Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:34 pm
yeah paul i tried the link, it does work, and that is so sad!
i hope u come back with more of this story soon.
i hope u come back with more of this story soon.
Stargazer Gets the Girl
Chapter 25-A All Good Things
By Stargazer MD
Charles stepped into the den and looked at his sons. “Ready?”
Jesse and Harry stood, the latter kissing his wife on the cheek before stepping out for a couple of hours. The boys followed their father out to the garage. Charles stopped by the door and finding a hat to his satisfaction, headed out to his car.
As they pulled into the parking lot Charles turned to Jesse, “I’m not going to regret this, am I?”
“I’ve had a beer before Pops,,,”
“He sure knows that,” Harry teased back, “But I don’t think he’s ever seen you stop at one.”
“Marines don’t know the meaning of stop,,,”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Charles muttered as he stepped from the car and put his hat on.
“A fire department hat?” Jesse challenged.
“The Five-Five house of the FDNY,” Charles replied with irritation.
“The fire fighter who took care of your brother when he got hurt,” Harry added.
“When do I get to meet him?,,”
“Her,” Charles snapped. “She went back to New York City. She died.”
Both men assumed that Jesse figured that Fire Fighter Taylor had been killed on September Eleventh, but neither felt like correcting him, so they headed for the V.F.W. hall in silence, Charles reaching for the doorbell.
Heather reached under the bar for the button that would unlock the door. She looked up as she pressed it, making sure that at least one of the new arrivals was a member, and thus allowed to be in the club house. To her amazement, the first person through the door was wearing a hat. “Frack, I would use the button at the far end of the bar,” she muttered under her breath as she sprinted towards the other end of the bar. She had to get there before that hat came off. She reached for the bell, and gave the lanyard a quick tug.
Heather won the race, and the bell rang, one crisp ding, a sound that caused a cheer to erupt from the gathered patrons. It was bad form to wear a hat into the hall, and now the new arrival owed a round of drinks.
As Jesse and Harry settled at the bar Charles circulated among the patrons, thanking them for their support in this most difficult time, shaking the hand on some while thinking them for attending the service while accepting a pat on the back from others. Not a few stories were swapped, and Charles found the experience to be almost therapeutic as he was reminded of shared little league games and of times Bobby had spent with some of the other men’s children, but after an hour or so it was time to go.
“Guys, drink up, we got to get home before we get in trouble,” Charles commanded before turning to the bartender. “How much do I owe you, Heather?”
“Funny about that Charles,” Heather replied with a smile. “By the time I finished setting up your tab you were almost twenty dollars ahead,,,”
“That can’t be right,” Charles complained as he looked around the hall, a gesture which resulted in several of his friends raising their glasses in salute.
“Face it Charles, your money’s no good today,” she responded as she placed a pile of chips in front of him. Additionally, there was quite a pile of chips in front of his son’s seats as well. (AN: In many localities, it is unlawful to place a drink in front of a patron who already had one, so if you wish to buy a drink for another, the bartender will give them a chip, which may be redeemed at the patron’s convenience. A white chip may represent a beer, a red chip a mixed drink, while a blue chip may represent a premium drink.)
Charles took a folded twenty out of his pocket and slipped it into her tip jar. “Do me a favor would you? Take these and put then under the bar. Give then out to the retired guys and the day workers who really need them, okay?”
“Sure thing,” Heather replied as she scooped the chips from in front of Harry and Jesse as well.
“Hey!” Jesse protested. “Let me have one of those beer chips.” Then holding it up in the light and examining it closely he added, “They’re going to ship my ass off to Afghanistan, I just know it, and this is going to be my lucky charm. When it’s hotter than hell and there isn’t a beer within a hundred miles, I’m going to look at this and imagine how good it’s going to taste when I get home,,,
“Let me tell you something Son,” one of the older veterans promised, “You come in here when you get back and you won’t even have to worry about the taxi you’ll need to take your drunken ass home.”
**********
Gloria was banging around the house, desperate for something to do to keep her mind off the loss of her son. Initially, when her boss had offered to extend her bereavement leave for as long as she needed, trusting that she would not abuse the privilege, she had thought it was a good idea, and she advised that she would return to work the day after her family departed. But now, with Harry and family having left for California that morning, and their dropping Jesse at the airport in Albuquerque along their way, she found being home alone and at loose ends exasperating.
She looked into Isabel’s room, not stepping across the threshold mind you, just looking, and found everything perfectly in it’s place as expected. Finished there, she looked into Alex’s room. She had to admit, Isabel was a good influence on him, his room was now in better condition than ever, not that he was ever a slob, but he was a guy after all, which meant that she had spent years ‘touching up’ his room.
Alex’s almost full laundry hamper caught her eye. She wasn’t surprised that the teen’s household chores were slightly in arrears, for in addition to everything that had been going on within the family, they also were buried with task at both school and work. Despite Isabel’s admonishment that she would now take care of Alex’s needs, laundry in particular, she decided that her specific need to do something now overruled Isabel’s general want to be the sole caretaker of her fiancé’s dirty clothes.
Gloria had a small smile on her face as she turned and headed for the laundry baskets in her room, this small task the first bit or normalcy in a horrible week. Returning to his room, Gloria started to sort his laundry into the two baskets, totally oblivious to the fact that she was handling a teenaged boy’s clothes. Years of running a household of five guys had made her immune to the various smells and stains that came with the territory.
“What the frack!” Gloria muttered as she tossed a shirt into the colored basket, revealing a small swath of leopard skin fabric in the middle of the hamper. “Don’t tell me Isabel’s leaving her panties around for him to find again,” but as she carefully lifted the garment by it’s barely there ‘neutral territory’ side strap, she began to have second thoughts. ‘The front of the garment didn’t look flat enough to be a panty,,, it’s too,,, pouchy,,,’
“Oh my God! It’s a banana-hammock!” Gloria shouted, throwing Alex’s offending pocket back into the hamper. “Ewww!,, Ewww!,, Ewww! If Alex wants clean clothes he can get them from Isabel,” she continued as she stuffed every bit of his laundry back into the hamper.
‘I’m going to the library,’ thought Gloria as she stormed out of Alex’s room,,, ‘First I’m going to take a shower and then go to the library,’ she added as she went down the hall,,, ‘First I’m going to take a shower, stop by Diane’s for a glass of wine, and then go to the library,,, but when she reached her dresser she grabbed her purse instead. “Oh who am I trying to kid,” she said out loud. “Diane’s been putting up with Isabel for years, so frack the wine, she’s probably got vodka, and after I get a couple of drinks into me it’ll be frack the shower and library as well.”
**********
“What is it with this hen’s lunch day, anyways,” Michael asked in disgust as he looked across the crowded quad. “It’s nothing but an excuse for them to sit around and bitch about us.”
“Michael,” Max replied patiently, “Liz and Maria go back,,, like,,, forever, and even you can’t complain that Isabel finally has some friends outside of the plastic girls clique?”
“Yea,” Michael agreed reluctantly, But Maria is going to get all torqued up,,,”
“Meaning you’re going to fight, make-up, and get laid. Frankly, I don’t see a down side.” Seeing a smile cross his friends face, he started to gloat. “Admit it, I’m right,,,”
“No Maximillian,” Michael teased back. “You’re wrong as usual.”
“Then what’s got you so happy?”
“Turn around and watch. No one gave Kyle the memo, and this should be good.”
“Ladies,” Kyle said in greeting as he wedged himself, sans tray, between Tish and Ava. “And how are we today?” he continued while surveying the lunches covering the table. His mind on his next conquest, he missed the looks that passed between the girls, or the confident nod and evil smile that slowly crossed Ava’s face.
“What’s with all the veggies and salads, doesn’t anyone eat cheeseburgers and fries anymore?” Kyle whined.
“We save our calories for the Crashdown,” Isabel replied haughtily as she dug into her marinated tuna on spinach salad.
“Ahh, finally,” Kyle murmured in satisfaction as he swooped down on Ava’s burrito like, taco beef, roll-up contraption. “You don’t mind if I just take just a little bite, do you?” Knowing that Ava liked her food hot, the girls simply watched in anticipation as Kyle stuffed half the thing in his mouth.
Kyle started chewing, his eyes showed curiosity at first as he tried to decipher the flavors that he was hit with, but his face took on a cartoon like quality as he masticated the tortilla wrapping, releasing the chemical bombs hidden inside. “Son of a bitch,” he spat out, bits of food flying while he grabbed for a napkin. “What the frack was in that thing?”
“Girl stuff,” Ava answered innocently.
One of the alien girl ingredients had been cayenne pepper, which worked it’s way up into Kyle’s sinuses, causing him to phlegm up. He took two deep snorts to clear his nose, then hawked the mess up, looking for something to spit into.
“Oh no you don’t,” warned Ava as she reached out and squeezed his nose shut between her thumb and forefinger. “This is a civilized table. No spitting allowed.”
Kyle glared, but eventually he swallowed the mess so he could open his mouth and take a breath. “What the frack you do that for?” he stammered. “That was nasty.”
“Nasty?” Ava replied, batting her eyes innocently to the laughter of several of the girls. “It’s a product of the human body. How can it be nasty?”
By now Kyle was up from his seat. “Fracking aye,” he whined. “I got to wash my mouth out.” He had a half bottle of tequila hidden in the trunk of his ‘Stang, and he needed a shot of it bad.
“Told you it would be a good show,” Michael said proudly.
“What they do to him?”
“I don’t know, but he went away hungry.”
Tish held her hand up, and once Ava raised hers, slapped the shorter girl a high-five. “I would have thought that if I lived to be a hundred, I would never have seen a girl give one of the jocks a ‘Comet Pinch.’”
“What’s a ‘Comet Pinch?’” Liz asked innocently.
“What’s the ‘Comet Pinch?’ Tish asked in disbelief. “The rumors are true, aren’t they. Kyle never got to first base with you,,,”
“Kyle was a gentleman,,,”
“Kyle’s a pig,,,”
“Kyle’s a perve,,,”
“Kyle’s a man slut,,,”
Liz looked around the table in confusion, her eyes settling on Isabel, who had remained silent so far.
Isabel, realizing that she would have to arbitrate. She sighed, as if she really didn’t relish her position at the top of the food chain. “Everything they say is true Liz. Kyle would normally pop a nut anywhere with anybody, but you fed him. That’s what kept him in line.”
“Sheese,” Liz moaned in dismay, but a moment later her insatiable curiosity returned. “So what’s a ‘Comet Pinch?’”
Isabel’s attention returned to her salad, indicating that she wasn’t going to lower herself into that discussion.
“Kyle came home from a game horny,” Ava started to explain. “Now I don’t have a problem with horny, but I wasn’t that night. Knowing he wasn’t going to get a piece of ass, he would settle for a BJ. Now I’m not cruel, and I’m not adverse to relieving a guy when I’m not in the mood for more,,, so, he got one. He was in a good mood for the first couple of minutes, but when he popped, he turned crude,,,”
By now, having heard the story before, Tish was tittering. Maria was leaning forward eagerly, Liz had an expression on her face like she was watching a train wreck, while Isabel was fishing through her salad, looking for another scrap of tuna.
“He pinched my nose closed and pulled me up until we were face to face. ‘You have a choice,’ he said. ‘Swallow or suffocate.’,,,”
“Eww,” several of the girls exclaimed while several of the others shrugged indifferently, revealing vastly different levels of experience with the subject.
“Maria must be telling them about your sex life,” Max teased.
“Not hardly,” Michael snapped as he took a massive bite of his sandwich.
“What a pig,” Maria gasped.
“Now I swallow,” Ava explained flatly. “I don’t mind the stuff, and frankly, it’s much less of a mess that way,,,” Ava paused for effect, “But I don’t like to be told what to do,,,”
“Tell them what you did,” Tish gushed eagerly.
“I looked him in the eye,,,”
“Yea,” Maria asked, her eyes bright.
“And spit,,,”
“Ewwww,,,” was repeated, but by the entire table this time.
“See that, they are talking about your sex life,” Max teased again, more successfully this time.
“Still, that’s a hell of a thing to do to your boyfriend,” Liz said disapprovingly.
“Boyfriend?” Ava exclaimed. “Kyle’s not my boyfriend!”
“I thought you two were a couple?” Maria asked. “You’re always together.”
“We’re the two odd guys out,” Ava explained patiently. “And he’s fun to hang with, and he’s a lot more considerate in the sack than my last boyfriend was, but he’s not the kind of guy you couple up with,,, he’s a hard dick to sit on,,,”
“You slut!”
This brought out another round of tittering.
“Do you know his college plans?” Ava challenged. Seeing a tablefull of blank looks she continued. “He’s applied to Texas, because they have a great baseball program. He’s applied to Arizona State, because they have a great baseball program, and he’s applied to Brigham Young,,,”
“Brigham Young?” Liz exclaimed in disbelief. “They have a baseball program?”
“Not really, at least not of any consequence.”
“So why’s he want to go there?”
“Because it’s a religious school, filled with religious girls. He figures that he’d have access to four years worth the virgin cheerleaders,,,”
“Nawww,” Maria gasped in disbelief.
“Yea,” Isabel answered, snapping the cover on her empty container. “Believe it, Kyle’s a pig.”
“So why am I a slut?” Ava turned on Liz. “I’m having recreational sex with one frack buddy. Kyle has sex with anyone or anything that sits still long enough for him to get his zipper down, and I’m the slut?”
“Well, I don’t mean you’re a slutty slut like Pam Troy,” Liz backtracked. “I mean you’re a regular slut like Isabel,,,”
“Hey!”
“Oh come on Isabel,” Maria declared, coming to the aid of her childhood friend despite her new closeness with Isabel. “We all know you had Alex do you eighteen times on your birthday,,,”
“Alex did not do me eighteen times,” Isabel said defensively. “That would have kill him for frack sake,,,”
“Well maybe Alex didn’t,” Tish teased. “But you did!”
Instead of protesting Isabel just gave a self-indulgent grin.
Seeing Liz take a breath, and fearing that she was going to ask Isabel about another one of her marathon sessions with Alex, Maria kicked her in the shin.
“Owwww,,,”
“So Ava,” Maria interjected quickly while changing the subject. “If you’re not going to college with Kyle, where are you going?”
“If I could do anything I wanted to do, I’d go back to New York.”
“What’s in New York?” Tish asked.
“Everything’s in New York,” Isabel answered honestly.
“I’d get into a program at the Museum of Natural History,” Ava answered wistfully. “Or maybe the Met.”
“The met?” said Maria.
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Liz answered. “Easily one of the premier museums in the world.”
“What’s to stop you?” Tish asked innocently.
“Lets just say that while I lived there I had some trouble with a couple of people there.”
“So there’s what, a gazillion people in New York? What’s the chances you’d run into them?”
“Actually, pretty good,” Isabel answered cryptically.
“You ever fantasize about two chicks?” Michael asked offhandedly.
“No,” Max stammered in reply. “I don’t want,,, I wouldn’t even know what to do with two,,, you?”
“Once.”
After a significant pause Max asked, “You just going to leave me hanging?”
“It wasn’t a pleasant experience,” Michael answered dismissively.
“Michael,” Max teased. “I at least know that fantasizing about two chicks should be a good thing.”
“There was this old movie, Barbarella, on late night. Some red-headed space chick, she was old and is probably dead now. Anyways, Maria and me were on the outs, so the next day in class I was thinking about Maria as the space chick. Then I thought of Maria and the space chick.”
Another pause. “And?”
“Maria looked over and, with just one look at my face, decided that I wasn’t displaying the proper level of upset over our ‘situation,’ so she started smacking me.”
“In class?”
“Yea, but the worse part was that Mr. Somers stood there and let her have ten free shots before he pulled her off of me.”
After the warning bell, Isabel fell into step next to Ava. “You’d really return to New York?” she asked softly.
“If it wasn’t for Rath and Lonnie? In a heartbeat!” Ava answered, but she pulled Isabel into the next alcove. “Listen, it isn’t as if I’d miss you guys, but we’re splitting up and going our own ways come college anyways.”
“It be nice to have a place to visit,,,”
“Don’t worry,,, we’ve been split up for what, over fifty years? We’ll stay in touch.”
**********
After school Isabel spent a couple of hours at her father’s law office, getting caught up on her clerical work, but she couldn’t help watching him work, a wishful expression on her face.
Phillip couldn’t help but notice his daughter’s predicament, but he did have a motion that needed to be filled by the end of business. He finished the pleading, printed a hard copy for the client’s file, and then e-faxed a copy to the Donna-Anna court clerk. Having finished the time critical document, he turned to a much more important matter.
“Miss Evans?”
Isabel smiled as she rose from her desk and approached his doorway. Her father had been calling her ‘Miss Evans’ ever since she started working in the office at the age of nine. It made her feel so grown up and important and she hoped that he never stopped, until it became necessary to call her Mrs. Whitman. Knowing they were alone, she replied with her favorite epithet “Yes Daddy?”
He held out his open palm, guiding her to a chair.
Isabel sat and smoothed her skirt, settling in comfortably while waiting for Phillip to proceed.
Phillip set his chin on his hand and watched his daughter indulgently. After several moments of this, Isabel began to feel self-conscious. “Daddy?”
“Just thinking.”
Isabel’s discomfort grew, but in a good way. She squirmed in her seat as she turned shy, her eyes down while she bit her lower lip. “What about?”
“Do you realize that you have never asked me for anything that I wasn’t able to give, or willing to?”
“Daddy,,,”
“A couple of years ago when things tightened up in town and a lot of people were loosing their homes, you heard me talking to your Mom about the fact that we did a lot of work for people who would never be able to pay. You went the entire summer without once asking for an ice cream. Then Mom took you to the mall, and took you to Baskin-Robbins, you asked for a sample spoon of very-berry strawberry. Mom watched your face light up as you savored the taste, but then you said you didn’t want a cone,,,”
“Daddy,,,” Isabel protested.
“It took Mom over an hour to get it out of you that you thought that we couldn’t afford it,,,”
“Daddy!,,”
“Phillip continued to look at her. “What can Daddy do for you, Princess?”
Isabel paused again, biting her lip. “Actually, it’s for Aries.”
Another pause, “And?”
“We need an off-premises server farm to back up the Aries equipment,,,”
“And since your primary servers are at the Whitman’s, you need a back up computer here,,,”
“No, not here,” Isabel protested. “We need twenty four-seven access,,,”
“Good save,” Phillip said cheerfully. “I bet you’re much more worried that the information on your computers wouldn’t be secure in a lawyer’s office, which leaves the house,,,”
“My room,,,”
“You don’t need my permission to put a computer in your room.” Phillip said softly. “There’s more to it than that.”
“We need to permanently install a nineteen inch rack with a power distribution module, a UPS, two servers, two RAID arrays, a Cisco firewall with a DSL modem, along with a keyboard drawer and monitor. And I’ve got to get a twenty amp, two-twenty volt circuit (nominal voltage in the US is 110v) up there,,,”
“You’re using DSL? I thought Alex was on a cable modem?,,”
“We are over there, but once we’re in Albuquerque, having both technologies here in Roswell will mean that even a catastrophic failure of one of the major ISP’s won’t shut us down.
“And all this will fit in your computer desk?,,”
“No Daddy, it’s going to be a rack mounted server farm, about six feet (180 cm) tall,,,”
“You’re not putting that in your room,” Phillip rebutted, switching into lawyer mode.
Obviously disappointed, Isabel tried again. “Maybe we could put it into the garage?”
“What?” Phillip snapped, breaking into his thought process. Seeing the look of disappointment on his daughters face, he quickly corrected, “No, you’ll get your server, but you’re not putting a big piece of industrial equipment like that in your room, and the garage’s out as well. It wouldn’t be very secure in there, let alone the fact that I know enough about computer equipment to know that it will need air conditioning,,,”
It took less than a moment for Isabel’s expression to go from fear to hopefulness, a change that gladdened Phillip’s heart. “The best place to put your rack would be the coat closet across from your Mom’s laundry room,,,”
“Downstairs?”
“Yea, it’s right at the door to the garage which will give you easy access in and out, and since the only thing in the room will be your equipment, it won’t be a problem to lock it. It also shares a common wall with the garage, which will make it easy to bring in power and AC.”
“We’ll pay for all improvements, of course, as well as pay rent,,,”
“You’re not paying rent in your own house,,,”
“Daddy, I insist,” Isabel rebutted. Softening her voice she continued, “This isn’t about me, this is about Aries. It’s a legitimate business expense, and to be honest, I need the deduction,,,”
“Oh, so you give me money I neither need or want, and I have to pay the taxes on it?” Phillip teased.
“No Daddy, we’d be renting space from you as an individual, and the twenty-four hundred dollars (1775 €) would be well below the reporting threshold,,,”
“You’re not paying two hundred a month, I’m thinking more like a hundred (73 €) a year,,,”
“Daddy, that won’t even cover the cost of the electricity we’ll use. “Fifty per month for utilities, and one hundred for the space.”
“I’ll give the fifty to your Mom to put towards the bills, but I’m going to make a donation of the hundred to the orphanage in your name,,,”
“In the families,,, both families names,,,”
“Deal.”
“Thanks Daddy,” Isabel said gleefully as she bound from her chair, ran around his desk, and have him a massive hug. Kissing his cheek she asked, “Can I treat you to dinner?”
‘No,” Phillip sighed. “Your Mother’s making fajita’s for dinner, Max and Liz are joining us.”
“Okay, tell Mom I love her and we’ll be over tomorrow night,,,”
“Dinner?” Phillip challenged.
“I’m thinking Señor Chow’s,,, sorry.” Moments later she was gone.
Phillip basked in the love of his daughter for a moment, but only a moment. “Oh Frack!” he cried out. ‘I’ve got to go home and tell Diane I gave away her closet.’
**********
Ms. Leigh suspicions spiked as she watched Martinelli leave Mr. Cavanah’s office. ‘What the frack is he bitching about now,’ she wondered.
“Carol,” he asked of the attendance clerk while Ms. Leigh hovered in front of the inter-department mail boxes, “What period does that Tish cheerleader chick take her lunch today?”
“Tish Okabe takes lunch fourth period,” Carol replied levelly, hiding her irritation.
“And that Isabel chick?”
More typing,,, “She takes lunch fourth period also, but she has an afternoon class at Eastern, so she probably won’t stay for lunch today.”
Mr. Cavanah turned to Ms. Leigh. “I think I’ll keep an eye on the Quad at lunch time. You won’t have to.”
“Okay,,,” she replied. Knowing something was up, she quickly looked at the clock. Finding that second period would be over in just a matter of minutes, she headed for her own personal information cache, the girls room closest to the Quad, exclusive territory of the ‘populars.’
Ms. Leigh settled, pulling her feet up and locking her heels on the inside the rim of the toilet in the first stall, the stall with the mysterious stain on the toilet seat that defied cleaning, the seat that every self respecting woman and girl at West Roswell High refused to sit on. She had arrived just in time.
The door slammed into the wall as Lucinda Baker stormed into the girl’s room, followed by several of her cohorts. “So that slut banged him?”
“Well I wouldn’t say banged,,, exactly,,,” Stacy Scheinin replied cattily.
“Tish got to him first,,,”
“Tish discovered him, she was entitled,” Stacy teased. “Besides she found him,,, wanting.”
“Wanting?” Vanessa gasped. “He’s got to be the best bush doctor in the entire school!”
“Yea, but after she got her grotto gulped, she decided to give him a mercy frack,,,”
“Slut,,,”
“You’re just mad cause you didn’t get to sit on his peg first,,,”
Both girls looked over to Stacy to find her laughing. “What?”
“From what Tish said, you didn’t miss out on much,,,”
“You mean he’s got a little dick?,,”
“Well, he does have an eight inch tongue, and you know what the good book says. ‘The Good Lord giveth and the Good Lord taketh away,,,”
“Get Out!” Lucinda gasped. “What is he then, the dickless wonder?”
“That’s not what Tish was complaining about,” Stacy corrected. “She was grumbling about his staying power. Apparently she groped him and he creamed his jeans, then after he finished her she tried to fish him out and he spewed on her blouse.”
“That’s not good, Tish turns into a real bitch if she doesn’t get her row plowed regularly.”
“Well that’s not going to be a problem,” Stacy advised. “She went back to Patrick,,,”
“He’s not going to take her back, not after she dogged him,,,” Vanessa protested.
“He already did!”
“No!!!”
“Yea! You know how he likes to get here early for breakfast, well she dragged him up to the eraser room, and once she got him balls deep she asked him to hook up again. What do you think he said?”
“Well that takes her out of the competition,,,”
“Competition?”
“Yea, I’m not giving up on Bruce, the poor boy’s never seen a boob before. It’s not his fault he’s got no staying power, Tish went way too fast with him,,,” Stacy related.
“So what, you’re going to bring him along gradually?” Lucinda asked in disbelief.
Vanessa looked from one girl to the other. “Tell me that after talking to Isabel and watching the way Alex treats her you’re willing to give up on finding something better,,,”
“You know, I had a chance with Alex,,,” Lucinda bragged.
“Bullshit!” Stacy gasped.
“You better hope Isabel never hears you say that,,,” Vanessa agreed.
“It was long before they hooked up,” Lucinda backpedaled. “We kissed,,,”
“For your web site? I remember that, you practically mauled him,,,”
“Yea, Maria almost had to rescue him,” Stacy said laughingly. “She would have beat the crap out of you if she wasn’t laughing so hard.”
Their chat was interrupted by the warning bell.
“So you’re going to give Bruce a go?”
“Yea, I am,” Stacy replied. “Frack the jocks, it’ll be nice to be a girlfriend instead of a sperm receptacle for a change,,,” her voice dying off as the girls headed out into the hall.
‘Well that explains what’s got Cavanah so worked up,’ Miss Leigh thought as she also left the girls room. ‘As long as the jocks aren’t getting laid I’m going to need to keep an eye on Isabel and make sure she stays out of his path.’
**********
“I need a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker out of the Twenty-Second Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas.”
“When do you want this mission scheduled?” the Granolith asked levelly.
“The Saturday after Christmas,” (Dec. 29, 2001) Alex replied. “School’s out, tourism will be up, and I’m working on another project that will have that area filled with UFO watchers. Hopefully the weather will co-operate.”
“Historically, that time of year would carry a ten percent chance of bad weather.”
“What is the chance of two consecutive days of bad weather?”
“Near zero.”
“Is it possible to delay scheduling this mission until we have a weather forecast?”
“Yes. Training flights are routinely scheduled well in advance while the orders themselves are not released to the squadrons until several days before the mission. There will be time to obtain a five day weather forecast before the orders are printed. During late December the accuracy of the five day forecast is in excess of ninety percent.”
“Good! Compose a program with Saturday as the primary date, Friday as the second choice, and Thursday as the third.”
“Sunday?”
“No! Sunday will be too late. The tourist will be headed home on Sunday. Sunday night will be too late.”
“Refueling aircraft identified. State mission profile,” the Granolith commanded.
“I want a refueling pass, just after nightfall. It needs to cross south of Roswell, and east of Dexter,,,”
“Warning. Flight operations in this area will potentially encroach on the Roswell Air Center.”
“I want the same mission parameters as that refueling flight that occurred a month or so ago that caused multiple reports of a UFO sighting out near Putnam Ranch.”
“Working. Flight level 100. (10,000 ft or 3050 M) Transit the area with a heading of zero-four-five.” (south-west to north-east)
“High enough not to be heard, low enough to be seen.”
“State receiving aircraft.”
“Get me a pair of F-117A Stealth Fighters out of the Forty-Ninth Fighter Wing from Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo.”
“Why that aircraft?”
“The Tanker is equipped with guide lights on it’s underside. These are what caused the last sighting, but I want Stealth for another reason. This mission will be flown near the full moon, and between their Nav. (navigational) lights and the fact that they’re flat black, I’m hoping for the appearance of a moving black hole against a starry sky.”
“How observable will a low observable aircraft be at night while it is flying at altitude?”
“It only takes one person, one blurry photo. Remember, these people already believe. They want to see something, no matter how small. This flight will be worth millions of tourism dollars for the city.”
“May I ask a question?”
“Yes,” Alex answered calmly. This was not a time for the Granolith to make assumptions.
“Why do they call the One-One-Seven a fighter? The Wobbly Goblin (an early nick for the F-117) is the most inherently unstable aircraft since the X-Twenty-Nine, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_X-29) and it would crash on take off without the use of four separate computerized flight control systems. It has no radar, it can not use it’s radio to co-ordinate an attack with an AWAC (Airborne Warning and Control http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWACS) aircraft without giving away it’s stealth properties, it carries no external stores, and if it performed many of the flight evolutions that a normal fighter routinely performs, it’s wings would be torn off.”
“It’s simple really,” Alex explained. “The missions envisioned for the One-One-Seven need hot-shit pilots, and hot-shit pilots fly fighters, so although it probably should be designated as an attack aircraft, it became a fighter.”
“Interesting.”
“Granolith, are you certain we can input this mission and remain completely undetected?”
“Yes, it is completely within my capabilities to schedule this flight.”
“Are you positive? There must be no chance to trace this connection back to Aries. Isabel is an officer within Aries, and there must be absolutely no risk that she would be discovered.”
“There is no risk, but again,,,”
“Go ahead,,,”
“If you are so afraid of detection, why are you commanding me to attack the Air Force’s computer network,,,”
“No! No!,, We are not attacking the Air Force,,,”
“You are cracking one of the most secure computer networks on the planet, and hacking in a flight with the sole intention of satisfying your own personal needs. How is that not an attack?”
Alex had to scramble for an answer, but as usual he was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. “Intent!”
“Intent?”
“Yes, intent. In order for this to be an illegal attack, there would have to be three malicious components. The breaking of a law, personal gain, and intent,,,”
“We are not breaking any laws?”
“Actually,,, technically we are,,,”
“Technically?,, If so, do you wish to abort?”
“No! Not only do we have no malicious intent, we’re helping the Air Force. They conduct training flights all the time, and the only thing we’re doing is helping a bit with the when and where. There are a lot of people in Roswell who are already benefiting from renewed interest in recent UFO activities, so another ‘sighting’ is actually a good thing.”
“So with no malicious intent, this isn’t an attack? If so, what is it?”
“I would call it benevolent mischief.”
“Benevolent mischief?”
“Yes, you do understand the concept of mischief, don’t you?”
The Granolith took a moment to check the hundred or so dictionary web sites that it had book-marked, evaluating the definition of the word mischief. In doing so, it found a parallel to another set of bookmarks belonging to a project that it had put on hold.
While monitoring the e-mail account of a FBI agent who it turned out had never so much as heard of the ‘Special Unit,’ the Granolith intercepted a message with an attached JPG file containing an image of a woman. Not any woman, but a photograph of a four hundred pound (181 kilo) nekked woman displaying her charms for all to see.
This had been the first time that the Granolith had ever seen anything like this, so it had taken several nanoseconds to evaluate it’s find. ‘This is an efficient body style,’ the Granolith had thought. ‘So many nooks and crannies for secreting items and storing supplies. She could easily store a number of hard copy files under her breasts, letter sized folders under the left while the longer right breast would cover legal sized forms easily. The fold around her waist could efficiently store lunch for four, completely enveloping the meal in flesh having the surface consistency of cottage cheese which would grip the food securely while keeping it warm.
The Granolith also found her particular body style to be interesting, for the woman was equipped with a large stomach flap that under normal conditions would have hung down and covered her private parts. This modestly flap was substantial, clearly it would stay in position during a strong wind, for it took both of the woman’s hands to lift it clear and expose her charms to the camera’s eye. Or at least the Granolith thought so, for the woman’s crotch was covered with a thick mat or fur, undulating over a number of folds and crevices between her legs. ‘Perhaps a human male would have to roll this person in flour before the sex act could commence, then after a suitable waiting period, he would be able to zoom in on the wet spot.’
But during this critical exam, the Granolith noticed a fatal flaw in this body style, for while it was apparent that the human ass had a limitless ability to grow, the human arm remained a fixed length. ‘How does this female maintain her personal hygiene?’ it thought. ‘There is no way that she can reach around to her ass,,, well to the part of the ass that counted,,,’
Thus stymied in it’s evaluation, the Granolith created a folder to store the file for future contemplation, but not before scouring the internet and downloading a number of similar photographs. In less time than the blink of an eye, the Granolith hacked into Alex’s server and deposited all three-hundred JPG files, secreting each and every one of the big beautiful women in disparate locations that his human interface would never find. It then wrote a program that would monitor the Blade’s bio-metric sensor and pop the women’s images onto Alex’s display, but only when he was alone.
The Granolith’s last act was to delete every trace of the ‘BBW Mischief’ project from it’s data banks, which would allow it to respond innocently and honestly, “Nekked woman?,, What nekked women.?
The spur-of-the-moment project complete, the Granolith was now free to reply to Alex’s original request. “Mischief. Concept understood. Please continue.”
“Good, execute program.”
**********
“Chief, you asked to see me?” Alex asked tentatively, leaning into Chief Jones’ office.
“Ahh, Whitman. Come in, sit down.”
Alex settled down, still slightly uncomfortable. Almost all his fire department dealings to date had been with Assistant Chief Montoya, so he was still a little intimidated by the top man.
“I hear nothing but great things about your Aries EMS program,” Chief Louis said warmly. “You seem to have exceeded all expectations at a fraction of the cost that the other companied had quoted. Can I ask how you did it?”
“It’s really rather simple Chief,” Alex explained patiently. “The entire project started with the fact that Paramedic Stillwell was busting my balls,,, Excuse me,,,”
“No offense, Whitman. Stilwell breaks everyone’s balls from time to time.”
“Well the more often I filled out a run record, the more I realized that it was nothing more than a database, requiring the same fields,,, items of information to be filled out every time. So the first thing I did was to build a form on my PDA that allowed me to enter the data electronically and transmit it to a printer in the Emergency Department.”
“I remember when printed forms started coming across my desk. I can’t tell you how much of an improvement that was. It made our job of entering the data into our logs much easier.”
“Well that’s the magic Chief. An EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) was writing out the forms, then a clerk at the hospital had to transcribe that information on their patient’s record, a clerk here was entering the data onto the department’s logs, and a third clerk was entering the data into the state’s system in Albuquerque,,,”
“And the State’s a year behind,,,”
“More like seventeen months,” Alex corrected without malice. “Isabel and myself had to get them caught up before the new system could be brought live.”
“And you eliminated the data entry operations?”
“Not really, the data still has to be input, but now it only gets input once, by the EMT who initially fills out the form. Once it’s saved at the hospital a hardcopy is printed to be brought back to the station while the data automatically goes to the hospital and the state. Best of all, since every agency gets the same data, there are no more coding discrepancies,,,”
“That’s been a problem in the past. Lets say for instance that Joe Six-pack is taking a leak off his deck and falls.”
That’s right Chief. In the past the clerk here may code that as a trauma while the clerk at the hospital may code it as a substance abuse. Now, right or wrong, every run report gets coded the same.”
“So how were you able to do this for so much less?”
“Do you want the real reason?”
“Yea,” the Chief replied, as if he expected no less.
“Because I wasn’t out to screw anybody, and I don’t have a huge corporation to support.” Seeing a look of disbelief on the Chief’s face, he explained. “The other bidders were all huge IT companies who were proposing huge closed networks. They specified dedicated hardware at every location connected with dedicated land lines. Just the cost to set up the necessary fixed-frame lines from the phone company was several hundred thousand dollars with additional tens of thousands of dollars in leased line charges each year. Now this is in addition to a six figure fee that they would charge every year to administer the network.”
“And you don’t have any of that?,,”
“Right,” Alex replied happily, enthused that the Chief was so up to date. “I provide software and hardware but no fixed network. Aries EMS transmits the data over existing internet connections, protecting the integrity of the data with heavy encryption. That one change alone cut the bid price for a three year contract by over a million dollars.”
“And your hardware?”
“Okay, there’s something you need to understand. Aries EMS is nothing but a database. It’s not rocket science, computers have been running databases since the nineteen-fifties. So while the Aries EMS master database resides on a fairly sophisticated server installed at the Health Department’s facility in Albuquerque, the data entry computers at the hospitals are nothing more than run-of-the-mill windows boxes,,,”
“And that’s where everything starts,,,”
“Right. New Mexico EMS installed two data entry computers and a printer at every emergency room and trauma center in the state. That’s the common point where every ambulance and rescue patient enters the EMS System. Like I mentioned, the hospital and the State gets the data, the crew takes a printed hard copy back to their station, and for most departments, say Dexter or Sierra for instance, that’s it,,,”
“But that’s not it for the larger departments,” Chief Lewis commented.
“No, that’s not it,” Alex agreed. “Any department can opt into the system and receive the same electronic file that the hospital and the State receives. The department has to bear the cost of the additional equipment, but here, for instance, the department already had enough computing power in it’s hardware that the only expense at headquarters was licensing the software,,,”
What I don’t understand is how some departments get more information than others,,, say us versus Dexter.”
“That’s not true Chief,” Alex rebutted carefully. “Roswell doesn’t get any more information in it’s electronic files than Dexter gets on it’s hardcopy sheets but there are two major differences between the small departments that participate at the minimum level, and the larger departments. The first enhancement is that Roswell and Santa Fe both chose to equip their busses (ambulance, as in ‘everyone rides the bus’) with PDA’s (Personal Data Assistants, in this case HP-Q I-Pacs) which will allow the medics to complete the run records before they get to the hospital. If everything goes right, they can drop off the patient, beam the form into the PC, and get back on the road in minutes,,,”
“I know, the time savings alone will pay for the additional hardware in a couple of months, but I’m more interested in this right here,” Chief Lewis stated, tapping his monitor.
“The data analysis capability of the software?” Alex prompted.
“That’s the part I’m liking,” Chief Lewis agreed. “The management reports I’m getting are impressive. The ability to analyze what kinds of runs we’re having, when they’re happening, and what zones they’re happening in is impressive. For example we’re already finding that our plans to locate the new rescue in Station Five needs to be reevaluated. That zones South and South-East Main Streets corridor is getting built up rapidly, leading to a number of accidents, but thanks to the fact that you backloaded the last two years of run records, we’re finding that the majority of them are fender benders and rear enders. The real trauma is happening out on Route Three-Eighty, where traffic is up and speeds are higher. As a result, the new rescue, when we get the money for it, will probably be placed in Station Two.”
“I’m glad I can help,” Alex said proudly.
The chief took a deep breath. “That’s what makes the next thing I have to talk to you about so hard,,,”
“I think I know what you’re going to say,” Alex replied softly. “You need my resignation.”
“Alex,” Chief Lewis replied earnestly, “I did not know that you had signed a waver after your first injury. That fact, combined with your refusal of treatment after your second; well, I can’t risk one of my men getting hurt when they’re not willing to take care of themselves.”
“I understand Chief,” Alex replied morosely. “I’d probably do the same thing myself.”
“There are still a number of opportunities for you to contribute,” Chief Lewis advised as he slid a sheet of paper across his desk for Alex to sign. “We still need volunteers.”
“Don’t worry Chief,” Alex replied. “I’m not going to leave you hanging. I’m going to finish every project I started, I promise.”
**********
The next morning was unusually warm for December, even for Roswell. Maria couldn’t wait to show off her newest purchase. “How do you like my new jeans?” she asked excitedly as she pulled up next to Isabel’s locker.
Isabel turned and looked, an action that caused her brows to shoot up. “There’s not much to them,” she commented skeptically.
“I know, they’re Gasoline’s” Maria gushed. “Three and three quarter inch (95mm) rise, one inch (25mm) zipper. They’re the ultraist ultra low rise jeans I could find.”
“Why?” Isabel deadpanned as she took a closer, more critical look. “They don’t look comfortable, they’re cutting across the bottom of your hip bones. If you’d sneeze they’d fall down,,,”
“They won’t fall down, the thighs are too tight. Besides, my Mom hates them.”
“What are you wearing for underwear? Isabel asked, leaning over to the side and checking Maria’s ass for a whale’s tail.”
“Cheeky pants,” Maria answered with a bit of irritation. Seeing a bit of disbelief on Isabel’s face, she continued, “They’re a bit higher in the back,,,” After several additional moments of scrutiny she added, “Okay, so I had to trim the top row of lace off my panties, so sue me.”
In response Isabel smiled as she reached deeper into her locker.
You should try them, they would drive Alex nuts,,,”
“I can’t wear anything like that,” Isabel gasped.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a woman,,,”
“And I’m not?”
“Ria, you’re built like a boy. “You have no tits, no ass, you weigh like a hundred pounds, and you have no waist or hips,,,”
“Thanks a fracking lot,,,”
“Here,” Isabel said, taking Maria’s hand and bringing it to her hip. “Feel that? I’ve got a woman’s hips. There’s flesh there, making me all smooth and soft. If I wore something like that I’d have a muffin top on the front, love handles on the sides, and plumber’s crack in the back.” As she slammed her locker closed, she deliberately dropped a pencil. “Oops, would you get that for me.”
“Funny,” Maria sneered, staying upright.
Isabel, dressed in a much more modest skirt set, easily recovered her pencil before heading deeper into the building. “Come on, I’ll treat you to a bacon and egg muffin,,,”
“Bitch.”
“Oh that’s right,” Isabel teased. “You can’t eat in those jeans. I’ll get you a banana then, or maybe a cup of plain yogurt.”
“I hate you,” Maria replied under her breath.
“Hey, what can I say, I like food,” Isabel rebutted. “Besides, Alex love’s me the way I am, and I’ve learned how to make what I have work for me.
**********
Alex was headed for his first period class when he saw Thumper heading in the opposite direction. “Sue!”
“Hi Alex,” she replied, pulling to the side.
“I have your parts,” Alex said cheerfully. “I can install them whenever’s convenient for you.”
“I’m not doing anything this afternoon,,,”
“Okay, see you then.
**********
“Maria!” Miss Leigh called out, culling her quarry from the heard of students in the hall. “A moment in my office please.”
“Maria’s brows shot up, but since she was struggling to get all the financial aid for college that she could get she followed the guidance councilor without question. She took a seat as Miss Leigh closed the door behind them.
Maria watched the older woman watching her, and quickly became agitated. “You wanted something?”
Miss Leigh held up a crisp five dollar bill. (3.6 €) “I’ll take five on six,” she deadpanned.
“What?” Maria gasped as a chill ran up her spine.
“You don’t think everyone’s heard about your pool?” she added as she wrote out a late pass.
“Not everyone,” Maria sighed in relief, thankful that Isabel, or more importantly Alex had not heard.
“Oh and Maria,,,” Miss Leigh added, stopping her before she could open the door. “If you look at that pass, you’ll see it gives you time to go home and change out of those no-rise jeans before Mr. Cavanah sees them,,,”
“What’s wrong with my jeans?” Maria protested.
“They’re a little too, ‘Troy’ish’ for good taste.”
“Awww, man,,,” Maria moaned as she stood, but as she neared the door, her mood brightened. She had a pass from her next class, Michael had that period off, and instead of going home to change, she could have him modify her jeans after an hour long eraser room tryst. All at once her session with Miss Leigh didn’t look so bad. She quickly stepped across the office and snapped the five dollar bill of her desk.
“Hey!”
“Sorry Miss Leigh, a bets a bet.”
TBC
