Delano

 March, 1987

This was always a weird month for who knows why. Maybe the weather changing every ten minutes, everyone's either sick or getting over sickness or coming down with sickness, spring is not yet her and winter is dead. On its back. Tits up. Dead.

Nick had lasted 4 days of varsity track, Coach is a great guy but runs his team as John Wayne's General Sherman. One of the student helpers had told him that Coach wanted to talk to him about why he'd stopped showing up but Nick can't find the time or the words and just ducks it out. He hadn't really connected with anyone on the team, not many freshmen went out, he's not a fast sprinter and doesn't have the poop for distance, so much for that.

Plus, there had been a revival series at church and it was convenient to duck for cover in the meetings. These always seem to attract the latest loose-ends to show up on the teen row, including one Tommy Delano. He's a tall, dark featured bloke, and done time in the joovie joint, evidently smooth with the ladies, sports a thick mullet, probably from a less advantaged background than most church folk yet has a way of transcending whatever he wears. For a couple of nights Delano sat on the other side of Miss Jenny Pratt and got most of her attention as Nick was just glad to lean back against the edge of the pew instead of running across some field in cloudy wind.

So a couple weeks later Nick signs out of the school cafeteria to hit the head, and is almost there when he turns around to find Delano about five feet behind and switching his expression from cunning to smile. At the urinals Delano brings up how he'd gotten with Jenny on some youth trip that Nick had been able to miss, sounded like second base was involved. Nick doesn't know what to say and gets squirreled by the tune in his head, from the VHS of Headbanger's Ball that his brother had scored, and asked Delano if he'd heard of them.

"Yeah I heard a couple of theirs, they're OK. You need to come over sometime we can jam, find some chicks."

"We'll see."

They go back to their respective tables, and in about a week Delano's mom moves them out of the Jameson district.

Drive In

Friday June 26, 1992

A summer night is a field of mysteries, in four dimensions, ageless and wide as the universe on a clear night. It goes on, it never stops, good things, bad things, invokes our instincts to move to shelter, take stock, secure our interests and draw near to someone.

But it’s still a hazy late afternoon when Nick pulls onto the property, just before the sign McDONNELL’S AUTO AND FABRICATION and he spots the cabin up off to the left, looks as well made as its contents, sturdy, blocks and lumber.

He’d brought a cooler and grabbed six bottles of 7Up since that’s what sounded good, pulls up in front of the cabin which looks like gets mowed with a wide deck along with the rest of the vast property. From what she’s described it goes back quite a ways into the woods. He’s got some butterflies for the usual reasons.

What certainly doesn’t help his nerves is when this blond steps out of the cabin, with a cooler and her purse, wearing a light button-up top, beige plaid skirt above the knees, tan strap-on shoes and those shades, it’s all a bit more voltage than he’s wired for. She gets into the car and he just takes it all in as she buckles up, looks his way, “Hi there.”

“Who you tryin’ to kill, lady?”

Noreen just looks away and acts exasperated, channeling Sally Field, “Does this thing move?”

He pulls her in slowly and she ends the kiss after two beats,

“Take a left out of the driveway, unless you just want to sit here all night.”

“I’ll go wherever you want."

This gets a smile, “Thanks though. I’m tempted to think you’re exaggerating to make me feel good but I’ll take it.”

They proceed on and get to the state route, she’s quiet but seems content, Nick can’t think of anything to say, except, “what do you think of this election?”

“I try not too. It could be worse...well, let me say this, I try not to talk about it with my family since I don’t see things like the guys do, and my sis-in-laws just stay out of it.”

“Oh, yeah, I don’t tend to talk about politics much. Things are pretty much gonna be what they are, I just dwell on technical things and vote best I know how.”

“That’s refreshing Nick. Since you asked...I’m getting fed up with those who need to be part of a wolf pack, you know, dig in to their views so hard that they either attack or retreat together, and just fight it out and nothing gets done. I suppose we have to have the parties but it just seems like no one wants to compromise.”

“Gridlock.”

“Yeah that’s a symptom of it. This Perot character would be a real kick in the nuts if he got in but I don’t see it happening.”

“Me neither. He’s biting a big hunk of Bush it looks like.”

She just giggles and tries to hide it.

“What?”

“Biting a big hunk of bush.”

“Oh my God I didn’t even catch that.”

She laughs it out some, “Sorry, feeling giddy...anyway...yeah you might say I’m an independent but I care about a lot of things that you’d call left of center, like education, health care and people things. You’ve got folks that are afraid of big government but they forget that it’s supposed to be OF the people, and that fear just takes over. I dunno, just frustrates me.”

“We’re all in this together, aren’t we.”

She grabs his right hand that’s dangling off the armrest, “yep.”

In a couple more turns they are at the drive-in and finding a spot, they agree way at the back. They oriented the screen facing north and so the setting sun is still on their side but not much of a threat.

“Wanna eat in here or out on the trunk? I brought a bankie.”

“Wow check out the boy scout, are you always this well prepared?”

“Just thought it might be nice.”

“Howbout the hood and we can people watch?”

So they set up camp on the ample warm white-ish hood, munch on the bologna and cheese and she brought a fresh bag of Lays and some watermelon slices.

“Wow, she was in my high school class,” Nick says while eyeing a gal heading up to the playground area with two toddlers, “She must have squeezed out twins.”

“Yeah I never understood how or why anyone would let that happen when you’re that young.”

“When we walked at graduation there were at least three or four waddling with a bump.”

“They must have forgotten to pick the seeds out of their watermelon.”

“Is that how that works? This is really good by the way.”

“I could live on this stuff in the summer, forgot to bring some salt.”

“Doesn’t need it.”

“Looks like they took down the speaker things now that everyone has FM capability.”

“I used to have one of those from a flea market but our old church was able to use it for choir monitors, at least for a while.”

“Those could be collectible someday.”

“Yeah didn’t think of that. So what’s the first flick?”

“Usually they do the most family-friendly first, looks like Beethoven with the big dowgie, then Sister Act with Whoopi, then the night owls get Cousin Vinny.”

“How late did you wanna stay?”

“I’m here as long as you are.”

Before long the previews start and Nick switches on the radio, but since they can hear it just fine from everyone else they just stay on the hood for now. There’s an ad for Pic mosquito strips, Nick wonders,

“Doesn’t seem like many mosquitoes this year.”

“No been pretty dry, we’ve been lucky out on the property even with all the trees.”

Beethoven gets going and they hold hands on the hood a while, then decide it’s cool enough to regroup on the front seat, that magical breeze has made its debut. They move the bench all the way back then Nick wads up the blanket to lean against on the driver’s side and she leans back on him. There’s still plenty of daylight left and the evening is fully charged. She takes her shoes off and sets her feet on the passenger door. Nick can’t keep his eyes on the screen, she has her feet crossed, and he can’t quite get a mental fix on what else is going on, except that her legs are smooth as glass, eventually he wonders if she had done anything special like waxing. He wonders what she thinks of his reaction to all this with what’s beneath her lower back, things are starting to come alive.

After a few more moments Noreen softly sighs and maneuvers her left hand to the affected area, and starts massaging. “I can see we’re going to have to deal with this sooner than I expected.”

“I didn’t mean to...”

She squeezes and he shuts up. She continues the same pattern for a bit then slides down to where the back of her head is able to keep massaging that. It’s becoming quite clear that she’s on a mission of sorts, with a knack for knowing just when to take a turn and keep him guessing.

“Keep watch,” she commands, then turns over and curls up on the seat. She doesn’t hesitate to undo the fly and dig out his eager friend. “It’s about time we met, don’t you think?” as she gently strokes.

Nick is still in suspended disbelief, in a way this feels like a setup but he’s not about to complain.

She takes him in her mouth, fully, with that hair splayed all around as it had when she was reviewing his lab report, just kneading, going somewhere but not in any hurry. She just keeps on and he tries to keep watch out at a new landscape of cars, people walking around, too far to see, and many with similar goings on to conceal. None of them matter. He’s got the right gal and she’s a bit too much but never in a wrong way. The St. Bernard bops around the screen and it all goes on. He has no idea what the plot is. We’ll get the tension out of the way then enjoy the other movies, but then, let’s not end it too soon.

The sky grows darker and the air a tad cooler, and at some point she finds a spot that makes him churn. “You got something for me?” She keeps on that spot and he knows it’s near, in a strange way he hopes she likes it but that seems silly, she always seems to, and this time it’s not making her sick, so-

The moment arrives and he jerks, she puts a hand on his chest as if to reassure, and once it’s done she plants a kiss on the end.

“Mmmm now I have part of you inside me.”

Nick feels paralyzed but she repacks his shorts and curls back up on his chest. This has never happened, a female so caring and understanding. He can tell she’s no expert at the technical aspects, but took her time and made the slow burn worth it. He thinks he dozes off for a few minutes and she just lays still.

Eventually he finds the movie winding up as one might expect and he starts thinking about what’s beneath that skirt.

“Wanna move to the back?”

“Nick what are you up to?”

He motions for her to help move the front seat forward, and she cautions, “just don’t bump the horn.”

They each look out for witnesses then crawl over the armrest. Nick grabs the blanket and repacks it on the same side then they lean on it and he just looks at her a few moments, they kiss, and he undoes her blouse. “Time for me to get to know these better.”

She helps with the bra and he finds them alert and ready. “Nick you might need to go easy, I tend to be pretty sensitive.”

So he finds the right balance, thankful for the admonishment, they’re so thick but he resists the urge to chew, plenty of room in between, she’s getting antsy, better explore further.

He slides down onto the floor and caresses her hips, kisses her knees, they taste as good as they always look, then starts up a thigh. “Nick you don’t have to.” He just keeps going, slowly, she seems unsure, he keeps going, he waits for her to pull back the Shroud of Mysteries, he keeps going, then slips his hands on her hips inside the Shroud, until he makes First Contact.

She’s definitely not wearing panties. He pauses and looks up at her in surprise, she smiles, “I had a feeling they would just get all messed up one way or another, hell they would have been drenched over an hour ago.”

Nick shrugs and starts licking again back at her inner thighs, then moving back in, around the lips, then he had a feeling where to head next, on the hood -

That was it, she jerks slightly and gasps, so he uses the same technique as upstairs, gentle, mix it up, then before she has to ask he explores within, first with the tongue, then with the fingers, lick the hood some more, find that spot in there.

This rhythm becomes hypnotic, it seems to be headed somewhere, and at what seems like an odd moment, she explodes.

It hits with a force he could not have been ready for, let alone the volume. In a split second he realizes he needs to reciprocate and take in as much as possible, so he swallows, then coughs-

“Oh baby you OK?”

“Yeah,” coughs some more, “just went down the wrong way.”

He gains his wits then leans in to continue, but she laughs, “Nick it’s OK, I finished, you finished me, the way that only you could.”

“Wow,” he says, then fishes under the passenger front seat and produces a hand towel.

She looks at it and at him, “Mister Boy Scout strikes again,” then grabs it and cleans up, then he does the same.

“How do you feel?”

“Better than you felt I bet, but it’s not a race, it’s just amazing, you know how to reach me.”

Then despite where he’d been she pulls him up for a kiss while lowering the Shroud.

After a few moments she speaks up. “OK, I really need to step outside for a minute.”

She crawls back over the front seat, slips out the driver door then squats out of view, and he can hear liquid hitting the ground.

As always, Nick can’t resist, “You really are wasting that out there.”

“Shut up and gimme that towel, Sport.”

So he does, and he exits after she climbs back in to do the same thing.

“Need the towel?”

“Nah I get three shakes remember?”

“Do you need any more shakes?”

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Good just checking.”

They reassemble as before in the front seat, in a haze of spent, and rejoin Sister Act already in progress. Noreen had said she was looking forward to the musical numbers and it’s cleverly done. Finally this gets to be very comfortable, almost too much so, for being in a car among mostly strangers in subdued lighting, but then, it’s an understood thing, a community of the moment, a when taking part in a musical group.

At some point Nick gets hankering for another pop and they share one. Not too long after that he thinks he smells a strange earthy aroma that he associates with that illegal plant that seems to show up here and there.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“God that stinks.”

“To be honest, I have partaken before, but usually just one or two hits to make the rest of the room seem more tolerable, if that makes sense.”

“I never have, it would probably make me cough up a lung.”

“Yeah it’s harsh, but look at it this way,  if folks feel relaxed enough here to blaze up then we’ve got little to worry about.”

“Good point.”

Despite his best efforts, Nick starts to think about her body again. He resists the urge to explore in her shirt some more, since there’s no way things will top what happened earlier, so he just holds off, sometimes the wanting can be good too. He’s not ready to do the deed, not yet, it’s somewhere off in the ether, but not here and not tonight. She has a wonderful flavor, everywhere he’s explored, almost too good to be true.

“I can feel that you know,” she pipes up.

“It’s your fault.”

She just lets it drop. It’s completely dark now and you can hear a few bugs mixed in with the sisters. Some cars have left but more have arrived, but none too close to the white Cordobeast back in the corner. Maybe it looks too pimp to mess with.

Once the film goes to credits she flips over again, “OK buster, got any more where that came from?”

“You’re welcome to find out.”

It’s darker and she’s bolder. She undoes her top and slips her bra completely off, then perches on one elbow and undoes his shorts completely this time. She takes out his stuff and massages, stroking, then whispers, “play with my tits.”

So he does, and they play together, sometimes it’s just good to play, even if it doesn’t result in anything, but eventually, it does, and she leans in and makes sure it gets rubbed in.

“If you’re trying to kill me I like your style.”

“No I need you around too much.”

“Glad to hear it.”

She finds the famous towel and cleans him up then buttons her shirt back up and returns to where she was on his chest. Sometime during the beginning of the last feature he makes his way beneath the Shroud, she doesn’t mind, but gets into it quickly, and so begins the next slow burn until she twitches and dozes off.

Nick never completely falls asleep during Vinny but is able to follow it for the most part, very witty dialog and they are going out of their way to juxtapose two cultures here. But his awareness of her presence never goes away, they are cemented with their vital fluids, this is as close to mated as he’s ever known and beyond imagination, strange, yet, just right.

Vinny winds up and goes into credits. Nick takes a deep breath but she doesn’t stir. Engines start up and she is still asleep.

“Sweetie?”

“Hmm?”

“Movie’s over.”

“No. We stay here.”

“How long till the cops show up?”

“You’re not helping.”

“Yeah I suck.”

“I’ll do the sucking around here if you don’t mind.”

“Did you hear any complaints?”

She pops up with a tired, wry smile and leans in for a peck. “Nick this has been the best.”

“Aren’t we celebrating something?”

“Yeah you got a job.”

“Oh I sure did.”

This earns a very dirty look, then she looks to the side, smiles, “Well I did too so there ya have it. Alright, if we must, but this is under protest.” She plants herself in the passenger seat and buckles up.

“It’s over too quickly.”

“Well we just have to look forward to next time.”

“To next time.”

He fires up the Cordobeast and they head into the star-filled universe.

Nick pulls into his driveway at half past two, and thankfully sees her bra in the back seat before it has a chance to attract attention. He falls asleep quickly with it beneath his pillow.

Marantz and Pioneer

Spring, 1984

Nick mans his spot in the living room in front of the entertainment stand at a time when no one needs to hog the TV or complain about the music.

For most folks an outdoor TV antenna is just that, a way to bring in signals when the bunny ears won't do it. Jameson sits about 50 miles from the nearest full-power TV station, with most a bit further than that.

So when the Swansons first settled into their Cape Cod, Ned went ahead and put in a 40 foot sectional tower and secured it to the side wall at the apex of the roof. Being familiar with the staff at the local electronics retailer he was able to get the longest Channel Master plus a downlead amplifier. With the rotor normally parked northward they could get the Springfield-ish market channels, or turning the other way it would bring in those from Terre Haute. Sometimes in the mornings they would get the big Chicago guns, or those drifting in from St. Loo or Indy.

At times Nick could make a day out of chasing signals, running it all over the map whenever no one else wanted to watch, and when the signals seemed to come from a particular direction. Sometimes he would get Louisville and those down down by Evansville. Sometimes he could get one from Lafayette, Indiana, and even South Bend, and sometimes up into Michigan. A few times Rockford drifted in, and the Quads, and the grand prize was a Channel 12 from Milwaukee.

At some point Ned spent a bonus on a decent Marantz receiver and Pioneer speakers. This brought a wide, selective FM tuner into the mix and opened up a whole new world with the regional drift of signals. With the antenna toward Chicago he could pick up some of the ones from Sears tower just about any time, and there were very few quiet spots. He had a notebook just for this. The first pages were things as he could ID them, then the latter were attempts to organize by city or area, which the industry would just term a DMA. Naturally Tim gives him shit for geeking out but then Tim doesn’t seem to have purpose in life so who cares.

Eventually he got a low-power stereo for his room and hooked it to the antenna. Sometimes he could just lie there and listen to B96 out of the big town, with just a bit of hiss in the background. This was the soundtrack for the confident, well dressed people who went to parties, those who lived in a fascinating world. As a bug to a flame, Nick could bask in the energy that an equally confident major market Top 40 FM gave off, they were in the middle of it all, whatever that really means, if any one really knows. His parents say that WLS was the big deal at one point but Nick can’t even imagine AM having this kind of impact, with out that crisp (albeit compressed) stereo sound.

Nick had a scale of classifying stations on the FM dial, at least those that played some kind of rock. There were the ones that seemed to appeal to a more adult type, what we'd call Adult Contemporary or Soft Rock would go in the notebook as Rock I. Then the Top 40 is Rock II, since they are more daring and sometimes whip out the hard stuff or with edgy lyrics.

At the top of the scale were a few of the Rock III that were almost purely the hard stuff. Once in a while one of those would hit his room like a storm, as if the sound could hurt you if you took in to much or played it too loud. Tim had gathered a few tapes so far of bands like Triumph and Helix, even Iron Maiden, but to Nick these were still a bit much and he'd still run out of the room when Tim would crank it just enough to get yelled at from downstairs.

That hard guitar stings like a bee with nothing to lose, and the lyrical freedom, some say she do...some say she don't...some say she will...and some say she won't...does that have to do with the stuff that older guys like to do if they can lure a female into the back of their van at night? The sound is a lot like Rick Springfield but harder, but not as heavy as Quiet Riot that everyone keeps talking about.

Late one night one of the Rock II stations whipped out a pretty hard one, chorus goes Rock You Like A Hurricane, had the fastest guitar playing he had ever heard. How is that humanly possible, is it a tape trick of sorts? (For the record, NO, not a tape trick!)

There were some good ones that got obscured from local stations, since all Jameson had was a powerful Country Lovin' on FM 94 but actually 93.9, and then the easy listening, Sounds Of The Good Life, Stereo 102. The latter was the only thing his mom approved of after the station "we" support, the Christian WJLT up in Colton, which part of the church-school where some of his classmates ended up over the years. Although, the public classical stations seemed acceptable too but no one was really interested.

Some of the guys at school would rave about what they could pick up on AM at night, Boston, Minneapolis, Toronto, New Orleans and even Spanish stations that had to be way south. Whenever Nick tried AM, even on the Marantz he would just get a buzz. It seems he would be able to mess around with his own radio upstairs and pull those in, but all he could hear was a buzz, even behind the local 1280. His dad didn't know what would cause it, but then one night, Nick was messing with an old transistor radio in the den and turned off a dimmer switch they used on a lamp, and voila, the skies opened up.

Signals would drift in, sometimes over top of each other, then one would take over, then they both fade into the distance. There's be the old-time jazzy music, with the brass going WHUH WHUH-WHUH...WHUH...WHUH...floating in and out of the ether without a care in the world.

Time for a new notebook.

All said, it's more about the journey than the destination, and to some, even when there's nothing on, the signal is a bigger deal than the content.

Colluding

 Noreen picks up after the machine answers, just before 10 on Thursday night.

"Hey you...how'd it go?"

"I'm in. Filled out the paperwork and start in about a month."

"Nick I'm so glad, we need to celebrate."

"Tomorrow night?"

"You remembered me saying that."

"Hard to think about anything else."

"We can make that happen, I can pack sammiches if you want too."

"Sammiches are awesome, I can bring pop."

"Sounds like we're colluding once again. I'll tell you how to get here, it's just about half an hour, if you leave at, 6:30 is that ok?"

"It's perfect, i'll get to see your place."

"Well from the outside, for now, I need to clean it up."

"If you say so."

"Nick I've been living alone here for years and don't get visitors much, so it needs some work."

"I can help."

"Nick."

"What?"

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Aren't we a team these days?"

"Yes we make one hell of a team, but still..."

"I've got a lot of time before the lab gig starts, so-"

"Well we can talk about it later, for now I'm geeked that you'll be at the school. I should find out any day now but I get the feeling I might get two lectures in the fall."

"That'll be awesome - OH, are you watching TNG?"

"Shit, forgot, lemme switch on."

"I was also thinking..."

"Uh oh should I ask?"

"I'd like to meet your mom."

She's quiet for a few seconds. "Nick that's very sweet, she'd love to meet you I'm sure, we'll try to do that before you start the lab gig."

"Good, I'd just feel better." He can hear her softly sobbing. "Hon I didn't mean to upset you."

"Nick I'm not...this is just so sweet. I'm not used to having someone, it's just...wonderful, thank you for being there."

"Not sure where else I'd be."

She takes a deep breath, "alright, looks like we've got Feringis tonight, great. From what I heard they were supposed to be the new Klingons but they're too damn funny."

"Yeah they drive me nuts sometimes."

"I think they're supposed to."

They watch for a while, then during a commercial Noreen gives him directions, then Nick remembers,

"Oh I've been taping some MST3k for you."

"Nick I have no intention of watching those alone, you know that don't you?"

"That could prove interesting."

They watch a bit more then say good night, Nick grabs a dictionary to figure out that cool word she used.

Dean Sue

It's raining on Thursday morning as Nick tries to find the closest spot to the building, thankfully not hard to do in the off season. He fishes a hand-me-down umbrella from beneath the Cordoba's bench seat and heads in, donned in a clean pair of jeans and presumably clean tan and blue checkered button-up short-sleeved shirt. Goody had advised him to just wear what he'd normally wear to work, the apex of professional and comfortable.

He checks in with the receptionist just as Goody walks up, they shake hands and proceed into the Dean's office where he's greeted with another handshake. Sue Richards is one of those gals who seems a lot taller than her actual stature.

"Have a seat, gentlemen, would you like some coffee?"

They both decline, Nick was already a bit wired anyway.

"Very good, well Nick, we are very glad to have you join the faculty. Will you be up to teaching five or six classes this fall while Alfred and George are on sabbatical?"

Nick just raises an eyebrow, and after a couple seconds she winks and lets him off the hook, he can see Goody chuckle towards the other wall.

"Just having some fun with you Nick, we're very glad you are interested in watching over the electronics lab."

"Good one, Dean."

"Please, call me Sue. And this meeting is really just a formality, I believe you are aware of what it entails, the responsibilities?"

"I think so, we covered that a few weeks ago and it's seemed like the right thing to do."

"Well we do as well, Nick, it's an honor to have one of our top students on board."

"Thank you, Sue, that's very kind."

"Not at all. So...just to coordinate, I believe you could start, what is it, the...third...week in July, Alfred?"

Nick grins and can't resist, mumbles, "Alfred."

Goody chimes in, "yes that's when Brian is finishing up," then turns and fires, "Nicholas."

"I can see this is gong to be a good time with you two. Nick will you be wanting to start at that time? That's fine with us, or you could start a bit later into August if that works best."

"I'll go ahead and get started at the earliest date, been looking forward to it."

"Excellent," as Sue makes some notes.

Goody chimes in, "will you be moonlighting for Emmett?"

"No...no, I'm done."

"His loss is our gain."

Sue rejoins, "Nick I believe you worked previously as a tour guide?"

"Correct."

"Very good, so the office should have some of your info on file, but could you see them on your way out and take a letter? They may ask you to re-apply, and all that. If you can stick around a bit we can get that ready for you."

"That sounds great, and I really do appreciate this opportunity."

"Well again, we appreciate you and what you've accomplished here. It seems you'll have access to the lab, and other perks like being able to audit courses for free, just work it out with Alfred. Just keep the lab and students enabled and we'll be all set."

"That fits my understanding."

"Good, and I wanted to mention, just remember that you are not here to assist students but to assist the faculty. Of course you are free to assist students if you wish but don't hesitate to explain your role, and I believe instructors mention this in class as well-"

Goody affirms.

"Perfect, so Nick if you have any questions or concerns I'm sure you know to get with Alfred, but I have an open door policy with my staff Nick, just check with the desk out there and we'll talk as soon as possible."

"Sounds great, Sue, I appreciate that."

She smiles, stands up and reaches for a handshake, "Welcome aboard, Nick."

*****

He wanders around the lab a bit, still familiar but yet so much yet to explore. The VAX and PC labs are not open today. It would be nice to have a key to those but they are maintained by the business department.

Not sure what else to do, he bugs Goody about the VAX and asks if he would still have an account.

"Yeah you'd have staff access to whatever you need or can use, just talk to Jim Gordon. I believe it has a modem too but there's only a single line and they like it to just be used for quick things, you know, to check messages or whatever."

"Cool, just kinda curious."

"If you were wanting to do some programming I believe it has C and several other languages. You can always telnet into it from anywhere on the building network too."

"Yeah we did C on there, hadn't thought of the network, never got to use it before."

"Welcome to the machine, son. By the way, are you still talking to that young lady?"

Nick turns out the door, "You know I think the office has that letter ready, better go-"

"Get outta here, see you in a few weeks and call if you need to talk about anything."

"Will do, coach, thanks."

Peolotonia

On Saturday night about half past ten, Nick is settled in with windows open, lights low, and had a full day helping Ned with some staining they finally got around to. Once again he's the good kind of tired, having bathed. The dial on the 25-watt Scott shelf receiver says 91.7 as it provides jazz at a sleeping volume.

He dials her number and it rings 3 times, then a recorded male voice, not Bart's but a different one says leave a message. Nick is usually thrown off by machines but figures he'd just take it slow and see what comes out. At the sound of the beep,

"Just me...had the jazz on and thought-"

Phone picks up, "Hey you."

"Well hello."

"Yeah I usually let that pick up, especially at night."

"Smart girl."

"If you say so."

"I know so."

"Well I'm not in the tub but I did turn on the radio, was doing some reading."

"I was on my feet most of the day, helped Dad with some woodwork he'd been promising my mom for a while."

"Well at least he's getting some use out of you for once."

"Hey you'd be surprised."

"Nick you never cease to surprise me."

"So how's our favorite jeep?"

"Believe it or not still sitting there like a lame duck, he had a big job in the shop already."

"Ahh."

"Yeah, he's been giving me shit about breaking it, told him I'll break his ass next time."

"Siblings."

"You can pick your nose but you can't pick your family."

Nick makes a snort, smacks his mouth,"Tastes like chicken."

"Alright you sicko, did you get to talk to your future employer yet?"

"Well I went against orders and checked his office, wasn't in yesterday so I'll try Monday."

"Suspense."

"Gotta have something to balance out the lazy hazy crazy days of sum-mer," with Noreen joining about halfway through the chorus there.

"I just hope it works out sweetie, I'm still excited for you."

"So I was wondering..."

"Uh oh."

"Oh relax, would you like to take a bike tour of my wonderful town?"

"Oooh, love to, but I don't have a bike."

"Well we have several, and we can mix and match parts to do whatever."

"Can I have a banana seat?"

"Only if I'm the banana."

"Hmmm."

"As for the bikes, we have a nice seat that has pads for the inner hip bones, very comfy, and my mom's old bike has one of those wide comfy seats."

"That might be the ticket - is it a speed bike with gears or the reverse-pedal to brake?"

"It's a coaster brake, no gears, I think they won it in a contest and she barely rode it."

"Sweet."

"Yeah we can adjust the height if needed then we can ride then I'll sniff your seat."

"Good lord..."

"Miss me?"

"Well I was missing you...but now I don't know."

"Could you come out in the morning when it's cooler?"

"Maybe."

*****

Noreen arrives Tuesday morning to find Nick in the garage cleaning up the old Hawthorne, chain is lubed and pedals are nice and spinny. She gets a big welcome and just as he notices her goosebumps, she says,

"Let's get going, but just one request."

"Anything."

"Can we not go past that parsonage today?"

They laugh, he promises, the bike is just right for her frame, they embark.

Although most of the commerce has grown out on the main drag, the middle of town has kept the usual mix of barber shops, a bakery, and a few other curiosities, but those will have to wait. They explore vacant school yards, play on the swings. Nick is a bit disappointed none of them have the big tiles like that campground, but doesn't feel like mentioning or explaining that.

The grain elevator is where it's always been, has a few tubs to load up, Nick had always subconsciously wondered whose money built those elevators. Farmers in ball caps roam about in pickups, as they always have. There's the stretch near the tracks with the nondescript buildings with garage doors, surrounded by high fencing to protect piles of half-rusted I-beams, weathered crates and classic cars showing more vegetation than metal. Seems someone should be welding in there but there never seems to be any activity. Rows of two-story houses with a brown exterior, people on plant-filled porches just staring or reading, a few kiddie pools with a few kiddies in and about, free of most concerns of the headlines.

No tour would be complete without a stroll past his old leaf-raking haunts, Mrs. H has moved out but they try Deke's place to no avail, seems he takes an extended trip this time of year, guess that's the perks of being somewhat retired.

They get to a city park which does have the tiles but there's too many people around. They ride along the riverside walk and stop to gaze a while, he leans on a tree and she on him.

After just over a couple hours they get back and head inside.

Irene greets, "How was it?"

Noreen pipes up first, "Well I'm not sore!"

Nick remembers the bikes are still standing in the garage and puts those away, then comes back to find them both on the couch just gabbing away.

"Hey why don't you go upstairs and play, I want to talk to your mom a bit."

Nick just looks at her. She smiles with an expectant plea. Outnumbered, he heads upstairs and flips on the PC, might as well see if anything's new with the chess club. He also flips on the Icom to see what's on the distant shortwaves, deep down he really doesn't want to hear any of the conversation downstairs, things will be a lot better the less he has to try and understand about it all.

The paper's BBS hasn't changed much since the last visit, although the chess club are holding an open night soon. Might be tempting at some point, nerds are nerds. That other private one rings busy. None of his games sound good, and the airwaves are sparse, but he finds some music from who knows where with a host speaking who knows what. He lies down.

"Hey..." Noreen perches next to him. "Oh you dozed off, I'm sorry babe."

"Must have."

"We're making sandwiches."

"Is it safe down there yet?"

"Stop it. I just remembered how hard it was on my mom, well, from what I gathered, I'm the youngest and all...but when boys get a girlfriend it can be hard on the mom. And I am a bit older and don't want her to think I'm trying to pry you away"

"Well I didn't hear anything."

One-beat kiss. "Well we didn't just talk about you. Did you know she's thought about going back into teaching?"

"Seriously?"

"You need to talk to her more, dork," then looks around, "so this is where it all happens."

"It hasn't happened here yet that I can recall."

She lowers her voice, "I'll have you know I'm not going to deflower a young man in his poor mother's house."

"Well where then?"

Noreen grabs his thigh, Nick finds some ribs and she quickly folds his arm and puts the kibosh on further escalation, "get your (lowers voice into Queen's English) blooming arse down those stairs before I give you a proper what-for, " then flies out of the room before he can chime in.

Nick goes down there, finds a sandwich, piles on some chips and fishes out a dill slice. As the gals have already started back in, he turns to head upstairs,

"Sit!" Noreen commands in her usual tone. He hesitates a second then realizes this round is a wash, then plops at the other end of the table and digs in.

Irene is beyond impressed, "Honey we need you around here more often."

After lunch Nick is back at his desk with Noreen siting next to him on an old milk crate. He's fiddling through the bands on the Icom, finds a net on the 14 MHz segment and they listen a few minutes.

"They sound like they're on helium," she observes.

"Single sideband does that, it's like AM but without the carrier, the receiver basically has to reconstruct the signal."

"Why don't they use FM?"

"The idea is to use less bandwidth down on the lower frequencies. They only use AM on certain frequencies here and there, seems to be a special interest. But for local stuff they use FM, sometimes I listen to repeaters on a scanner."

"Oh we always had a scanner growing up, I kinda miss it."

"I'll have to see what's in Paps' stuff, haven't made it through it all yet."

She allows a pause. "Is it still hard to do?"

"Yeah it's different. I have his keyer here," and points to a side-swipe paddle key with a small metal box.

"So you're named for him..."

"Oh God she told you."

"Nick remember I saw your license, I knew your middle name."

"Maybe some other time you can help me go through the other boxes."

"It's a date."

She looks around and locates a guitar case, "what have we here."

"Yeah that's gotta be majorly out of tune."

Pretty soon she's strumming and trying to find at least one true pitch to go on. "Will she mind if I use the piano for this?"

"I always did."

Nick turns back to the PC and hears her plinking and picking through the lower strings, he decides to try some pinball. Before he knows it she's back through the door and situating on his bed.

"You'll make my pillow smell nice tonight."

"Shut up or I'll fart on it. Have you ever played a classical? They have those thick necks like a boat oar."

"Nope, just some electrics over at Duggard's and a couple pawn shops, shared that one with my brother."

Noreen strums a familiar tune, and after she kicks in with the arpeggio he blurts, "Oh, Yes...from Fragile I think, the instrumental by Steve Howe."

"Mmm hmmm, got this stuck in my head as a kid then bugged people to teach me."

"Not bad, for a fiddle player."

She pauses strumming and glares. "Show me what you got, hot shot," and hands it to him.

Nick heads to the woodshed for some 12-bar, then fumbles through Mary Had a Little Lamb on the low frets, a F-G bar-chord vamp with some pinky-notes that make it sound kinda jazzy, and then the riff from the Bangle's treatment of Hazy Shade of Winter.

"Don't quit your day job," as she reaches for the instrument.

She goes back to playing and him to his pinball. Eventually she sets it back into the case and takes her hair clip loose to re-secure things. He watches her do this and she sticks her tongue out.

"Can I try that game?"

He tries to get her to sit on his lap but she flushes a tad and makes him move, "you know what that gets us." In about three rounds she blows away his highest score.

"Lady luck."

"I ain't no lady."

"You're my lady."

This wins her over to putting her legs on his. "Nick I'm really glad we got to do all this today, thanks for asking me."

"Yeah it was nice."

She leans on an elbow, smiles that way she does and goes into thought mode.

"What's going on in that little blond head?"

"Um...there's a drive in about 15 minutes from where I live."

"Is that so. What's playing."

"They do some kind of matinee on Friday nights, if you're interested."

"When do I pick you up?"

She leans on him and they just sit there a while, to the tune of the music from who-knows-where.

Coffee Machine Coffee

Monday, January 21, 1991

Nick sits in a section of the wide hallways in the Tech building, in the rear part near the mechanical equipment labs such as hydraulics, testing, machining, and things he hasn’t needed to see. This is known as the smokers' lounge being one of the few indoor spots on campus designated to allow it, such as the snack bar beneath Gelding hall and he's noticed that some of the mech labs allow smoking as well, by default, given the open, ventilated space.

No lines or anything demarcate the smokers' lounge, it's evidently an honor system. Maybe you have to be within normal conversation distance of the chairs. That works.

There's one other occupant a few chairs away quietly reading a paper that someone left, no telling how old it is. Cork boards with announcements that Nick hardly reads are along the wall that heads to the front door, about 200 feet away. From this corner he can see the heart of the engineering technology labs, as his EET labs are to his left down the shorter hall toward another side corridor.

There's a snack machine and one of those Servomation hot beverage deals, the coffee had always smelled good so he gets a cup, it's 5:45 PM and he'll be around till almost 9. One of the required labs meets once per week for 4 hours and it's self-paced, so one is free to take a break whenever it seems best.

After a full quarter under the belt he's gotten a good taste of world life. Many of the folks in his GS classes are close to finishing up their degree, some working on two degrees. Seems it's about 4:1 non-traditional students, those who had been 10, 15, 20 or more years in a career and starting over, or else laid off from one of the nearby factories and getting incentives to pursue here.

This is when you realize all the things that adults never told you before. Most of the women talk about their families and come across as motherly or sisterly, at least to a young green fellow. Others make it clear they would be a sure thing, tell of their exploits with male 'friends', how some of the reciprocating machine tools remind them of a porn pic someone had brought in to work with the same model machine rigged with a phallus.

To a high degree, the men are worldly and inspiring, in a lab situation they make one believe we can solve any technical problem that comes along. Quick with a joke and have been around, been there, albeit, sometimes offering advice no one asks for. Then there are some that look like they crawled out from beneath a rock or wondered out of the hills and can't find their way back.

Is this is what it's really like at Dad's plant? Some of them had worked there.

One of the non-trads had come to tech writing class in a suit, been interviewing but not finding much success, surprising to Nick since Dwight seemed like the cream of the crop: seasoned, confident, hard working, dependable; the affable yet capable everyman with qualities that seem unattainable. It's tempting to think that this is the way it will be: cold weather, cold world, few opportunities.

Nick is thankful for the ones that are about his own age, since he was an oddity in his high school it's refreshing to be funneled in with those more like-minded, granted, a lot of them have a more rural and farming background.

So he sits at the apex, leaning back, the halls converging at each end, one where he entered, one where he'll be for a while, then eventually, somewhere where the long hall's lines finally intersect, he'll start whatever. Wherever.

This is not some prestigious back-east institution whose importance never made sense to Nick. A school is a school. People are realizing their fulfillment here, some bound for leadership or other high-functioning occupations, at a school founded in the latter 20th century as the result of legislative action.

Yet the halls are timeless. Names and dates on the corkboard change, the walls go on.

The stories these walls could tell. They go on.

At unseen hours there must be crews that sweep these floors. They go on.

The perpetual fluorescent lighting which seems purposefully too dim for much reading, and sometimes you'll see folks nodding off through here, Nick has never seen those shut off, and he hates that this has to share image space with Orwell's Minitrue.  

Nevertheless, It goes on.

The stories told in and around these chairs, god how they go on. And on.

At work this past weekend, an affable fellow, Lucas, who's engaged to one of Nick's coworkers said he'd heard they were enlisting the draft, which he had half-believed. During a half-hour mid shift lunch Nick walked to Taco Bell, then while venturing through a quiet parking lot through a light snow had visions of riding in a transport truck with other GIs. It has the allure of adventure, to a point, but not the life for him. They hadn't even deployed Tim's unit yet, and was almost sure they don't conscript all siblings.

This didn't stick in his mind long, especially after the positive press over the weekend, SCUDS v. Patriots, seems there always has to be conflict in the world. It goes on.

The small cup of coffee has gone from sips to gulps to empty. Time to empty the bladder and get back to wire wrapping. Thankfully, for now, it goes on.