In politics, stupidity is seldom a handicap.
Note: The descriptions and accounts in these stories are fictional and do not portray any actual people or events
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Both girls stared at me, then spoke simultaneously. "Why?"
My heartbeat sounded loudly again. I looked them both in the eye for a moment. There was no way to avoid discussing this now. "Because Nora is pregnant."
Their faces froze, their Suzie Signals halted, and my heart stopped.
Nora's face turned grey -- almost the same color as her platinum hair, but without the luster. Lara's was white -- all the blood had drained out. Then an almost identical and very skeptical look crossed both their faces -- the kind of look I had often seen before somebody shouted "Bullshit!" at me.
Finally, Lara said "How can you even think that? She's protected, and besides she hasn't been with anyone else since you've been gone, so it's been at least six weeks since..." She paused and looked briefly at Lara for confirmation. "So, unless it just happened, then..." Her eyes got even bigger.
Nora asked, "Robbie, how can you possibly know that? Can you, I mean is it possible that you can..."
I nodded solemnly. "It's a boy."
"Jesus!"
I couldn't resist. "No, just our son."
Several emotions played across Lara's face. "This changes everything!" No shit.
Nora was lost in thought. Then she hinted at a smile. "We have some planning to do, then. We must be adaptable!"
I could almost see the wheels spinning in Nora's head. She held her mouth funny for a minute, then said, "I assume that you also want Lara to be..."
"Yes!" I completed her thought. "But it doesn't have to be right away. We can move things around and be ... adaptable."
Nora stood up, hands on hips, now officially running the meeting. "We have a little time to plan, and start things moving. First, we need to talk to your mother about how her pregnancy went. Any idiosyncrasies, problems, cravings, anything else that might be tied to your 'talent'."
I supposed that this would not be a good time to talk to them about my idiot cousin Mikey, the Klingon speaker, lest she think stupidity runs in the family.
She paced back and forth, eyes flashing, ticking things off on her fingers. "Second, we need to go over your early childhood. Milestones, growth curve, how early did you talk, walk, everything!"
My mother had told me about this, interminably. Talk very early, walk late, puberty very late.
But Lara was on to her next item. It went on for quite a while. I think her final point reached number 19. Lara was not only following; she was taking notes. I tried to remember my action items, most of which could not be addressed until I returned from England and was back in school for the fall semester.
Then, Lara got a funny look on her face, as if she was staring off into the far distance. "I guess Suzanne was right, after all, wasn't she, Nora?"
My heart stopped again at the mention of Suzanne, and a sort of chill passed through me. Nora tilted her head, and then looked at me. "Suzanne said you were going to want children, and she knew she did not."
Damn, these girls really did talk about everything. Even if it was true, it didn't really help. Well, maybe a little.
Luckily, they were determined to distract me in other ways.
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We had a very tearful goodbye. Mostly mine. I found that leaving Nora alone with my boy in her belly struck fear deep in my heart that something awful would happen and I would not be there to help. Lara, however, seemed to adopt the persona of momma bear protecting her cub, and I would be back in Austin just before Lara had to leave for Pennsylvania, and Nora for Massachusetts.
Another PERT chart appeared in my head -- a nine-month plan. One of my action items was to find a work assignment for the spring semester that would place me near the Harvard B school. I made a note to self to contact all my faculty advisors and all the potential employers that I had previously interviewed with to find a possible situation. Still dangling was what happened after that.
I barely made it onto the plane at DFW. I didn't sleep, despite the long flight. Might have had nightmares, anyway. No sign of Elizabeth Ashcroft Knowles on the flight. Not sure I could have handled it if she had been there, wonderful as she was. My mind raced with a thousand scenarios, none of which were satisfactorily resolved in my thoughts. Life is an adventure, right?
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Summer was waiting for me when I arrived at Terminal 3 at Heathrow. Seeing her snapped me out of one world and into another. Back in the USA, there were responsibilities, duties, schedules, and soon to be children. In jolly old England, there was a very hot and muscular woman blazing with desire. She circled her arms around my hips, grabbed my buttocks and planted a kiss on me that made all the airport onlookers embarrassed. It made me horny. I realized my face was red, despite most of my circulatory resources suddenly moving just below my belt.
I'm not sure how long it took us to get the parking area where she had left her van, but I was on cloud nine the whole time. Summer was mine for the next few weeks, ready, willing and able. I was going to cut loose, just before I had to cut her loose, and I was going to make sure neither of us ever forgot our fleeting English Summertime together.
The ride back to Summer's house seemed to take a long time -- I was anxious to arrive. Mallory greeted me with a reproachful glare, then finally presented her ears for a rub. That was all the attention she got for a while, as Summer and I lurched toward the big four poster bed like a big four-legged spider. I didn't know where to start, but I supposed the order did not matter, as I wanted it all.
Summer's hands flew over me like a hyperactive child. I loved it.
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Lara had always enjoyed her counseling sessions with Dr. Asa Weltschmerz, M.D., PhD, but now she had a whole new level of pressing issues to discuss with him. Asa was the only one she could trust to completely keep her confidences, plus he could answer some of the medical questions that were running through her head.
Asa seemed surprised that Robbie had revealed so much to her and Nora and was incredibly curious about the baby. He explained the need for keeping certain medical information private, and offered intensive and personal exams for Nora, along with an OB he could trust, and explained he would need to talk to Robbie too about how to keep things close to the vest. He told her most of what was "special" about Robbie's talent apparently did not show up until a child was approaching adolescence, and that they would all be learning as they went along.
After Lara left, Asa was thankful for two things. First, that he had been there to discover and learn about Robbie's talent. Second, that Suzanne had never learned more about it.
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