There Must Be a Mistae

Note: All persons used in this novel are fictitious. Although the areas used in this novel are real, the streets, buildings, roadways, recreational areas, and other points of interest used to make this interesting reading for you, are neither at the exact heights, or in the location described. If you are looking for a great deal of explicit sexual activity, this is not the story for you. As I have it notated now, those scenes will be evocative rather than aggressive. They also will be a few and far between. This is going to be a "SHORT STORY, for your reading pleasure," with no more than "FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS." With the exclusion of certain scenes, this story could easily have a fit into the category of "NON-EROTIC" as easily as it will fit into a Novel or Novella. Again, please remember, 'THIS IS A NOVEL.'

*****

24. Clearing Up The Confusion

"What's the matter baby?

"They won't let me leave and I want to be with you. They are fitting me with my grandmother's dress, and they tell me they need more time to do it properly. At this moment I would rather marry you in a potato sack as long as I could be with you."

"Will you be at the dinner tonight?"

"I will be there if I have to rip this dress off my body."

Her grandmother took the phone from her and spoke with me.

"Doctor Luck, my granddaughter is acting like any newly engaged young woman. She is desperately in love with her young man, and wants to be with him. She will be at the dinner this evening, and she will be there on time. It's very natural for her to want to be with you, instead of being surrounded by a gaggle of young women, who have yet to find husbands of their own. I am very proud of my granddaughter. She made a mistake early in her life, and has redeemed herself wonderfully. She has proved herself to be a wonderful mother, and she has raised a wonderful son by herself."

"Madam, I have many questions about the way your family treated Jennifer when she became pregnant and had Gordon without being married. I don't want to ask them now, because this is a very happy time for her and for me. There will come a day when I will ask those questions to the people involved, and I will get those answers. The people involved will not be happy with the way I handle it."

"I agree with you Doctor Luck. Now is not the appropriate time to ask those questions. I want my granddaughters' day to be a happy one. We will arrange a time and day for you to ask those hard questions to the young women involved. We will see you at dinner this evening."

"Thank you very much Mrs. Stars, I look forward to meeting you."

******

The children were running around the back of the house having a wonderful time. Gordon fit right in with them. He was neither too big, nor too small. Once he understood the rules of the games they were playing, he became very good at it. Delicious brought out a thermos of lemonade and glasses. She yelled, "Who needs something to drink?"

The game stopped, and most of the players ran towards her. Gordon walked. When he reached the area where Delicious was, there were still two children waiting in line ahead of him. He waited patiently, and received his drink from Delicious.

"Weren't you thirsty Gordon? Why didn't you run like the other children?"

"Yes, I was thirsty, but it didn't make sense to run, and get hotter than I was. I knew there would still be a few children online ahead of me when I got here."

"Gordon, you are very smart."

"Yes, I know. I was told you are very smart also. May I ask you a question, please?"

"Absolutely, go right ahead."

"Why do you call your father Uncle Even, instead of dad?"

"There is a difference between an uncle and a father, Gordon. A father is the man who with your mother helped conceive you. He and your mother made you or me by combining the father's sperm and your mother's egg, and produced a child. An uncle is the brother of the father or the mother of that child. I know it's confusing for a child of your age to understand but you will as you get older."

"I have understood that since I was two. I still don't understand why you call your father your uncle."

"Why do you think that my Uncle Even is my father, Gordon?"

"He didn't tell you what he found out when he was in Alaska?"

"With everything that has happened since he came home today, we haven't had a lot of time to talk. Would you tell me what you heard my father talking about?"

"Your father was trying to explain it to my mother. He said he just found out about it, and he was confused at how it could have happened. He said he never had sex with your mother. "

"When did you over here this conversation?"

"Two days ago, the day he came out of the forest and came to my house with his hurt friend. His friend was very sick. He spoke with my mom, while he was trying to keep his friend cool. He took all his friends clothes off, except the bandages on his leg. He kept wiping him down with water and alcohol. That stuff really smells bad. Then the helicopter came and took your dad and the pilot away. That's when my mom told me she was going to marry your dad. She was smiling, and very happy."

"Your mommy believed what my daddy said."

"Your daddy was telling the truth."

"How could you tell?"

"It was the way he was talking to my mommy and trying to help his friend, the pilot. You can't lie to one person and try your best to keep another person alive at the same time."

"You are not smart Gordon, you are brilliant."

"I know."

************

After I got off the phone with Jennifer's grandmother, I asked Rod what Rosalynn was wearing to the wedding.

In his usual offhanded way he replied, "Jeans and a T-shirt."

My friend is much smarter in these cases than I am. His hands came up to protect his face, and he ducked in plenty of time to have my straight right hand go over his head.

"One day Rod, your sense of humor is going to cost you a broken jaw. It's going to be very hard for you to defend me in court, when you can't talk."

"Why would I defend you in court after you hit me?"

"Dummy, you wrote our contract, read it. You are responsible to defend me in all lawsuits pending against me. I can't wait to see you cross-examining yourself. The papers should have a field day with that."

"You are evil Even. What do you do stay up at night and read our contract just in case something such as this comes along?"

"I haven't picked up our contract since the day you wrote it. It's in the vault at Wells Fargo gathering dust. I haven't been there in years. You can check the sign in cards to verify it."

"I hate you people with photographic memories. It makes people like me, who have to study day and night to remember the miniscule portions of the law, feel inadequate."

"Don't you ever leave me an opening like that again Rod. I could have driven a condominium through it. You should be happy you did not say that to Delicious. She would be running up and down your back, with steel spike track shoes on her feet, until she came out of your chest."

"Delicious has changed you into an evil person. Before she came into your life you were an easy target. The Devils that inhabits her body have transitioned into yours. I don't like it; I am going to have Father McAuley do an exorcism before you get married. I want the old Doctor Even Luck back. He was easier to sneak up on and torment."

"I will repeat what I told you before Rod. You forced me to go to Maine. You ordered me to go to Maine. You said what could possibly happen up there. Well my friend, 'You have sown the wind, and you shall reap the whirlwind."

"Oh my Lord, Doctor Even Luck is quoting the Bible. Hosea 8: verse 7."

"Rod I don't know what is scarier; me quoting the Bible, or you knowing chapter and verse."

"Should we let Father McAuley settle the question?"

"Let's leave him out of it for now. I want to get married in church Sunday afternoon. If I start asking him questions like that our discussion will not end for months to come."

"Alright Even this conversation is to be continued at a later date. Are you hungry?"

"Thank goodness you didn't ask that question with Delicious around. There would be a deficit in your checking account."

"Who said I wasn't around, and yes I am hungry."

"How did you find us?"

"Gordon told me where you were going to be.

She walked up to me, kissed me, and grabbed me by my shirt. "I believe we have something important to talk about, Don't We Dad!"

Rod exclaimed, "Oh shit. Delicious before you jump to any conclusions, I have not shown the paperwork or your mother's diary to Even. I wanted both of you to sit down and see it together. I am the only one that knows the whole story. I thought it would be best for both of you to be together when I divulged your mother's secrets, and to understand why she lived the life she did.

Even had no idea he was your father, until I spoke to him in Alaska. That was why he called you, and tried to hurry home to be with you. If you want to see the paperwork now, it is in my safe at home. If you want to wait until after the wedding, I can do that also. The choice is yours."

"Did Gordon tell you how he knew you were my daughter?"

"Uncle, I'm sorry, dad, he is photographic. He is a sponge. If he sees it or hears it, he remembers it. He overheard you telling Jennifer the story. He asked me why I didn't call you dad when you were my father. I told him you weren't my father, you are my uncle. He said no, daddy told my mommy that you were his daughter. I believed him and that's why I'm here."

"Rod, I think we should go over the paperwork now. It is 4 o'clock, and we should have plenty of time to look it over."

"Even you are forgetting about travel time. We would be cutting it very close."

"Delicious what do you think?"

"I don't want to rush looking everything over unc...dad. I want to take my time, especially reading mom's diary. We can do this tomorrow morning if that's alright with you."

"This is a very private thing Rod. I want to do it at my place, without any interference. Is 9 AM okay with you?"

"What is it with you Even? You never used to get up before 1 PM. All of a sudden, you are a morning person. I have to get Father McAuley to do that exorcism very soon."

Rod saw it coming. His hands went up to protect his face, and his body went down to let her right hand go over his head.

Delicious was smarter than Rod. She faked with her right hand, and hit him with a left uppercut.

Rod went down.

I stood there and applauded, as my friend looked up at me from the floor. If this was a 10 count, he was out. He was going to have a black and blue mark on his jaw for a week. His bigger problem was explaining it Roz.

We helped him up, and held him until he had control of his stability.

"I will remember that move for the next time Delicious. I never make the same mistake twice."

"I can prove that you do Rod."

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"You keep pissing me off, and I keep punishing you. When are you ever going to learn to be nice? Roz told you to stop this nonsense or she was going to cut you off. Do you want me to tell her that you have broken the status quo?"

"You wouldn't do that to me. I would kill myself. She is the finest woman on the planet, and the best sex partner a man could ever want. If she cuts me off, I might as well be dead."

"I won't do it this time, but behave, because you know I have a very short fuse."

Without thinking Rod replied, "I didn't know you had a fuse. I thought you just exploded on contact."

I smacked the back of Rod's head and told him to behave or he would never have sex again.

It was then he realized what he had done, and apologized to Delicious. He said, "I'm sorry, it was a natural reaction."

I asked my daughter when she realized Gordon was photographic.

"I tested him with Rod's kids; names and ages. He asked me to make it harder, because this was boring. I moved the kids around, lay them down on the floor, so we couldn't use height as a cue, and asked him random questions about each child. He breezed through it. I asked him math, algebra, and geometric questions. This four-year-old made it look easy. I think he is smarter than I am dad."

"You are scaring me Delicious. Three of us in the same household; what are we going to do, build a flying saucer in the backyard?"

"You must admit we have all the talent to do it. You are the engineer, I want to make the propulsion unit, and Gordon will do the celestial math. We will let Jennifer pilot the craft, so she doesn't feel left out."

"You two stop it. You are scaring me. I don't think Delicious is joking, because I really believe the three of you could do it."

"I'm not joking Rod. It will take me 10 years to figure out the propulsion unit parameters.

Even will need time to find an upgrade for the carbon elements for the exterior of the starship.

The exact weight of the craft and size of the internal compartments will tell me how much space I will have for the propulsion unit. It will have to take us to .999 of the speed of light to get us anywhere near the closest star system. No one has figured out how to break the light speed barrier to date. Gordon may do that while we are building the ship. We will have to develop a way to put us into stasis. You may want to talk to your friend Patricia Valentino in Glens Falls to see if she wants to get on board this venture. She has the computer skills, and from what I've read online about her daughter, Laura, she may be better than her mother is.

"How did you find out about Patricia?"

"A little bird told me."

"You are my daughter, I can spank you."

"I am 17, I am unspankable."

"Would you like to bet your delicate derrière on it?"

"I was hoping you would say ass."

"That will be $10 please."

"I hate you. I just bit at my own joke."

"Should I repeat my question, or has dementia taken over your head?"

"Glens Falls is a very small town in upstate New York. It wasn't hard to find one of the two people were responsible for the patents to clean up the pollution around the planet. Harold Chase is the other computer expert that holds a patent on the process. Their skills could come in quite useful."

I said to my daughter, "Their skills, or their money."

It wouldn't be honest to say I hadn't thought about it, but we could live without their money, but their expertise would be nice to have."

"I'll call Patti next week after the wedding. Okay?"

"That's fine with me dad. That word does have a fine ring to it, doesn't it DAD. It means you going to have to pay to get my teeth straightened, and whitened. You are going to have to pay for my wedding, which I think I will have in the Seychelles' in the middle of winter. Of course, I'm going to want a summer home in Maui, and a winter home in Switzerland, a private jet at my disposal...

As she walked back and forth in front of me, listing her dreams, which she will probably receive from me if she truly wants them, I decide to teacher a lesson in humility. She was talking like a spoiled brat, which I knew she is not. I wanted her to refocus her energies where they belonged. I positioned myself in a way to ensnare her. When she entered the target zone, my arm snaked around her waist trapping her.

She screamed, because she knew she had crossed the invisible line, and she was in trouble.

I bent her body in half over my knee, and began spanking her delicious derrière/ass.

I struck her backside three times, full force, and counting, before she could get the first plea for mercy.

"Even, please no more, I was only kidding."

I was not fooling around, so I continued, until I reached 10. These were good hard shots I was giving her; not love taps. Her delicate skin would be bright red in moments. When she sat down on the wooden chairs in the Japanese restaurant, she would be in pain. When I stopped, and released her, both of her hands went to her sore backside. She looked at me with eyes so wide, you could not see the whites of her eyes. She was about to say something, when I interrupted her.

"Would you like to use your smart mouth now and have me continue your punishment?"

Several people stopped to see what was happening. Delicious stood there and desperately wanted to say something to me. She was probably using the scientific method to calm herself down. Her foot was tapping the ground like a metronome.

Finally she said, "No dad, I think we will take this up, by computer, at another time."

"That is an excellent decision on your part Delicious. If I started again I would not have held back."

She stared at me with fire in her eyes, and doubt in her mind. I had hurt her both mentally and physically. It was the physical part that had her worried. If I did not hit her with everything I had the first time, what would it feel like if I let go and hit her with everything I had. This worried her greatly. Inside I smiled contentedly, because I had my daughter off balance.

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, I'll call Patti next week, and get her read on this project. If she thought it was possible, or even probable I would ask her to speak with Harold Chase and Dycke Schneider to see if they would like to get involved. They are all big budget, big dream people, and all have been wildly successful in their business ventures. It will be good to get their input on our dream."

Rod asked, "I don't want to burst your spatial bubble, but if they don't come on board where are you going to get the funds to build this thing?"

Delicious replied, "Initially we will be laughed at, just like the dreamers at SpaceX were. We will proceed down the road, using our own funds, until people start to take notice that we are not fooling around. We will start to get sponsors, who want us to use their products in our craft.

When we tell IBM that the Sequoia is too slow for our purposes they will go into hyper-drive to build something faster, as long as they can hitch a ride with us, and put their emblem on our posters.

NASA will want to get aboard with the propulsion unit. They are still using hydrogen, with an oxygen exciter to get them into space. It's much too heavy and bulky for our purposes. I will be building something totally new from the ground up. If I can do that they will kiss me on all four cheeks. It will be solving a problem that they had been unable to solve since the Germans started throwing rockets at England in the Second World War. It is something I have always wanted to do.

Boeing, Northrop/Grumman, General Dynamics, ITT, and that whole aviation research group will start to fund us with avionics for the 22

nd

century. They will make a quantum leap in celestial navigation that is unheard of now, just as GPS was unheard of when the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Missions flew. It will be the difference between Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, in the Eagle, which had a plywood floor, and less computing power than today's cell phones, to the space shuttle, which made that leap in technology in less than 20 years. This is going to be fun dad. It is going to be a blast. When you patent bending radio waves, and it goes viral, it could fund this project by itself."

I looked at my daughter and smiled. "You really want to do this don't you baby?"

"It solves several of your mental problems with me."

"Oh, what problems do I have with you?"

"Do you want the long list, or the short list?"

"Why don't you give me the short list for now? I don't want to be late for dinner."

"Okay, here is part of the short list."

"1. You don't want me to leave the nest.

2. You don't trust me when I am out of your sight.