CommunityChapter 49
- 4 years ago
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Terri’s turn: I’m telling this. It’s noon on a hot July Saturday and I’m standing in front of a roomful of people looking at me. I’ve done the ‘roomful of people looking at me’ thing many times. I guess the first couple of times I was nervous, but now I’ve done it in front of Google’s R&D and Raytheon’s R&D and a team from DoD. None of those was as impactful on my young life as this. I’m wearing a simple-lined linen dress, one that’s been worn by wives before me – Kimberly, Kara,...
BANG. BANG. BANG. "Sharon, get your lazy ass out of bed," Margo yelled between forceful knocks on the dorm room door. The fact she even had to go through this little charade agitated the young red head beyond words. There was no way in hell Sharon was still asleep, Margo was pounding loud enough to wake a corpse. The Blackberry in her back pocket started to vibrate, indicating a text message was received. Margo cursed very softly as she fished the phone out of her designer jeans. sorry. sick....
InterracialKeith Spencer looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. The crew-cut eighteen-year-old couldn't believe that only thirty minutes had passed of the eight hours he was required to put in at the Roosevelt Park Tri-County Help Center. For perhaps the hundredth time this month alone, he asked himself how he had gotten into this fix. A few years back, the local school board had passed a requirement that every student have a hundred hours of community service in order to graduate. While it did...
Comes a time when a story needs to be halted. I, as a hack writer, have enjoyed the three stories, Cindy, Nikki, and Christina, that led to the formation of the group that became our Community. During the course of the story, we dragged in the characters from Melodic Redemption. Now I'm pulling in Kimberly 2.0. This isn't the end of the community. This is just the end of the first part of Community. Trust me, the story will go on as Community Too. Look for it. And remember Community.
Still Tara’s turn: I have a lot to worry about, these days. However, no more “pitiful me” anymore. A little red-headed fireball grabbed me by both ears, shook some sense into me, and introduced me to “Never-never-land” (not the Michael Jackson version, thankyouverymuch.) In this case, it’s the 3Sigma “Community”, where all the girls are geniuses, they all fly airplanes, have their own airfield, all that. And we’ve been arranging my move here, and my return to an Auburn education. A...
Maddie's Turn: I'm in COLLEGE! Yes, little Maddie Reynolds is in college. And I'm YOUNG for it. I'm two years ahead. It's because of the hurricane, you know. The hurricane hit last year and the storm surge pushed a wave through our high school and forced us to go to school at the nearest high school that was undamaged. Now you have to understand that I live in one of the least populous parishes (that's counties in the other forty-nine states) in Louisiana, so we're not talking about...
Dana’s turn: I’ve been through a lot of changes since I turned fourteen almost two years ago. Living with Mom. Mom incarcerated. Living with Gramma – a huge step up in Dana’s quality of life. Connecting with Ed. Even more huge. Meeting the Community. Marrying Ed. Moving us to Alabama. All that’s good. Really good. I’m loving the environment. Ed’s loving it, too, and Gramma’s married and she’s teaching her last, greatest class. None of her students here has an IQ that isn’t measured high on...
Nanny’s house was a small, two bedrooms, wooden framed one near a cotton mill. She and my great-grandfather had worked at the mill. Back in those days, the companies felt it was best to have workers that lived near the mills. They built what was called mill villages, dozens and hundreds of basic houses near their plants. Then they sold them to the workers, taking mortgage payments out of their paycheck each week. The South is dotted with the remnants of these kinder, gentler days. By the time...
Hi folks, another week, another tale of love gone wrong. I'm still shocked that I got away with naming the hero of last week's story Daniel Boone and no one caught it. As A warning I have to tell you that this one includes some violence. But in the end it's only a story. Only imaginary people were injured during the story and even they got back up and went home after it ended. So for those of you who don't like to see things like that, this one probably won't be your cup of tea.For the...
Cindy's Turn: Nuts! I think it's just nuts! The word is one I picked up from my husband. He uses it because he doesn't use a lot of other, coarser, words. There are others: 'chaotic' comes to mind. 'Barely expected' works too. It's like this: Nikki and I both ended up sitting in Doctor Wilkins' office – that's 'Bren' – of the math department. "Ram's vacationing back in India, or he'd be here too," Bren told us. "He's in on this. So's Doctor Patel. Big part of it is her...
Dan Granger's turn: It's great when you've been on the road for a couple of days and you make that final turn back home, knowing that you've got a nice clean place to stay and you've got somebody waiting there who loves you and is waiting for your return. Jason and I had been in North Georgia. That's the southern state of Georgia in the USA, not the one in Europe that birthed Stalin, in case you're wondering. The little regional electrical cooperative is in the process of upgrading...
Derek’s turn: Tara says I shouldn’t be so obvious. She’s talking about Rachel. The first time I saw Rachel Weismann, I recognized Hermione Granger in the first Harry Potter movie, same face, same crazy hair. But Rachel’s eyes are blue and her hair is more brownish. In the movie, Hermione’s is more red. Kind of like Mizz Tina’s. “You’re too young to be in love,” Tara said. We’d been living back in Auburn for a month when that conversation happened. “I am a little younger than Cindy was...
Tina’s turn: It usually starts just like this – an informal gathering. On this particular morning it was me, Beck, Mizz Lee and Mizz Patel sitting around having coffee together. “I appreciate your invitation,” Mizz Patel said. “We think you’re due the honor, Aneeta,” Mizz Lee returned. “Your efforts have been the gateway for many in this community, including the last two.” “I fear I am enamored of these bright minds,” Mizz Aneeta returned. “We make provision for the world to recognize...
Cindy’s turn: It’s a little early in the year, and there’s no way he could beat me over there and put a bow on it to make it my birthday present anyway, but Dan and I and Tina are on our way to Mississippi to pick up my Stearman. Tina? She’s gonna fly our Cessna back. Dan and I are flying the Stearman back together. There were two certified parachutes in the cargo space. Dan looked apprehensive. “Don ‘t be, baby. A loop. An aileron roll. Maybe just one leeetle bitty snap roll ... Just so...
The plane ride was a good time to reflect on the activities of the last few weeks and make plans for the immediate future. While I could cross off some of the items from my previous list, others were still pending. Meanwhile, new issues had popped up that needed to be added. The Baltimore building was presently in limbo. After a less than satisfactory meeting with Edith and Tom, it was a good thing that I had not made definite arrangements to meet Sandra Lynch there next week. Helping Doug...
Cindy's turn: Let me tell you about a day in another universe. I was Matron of Honor at my mom's wedding. Dan and I and Mister Bill and Mom talked about how it was going to be. You absolutely know that Terri and Rachel are the flower girls. Bot-bot's the ringbearer, something that had Mister Bill shaking his head. Of course my Dan's the best man, a title that I reinforced the previous night, okay? Grandma Desai provided flowers and a reception table full of the best she could harangue...
Nikki's turn: "You look utterly charming," Dan said. "If I saw you for the first time today I'd have gotten hit by a thunderbolt and fallen hopelessly in love with you." "Too late," I said. "You're already in love with me." I was dressed to defend my dissertation. Simple black low-heel pumps, a brown pleated skirt, a white blouse with a sort of flouncy bow at my throat. I had my hair trimmed last week and today I paid a little extra attention to making sure it was brushed to...
Alan’s turn: I just have to get it in my head that the women in my life, NONE of them fits into that neat little contemporary mold marked ‘normal’. Let’s start with my wife Tina. She’s more than twenty years junior to me, brilliant on any scale except perhaps the rarified world of our community, but we’re talking about a girl that achieved a baccalaureate degree at the age of nineteen. Make that a degree in electrical engineering. She’s on the ‘mommy’ track now, her choice. Before I met...
Tara’s turn: So nobody actually TOLD me about the status of Terri and Jerry. I didn’t pay attention to any of the relationships involving the Munchkins because they’re all pre-teens and they’re not supposed to be HAVING relationships, right? Wrong. How could I be so wrong? I mean, first I have the evidence in my own household. Derek’s enamored of Rachel. I saw that, but silly me, I wrote it off as one of those cute things that happen with kids. I can hide behind the fact that I was new to...
Nikki’s turn: You knew I couldn’t let Cindy-of-the-Sky get too far ahead. Dan and I scheduled our own trip out to Arizona to get our multi-engine ratings. I know – retracing Cindy’s steps, but that’s okay. It’s not EXACTLY a hobby. I mean, we use airplanes all the time in conjunction with the business. We use the planes to move key people to meetings, to move technicians and equipment to sites too far to drive. That big Cessna twin makes it nice, but I seriously want to fly it and...
Sweet little Susan's turn: "You did WHAT?" Alan asked me. I took a breath. The guy actually sounded disturbed. "I gave some of Terri's writings to the English professor who's working with us." I looked at Tina. "Did I do something wrong?" "Alan, she didn't do anything wrong, you know." "I know. I'm just surprised." Alan smiled at me. "You know they'd have figured it out when she started school in the fall," Tina said. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." "Do you...
Susan's view: You know, just a few months ago I was just a high school senior. I had a mostly normal life. Okay, little bits of departure from many of the contemporary norms were there. Mom and Dad were married to each other. I was eighteen and a virgin. I was in the top level of my graduating class and I didn't take the easy courses. I had a best friend and she and I decided to attend the same college for the same course of study. Okay, so that's pretty normal-sounding, right? Then the...
Cindy's Turn: Summer used to be something that I survived. School was sort of a refuge because I was out of Mom's hair. Living in a thirty-odd foot travel trailer with Mom did not exactly lend itself to lazy days. I didn't have friends my age. Mom certainly wasn't exerting herself to see that I had any summer activities, so I was on my own in the RV park. The only kids my age came and went with their own families, and very few people choose to visit RV parks in Alabama except for the odd...
Cindy's turn: Riot weekend! We flew to Houston and collected an engineer and a flute-player. Okay, I said 'flautist' but Johanna said very few people still use that term. We flew? I flew. Dan handled communications with air traffic control once we entered the Houston traffic control area and fed me altitude and course data. I paid attention to ALL of that while we both watched for traffic. This is the most intense flying I've done, threading our way between TWO major airports, Hobby on...
Terri's turn: We have a new member of the community – Cindy's mom. I know I heard a little bit about how Cindy came to be with her Dan – he's 1.0 – the first of the two Dans in the community, and a lot of Cindy's story had to do with her mom not being a very good mom. My Tina tells me that I am fortunate to have two moms that love me and that my birth-mother, still in California, did a one of the hardest things ever – let her child go to another because she was just not able to do a...
Dan 1.0’s turn: Interesting meeting – me, my redheaded pixie, Don Matzke ... And the interesting part – Teresa Hardesty. Was supposed to be an informal get-together to see where things are in the circles of 3S Transport which is also the umbrella under which Don runs a charter jet service. “I know Cindy’ll be in the middle of this,” Don told me on the phone. “Do you have a problem if I bring a date?” “You know just how formal we are around here. Anybody we know?” “Teresa...
Johanna’s turn: I have become the musical mommy. I’m not complaining, mind you. Dad and Mom smile at me and tell me that their prayers are answered, that I’m married, my husband loves me, we’re successful, and ... my life is as filled with wonder as I told them. Little Randall is a good baby. That’s good. I’ve heard horror stories about crying all night and teething issues and ear problems and serious diseases. Randall is none of these. The community crèche is devoid of that. There’s a...
The first couple of weeks I was supposed to do menial jobs like sweeping and mopping, or organizing equipment. I was mopping up the girls locker room when my sisters burst through the door crying. I wasn’t sure if I should leave or try to comfort them. Brotherly compassion won out, and I asked what had happened. Alex sucked up a sob, and brokenly explained. “Our team is going to be cancelled, because we don’t have a coach. Daphne’s dad was supposed to do it, but he bailed on us.” Eva kept...
“Are you angry with me?” Michelle asked, an alcohol induced slur clearly evident in her voice. “No!” I retorted. My hand was firmly on her elbow as I guided her back to our suite. “Yeth, you are.” Her drunken laughter echoed off the walls of the short hall that lead to the inner door. “Your jealous and pissed off that I fucked Marcus! And what was with all that ‘Old Boy’ nonsense?” “I just thought it added a kind of James Bond slant. An unusual situation called for an unusual approach. You no...
MILFIt was now Jeff's...or as he would be known to his students as, Mr. Winger's second day of teaching. Even though Greendale was a rundown, fairly crappy joke of a community college, Jeff had to admit it had done a lot for him. Not only was he able to complete his bachelor's degree and able to actually become a lawyer, he had also gained a core group of friends that made him a much better person. Greendale wasn't done with the tall, good-looking man just yet though. After a failed attempt at...
I have been doing some community service due to a DUI.It is my first, and I didn't have to do any jail time, but I did however get sentenced to 300 hours of community service.That is a lot of spare time.One thing that this has given me is a lot of contact with young studs that are doing the same thing.I have been able to look over quite a few of them and while cleaning up the road sides, I have had to use mother natures rest room along with a few of them. I can visually check them out and I can...
I had got a DWI and had to do eighty hours of community service. The first 48 hours I worked picking up trash off the side of the road and other stuff like that. The last 32 hours I ended up working with this group cleaning up trails that go thru the woods. My first day I showed up and there was another guy who had to do community service and a old man, I would guess in his 70's. Three women that must have been around that age were also there. They were peppy and ready to work. The women went...
Tina's view: Sometimes I curl up on the sofa in those rare moments when I need some 'me' time and I think about things. Mommyhood. Little girls always think of being mommies. I did until I realized that my own 'mommy' saw me as a problem to be solved. Fortunately the solution was her own mother, Grandma, who did me right. When Grandma died and I ended up with Mom again, I pretty much decided that motherhood wasn't for me, not if I had a chance of ending up like Mom and me. Rethinking...
Alan's Turn: One might imagine that in the aftermath of the restaurant robbery, things might be in a turmoil. To a certain extent, one would be right. I'm fortunate. I have immediate family, my Tina and my Terri. I have my full family, and Tina made sure that she talked with my sister about the incident. And I have the Community. "You gonna be okay, buddy?" Dan 1.0 asked. "Yeah. Am I supposed to be all weepy or something?" He shook his head. "Not like you had any choices." "You...
Dan Granger's turn: I have to laugh. I tried very hard NOT to burn bridges when I left my old job. It paid off. Steve called. "Hey, Steve, what's up?" "You ready to come back?" "Not funny, Steve." "Seriously. One of our clients specifically asked if we'd subcontract you so you can come in and do some stuff for him." "What and when?" Steve gave me the run-down. I wasn't too surprised. Big facility. I'd done a similar scope for part of it prior to moving to Alabama. Now...
The World According to Susan: I am officially ready for a break. It's almost Christmas. I almost hide when I see my math professor. That's okay, though. He almost hides when he sees Cindy. Jason's right there with me, though. He's tested out of some classes and he's gotten transferred credits for a lot of things he took for his technology degree and if he does a summer semester next summer, he just MIGHT squeeze his way onto stage with the rest of us. I hoping. He deserves it. We work...
Cindy's Turn: I finished, well, actually WE finished a Skype session with Kara. This time it was me and Nikki and Kara. I turned to Nikki. "She's a sister, you know. Should be part of the Community," Nikki said. I'm glad Nikki said it first. I don't want everybody to think I'm running this show. I'm certainly not malicious or anything, but everybody contributes in this effort. "How do we make it happen?" I asked. "She's music, not engineering." "We had Mizz Patel handling...
Bill Carmody's turn: Interesting turn of events, I think. Two years ago I had Dan Richards on my power plant project. I knew him and Alan Addison from a previous power plant project where we were engineers, all three of us, on the same project. They're technically beyond reproach. Now I'm on THEIR payroll. 'Their' is, of course, 3Sigma Engineering. We're redoing several rural substations in Georgia. I ride herd on contractors, mainly, and make sure that they adhere to plans, and I...
Bill Hardesty’s turn: I’ve just become Bill 3.0. Cindy officially conferred the status upon me. “Bill 1.0’s my adopted dad. Bill 2.0’s Haley’s husband in Louisiana. Since you’re part of this now, you shall be Bill 3.0.” Which is fine, except to Herself, the Vickster, I’m ‘Billy’. “Cindy said you were ‘Billy’ when she first met you.” “I was. I like to think that I’m mature enough to be ‘Bill’ now.” Sparkly eyes. “Not ‘William’?” “Bill.” Snicker. “Billy.” That snicker is one reason I’m...
Beck’s turn: First thing I did when we got home is call Mom. “Hello, my lost daughter,” Mom said, using her best ‘poor me’ voice. “Did somebody go into the hospital? It is not yet Saturday.” “Mom, your GRAD-daughter...” ““GRAND daughter,” Mom corrected. “My grand-daughter the millionaire...” “Your grand-daughter the research scientist...” “What has become of her now?” “She’s holding a letter in her hands that says she’s graduated college with a degree in engineering.” “My...
Teresa’s turn: Mom’s totally destroyed. I’m standing on a pedestal, a seamstress, a REAL seamstress, is taking measurements for my wedding dress. “Mom, stop crying, for heaven’s sake...” “Every time I think about you getting married,” Mom sobbed. “It’s the expected progression in life. Grow up, leave home, get married...” “Finish college is in there somewhere,” Vicki said. She’s my co-conspirator. We’re getting married the same day. She’s tagged my little brother, a big surprise, since...
Susan's turn: I'm waiting for the aliens to show up. Here's how I figure it will break down. Nikki and Cindy will work with Terri and Rachel on the Star Wars squirrel denial system. They'll actually GET that 95 gigahertz transmitter, and in the process of modulating its output so that it only severely annoys squirrels instead of cooking them on the spot out there in the yard, they'll transmit a signal into space where it will be picked up by an alien spacecraft. The aliens will come...
Bill Carmody’s turn: Yesterday’s wedding was a delight, especially watching my NEW daughter (!) and Cindy, my original daughter, looking and acting very much like twins. Can’t help but grin, just thinking about it. Both of ‘em have a little fire in their eyes, and when they’re together, you can nearly SEE the sparks flying between them. Couldn’t have asked for a more unlikely development, right up to matching green dresses they bought together for the wedding. And my phone buzzes --...
Tina's turn: "What's so funny?" my husband asked. "Stoney and Jo are coming back and they're still flyin' that Pitts." "Did they buy it?" "She says 'no', but two trips, you gotta wonder." I giggled. I know the real reason. A combination of scheduling conflicts and weather had kept us from holding the weekend airport social and landing contest. The social, however, now had a few outside participants. I mean, it was bound to happen. We don't exist in a vacuum. On any given...
Cindy’s turn: 0700 for a wake-up. The alarm caught me when it went off. Sometimes I’m drifting between sleep and awake, but not this morning. I finally got to sleep, found out that Dana’s a kicker, so I kicked back. When the alarm went off, I let it roll for a bit, listening to the whines and other sounds of the gang waking up. I killed it, turned to get out of bed, but was a bit slow. I saw a T-shirted Rachel flash by muttering “bathroom...” Well, at least with two rooms we can split the...
Tina's turn: I keep telling myself that Bot-bot is not a real pet. I only wish I knew what was going on in my little girl's mind. Parse that statement, won't you? I have a stepdaughter who's ten years younger than me, who is probably past me in some ways, academically speaking. I know she does things with technology that all of us in the community wonder about. What went on in her head that caused her to take a mobile squirrel repeller platform and convert it into a pet? Yeah, I know,...
Tim's turn: I'd be a janitor for 3Sigma after seeing how Vicki and Kim fit in here. I'm THAT happy. That whole 'divorced dad' thing is horrible. I mean, you talk with your daughter on the phone once or twice a week, trying to stay up with what's going on in her life, and then you get a week or so for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you get a few weeks in the summer. A week was BAD. I don't know little girls. Until this past year, I didn't have my own place, so we cribbed up at Mom and...
Donna's turn: Do you know how to bring on pure pandemonium in my daughter's little community? Let me tell you. Saturday nights are the big night for music. Everybody's usually there. Well, sometimes we add Stoney and Johanna, sometimes Jason and Susan are off visiting one set of impending grandparents or the other. This particular weekend, though, we're all together. Me and Bill, we have our own swing there. So we laugh and sing and dance and then there's a break and my Bill stands...
Terri's turn: I really DO love my mom. I'm speaking of my natural mom, the person who carried me for nine months, then gave birth to me. I did not and still do not understand why she left Dad for Mister Martin. I know both men and there's no comparison. Tina tells me that there are things that go on in people's hearts and heads that are not easily defined. Defined. If you define 'step-mom', it means the woman who marries your dad. That's Tina. Dictionary definitions are so...
Nikki's Turn: Mommyhood hangs over us all. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way disparaging FOUR new mommies. Let's run down the list. Susan 'n' Jason have little JW – Jason Wallace, named after him and his dad. Alan and Tina have Katherine Genevieve – after nobody in particular, but Terri is forbidden to call her Kathygen. Johanna and Stoney have Randall Stonewall, and Mister Bill and Mizz Donna have Cindy's half-sister Elise Ann, a whole two days old. I'm likely to be the next. My...
Still Nikki’s turn: I squeezed Dan’s fingers. “A bit of bad luck, this,” I said. “Baby, be so kind as to hand me my iPhone. I need to get the news out.” Dana’s turn: We’re a pretty connected group here. I mean, everybody’s always texting and posting updates during the day, so when I got one from Nikki, I knew where she was supposed to be – on campus with the munchkins. I thought I’d see another ‘you won’t believe what Terri (or Rachel or Vicki) just did’ post. It wasn’t. I’m at the...
Derek’s turn: This is trouble. Wonderful, happy, delightful, ecstatically wonderful. But trouble. I knew what was going to happen when Rachel called me to help her feed Dana’s cat. Empty apartment except for me and Rachel and the cat, and the cat gets petted while I’m sitting next to Rachel and the cat leaves and Rachel turns to me. I like kissing her. I like holding her. We talk about everything. Tara says we’re too young to have a past, but I’ve lived through a car wreck and the loss of...
Cindy’s turn: It was just another morning in the office when the phone rang and as Maddie was occupied, I answered it. “3Sigma, this is Cindy. May I help you?” “Cindy? Good, it’s you I wanted to talk to.” “Hello Mizz Patel. What’s going on today?” “Would you mind if I drive out to your office? I’d like to talk about something in private.” I noted that she didn’t have her normal happy lilt. “Of course it’s okay. You’re always welcome here.” This was unusual for her though, so I added,...
Tara’s turn: We did it. Derek and I talked. He agreed, but honestly, I’m the adult in this equation, actually his legal guardian, and he would have had to go along with my plan. However, a certain pre-teen Jewish princess seems to have gained my little brother’s eye. I think that if we HADN’T decided to move, he might’ve hitched a ride back here. The apartment. Cindy and her Dan used to live here. It belongs to the corporation. They told me I could paint it any color I wanted, but honestly,...
Dana’s turn: I’m lying in bed in that wonderful cusp between awake and asleep at the end of a very good day. Cindy’s done her presentation at NASA, and to my knowledge, they haven’t yet recruited her for a space mission. Nikki’s been, well, Nikki, and she’s a superstar in her own right, maybe a little more sane than Cindy, but those two are a binary system, both bright in a way I never witnessed until I found her sitting across the table from me and Ed one night at dinner. And...
Nikki’s turn: I managed the stress of Mom’s interaction in my life quite well, I thought, right until Mizz Donna met me at the plane and hugged me. Then the floodgates opened. “What was I supposed to do, Mizz Donna?” I sobbed. Poor Dan. He’s standing behind me, wanting to do SOMETHING. “Darlin’,” she said comfortingly, “You did the right thing. World’s full of assholes. I used to be one, so I know...” I heaved a wordless sob. Mizz Donna was hugging me, Dan’s hand was touching my...
Kara’s turn: The world NEEDS a pregnant fiddle player. That’s what I told Dear Old Dad when I broke the news to him. “Dad,” I said, “I have a wonderful, successful husband and it is only right that we present you with grandchildren.” I heard a definite sigh over the phone. My dad. I’m trying really hard to conjure (one of Johanna’s words) a vision of business-suited Dad bouncing a grandbaby on his knee. “You make me regret that I didn’t make myself a bigger part of your life, Kara...
Nikki’s turn: We’re still talking about new toys, right? Cindy was PIC for the flight back from Colorado with the new plane. Fair enough. After all, Cindy IS ‘Cindy of the Skies‘. When we landed, though, we had the entire community standing there waiting on the arrival. It’s a big deal. Cindy exited first. Me? I stood in the door, my butt still inside indescribable luxury and newness, and said, “Okay, who wants a ride?” We have seating for eight – one of their ‘executive’ options – plus...