Chapter 18

It's been almost five years. Our Sunday school class graduates from high school including our special daughter, Karen. We now also have a son, Bert, who is partnered with similar results as we had with Laura. We had gone to the island but he wasn't conceived until a week later. Brightgazer is not a clone of Stargazer but it doesn't really matter. He's good for Bert who is growing well and rapidly. He is a junior but won't be an Al to avoid being called "junior" all his life.

Karen has grown more beautiful over the years. Her real parents would be proud of her. I know her stand-in parents are. She will graduate high school fifth in her class. She will go to college here in town but is going to marry this summer. John is fourth in the class and they still make a special, perfect pair. Glimmer and Brightmist are ecstatic about the coming nuptials.

We have rented the island for them along with the jet to fly them down there and back. We worked with John's parents to get them to get passports. When they return, they will move into Karen's parents' house. It would be vacant for a month before the wedding to allow it to be redecorated and painted for them.

We had bought Karen a car for her sixteenth birthday. We still haven't touched a penny of the trust and had grown it successfully. According to its terms, I couldn't turn it over to Karen until she was twenty-five but had told her how much was in it and how it was invested. I will follow her instructions on expenditures.

CME has continued to grow and now employs over two hundred people. It has spread out everywhere in town that makes sense. Lisa is President and Chief Executive Officer. She loves what she does and the people with who she works. Linda is slowing down because she wants to be grandmother. Paul is even making noises about taking it easier.

CIC's growth has made it now larger in sales than CME. Mitch and Melody have done a great job. They now keep first things first and have rented the island themselves twice. They are trying to get Melody pregnant. They enjoy the business, help teach the young marrieds class in church, and have worked hard to spread the good results of the company to its employees.

Pam's side of the business grew to the point that we let her buy it from us though we retained a minority interest. She named it, Pam Lauder and Son Marketing. Her clients love the name since Frankie still goes with her and will until September when he starts school. Frank is now a named partner with Marv'. They are talking to us about starting another group of seventh graders and following them through high school. They are both talkers and have us half convinced already.

We had a number of discussions with Marshal about his company but he kept his independence. He's a good guy and pouring his profits back into his company with the help of a small loan from us has started to really pay off in the last two years.

We will start Laura in school in the same class with Frankie after obtaining advanced placement for her. Listening to them talk is scary. They are so used to speaking mentally that much of their language is internal and people just don't understand them when they speak privately. In speaking to others, they both utilize perfect grammar speaking in full sentences. Their bodies are in better shape than most kindergarteners' bodies. They each have a child's body but with little fat and more muscle. Their hand-eye coordination is phenomenal. People have called them super kids. They openly scoff at the term making it harder both to apply and not to apply. They have been taking martial arts for the last year.

Laura has never been spanked. That's not because we don't believe in it rather it's because she is mature enough for us to delineate boundaries and she stays within them or discusses with us why they should be changed.

For instance, she and Frankie would go walking in our woods together. That led them to want permission to travel freely between our two houses at any hour. They explained everything carefully and concisely. Frankie organized his thoughts logically like his father and has the golden tongue of his mother. Laura is simply startlingly beautiful and organized her arguments to appeal to the emotions of her audience. Between the two, no bases were left uncovered in their presentation.

Frank once said that he was taught in law school that a lawyer had to object sometimes just to stop the train. You don't plan to win the objection just stop the train from running your client down!

Frankie made that first appeal with logic and Laura took up the cause with an emotional appeal to each couple for how valuable their time was and this was one duty they needn't perform. Then she went to the romantic part of each couple and how important it had been for reasonable stimulation at the right times.

By the time she was winding down, the four of us were nodding. They quit talking and let us finish convincing ourselves that the decision we had already made subconsciously was the right one.

Karen has let them talk for her when she wanted a change in rules. After two very successful arguments on her behalf, she admitted to us that their abilities were too good to be underutilized!

We had a high school graduation party to plan with a wedding one month later. Lisa is as excited as is John's mother, Alice, with the party and the wedding. Ted, John's father, and I simply have to relax and write checks!

The graduation party is first. We have invited the senior class though, with no booze available, we won't get them all. Our Sunday school class people are coming for some time at least. We have invited parents though some have parties for their graduates. Pam and Frank will be here for sure. Jeremy will be in town for Lois and Roy will be here for Mavis. Both girls are excited. John is giving Karen an engagement ring at the party with the knee bend and all. Their impending marriage is probably secret only to a hermit. Even him giving her the ring is widely anticipated!

High school graduations are eagerly anticipated events in our town and this one was no exception. As usual, it was held in the college's fine arts center auditorium because the high school didn't have an inside hall large enough for the crowd. It was too hot to use the stadium.