Chapter 39

Alan's turn:

I promise I won't complain, much. But I always enjoyed being a "field" engineer, rather than an office-type. Not much chance to get out of the office in recent months -- we have too many contracts and too many people involved, and it's taking all my efforts (and three administrators) to keep it all down to a dull roar.

Don't misunderstand -- we're successful beyond anything I'd ever have imagined. We don't solicit work anymore, because the phone rings several times a day with new requests for us. When you get a reputation for doing VERY good work, companies come looking for you, and they don't bother looking for competitors. Thank goodness for Beck, because she's somehow able to keep track of it all with the help of two admin staff.

I took a stroll this afternoon -- went over to the old lab across the street, and while it wasn't quite a war zone, it was a barely organized mess. pTerri had four engineering students working on the new Zeke-Bot ("Zeke" is their abbreviation for "Zombie-Killer", which the Munchkins think is funny. That major from the Army's R&D seems to think so, too.) There were three computer science students in another corner, blocking out code sequences, and the Munchkins had Kim and Dana in another corner, working on calculus problems.

Dana and Kim, though, they're really past most engineering calculus. I think that the two of them eyed Cindy and Nikki's math degrees and got a bit envious, so they're here with the Munchkins.

At the end of the day, Beck told me she would take care of pTerri and Rachel and Vicki ("girl-shopping", she says. I suppose I'll understand later, maybe.) So I went home to Tina and Kathy. Kathy looks at me with those blue eyes, and giggles. Melts my heart, I'll tell you. She likes "Pat-a-cake", and "Read a story". I've just about decided that girls learn how to manipulate men at THIS age.

And a bit later, pTerri ran in with a shopping bag. She said "Dad, LOOK!" and pulled a training bra out of the bag. I couldn't speak -- dumbfounded, of course. This is one of those days that the father of a daughter fears.

Tina said, "Alan, pTerri and Rachel are starting to get some bumps -- it's time for this."

And I'm REALLY not ready for this.

Dinner tonight is a delightful stew, with fresh-baked cornbread. Tina is wonderful. And after dinner, pTerri helped me clean up the dishes, while Tina nursed Kathy, and took her to the nursery to change her diaper.

With all that settled, pTerri came up to us and said "Daddy, Tina, can we talk for a minute?"

Uh-oh. "Sure, pTerri. What's up?"

"You know how all the fairy tales begin with 'Once upon a time... '? Well, 'Once upon a time' you guys decided that you loved each other, and then you decided to marry. How did you decide? What made you pick each other?"

I looked at Tina, and she waved a hand for me to begin. "You start off, Alan. You are the hero."

"pTerri, you've already heard how we met, when she was about to get roughed up at that restaurant. I didn't know anything about her, but I don't let stuff like that happen to ANYBODY, ever. She needed the basics at that point -- shelter, food, and things like that, so I made those available for her, just so she could get back on her feet."

"Find my feet," Tina interrupted. "All of a sudden I was without a parent, not many options..."

I continued, "But over the next few weeks, I discovered that we had the same tastes in music, similar moral values, and that she was REALLY smart. It helped that she was very pretty, and still is, but I was most attracted to the fact that she was smart, wanted to learn, and worked her butt off."

Tina said, "pTerri, Alan was entirely different than any man I had ever seen. All the ones I had seen – the men with Mom – would have wanted to use and control me like they did her, and spent all their time using or selling drugs. They did all they could to steal from others, and avoided any kind of work. Your dad was very different. He was very smart, worked hard, made a lot of GOOD friends, and liked the same things I liked. He never wanted to use me or control me. He did everything he could to make me independent, so that I could do the things I wanted to do and needed to do. He made it possible for me to have a REAL life, much more than I had ever expected. It didn't take me long to decide that I needed him in my life forever."

I watched pTerri hanging on Tina's words. Tina continued, "There's a lot of the Bible that I don't understand, and some that I don't agree with sometimes. But there's also a lot of wisdom, and one of the things is a phrase that you hear at wedding ceremonies: 'The two shall become one flesh.' pTerri, in a good marriage, that phrase is literally the truth."

pTerri said, "Thanks, Dad. Thank you, Tina. And that leaves me with one other big problem. I already figured out who I want to marry, but I'm too young to 'become one flesh' with him. That part will take a few more years -- at least three more, I'm pretty sure."

"What are you talking about, pTerri?"

"Dad, I can't marry you, and I can't clone you. If I could, that would be perfect, for me. But I've been watching Jerry, and he's just like you, nearly. He's the one, but he doesn't know it yet. And I still need to grow up some, and graduate from Auburn. That's going to take at least two years, or maybe three."

"Umm, pTerri. Don't you think Jerry needs to be able to say something about this?"

"Yup. He gets to say 'I do', when I tell him to."

"pTerri! What about me? Don't I get a say in this?"

Tina and pTerri looked at each other. Then they both looked at me, and together they said, "No."

Oh, Lord. Being manipulated by either of them was bad enough. Now they're doing it TOGETHER.

PTerri continued, "Seriously, Dad, people stuff. Relationships. Feelings. You know how you say 'people are messy things'?"

"Your dad's saying, I think," Tina said

"Everybody says it. I see where it happens."

"And it's happening to you, baby?"

pTerri's eyes flicked between me and Tina. "Yes. I think so. I tried to analyze ... It's not like hardware. It's not like software. I can't go in and put in statements to help with debugging. But it's real."

"It's real, baby," I said. "I see Jerry working with you 'n' Vicki 'n' Rachel. He's very good at teaching and encouraging you all to think. But don't mistake somebody being nice to you to mean that there's more..."

"He hasn't actually SAID anything to you, has he? Or have you said something?" Tina queried gently.

"Gosh, no ... It's kinda like I can almost tell what he's thinking, though. Like he's a little tiny bit different to me than to Vicki and Rachel."

"Are you sure you're not reading something into it that might not be there, baby?" I asked. Seriously – one of the conversations that a dad dreads. Of course, I know that any serious dad would WANT to have this conversation as opposed to having a daughter NOT talking to her parents. I always prayed that pTerri was smarter than that. And here she is. So I have to be careful.

"Dad," she said, "I know what a good husband is like. You 'n' Tina aren't the only ones, you know. I can see a bunch of great marriages in my community. But when I get out with the home-school group, I hear things about others, too. 'Compare and contrast', right? Like expository writing, except I'm thinking."

"Even in that group..." Tina sighed.

"Uh-huh. I know of a divorce happening. And I listen to some of the other girls talkin' about boys and what they like. Just like Carissa back in California – I don't understand – there's this rush to be more grown up for all the wrong reasons – mooning over guys who are 'dumber than stumps' as Uncle Bill says. I can't do that." She gave us a serious look.

"I'm really trying to figure this out."

"Sweetie," I said, "you might be the brightest girl on the planet, but you're approaching problems that people have been trying to solve since time began."

She fixed Tina in her sights. "Engineers do make good husbands, though, don't you think?"

Tina giggled. "Fight fair, pTerri!"

"I'm not fighting. We're having a family discussion. Seriously. And don't give me that 'puppy love' thing. One of the girls in our group got told that already."

"Baby, I do not presume you to be uninformed," I said. My best tactic – treat your enemy as eminently capable. "But you have to realize that everybody is NOT the same, especially when it comes to emotional development."

"That's right," Tina helped. "That was what I saw in a lot of Mom's men – they were bad little ten-year-old boys in adult bodies. You're in the entirely opposite direction ... And believe me, every girl who's gone off the deep end over some guy has thought she was much more mature than her age said."

"I am more mature..." pTerri retorted, blue eyes flashing.

"There are many areas of maturity, baby," Tina replied softly. "We know that, don't we? Physical. Emotional. Intellectual. WE KNOW where you are intellectually. And we just saw your new bra, so we know where you are physically. But emotionally ... be careful. Just like you wouldn't overestimate your physical strength, don't overestimate your emotional strength either."

"I know..." pTerri said back. "That's why we're talking. I want to find out..."

"Be careful, sweetie," Tina said. "And do NOT say anything like this to Jerry. You know that difference in your ages..."

"I sort of talked with Cindy..." pTerri started.

I'm thinking 'Oh, Lord' but at the same time, I know that Cindy's very careful about her status and how she portrays herself and Dan to others. I know we've – Tina and I – had several conversations about fourteen year old Cindy and forty-something year old Dan, right from the first time we met them. The outcome of those conversations, now reinforced by other couples, Dan 2.0 and Nikki, Dana and Ed, Tim and Kim – each of those was a positive vote in support of 'age doesn't make a difference'. None of those girls was MY daughter.

"What did Cindy say? Do you want to tell us?" Tina questioned.

"Cindy says 'talk to your dad and Tina'. She also said that when she first started acting interested in her Dan, he almost moved away. And just like when he got arrested in Tennessee. If me 'n' Jerry did anything at all, he could go to jail. Or he could get scared and go away." Her eyes... "Dad. Tina-mom. I don't want him to go away."

"I know, sweetness," I said. I got arms full of preteen girl. There ARE rewards to fatherhood. She bounced from me to Tina. God, I'm glad I have Tina now. Actually, Tina's at the top of the list. I may have to talk with Cindy. That is, of course, if Tina doesn't get to her first.

"Now," pTerri said, her countenance changing from my preteen daughter navigating the roiled waters of love to that of research scientist, "I think we're going to see interesting things between the DOD (Auth. Note: Department of Defense – USA's top level of military activity) and Google."

"I think so. I know you and Cindy and Nikki are keeping a journal of all this."

"Oh, yeah," PTerri said. "Major Roth wants reports, too. He suggested that we might want to look at enhanced mobility and lowered noise signature. Actually he said 'stealth – broad-band, audio to light'. We're thinking."

She giggled. "I was actually thinking of a combat Roomba."

"We talked about the legality of autonomous weapons systems, baby," I said.