadn't heard someone was asked to leave."

"I wouldn't call what I saw as being asked to leave. He was thrown out, terminated for cause was the term the H.R. Manager used. He was escorted from the premises and told he'd never work for the company or any of its subsidiaries ever again."

"You said his name was Wayne Benton? I'm going to have to look up his advisor and get the details from him. Were you involved somehow?"

"Let me just say he was very angry and I was the focus of that anger."

"Anger about what?"

"He seemed to think I was the source of all his problems and didn't belong in the program. Uh, the company threw him out because he had a hissy fit, said a lot of nasty things in front of people, including the Assistant Head of H.R. and they were afraid I'd file a harassment lawsuit. He was publically reprimanded, terminated and escorted out, all within an hour."

"Oh my, I'm going to have to look into this a lot more than I thought. Well, other than that little bit of excitement, how was your summer?"

"That's why I came to see you. I need your advice. I was married over the summer and I need to know what to do to change my name on everything."

"Congratulations on your marriage. Someone from home?"

"No, right here in San Diego, the guy I was working for."

"That Rob guy?"

"Yes, him. We were married on my family's farm in Kansas. His folks and friends came in for the wedding and I had all my family and friends there. After the wedding we went on a honeymoon cruise to Alaska and had a wonderful time."

"I'm happy for you, Kay. So I don't have to worry about your living arrangements anymore."

"Absolutely not." I had a big smile across my face.

He pulled some papers out of his desk for me to fill out and turn into admin with copies of my marriage certificate and birth certificate. He gave me a list of things I needed to do to make the change in all my school records. After that we came back around to Wayne again.

"I'll check to see what his status is. He may not even still be here in the program. If he is and if you have any problems with him, you let me know right away. Speaking of problems, I checked with the assistant D.A.'s office about Todd and his status. From what I understand, he's coming up for trial next month unless they can agree on a plea bargain that's acceptable to Todd's lawyers, the officers he attacked and the assistant D.A. It's still a possibility. The assistant D.A. on the case said he will not settle without some prison time because of the attack on the police officers."

"Is he still in jail?"

"No, he's out on bond now but he still isn't allowed on our campus. If he's caught on campus now that'll wreck any plea bargain they've got in the works and they'll have to start all over again."

"He's stupid enough to do it, too."

"For his sake I hope not. Campus Security is keeping an eye out for him."

"Thanks for the information, Bert."

We finished up everything I had to do with him and I left to go to admin. Going through the re-registration process at admin was a zoo and a nightmare. I waited my turn in line and then couldn't re-register using my new name until my name change was recorded. The office I had to go to couldn't do the name change because I wasn't currently registered. It was a classic case of which came first, the chicken or the egg. I fought the brave fight but after two hours I was so frustrated I could scream. I called Bert's office and asked him for help.

After an early lunch, Bert came with me back to admin and with his help the wheels finally turned. My name was changed officially and I was re-registered for the coming semester. Thanks to him, it had only taken me an additional hour in admin and I was free to go to the financial office to re-verify my scholarship, another nightmare. My scholarship was in my old name and it took my marriage certificate, my birth certificate, a call to admin and another to Bert to straighten that out. After that, the book store was a breeze even though it was a madhouse.

I looked at my watch when I had everything done on campus and called Rob.

"Hi, Sweetie, how's it going on campus?"

"Oh, Rob, I'm done, finally. My name is changed on everything here at the school and I have the three new books I need for this year."

"What about your scholarship?"

"I took care of that, too. I'll have to tell you later about the chicken and the egg."

"Hunh?"

"You know, the chicken and the egg, which comes first?"

"Okay, what're you going to do now?"

"I'm heading for the DMV. I just hope there's enough time left in the day before they close to get things done."

"I think we should check with my lawyer to make sure everything is covered."

"Today?"

"I'll call him. If there's anything that has to be done urgently, I'll call you, otherwise I'll just tell you what he says tonight."

"Okay, let me go for now." We said our good-byes and I went to the DMV for another fight."

Rob's turn:

That was a more than pleasant way to be woken up in the middle of the night. I hadn't been expecting it but I sure wasn't going to refuse the attentions Kay was giving me. I wasn't that foolish. I gave back as good as I got and gave Kay as much pleasure as she gave me. Women have an advantage over men with their capabilities in receiving pleasure.

I had breakfast and coffee with Kay, before I saw her off to school. Since I worked from home, my schedule was my own and I didn't have any travel time. I often took advantage of the flexibility that gave me.

What a weekend. I'm glad we took Troy and his family out with us. I hope they had as good a time as they seemed to. Gary and Holly did alright when they were on the wheel. They were okay as both passengers and crew. I wouldn't say it surprised me but with all the negative things you hear about kids when they reach their teenage years I was a little worried they might get sea-sick or would be bored. I didn't see any electronic babysitters other than their Kindles with them all weekend; now THAT surprised me. I thought all kids were welded to some game device or another.

I started my in depth computer log review. It took me a few hours before I was comfortable that I knew the status of all the computer systems I monitored. I had some work in front of me. Nothing major was wrong but things weren't at their optimum for a couple of my clients. I made the phone calls necessary to set up the necessary site visits. I was going to make them this week and get them out of the way before I went to Colorado. I'd be home each evening.

Kay called and we talked for a few minutes. She sounds like she has a story to tell me about what she went through today. After I got off the phone with her, I called my lawyer's office and spoke with his assistant. When I was done with the call she was going to email me the list of places to contact to change Kay's name officially. There was work ahead of us on that project.

I was well behind on my yard work because of all the travel I'd done recently and I decided to take the time to start getting caught up. I was still working on the front yard when Kay came home.

"I'm through at the DMV; my new license will be mailed to me. While I was there I also picked up a voter registration form. I never changed my address with them after I moved in with you but I was still registered in Kansas since I was only a temporary resident in California."

"That's good; you'll be able to vote this year. I talked with my lawyer's office and they're emailing me a list of all the other places you have to change your name. The school and the DMV are only the start. It's a good thing we have a half dozen certified copies of our marriage certificate, we're going to need 'em."

"The school was satisfied with making a copy of the one I had with me but I had to give it to the DMV and they kept it. Will we have enough of them or do I have to call my mom and have her get more of them for us?"

"I think we'll have enough but I don't know which places will be satisfied with seeing one and which will want to keep one. We'll have to work on that. Do you have your class schedule?"

"I do and it's similar to last semester's schedule, Tuesdays are all day but Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays are mornings only. I have Wednesdays off again this semester."

"So, when's your first class?"

"Thursday, I'm off tomorrow."

"Good, you can concentrate on getting your name changed everywhere you have to. I can help for a little bit in the morning but I have to visit a client tomorrow and take care of a problem."

"What are we doing for dinner tonight, Rob?"

"I was thinking just some canned soup, if that's okay with you."

"That sounds good but can we go for a walk first? I want to stretch out my legs."

"Are you going to change clothes first or go like that?"

"Like this but I need to drop these books and fill my water bottle."

"I'll come in and wash my face before we go."

We went in and I washed my face before going to the kitchen. "Ready, Kay?"

"Let's go."

We went out the door and started walking and talking. "What were you talking about when you said whatever about the chicken and the egg?"

"I went to see Bert first and that went well. By the way, he remembers you and gave us his congratulations. I didn't go too much into detail but I told him that we got married in Kansas and had our families and friends there with us. I told him we went on a cruise for our honeymoon, too."

"He remembered me?"

"Yeah, as the guy I was living with, he even remembered your name. He told me Todd was out of jail on bond and was expected to go to trial next month but he's still not allowed on campus and Campus Security was still on the lookout for him. The assistant D.A. and Todd's lawyer are working on a plea bargain but because of the assault on the officers, there was going to have to be some prison time."

"I guess that means we'll never have to deal with him again, just as we thought."

"Bert already knew I was in the intern program and that it started with four of us. He hadn't heard about Wayne getting the boot, though. I had to give him some of the details. He was surprised when I told him Wayne had been publically thrown out, was escorted from the premises and ended up as a persona non-grata at the company. I also had to tell him that Wayne's problem was with me. He didn't know what Wayne's status in school was but he was going to check. He told me to let him know if Wayne caused me any problems."

"Please, please, please do and let me know, too."

"I will, you know I will. Now do you want to hear about the rest of my day?"

"Yes, please."

"I lost two hours this morning shuffling between the re-registration office and the office I needed to go to, to change my name, hence the chicken and the egg. One couldn't register me because my name wasn't changed and the other couldn't change my name because I wasn't registered. Registration was a zoo in the first place, as it always is when everyone has to register for the semester. Between that and the intransigence of the other office, I was going nuts. I finally got smart and called Bert for help."