Chapter 2

Now on the one hand I am fond of children, and would love a large family, on the on the other hand as attractive as the beautiful pregnant girl in my arms was it would be really nice to be able to tell my children their parents would be around and a couple until they died of old age, and not knowing her name puts a damper on that, and was she implying as it appeared by her comment that I was the father, and what did she mean by we all are?

Fortuantly Mr. Thompson came to my rescue with "Alicia, let the man breathe! We haven't even got the introductions out of the way yet." As I peeled a her from my chest I began to miss those firm braless mounds before the bodice of the sun dress which held them captive came into view. Fortunately, as she left my arms to turn and face her family, she grabbed my hand. As I tore my eyes away from the gorgeous redhead whose lipstick I must be wearing to face her father, I became quite glad that I had made a favorable impression this morning because Mr. Thompson grinned and said, "Well that's one introduction we can skip."

Alicia smiled and said, "Mom, Dad, I would like you to meet the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, Dite Volby Ivanovich. Dite, these are my parents, Robert And Julia Thompson." See knowing your parents names is a good thing. "We met when I was at summer camp." Although I have never been to summer camp in my life, preferring a tent to a cabin this began to make sense. There were several camps and campgrounds near the hotel where the conferences were hosted. We must have met during the time I could not remember.

Mrs. Thompson piped up with "I thought we were meeting A process chemist who was consulting with a project at the plant, not a geneticist. What would a geneticist even be need for at a plastics plant?"

Now this is one question I could answer with confidence. "Process automation and chemistry pays the bills, Mam, but genetics is one of my hobbies, although there is some overlap. I was attending the conference on my vacation."

Alicia half frowned and asked "But I thought Bill asked you about licensing your patent on rapid DNA sequencing?"

"Shure, half a dozen of my pattents are useful in genetics, but it is just a hobby. Most of my patents are in other fields."

This jot Mrs. Thompson's attention. "So you are really smart?" I suspected that I just identified the family gold digger, but regardless of the accuracy of my summation that was one question that was just about impossible to answer without sounding like a jerk, so I shrugged.

Alicia directed things away from that mine field and to another one. "So what time do you finish tonight? All the girls want to meet you." So that leaves only one sane choice: Dam the torpedoes full speed ahead!

I shrugged again. "I'm a little ahead of schedule, but I wanted to meet the second shift maintenance supervisor." Both were understatements. The survey was scheduled for two weeks, but I was on a pace to complete all the technical part in three days, leaving time for the most important part: listening to everybody with an opinion so that the recommendation would make everyone think that their voice had been heard.