Bill N HaleyChapter 9
- 3 years ago
- 19
- 0
Haley’s turn:
Today’s a flying lesson. I sort of feel bad, because Deena’s too young for her student license, but when I think about it, I remember that the nasty little thing got Cindy to let her fly ultralights while I was being Munchkined.
“Okay, Haley,” Rob Stinson said. “Let’s see how much you’ve forgotten.”
“I hope it’s not much,” I replied. “I’m ready to solo.”
He folded his arms after we strapped into the Cessna 172. “Show me.”
After our wheels left the runway, I asked him, “Practice area or stay in the pattern?”
“Pattern. Gimme a short-field landing.”
Piece of cake. Full flaps after we make our way around the pattern. I’m just about ready to put the wheels on the ground when he says “Goat on the runway! Go around!”
That’s a bit of a handful. Push the throttle in, then flick that handle down and crank a lot of trim because with power and full flaps this thing wants its nose where IT wants. Once we’re NOT landing, it’s a matter of bringing the flaps up and cranking OFF some of the trim and establishing a regular climb.
That’s when I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.
He saw that. Grinned. “Not bad. Not bad at all. Let’s go back around.”
Next time around - “Short field?”
“No, he said. “You made your point. Show me a slip to the centerline.”
He’s a good instructor. He explained how side-slips can serve well for cross-wind landings as well as a good way to bleed off altitude without using flaps. “Every airplane doesn’t HAVE flaps,” he explained.
I hadn’t noticed until I saw that old Stearman biplane. No flaps. Of course, I heard Mister Wally tell Cindy that it glided like a brick, so ... One of these days I’m gonna get my hands on THAT thing. Girl’s gotta have goals in life, and at the airport, I aspire to be Amelia Earhart. Flying’s fun. I can be all academic later, or totally into loving my family. Right now I’m over the runway’s threshold and I’m easing the yoke back and keeping reasonably close to the centerline. And ... ba-dump! Wheels are down.
We’re shooting touch and goes, so I’m supposed to roll a bit then feed the power back in and lift off for another circuit. I put my hand on the throttle.
Rob taps my throttle hand with his, stopping me. “Take me to the office. Today’s YOUR day.”
Famous pilots aren’t supposed to squeal.
He laughed. “I don’t get to solo people very much. I’m as excited as YOU are.”
I shook my head. “No way...”
We pulled up on the flight line next to the FBO office. He took my logbook, scribbled an endorsement for solo, then, “Three times around. Last one, you come back here. Now, you’re gonna be a hundred and eighty pounds lighter. You’ll lift off sooner, climb faster, glide better, and you’ll float a lot more, so be ready...”
“Yessir.”
“I haven’t lost a student yet. Don’t wreck my streak,” he said. And DON’T bend my airplane.”
And he got out of the plane, leaving me sitting there. Deena’s face is in the big window of the FBO office, grinning at me.
Okay, Haley. You got this. Every pilot has this day and lives through it and you know a LOT of pilots. So I press the ‘transmit’ button on the control yoke and, “Regional ground, this is Cessna three three two three hotel at Avex for taxi.”
“Roger, two three hotel, taxi to runway one five. Contact tower on one two zero point seven.”
“Two three hotel, roger, runway one five, tower on one two zero point seven.” And I let off the brakes and bumped the throttle.
Rob tells the truth. Cut a couple of hundred feet off the takeoff roll, gained a couple hundred feet per minute on climb and that thing glides and floats, like, forever. Three landings ... time passed sooo fast...
I taxied back to the FBO, adrenaline still pumping. When I shut the engine down, Rob and Deena were BOTH there waiting for me. I got out, getting ready to tie the plane down, but I got hugged and chastely, happily kissed by Deena.
“Shirt-tail,” Rob said. “It’s tradition.”
Okay, I knew that there was a chance that today was the day, so I had on old cotton shirt on. We went inside the office and he ceremoniously snipped a chunk of the tail off to pin on the wall.
“Normally I cut a new student loose for an hour after solo, but you have Deena here...”
I looked at Deena.
“Ain’t no way I’m getting in the way,” she said. “I can go back to my computer. Got classwork. Go fly,” batting the lashes of those big blue eyes.
“Thank you, Deena,” I said. “See you in a bit. And Rob?”
I hugged Rob before I almost RAN out the door to the waiting plane. Abbreviated walk-around, mainly to check the oil. And Haley’s got WINGS!!!
Out to the practice area. Explore this thing lightly loaded. Stalls. Slow flight. I can imagine Cindy’s voice telling me all the various parameters changing due to the weight reduction. It’s glorious.
Alas, it has to end. Back to the airport, talk to the tower, talk to ground control, then park the plane, attend to topping off the tanks, and go in, sign the ticket, collect Deena and head for home.
“Well?” Deena said.
“First time. Third-best first time in my life.”
“Third?”
“First, my first time with Bill. Second, my first time with YOU.”
“Hmmmphh! I guess I should be happy I made the list at all!”
“You’re just evil,” I laughed.
“I know. And a little bit jealous...”
“Uh, you ‘n’ Cindy and the ultralights...”
“Not the same. I’m proud, though...”
“Should be. So, you get finished with that social studies paper?”
“Yeah. Got Sandy’s notes. And Brindy’s. Added my own spin. I’ll get that one out of the way.”
“Kinda feel like I’m cheating when I use somebody else’s notes,” I said.
“I don’t. I read the stupid book. It’s American History since 1877. I get the grand sweep of things, and then it’s a matter of trying to figure out what this guy’s got under his bonnet for his exams.”
“True,” I said. “And I passed.”
“History. Pass. I’m interested, but it’s because I AM interested. Like the ‘prohibition’ thing.”
“Yeah,” Deena said. “Study the past. Learn from it. Prohibition didn’t work. And people still think that passing a law to make something illegal makes a problem go away...”
“Like texting and driving. You and I know...”
“You don’t do it. Dad doesn’t do it. Because it’s a bad idea, not because it’s illegal.”
“We were obeying the law because it makes sense.”
“No,” Deena said. “It made sense before it WAS a law...”
“Some things are just WRONG and you don’t do them because they are bad for you, your family and for society,” I said.
Deena tittered. “You just KNOW that we’re not the first ones to analyze this, huh?”
“No, that’s the trouble with deep thinking these days. All the good stuff’s been thought of.”
Deena sighed. “Just one more thing to be jealous of, you know...”
“What are YOU jealous of?”
“Music. I can’t do any. Neither can you. But – Sandy – piano...”
“She’s been doing it for YEARS, you know. And so has Johanna. The rest – it’s love of music.”
Deena laughed. “Maybe I can push Nikki aside for her triangle slot.”
“She’ll be easier to push when she’s holding a baby,” I laughed.
“Babies,” Deena sighed. “Everybody’s havin’ ‘em. Dad got fixed because Mom had those problems...”
“I knew that before I thought about marryin’ ‘im,” I said.
“I know. We talked. And both of us are entirely too young.”
“You got that right,” I blurted.
“But it doesn’t seem to stop any of our classmates.”
“Yeah, but I just can’t believe a middle school girl tells her boyfriend ‘let’s make a baby’.”
“No, it’s more like ‘I heard I can’t get pregnant if I’m on top’...”
“Or ‘I’ll pull out. I promise’...” Deena giggled.
“I can just see me tryin’ to get Bill to pull out, right at that moment...”
Giggle. “He’s just about paralyzed when he comes...”
“Some of my best cuddles ever, when I discovered that,” I said. “Now YOU add to ‘em.”
“Mm hmm,” she smiled. “Best way to go to sleep, ever...”
In the house. Kitchen. “Put on some rice. We’ll stir-fry. Got that little bit of steak. Veggies.”
And the neat thing is that once everything’s all chopped up, it’s on a tray in the fridge, so when Bill walks through the door, I can put the wok on the stove...
Throw-back. First time I saw somebody cook with a wok in real life, it was Bill. I was still twelve or thirteen and seeing that big ol’ round pan on a burner roaring full blast – I was impressed. I was MORE impressed when we tasted what he’d cooked.
“Show me how to do that, Mister Bill...” Yeah, it was still the ‘Mister Bill’ stage back then. He stopped being ‘Mister’ the first time we got naked together.
“It’s easy,” he said. “Simple technique. I’ll ‘wok’ you through it.”
Later, Deena confided he’d used the same joke on her.
So we have that little bit of steak sliced, marinating with some chopped ginger and onion in shoyu and we have bean sprouts and bamboo shoots and water chestnuts all laid out on that tray.
And it’s on to the books, except...
“According to an email, we’re getting a Cessna 152 on Friday morning.”
“Says who?”
“Dan 1.0,” Deena said. “He and Cindy and Mandy’re coming down with it.”
“How’re they getting back?”
“He’s following them in their 180.”
“Oh. Well, Friday’s good. Looks like good weather through Sunday. Saturday we’re going out on Carlita’s boat.”
“Another adventure,” she smiled. “I’ve been on boats – power boats, though. Carlita and Brindy say that their boat is a spiritual experience.”
“I’m sure it’s all kinds of experiences,” I snickered.
Deena got a smirk going. “All within the proper context of loving, sharing relationships, I’m sure.”
Bill’s turn: I’m surely bound for hell. Taboos. I’ve broken too many of them –having sex with fourteen year old girls, two of them now. Haley was just a few days past fourteen when we went to bed together for the first time. And now Deena... Double hell. Deena’s my daughter. Has been for all her fourteen years. For those fourteen years I’ve been ‘Daddy’ and now ‘Dad’, even though at the time of her mom’s impregnation, that woman was not being particularly wifely. I sometimes harbored the...
Bill’s turn: Okay, so the news today is that I went to work this morning knowing that in four days I’d be married. That’s not unheard of for a single guy my age, even where ‘single’ includes ‘divorced’. A bit further out on the curve, though, is the fact that the bride is sixteen and that last night we’d slept together, and this morning after I leave for work, she’s taking our car to go to school. And way out on the curve, we’ve been sleeping together for almost two years, and for most of...
Haley’s turn: We went inside, put the stack of bills on Dad’s ‘business’ desk, and scooted together on the sofa to open the envelope we thought to hold a discovery of our genetic code. We expected that I’m the outsider and Deena and Bill are related – father and daughter, you know... That makes sense. It’s the universe as we understand it. Apparently our knowledge of the universe was the same as the Catholic Church’s understanding of the universe when they faced Galileo. We’re holding...
Deena’s turn: Deena’s horny. I’m in the car with Haley; this afternoon’s schedule calls for us to make a stop at the beautician for haircuts. Horny? I know myself. Two days before my period, that’s MY peak. Haley’s is a few days AFTER hers. Bill? We keep him pretty much worn down, but he’s at HIS horniest when he walks into the house after being out of town overnight. Oh, wait ... I’m supposed to be thinking about my academic progress and intersocial relationships or music and...
Haley’s turn: “Go slow, Deena,” I told her after Bill left for work. We have nine o’clock classes on campus, so we have a little time alone in the house. “We are. I am. We’ve been our own nudist colony for a week. I don’t think I’m getting to him.” “You’re not ‘sposed to get to ‘im,” I said. “We talked. He’s still in ‘dad’ mode with you. We’re all getting relaxed about being nude.” “Yeah,” she replied sadly. “He didn’t get hard once last night. Unless I count that particularly relaxed...
Bill’s turn: Things are getting strange. When you understand that I’m starting from a place where I live in a household with my sixteen year old wife and her best friend, my fourteen year old daughter, and we call that ‘normal’, then ‘strange’ takes on new impact. Now it’s academic. Not ‘academic’ as a descriptive term to denote something that doesn’t affect reality, but rather ‘academic’ as in pertaining to education. I considered myself to be pretty smart. I mean, I AM an engineer, and...
Bill’s turn: I walked into the office at my normal time, that is, half an hour before the ‘official’ start time. Hey, I’m a staff engineer with field functions, so I don’t exactly have to punch a timeclock. I just like to get there early enough to have a cup of coffee, talk with people as they come in, check my email, clean out my distribution box... And answer personal questions. “So, buddy, you actually DID it?” Chuck Reisner, another engineer, asked. “Yep. See? Appropriate jewelry.” I...
Deena’s turn: So we’re home. Haley and I are doing some class work, Dad’s fixing a toilet that needs fixing before we move to the new house. “We’ve talked with Sandy about it,” I said. “We just never came out and said we’re all doin’ it together.” “I know,” Haley replied. “Leaves her room to think what she wants. Or not.” “Well, honestly, our conversation didn’t leave a lot of room for suspicion.” “She’s still our friend. I mean, she could pull back, but she comes over here all the...
Deena’s turn: I love my life. I walk across a college campus. I’m fourteen. I’m supposed to be in middle school with five hundred ‘peers’ on a middle school campus. There, I was one of the herd. Here, I’m a standout. Just before Christmas break, and word has gotten out about the little blonde girl who pops around campus. It’s giggle worthy, though, in a lot of ways. First, I get hit on. College guys, according to Dad, will screw anything, and they’ll lie and prevaricate and promise in...
Bill’s turn: Did anyone ever explain to you that a power plant is noisy and hot? The thing is, there’s a lot of big machinery running, lots of electrical power being generated, which all has to go through conductors, transformers, and control devices. Any time you push current through conductors, you get heat, and big power means big heat, both the waste from the energy going in and losses from the energy going out. And nobody in his right mind would try to cool that mess down to acceptable...
Bill’s turn: Okay, I have to admit it. That whole trip was an interesting experience. The fact that for the trip home, I was ordered into the pilot’s seat of a light plane at the instruction of an eighteen year old redhead with a doctorate in physics just added to the whole surreal experience. Okay, she’s a CUTE redhead, and listening to her speak assuages any fears you’ve ever had about geniuses being socially inept. The fact the two girls in the rear seat, my wife and my daughter, look...
Bill’s turn: Guys, as a general rule, don’t get much out of weddings. This one’s slightly different than a lot of them. First off, no ‘princess for a day’ trying to emulate the nuptials of British royalty. Second, it’s got this age disparity. No, I’m not denigrating that. I have one of those myself and I’m standing next to Dan Richards, who married a fourteen year old. I might’ve been sleeping with a fourteen year old, but we married when she turned sixteen. Now I’m sleeping with another...
Haley’s turn: I suppose that if I talked to MOST people, I’d come off as badly deluded, evil, or just plain wrong. I’d say I don’t care, but I DO care about how people think of me and my family, and right now my immediate family is me and my Bill and my Deena. I just got back into bed. I shouldn’t have drunk that glass of water that close to bedtime, but right now, in the dim light of the darkened room, I see my Bill and my Deena asleep together, and it’s beautiful. I imagine that if I was...
Haley’s turn: Bill’s at work. Deena’s inside the FBO office with her laptop. Me? I’m walking around this airplane, getting ready for a flying lesson. The instructor’s NOT watching me do this part. He’s seen me do it, asked a lot of questions. Knows I’m good with this part. I’m wrapping up the exercise when he’s walking up. “Ready to go?” he asked. “Looks good now. Dunno about after the lesson.” Matt’s been pretty good at this. We’re flying a Cessna 172. It’s about as simple a four-seater...
Deena’s turn: So we’re on a little excursion. “Looking at some land,” Bill said. “Land?” Haley asked. “We’ve talked about building a house, but really? Land?” “It used to be a crop service.” “Like crop-DUSTING?” I asked. “Yep. Old guy shut the business down when he and the equally old guys got overtaken by technology.” “Technology? What technology?” I asked. “His dad started the business after World War II with a bunch of war surplus Stearman biplanes. Guys bought complete, flying...
Deena’s turn: Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and be an adult, even if you’re only fourteen. We have Sandy with us. And a hotel with a king-sized bed, and nobody offered to put anybody up for the night in the Auburn community, so there’s Bill, sounding all apologetic. “I’m sorry. I must’ve clicked the wrong button when I made the reservation. You DO have a room with two queen beds, don’t you?” “Yessir, we do,” the desk clerk said. “Same price. I see you have one of our...
Bill’s turn: By the time we got left on the apron back at our home airport, a lot of life had changed. First, I was now an engineer with 3Sigma Engineering. My first tasking was to locate suitable facilities for a branch office. Second, I was in possession of a pair of ‘almost’ college students. Possession? One daughter. One wife. Third, I was issued instructions to obtain my medical certificate preparatory to becoming a student pilot. That whole college thing for Haley and Deena,...
Bill’s turn: “Dave Johnson. Can I help you?” the disembodied voice on the phone said. “Maybe. This is Bill Simon.” “Hey, Bill! How’s it going? I’m sorry. I didn’t program you as a contact...” “That’s okay. You probably got tired of me trying to recruit you.” “It’s flattering. What’s up?” “Uh ... Dave, guys don’t usually do this, but I have some relationship questions...” “Haley?” “Yeah...” “Oh gosh, Bill ... Sorry to hear...” “No, no ... It’s just, well, different...” “Wanna get a...
Deena’s turn: “No, Mom, I’m not mad. I just wonder what’s going on. I mean, we were doing every other weekend. I plan around that.” “Did it mess you up?” “Uh, no, I guess not. We went sailing with some friends. They have a boat...” She sighed, loud enough to let me know that this was drama for my sake. “Flying. Sailing. College. Dammit, Deena...” “It’s not a competition, Mom,” I said. “Really. You’re my mom. I love you. Mommies’re forever...” “Baby...” “Mommmm...” with just a hint of a...
Bill’s turn: Well, THAT was fun. Food poisoning. I have isolated a likely error in a roadside stand – one of those food trucks – that I was told had THE definitive taco. Or not. Doesn’t matter. It hit me hard. Hundred and three temperature, my body’s still achy overall. First time I spent away from my girls that wasn’t job-related. I don’t like it. I spent the night drifting, achy, in the hospital. I was released Monday morning, transported home, Haley driving, Deena updating the network...
Haley’s turn: So as college students, Deena and I can FINALLY end up in some of the same classes. It was suggested that we take an elective or two, so we conferred and decided on biology. It’s a science, so there are right and wrong answers, not opinions, and both of us are interested and it’s already in progress. The professor starts to balk until Doctor Seavers explains why it is that she’s getting two students starting a semester in progress and neither of the students is old enough to...
Bill’s turn: Friday, the day before the wedding. When I pulled my company car (they gave me a sedan instead of a mini-van, last time around) into my driveway, my little SUV was already there. Haley’s driving it now. Insurance? Screw ‘em. Tomorrow I’ll send ‘em a notification that I’m married and my WIFE is driving it. I’ve seen Haley’s driving. She’s careful. Thought we could risk it. I walk in to see Haley and Deena sitting on the sofa. That’s not an unusual thing. I’ve had the two of them...
Bill’s turn: I’m lying in bed in circumstances I only dreamed of vaguely in my hormone-pumped adolescence, a naked teen cutie on either side of me. The only reason we weren’t sticky was that we’d licked and sucked each other clean. “You’re thinking, aren’t you, baby?” the brown-headed one asks me. The silent one nestled again my chest on the other side is blonde, and her hand is idly fondling my depleted dick. “I am...” Deena exhaled. “Lemme guess ... You’re in the aftermath of orgasm,...
Deena’s turn: Cindy let the prop stop spinning before she jumped out. “Bathroom!” she said. I ran along with ‘er to the office. I have a key. “There!” “Thanks!” and she hit the restroom. From behind the door came, “What y’all got to drink?” “Choices,” I said. “Look in the fridge.” The door popped back open. “Coffee! Shouldn’t’ve had the second mug.” “You coulda let Mandy watch the cockpit and you coulda used that bucket...” “Haven’t had to resort to the bucket yet, besides, rated pilot...
Deena’s turn: This happens pretty often. Haley and I get home after a day on campus. Some days we go to the office, others we come home. Today’s a ‘home’ day. Haley’s ‘little brother’ was in the yard when we pulled up. Naturally, he saw us, waved. “Haley, I wanna show you my report card!” “C’mon,” Haley yelled back. He visits us two or three times a week. Haley and I treat him like the little brother he is. Happily, he’s well behaved and adjusting to school quite well. We made a big...
Bill’s turn: Surprises. That’s what I need in my life. More surprises. Marrying Haley? Not a surprise. It’s going to happen. The little brown-haired darlin’ treats it as inevitable. Since she’s got me wrapped around her little finger, I guess it really is inevitable. She’s the one that broke the news to Deena in a roundabout manner. When I called Deena to talk with her about us getting married, she launched into me about what she’d heard at school. So, okay – daughter’s good with it....
Bill’s turn: Sometimes I think that a big bit of enjoyment in my life is just seeing what’s gonna happen next. Like the new airfield. That’s becoming the new office. That’s becoming the new homesite. All that sort of makes sense. Except for the fact that OUR local office will be located at the airfield, the mode is much like the Alabama operation. So what happens next? Somebody brings in an old biplane. Then somebody comes and takes the old biplane away. And Dan Richards and I are talking...
Deena’s turn: I’m in a video session with Rachel over the progress with our new hand. It’s sitting on a mount on the lab bench, a bowl of candy in front of it, mixture of M&Ms, jelly beans and spice drops. Three different candies, all colored, but the average two year old can choose one over the other. The hand’s reaching into the bowl, picking up a candy, depositing it into one of the three bowls set off to the side. “It DOES know...” she said. “How?” “Color’s optical, natch,” I...
Still Bill’s turn: Doctor Seavers raised an eyebrow. “I accept your premise, Miss Haley...” “Mizz,” she said, showing her wedding band. I’m thinking that just maybe Haley’s feisty side might be less than profitable here. “Yes. I apologize. But accepting your premise, would you be up to a little examination by our own faculty, just to validate Auburn’s findings?” Okay ... Here comes Haley the Berzerker now, swinging a war hammer. “Yessir. Bring it on. But let’s make it interesting. If I...
Bill’s turn: Deena’s comment about fourteen year old girls startled me. “Huh?” “Cindy was fourteen when she got married, Dad...” “We could’ve gotten married before I turned sixteen, baby,” Haley said, “just like Nikki did. Or Cindy. If we’d’ve convinced a judge...” “Ewwww!” Deena squeaked. I glanced over. The eyes didn’t match the squeal. I get the feeling that just maybe my daughter might believe that her stepmom and I might have had relations before she turned sixteen. Another...
Haley’s turn: Poor Bill. I should let him surprise us every now and then, because I know it brings him joy. I mentioned this once when he and I and Deena were relaxing on the bed in one of those sticky aftermaths. “I thought I was going to surprise you two,” he said, his breathing becoming regular. “We’re hard to surprise about work stuff. We know what they know over there, and THEY know everything.” So today Bill walks in from his road trip and we smother him. “We’re packing bags,”...
Deena’s turn: When we got off the plane, there was a herd of those four-wheeled utility carts waiting. Terri, whom I recognized from the Internet, saw me and waved frantically. “Deena! Come ride with me!” That’s how your weekend gets interesting. I didn’t see a reason to think that a thirteen year old girl would kidnap me for nefarious purposes, so I told Haley that I was going with Terri. “Okay, sister,” I said, sitting down beside her. “Where’re we going?” “The pavilion. Food and music...
Bill’s turn: Cindy’s words – “Deena. What are you gonna do with that?” came back up in my head when I was back in the office. There’s a sheaf of drawings for a project. Can’t help it. Huge monitor on my desk, but there’s just something about that stack of paper and penciled notes. And time to think. Deena. The ‘Deena’ who still calls me ‘Dad’ even in the middle of sex, either just the two of us or in the midst of a no-holds-barred threesome. The Deena whom I love in so many ways, my almost...
Haley’s turn: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sitting in OUR SUV heading out for an overnight with my Bill. I was nervous the first time, I mean, after all, going out of town with a guy to stay at a hotel, you just KNOW you’re gonna go to bed with him, and when it’s me and my Bill, that’s a felony. This time, though, I’m not nervous. I’m giddy. The difference? One more time I hold my left hand up, looking at the gold band around my ring finger. I’m married. Sixteen. Married. And...
Haley’s turn: Add another happy student to our mix. Deena’s friend Emily, like I said, was also no dummy. She and Deena both took the tests as part of a program by some university to spot gifted students. “How’d Emily do?” I asked Deena. “Twenty-seven,” Deena replied. “Her mom ‘n’ dad are gonna be proud.” “So will yours, you know...” “Dad, for sure,” she said. “Mom will be excited because I’m excited, but I don’t think she sees all this school stuff as that important like Dad does.” I...
Haley’s turn: I looked at my tinkling iPhone. Call from Carlita. “Hey, new sister!” I said. “Hello, Haley. I assume that since you answered your phone, you are not at school.” I looked at my Bill. He’s still flushed. I imagine I am, too. Got tingles. Smiled. “No, I’m visiting my husband at his new office,” I said. “What’s up?” “I have no classes this afternoon. I thought that perhaps we could meet and talk.” “I’d love that,” I said. “I have to pick up Deena after school, but right now,...
Deena’s turn: “Oh, sure. You tick off the head of the Engineering Department and then you throw me in there like throwing a bone to a pack of wolves,” I said. I was faking. I did this in front of Dad, for the benefit of him and Haley. I have to keep ‘em off balance or they’ll take advantage of me. “I TOLD you,” Haley sighed, feigning enough exasperation as was necessary to counterbalance my theatrics, “he’s talking about making us students here and at Auburn. Mizz Aneeta is coming next...
Bill’s turn: The boss is coming. Well, 1.5 bosses. And Dan Richards is among equals, he being one of the three that started 3Sigma, according, as the story goes, to an idea brewed up in the first meeting of Cindy and Tina. And of course, we DO have a CEO, Anders Solheim, father of Johanna, father-in-law to Stoney Jackson, one of our engineers. Silly place – other than calling Anders CEO, the place has NO titles among the engineering staff, making me one among equals. The “0.5” is Cindy,...
Sandy’s turn: I can’t help thinking that I’m seeing something, but maybe not. I know about Dave and Carlita and Brindy. Three people. One house. And my friends Deena and Haley and Bill. Three people, one house, although Deena’s supposed to be Bill’s daughter, but sometimes when I’m talking to Deena and Haley, there’s just a flash of ‘these two are related’ in the back of my perception. And I notice that Deena’s of the age where she should be showing at least a passing interest in boys. I...
Haley’s turn: I’m lying back in Bill’s arms. Part of me is still incandescent, despite all the moisture, and I am happier today than any day in my life. I’ve had some really happy days to compare this to, you know. Bill and I are getting married. I knew it a long time ago. I just never saw Bill as somebody who’d play with my heart and NOT continue until one of us died. I knew, too, that he’s had a great relationship with his daughter Deena, my FRIEND Deena, and that her disapproval of our...
Deena’s turn: They did it! Married. I did it! Left Mom’s and moved in with Dad ‘n’ Haley. Momentous. That’s Dad rubbing off on me. Dad actually has a vocabulary and likes to use it. Exercise it. I get that from him and I get odd looks and little remarks from my contemporaries (another ‘Dad’ word, okay?) and sometimes strange looks from adults, especially my teachers. When Haley picked me up after school, she gave me the news. “Your mom talked with your dad. We’re supposed to go get you...
Haley’s turn: So I’m supposed to meet Carlita at Starbucks. That’s a laugh. It’s convenient to the campus, usually filled with students, but we can usually get a little table to talk. What we talk about is the clientele, quite often. Wanna get hit on? Show up at that Starbucks and sit there with your MacBook open. If you’re with your sister or your female friend, that’s no impediment. I get there first, so I grab a table. I’ve got my computer open when I hear “There she is” in that lilt of...
Bill’s turn: Flying is a sidebar right now. In a matter of months since I stepped onto the 3Sigma merry-go-round, it keeps spinning faster and faster. Still, though, it IS a merry-go-round, and is, therefore, by definition, ‘FUN’. “It’s fun,” I told Maddie as she brought me a Fed-Ex document envelope. “This one’s eight million dollars. We’ll make two after we buy and install.” She smiled. “Dad says a lot of things’re fun when they’re showing seven figures.” I smiled. “Even more fun when...
Haley’s turn: It was a nice office. I’ve walked into a few offices at school, like our guidance counselor’s office. Big desk. Person sitting behind it. Position of authority is demonstrated and settled by first impression. I guess it makes some people more comfortable that way. Not this one. Short, Indian (from INDIA) lady in a dress that was elegant in understatement on her. She came from around her desk, hugged Cindy like a daughter, then turned to me. “I am Doctor Aneeta Patel. Cindy...
Bill’s turn: On the road again. I knew that 3Sigma was going to be a different work environment. In the previous position I spent some time on the road, but it was at the request of my employer, and wasn’t that frequent. Now it was driving my own schedule. Oh, okay, there’re the phone calls from the guys in Alabama when they get a request from somebody in my area, and my area’s looking like a chunk of East Texas and Louisiana and heaven knows we’ve got a bucket-load of heavy industry as...
Haley’s turn: Giggle. “You always look like a bug!” That’s Deena’s comment when I have a soldering iron in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other and a pair of magnifying viewers on, trying to solder a teeny tiny little wire to a teeny tiny little pad on a circuit board on the lab bench in front of me. “That’s okay,” I said. “Next time you’re jumping around with your burnt finger in your mouth, the video’s going on YouTube.” “This is why Dad says he likes power engineering.” “Oh, I...
Haley’s turn: I was almost looking forward to sparring with Lance about testing through a mid-level engineering course but Deena got to ‘im first. As in, I walked into his office, he threw his hands up, said, “Thursday, one PM. You and that evil blonde thing you run around with...” “It’s that easy?” “Ain’t supposed to be, but Deena says you two...” “Seriously, Lance, we read the book. We quizzed each other...” The guy actually SIGHED. “I stand in front of a class for a semester,...
Bill’s turn: Reputation. A lot of this business is about reputation, at least among us engineers and managers of engineers. You know somebody who’s going to do you a good job, that’s who you get. Get the bean-counters and the MBAs involved, though, and then you start talking about trying to get the bid low enough to get the job, and sometimes that’s at the expense of the good equipment in favor of the cheaper stuff, or cutting the cost of your contractors to where the good ones won’t even...
Haley’s turn: Sitting here in the corner of the Tech room/lab at the new office. I have an hour before I have to go get Deena off campus unless she grabs a ride from Sandy. That’s a likely scenario. Between me, Sandy, Brindy and Carlita, there are enough drivers, and usually SOMEBODY will pick up Deena just for the conversation. Deena’s good for that, too. I’m undecided as to what I want to do. Over there in the corner of the bench is a computer and monitor. It’s connected to the...
Mizz Patel’s turn: “Thank you, Doctor Seavers, for allowing me this visit,” I said. I know, this sounds so deferential. My mother drilled into me that a little subservience is often the key to opening doors, so I determined from previous conversation with this man that it would be a good approach. What do I gain? Position. Certainly not for ME. My position within Auburn University is set. I am comfortable, my reputation enhanced by the fact that some of the students I recruited, the...
Haley’s turn: Terri looks like a gem. Smiles. I remember my own turn at the wedding thing. I can totally understand. She’s fourteen and getting ready to be married. That’s perfectly fine with me. When I was fourteen I considered myself married as well. And we all know about Cindy. While there were quite a few people there at the dinner that I didn’t know, I could tell they’ve been in on this before, with the exception of a couple introduced by Alan as his pastor and wife. They were absorbed...
Haley’s turn: Deena had me pinned. We used to play-wrestle sometimes, and for a while it was an even match, but I stopped growing. Deena’s bigger than me now. And she’s got me pinned. Oh, it’s just in fun, you know. She’s laughing. I’m laughing. “I know what’s wrong with you,” I squealed in protest. “Okay, smart girl,” she returned. “Tell me.” “You wanna be me. You’re fourteen, you’re obsessed with sex, and you’re horny!” “Am not!” she protested. She was straddling me, had my wrists...
Bill’s turn: Leave town for two nights and the whole place falls apart. I come home, meet my wife and daughter at the airport and they aren’t the bouncy things I left behind me. A DNA test. When the girls came up with the idea, I knew that protests on my part would only lead to questions as to why. Early in my marriage to Deena’s mom, very early, she started straying. It ripped me apart. I was in love. I don’t know what SHE was in, but I suspected that it was other beds and back seats of...
Haley’s turn: Note to self – webpage. Wonder if DukesField or Dukes_Field is available for a URL. Get with Mister Dukes for an oral history, maybe some old pictures. And some ‘now’ pictures. Gotta get some for today’s arrivals. Got some from the old Stearman, plenty of ‘before’ when we took over and got the renovations started. Friday morning, after classes on campus ... Well, not traditional classes – more of those conversations with teaching assistants over coursework. Those usually end...
Haley’s turn: “I have a forty-two year old white male, unconscious, with a fever of one-oh-three.” “Uh, can you get ‘im to the ER?” “Unconscious, but we can try...” “If you can’t, call us back.” Deena was watching. “Tax dollars at work,” I said. I poked Bill. “Baby?” A moan. “We’re hauling you to the ER.” “Dressed...” “Get ‘is shorts, Deena.” Took two of us to get his shorts on. I got the car up close to the door. Took both of us to maneuver him into the back seat. “Wallet,”...
Haley’s turn: Maybe I never paid attention. It’s a possibility that I’ve seen them out there and just never noticed. What am I talking about? Geniuses. Magical creatures. People who operate outside the normally expected boundaries. Like the pilot and co-pilot of the plane we’re flying. The pilot’s eighteen and the co-pilot’s nineteen and they’re both females and I understand that women have been freed from the old stereotypes and all that, but that’s a theoretical ‘I know’ that you put in...
Haley’s turn: Almost out in the country. Well, actually, it still IS out in the country, except the city’s expanding, growing towards it. Our land. Not actually OUR land, but 3Sigma’s land, and since my Bill and Carlita and Brindy’s Dave ARE 3Sigma in southwest Louisiana, it just as well be OUR land. Two hundred acres. A four thousand (actually 3800)foot airstrip, turf, and enough land on the east side for several home sites. It’s Friday afternoon. Me and Deena and Brindy and Carlita are...
Haley’s turn: I wouldn’t trade this past weekend for the world, but I am also very glad to be back home. When we pulled into the driveway, I got out, went over and said ‘hi’ to Mom and Steve and little Stevie. Deenan did a similar move, calling her mom, announcing that she’d cheated death at the hands of a general aviation pilot. “Mom, I never imagined that I’d get to travel like we just travelled,” I heard her say. “And I got to FLY an ultralight airplane all by myself. Mom, it was...