Saturday Sept 19, 1992
At a pay phone in a library in a town he's only been to a few times, Noreen finally answers during the fifth ringydingy, in a subdued voice,
"Heh-hello?"
"Hey are you OK?" Nick's concern from not being able to reach her after two attempts this morning is almost alarming.
"Hey, got your message, sorry I didn't answer, slept till about 20 minutes ago and I feel like hell, throat hurts."
"Oh man, can I stop by?"
"NO...I mean, sweetie, I'm a mess and I don't want you getting this."
"But I don't want you sick and by yourself."
She pauses. "Babe you are awesome, but I'll be fine, I just need to rest. How did you do?"
"Passed the three tests, just have to get my ticket in the mail in a few weeks."
She squeaks, "Y........ss," then starts coughing.
"Ok wow you are in rough shape lady."
"Well it serves me right for staying so busy after the trip, I think I need to rest better before classes start up."
"Next year I'll try to remind you."
Brief pause. "Please do. I hate that I couldn't go with you, did Al join you?"
"Yeap, he took 2 of the 3 and will just have the higher bands, wants to get a talkie walkie."
"That's adorable - *cough*." Her voice sounds worse every sentence.
"Are you sure you'll be OK?"
"Yes, someone will either call or stop out to poke me with a stick."
"That's my job."
"Listen you...alright, I'm gonna...um, find a...TV, a tape."
"Go bundle up and watch MST3k."
"Yeah, that or Phantom, with a big mug of tea."
Nick is almost sure she means ...of the Opera but doesn't want to make her explain. "I'll check up on you later."
"Go help your poor mother with housework and hook up your radios."
"Noreen, I love you."
Silence for a good ten seconds. "God my head just left my body. You sure pick your moments don't you?"
"Well I know it now."
"Sick or not I could kick your ass right now. Are you at the library?"
"Yeah a pay phone."
Brief pause. "Man I love that place. You better go on home, slick, lemme rest and I'll deal with you later, OK?"
"Ok get some rest"
"I will, and I love you." She hangs up the phone. Nick has to grin at her means of punctuation. It's now that he consciously realizes her timbre is quite sexy when she's sick and that it's probably not something to mention until she feels better.
He had arrived about 10 till 9, checked the basement, found it empty, so looked around the library, aged as a fine wine, he could but imagine the shorter version of Noreen taking the place in while her dad looked things up in the newspapers they keep in that side room, coin prices, he thought she'd said.
There's a space for kids that's currently empty but it's early yet. Nick checks back downstairs just as Goody wanders in.
"Been here long?"
"Long enough."
They find two men and a woman setting up, Goody's turn to speak as they enter the basement room with the tables, "Looks like the party's just getting started."
After some introductions they are invited to take a seat and they start reviewing applications.
Nick is across from a fellow who gave his name as Bud, who perks up after seeing his name, "Swanson, I used to work traffic with a Swanson -"
"W9EAU by chance?"
Bud just looks at him full on. "Yeah, good ol' Jim, we sure miss him but I get the idea you do even more."
"Sure do, called him Paps."
Bud pauses a second, "Oh Nick, I don't have to tell you - did you get to spend time with him in the shack?"
"I sure did now and then, and I have most of his stuff, books, cards, the RTTY box, Icom 745. OH, but I got a current book from Radio Shack where I used to work, until this character hired me."
Goody just grins.
"OK, wow and you're going for Novice?"
"Actually I'm gonna try the Technician too."
"Well be our guest, no extra charge, did you catch that Phil, another Swanson on the air!"
And so that set the tone, after a couple other folks came in, including a pre-teen boy and his mom they got folks set up with the tests. Three of them were taking the Morse code but would have to go in turn since they only had one tape player and they all agree that the youngest should go first, kid is a 5th grader named Jerry that had gotten the bug at a scouting event.
Nick ends up taking both written tests back to back, acing one and missing one on the other. He admitted changing an answer and it turns out his initial guess was correct, but he had still passed by a mile.
With his typical understated, somewhat waddling gait, Goody turns in his second paper, Nick makes a remark about how fun it is to see his instructor take a test.
Goody is quick as ever, "You know I'm on good terms with the registrar and the ink isn't dry on your diploma yet."
This gets a laugh in the room of course.
Once graded, the instructor is all set for his license and nudges them to "not spare the red ink" when grading Nick's CW.
"Yeah, yeah at least I'm taking it," is all he can muster.
So Nick waits for the headphones and feels ready in between bursts of confusion about Noreen, maybe someone needed her help this morning on short notice, here comes the preamble set of VVV VVV (each one bee-bee-bee-BEEEEE) and then into the call signs, the caller, the one called, signal report, name, and the weather. The caller is Jim, which is a great omen, he's in Atlanta and he's returning to Susan in Hershey, PA. The weather is sunny and 51 degrees. Rig is a Drake running 50 watts into a loop antenna. After having eavesdropped on more than a few exchanges here and there at a more conversational speed he's realized how the entry speed not only feels slow but he's gotten beyond proficiency and could test a bit higher if that would accomplish anything.
He hands his paper to the female examiner and she seems to know what to look for, just taps it with a pen and hands it to Phil, who just nods, who hands it to Bud who just shakes his head, "Kid's a Swanson alright."
Before letting him go they make it clear that he always has a home at their club meetings and events and nets and we hope to hear you on the air soon as your ticket arrives, although the FCC is a few weeks behind thanks to budget cuts.
At that point Nick doesn't know what to do with himself so he hits the campus, walks the trail and wanders up to his building. For whatever reason he fishes out his keys to find the front door unlocked, then finds the computer lab with a few computer lab types getting things ready for next week. Next week, prime time. It's probably best if he doesn't get sick, just hope she's better by Wednesday.
He unlocks one of the adjoining classrooms and turns on a light to find it neatly swept and desolate. Going to feel strange not being in one of those seats. His office is literally a hole in the wall, between two locked doors at the back of two different classrooms and behind a smaller lab that's only accessible from the main hallway. It was probably intended as storage space then fitted for a desk when they realized they needed a tech on staff as the program grew.
Nick unlocks his office to find everything as he'd left it, housekeeping doesn't enter office spaces and staff have to set their trash cans outside to have them emptied or else make other arrangements.
It's about now that inspiration hits, it's a good time to get curious about the mainframe that powers the main lab, the big iron, the VAX. He hadn't logged into his student account in months and that would have to be disabled by now, and he hadn't yet asked for a staff account, he'd been preoccupied with getting the 6809 simulators re-re-upgraded.
He can either mess with it now or at home, might as well be a little of both, so he fires up his newly rebuilt workstation and brings up a command prompt, then stares at it. Seems you can...dec-net? Does the VAX have an...address? Seems the printers go through the VAX but he's never talked to it personally from anything but a dedicated console.
Time to head down the hall and poke his head in the lab. After about 10 minutes of bantering he's back in his office with half a page of notes scribbled on whatever was on top of the recycle bin to try his password, they set it to require a reset so pick a good'un, and he does, and he's free to explore. So he looks around for a few minutes then heads out, evidently on weekends like this the inbound modem line is rarely used so he can go nuts and just take a break every hour or so in case someone else needs it.
After some more pensive driving Nick ends up at his other Alma Mater, the Rad Shack, and before he can get to the desk here comes Bain who talks him into grabbing a burger and brew over at whichever lodge he belongs to.
When Nick finally gets home in the evening he finds his mom at the table and joins her after a peck on the forehead, recounts the day then gets quiet.
"Is there something else, dear?" Irene prods.
"Well...when talking to Noreen on the pay phone I told her I love her, and she said she could kick my butt."
Irene laughs and looks away, "Oh I bet she did."
"Is this some kind of girl thing?"
"It's a thing, you're very lucky to have her and don't you forget it."
"Yeah I could do a lot worse."
"Yes you could. She could do a lot BETTER of course."
Realizing he wasn't about to win he heads upstairs, showers, powers on the IBM and digs out those VAX notes with the modem number.