"You're everything I hoped for. You're everything I need. You are so beautiful, to me." (B. Preston -- B. Fisher) sung by Joe Cocker.
Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. I thought that I had submitted this chapter. Must be my advanced age. I'm loosing it...Lost it?
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That evening Maggie and I were getting ready to go to Jess' party, Maggie was in her bedroom and I was in Auntie Phyl's room. Kate was in with her mother; giving advice about what she should wear and what color lipstick she should use.
Kate wasn't happy that we were going out. She wanted to be with us because we were a family and that's the way families are. But when the baby sitter showed up at around 5:00 pm, Kate was happy because Nancy was her most favorite babysitter in the whole wide world.
Maggie wanted to get to the party early so that we could talk with Jess and her husband Rick, before the other guests arrived. She wanted time alone with them so we could tell them everything.
She told me that Jess had been there for her when things first went bad with David and it was Jess who took Maggie to the airport when she came to stay with Phyllis.
Jess picked up Maggie at the airport when she returned and she told Jess that she was pregnant. Jess gave her a shoulder to cry on.
Jess had even urged Maggie to return and tell me about the baby. She told Maggie that she didn't think that I hated her, as Maggie believed and that I would probably welcome her with open arms.
But, Maggie believed that she hurt me too badly and that she was afraid that I would turn her away. So she stayed with David in Brooklyn Park.
When we got to Jess and Rick's home, Jess ran out and gave us both a big hug. Then she saw the ring on Maggie's finger, she shrieked and hugged Maggie and they both cried. We went into the house and I was introduced to Rick.
Rick was an assistant director of the Minneapolis Department of Traffic Control. He was responsible for all of the traffic control devices in the City of Minneapolis.
Rick was overjoyed about the news of our engagement. He really liked Maggie, in fact he had tried to fix her up with some really nice guys in his office. Tried, but never succeeded.
I could see that even as he listened and was happy for us, he was rather distracted. I asked him what was wrong. He told me that they recently had a new traffic control system that was supposed to be far superior to the old one. It was supposed to centralize all commands to one command center However, they ere having problems, big problems. In whole sections of the city the traffic lights were failing. Sections of the city would go out completely, and chaos would ensue.
Tonight, one section of central city shut down and they were frantically trying to fix it. As it was Saturday there wasn't too much traffic, but it was a problem as the contractor's people weren't readily available.
As Rick had access to the system from his home computer, he was looking and trying to see if he could see where the problem was. He told me that he had been looking for it and so far nothing.
"But then again, John, I'm not a computer person. My expertise is in admin and engineering. Could you, maybe, take a look? An outsider giving it a fresh look. Only for a couple of minutes." Rick asked.
Jess gave her husband a withering look and said, "Rick, please."
"Auh, just for a few minutes, Jess," Rick plead.
He looked so forlorn and upset. I looked at Maggie and nodded my head. She just smiled.
I said, "It's okay, Jess. We will only be a few minutes. I probably won't have a clue and we will be back out here before any other guests arrive."
Just as I said that, the doorbell rang, we all laughed and Rick and I went into the office/family room. Rick took the seat in front of the computer.
A few moments later, Jess walked in with a rather tall thin gentleman. Jess laughed and said, "You are safe for now, John. It wasn't a guest, it's only Ed."
Rick turned around in the seat and said, "Ed, this is John Coleridge. John, Edward Pekka my boss."
We shook hands and he said, "Please call me Ed."
Rick explained what I do and that he wanted me to look at the system for a few moments. Ed thought that it was a good idea, another pair of eyes.
As we were looking at the codes, I told Rick to stop. Something didn't look right. As I was looking closely at the screen, Rick had me sit and he and Ed stood looking over my shoulder.
I was talking about what I was looking at and what I had expected to see. I had an idea and I started to nervously tap my fingers on the desk. I lost myself in the system; this was dangerous because when I get like this I lose all tract of time.
Rick said, "You have an idea, John?"
"Yea, there is some stuff here and I don't understand why it's here. I think that I might be able to stop the immediate problem, but no guarantees."
Ed gave a laugh and said, "John, believe me, you couldn't make it any worse."
"Famous last words," I laughed.
It took me about thirty minutes to do what I wanted; I explained every thing that I was doing. Rick and Ed told me that they didn't understand a word I was saying. I told them that I was explaining it to myself but that they could listen in. Then I turned to them and said I was ready.
Ed gave a broken grin and said, "Do it."
I hit the enter button and waited.
Rick was on the phone with the office and after a few moments, he got real excited and shouted, "It's working, the system is back and everything is working. YOU DID IT JOHN."
We all started laughing like a bunch of lunatics. Ed said, "This calls for a drink." He started to walk to the door.
Rick shouted, "No Ed, not out there, all Jess has out there is white wine spritzers. This calls for a REAL drink." He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and three glasses.
I said, "Mother's milk."
Rick said, "But no ice."
"Why would you want to dilute it?" Ed asked.
Rick poured three very large drinks.
We toasted and were laughing as we drank the bourbon. They were calling me a genius and pounding me on the back.
All of a sudden the door to the office opened and Jess walked in followed by Maggie and an attractive woman I assumed was Ed's wife.
The unknown woman said, "Having your own little party, I see. And you guys get the good stuff."
Jess added, "We thought that you three were going to be in here all night."
Ed laughed and said, "Gina, John did it. He put downtown back on line. Everything is working. He is a genius."
Then he said, "Oh, John this beautiful young thing is Gina, my wife. Gina this is John, he is gonna marry Margaret."
Gina rolled her eyes at Ed's comment and shook my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you; Margaret has been telling me all about you. You are a very lucky man."
"Believe me, I know that." I answered.
Maggie came over to me and put her arms around me and gave me a kiss.
I softly said, "How long have we been here?"
"Only an hour and fifteen minutes," she said.
"Maggie, I'm so sorry, I sort of lost tract of the time."
Maggie looked at me with a smile and said, "Jess was beside herself, she has been so worried about Rick and this new system. Both Ed and Rick have been going nuts. If you were able to help them, I'm happy."
Jess came over to us and put her arm around my neck and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. "Oh, thank you John. You are wonderful, I haven't seen Rick or Ed smile this much in weeks. You are a genius."
I smiled and said, "Just lucky, that's all."
"You're too modest, you did it." Ed boomed, as he took a big gulp of his second drink.
Jess and Gina grabbed their husbands and pulled them out of the room saying that everyone was out on the patio, so there would be no more business tonight.
Jess said in a loud voice, "We must get John outside, so that he can meet everyone and be ogled and stared at and thoroughly embarrassed."
Ya gotta love Jess.
The evening went by, I met everyone, but no matter how hard I tried after fifteen minutes the only names that I knew was Jess, Rick, Gina, Ed and Mattie who was with her husband Carlos. I was ogled and stared at, but I wasn't embarrassed. I was with my love and she stayed at my side. We either held hands or had our arms around each other.
Well into the evening, while Maggie was giving Jess a hand, Rick came over to me and asked what I was drinking and did I want a refill. I had switched to plain seltzer after that first drink. Didn't want to get drunk, I was sort of in the spotlight.
Rick brought me a fresh seltzer. He then smiled and said, "Look around the yard, do you realize that all of the single guys and even some of the married ones hate your guts."
I looked at him in surprise, "What? What are you talking about?"
"All of the single guys here tonight and probably two of three of the married men have either asked Margaret out, hit on her or propositioned her. Each and every one of them was turned down. Now, you come along and within twenty-four hours, she is wearing your engagement ring. In one fell swoop, you have dashed the hopes of half of the men at this party," he said laughingly.
Then he got serious and continued, "Margaret has had it tough the past couple of years. Not financially, she has a good job and David left her pretty well off, but she has been lonely."
"I know how she felt." I said.
"She had Katie," Rick continued, "But she was missing something. And that something was you.
