Twice a week Cathy spent the evening at school working towards her degree. She had a long way to go until completing her degree and the move had made that a little more complicated. It would take her an hour and a half to drive each way to the University of North Texas. Until she finished the first two years of her studies, she could go to Grayson County College. That was about a twenty minute drive from their house.
While Cathy was in school, Mike went to the Internet Café to search for more terrorists. After having spent months without finding any of the terrorists in the United States, he decided that it was time to find the bigger fish in the Middle East. Although lots of terrorists were getting killed by the military, he suspected that none of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were anywhere near danger.
Thinking back to the discussion about what were the common characteristics of the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mike typed in a query to the biographical database. Rather than looking at battlefield experience, he searched on religion, business experience, wealth, and education. He selected from the resulting list those who had basically sowed their wild oats when younger. He then eliminated the individuals who were still active in business assuming they would be too busy to lead the Muslim Brotherhood. A list of eighty-seven names remained after he added a few more factors.
Curious as to what he would find, he put the known locations of those eighty-seven individuals on the status board. They covered the entire globe. Sitting back in his chair he considered the implications. Frowning, he said, "That's interesting. We've got a bunch of bored rich old men sitting around with nothing to do. You don't get rich doing nothing, so I seriously doubt they are just sitting around on their asses. It makes me wonder what they are doing."
He decided to query the airline records for individuals leaving Iran, Iraq, and Syria bracketing the month before the Americans invaded each country. Four of the names on his list showed up. They had flown to Muslim friendly areas in Africa and South America. In a very soft voice, he said, "That's very interesting. It makes you wonder what they are doing in those places. They are definitely not living in the lap of luxury. They could have flown to Switzerland, but they didn't."
Mike flagged all eighty-seven names and requested that efforts to establish surveillance on them be initiated. Within a day or two, a cockroach or two would take up residence in their homes and he'd have answers to his questions. He figured that the answers would be very interesting.
Cathy slid into the bathing pond with a grin on her face. She sat down across from Mike and gave him a million watt smile. Curious, Mike asked, "What's got you so happy?"
"School is over and we're getting married in two weeks. Why shouldn't I be happy?" Cathy asked thinking that Mike was more attuned to her than she had thought.
"You should be happy, but you look happier than that," Mike answered.
"Okay, I got three good pieces of news this afternoon," Cathy said.
Mike waited for her to share the news, but she didn't volunteer anything. His curiosity drove him to ask, "Are you going to share the news with me?"
"Sure," she answered looking at him innocently.
Mike waited a few seconds and realized she wasn't going to tell him anything. Finally, he asked, "When?"
"When what?" Cathy asked with a smile.
"When are you going to share the news with me?" Mike asked starting to get into her little game.
"Oh, you want me to tell it to you now?" Cathy asked.
"Yes," he answered looking over at her with a hang dog expression.
Cathy laughed at the expression on his face. Climbing onto Mike so that she straddled him, she said, "The first piece of news is that I got accepted into the history program at the University of North Texas."
Surprised that she was going there instead of Grayson County College, Mike said, "That's great. How did that happen?"
Reaching down between her legs, she fondled Mike for a few seconds. Finding that he was rising to the occasion, she said, "That's the second piece of good news. Joe told me that my internship came through."
Somewhat distracted by the sensations in his nether region, Mike asked, "Internship? What internship?"
"I'm going to college half-time and working half-time until I get my degree," Cathy said rubbing herself against him.
"That's really great!" Mike said. It was so easy to be enthusiastic when she was rubbing herself against him like that.
"The third piece of news is that I am transferring," Cathy said.
Despite the pleasurable sensations that Cathy was providing, Mike frowned at the news. He asked, "You're transferring?"
"Yes, I'm going over to work under another Section Chief," Cathy answered.
"Oh," Mike said finding that he was going to miss have her around.
Seeing the disappointed look on his face, she said, "Joe said that I can't work with you once we get married."
"I guess I hadn't thought about that," Mike said as Cathy resumed rubbing herself against him. Somewhat at a loss at what to say, he asked, "Who will you work for?"
"I'll be working in the Southeast Asia Section under Alex Darnell," she answered. That was the Section that dealt with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. She thought the work would be interesting despite the fact that she wouldn't really be an analyst until she completed her degree. Until then, she'd spend most of her time proofreading reports and verifying references.
Mike sat up so fast that he nearly dumped Cathy out of his lap. He created a minor wave that pushed water out of the bathing pond. Excited, he asked, "Did you say Alex Darnell?"
"Yes. Do you know him?" Cathy asked shocked by his reaction to her answer.
"He saved my job a long time ago," Mike answered thinking back to when the Chinese had tried to maneuver him into submitting a report that would get him fired. He said, "I owe that man a beer."
"How did he save your job?" Cathy asked.
"He gave me some information I needed when I needed it," Mike answered.
Knowing there was probably a long story involved, Cathy asked, "So are you going to help me celebrate?"
Enjoying what Cathy was doing to him below the surface of the water, Mike answered, "Sure."
Cathy waited for Mike to say something. When he didn't say anything, she asked, "When?"
"When what?" Mike asked with a grin.
Cathy realized what Mike was doing and burst into laughter. She lowered herself on him and said, "Just keep it up buster."
Mike's eyes crossed and he said, "It's not going down with you doing that to it."
Mike went outside to move his car so that his visitors would have a place to park. His parents, his in-laws, and Cathy's parents were coming over to the house. The women were going to talk about the wedding. Mike was expected to entertain the men. He had no idea how Cathy's father would get along with the General and the Admiral. He knew it was an unfair judgment on his part, but there just weren't that many things that a bus driver had in common with flag officers.
Bob was outside and waved to Mike. Despite the fact that Bob was always talking about hiring his gardener, it seemed to Mike that Bob was always outside puttering around the yard. He waved back to his neighbor as he went to his car. It took him a minute to park it in front of the 'for sale' sign along the curb.
The sign held a prominent place in front of the house. Mike looked at it hoping that the real estate agent didn't call to bring someone by to look at the house. It seemed to him that the woman was bringing every customer who walked in the door of her agency by the house.
Mike was about to make his way to the house but decided to swing over to where Bob was working. Bob was carefully laying out a garden hose along the sidewalk that led from the driveway to the front door. When Mike reached the man, he said, "Hello, Bob. What are you doing?"
"I'm thinking about putting in a lighting system," Bob answered.
"That's nice. Why?" Mike asked.
"Oh, I'm thinking about selling the house," Bob answered.
"I didn't know that. Moving up to a better neighborhood?" Mike asked.
Bob looked around rather embarrassed before he answered, "I'm thinking of buying your house."
"Really?" Mike asked.
"I've got to tell you that I really love that backyard of yours. My wife fell in love with the patio," Bob answered. The afternoon they had spent in the patio had been one of the nicest times they had as a couple in years. Shaking his head, he said, "It's hard to believe what you've done with that house. I had given up ever being able to sell our house back when the renters lived there."
"I don't know what to say," Mike replied scratching the back of his head. He'd never thought that any of the neighbors would want to buy his house.
Bob shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, we're just thinking about it."
"Thanks," Mike said trying to decide what he was thanking Bob for having done. Seeing Cathy's parents drive up, he said, "I guess I better get in the house. Cathy's parents have just arrived."
"Have a good evening," Bob said.
"Thanks. You too," Mike said before heading up to greet Cathy's parents.
For the first hour of the visit, Robert, Chuck, Vincent, and Mike walked around the garden checking out what the gardener had been doing. Vincent said, "This garden is a real beauty. I'm sorry I never took the time to check it out when I've been here in the past."
"Thanks. The gardener just redid this part of the garden," Mike said. He had noticed that the flowers had changed from season to season. It seemed to him that it changed every time he went out to look at it.
"Your gardener is really good. He wouldn't happen to be Sun Yung, would he?" Chuck asked.
"You know Sun Yung?" Mike asked. Robert and Vincent turned to look at Chuck thinking there was a story there.
Chuck laughed at how he had suddenly become the center of attention. For the majority of his visit he had been quiet. He had realized just how important the others were and had had been feeling insignificant in comparison. He answered, "Yes, I know him."
"How did you meet him?" Mike asked curious about his gardener.
Chuck answered, "He used to ride my bus when he first came to the country. He'd get on carrying his tools in a large bag and carrying plants. It always took him five minutes to get on and off my bus. At first I used to get mad at him, but then I watched how hard he worked to make a living. It is difficult to be mad at a man who works that hard to earn a decent wage."
Mike nodded his head thinking that he had perhaps underestimated his future father-in-law. He said, "That's true."
Chuck said, "As time went by, I started talking to him and found out a little about his past. It is hard to believe that someone could survive what he went through as a kid."
Vincent asked, "What happened to him?"
"He was sold as a young child to a wealthy Chinese businessman. Although he didn't tell me what the man did to him as a child, I got the impression it wasn't good. When he got too old to be of interest to the man, he was sent to a whorehouse to work. If he didn't satisfy the customers, he was beaten. There are still scars on his back. He ran away when he was thirteen and earned a living gardening. He was very proud that he had run away and taken control of his life," Chuck answered shaking his head. He had been horrified to learn that children could be bought and sold in the Far East.
Mike thought about his comment when Sun Yung had said that he was there to make him happy. That explained the man's indignation. Mike said, "I didn't know that."
Vincent shook his head and said, "One of these days I'd like to see an end to human slavery. It seems to me that it is worse today than ever in the past."
Chuck nodded his head and said, "Driving a bus, you get to see all kinds of people. It's hard to see so many broken people struggling to overcome their past. There are a lot of sad stories out there. Some of them are enough to make you weep. I've had folks on my bus who had their hands cut off because they were accused of stealing something, women who've been raped because of their husband's politics, and children who were used as sex slaves in pedophile brothels."
Participating in the discussion for the first time of the day, Robert said, "There are a lot of sad stories everywhere. I'd like to take part in ending a few of those stories rather than being the cause of so many."
"You feel guilty for what you did in that war of yours," Chuck said looking over at Robert with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Robert answered.
"Don't. You did a favor to the world," Chuck declared flatly.
Wondering if the guy actually knew what he was talking about, Robert asked, "Why do you say that?"
"Look, I get all kinds of people on my bus. I've talked with refuges from countries where Islamic fascists took control and destroyed anyone and everyone who was different. I'm not saying that Islam is a bad religion. I've met plenty of folks of that religion who are good decent people. The problem is that the bad ones are capable of doing anything and they put into place a culture that has no forgiveness. Those countries you marched through are where the really bad ones took over. There weren't any good people left, the bad ones already killed them," Chuck said.
"You sound pretty aware of international politics," Vincent commented.
Chuck laughed and said, "I drive a bus in Washington DC. I hear things and remember what I hear."
"That's a good trait," Mike said finding that his impression of Chuck was going up some more.
After dealing with politicians on Capitol Hill for years, Vincent rather appreciated hearing about the view from below. He asked, "So where do you stand politically?"
"That's a hard question to answer," Chuck answered. He hadn't expected to be talking politics with men who were so well connected politically.
"Why?" Robert asked.
"I drop people off in front of the Federal Buildings. Until President Archer closed the border, a lot of those people were there to testify in front of various Congressional Committees about what was happening in their countries. They came here to get help and we turned a deaf ear to them. Half of the time, our representatives didn't even attend the hearings. There would be one guy there who would nod and say all the right things, but nothing ever happened.
"I used to be a very conservative man, but hearing all of those sad stories kind of turned me against that. The conservatives in Congress didn't seem to feel for the people who testified of horrors. For a while I considered myself a liberal until it became clear that none of the liberal leaders were willing to do anything to help people other than talk. Talk doesn't solve problems when the bad guys don't want to talk. Now, I don't know what I am," Chuck said.
"Same here," Vincent said. As an officer, he wasn't allowed to give voice to his political beliefs. Of late that was a blessing.
"Now that I'm retired, I guess I could go into politics. The problem is that I don't know what I believe anymore," Robert said.
Nodding his head, Chuck said, "The war has been hard on political beliefs."
Sitting in the rocking chair, Cathy looked over at Mike seated in his comfort chair. Her father had a chair at home that was his and he'd get very upset if anyone ever sat in it. She suspected that Mike was the same about his chair. She said, "We finished with the wedding plans today. Everyone has their assignments and knows what to do."
"That's good," Mike said looking over at her. He flashed on a memory of Karen seated in that chair breastfeeding Robert. There was a slight hesitation as he regained control of his voice and said, "It is hard to believe that we'll be getting married next weekend."
"I know," Cathy said. She had been dreaming of that day well before Mike had asked her out. Now that the day was rushing towards them, she found that she was having second thoughts.
"I'm looking forward to it," Mike said quietly. Cathy was an old fashioned woman in many ways. A lot of women her age would have moved in with him a long time ago, but she very rarely spent the entire night with him. He said, "I'm looking forward to having you in my life all day and night."
Cathy was looking forward to moving in with him. Licking her lips, she said, "Same here. Are you having any second thoughts?"
"No," Mike said smiling at her. He could see that she was getting a little nervous. Wanting to reassure her, he said, "I know that you and I are perfect for each other. We should be married and, after next weekend, we will be married."
"You're that sure," Cathy asked looking over at the small picture of Karen and Robert that remained in the room. She hoped that he wasn't expecting her to be another Karen.
"I'm that sure," Mike said noticing where she was looking. "I know that you aren't Karen. I don't expect you to become like her."
"Sometimes I worry about that," Cathy said giving voice to one of her doubts.
"Would you like me to remove her picture?"
Cathy was silent for a long time while she considered the matter. Was out of sight out of mind really a good strategy for dealing with his late wife? She wondered if Karen would be a stronger presence if all traces of her were hidden away. Finally she answered, "No. I think I would like her to remain a part of your life."
"Are you sure?" Mike asked.
Feeling good about her decision, Cathy answered, "I've gotten to know her a little in my conversations with your mother and Sally. I think we could have been very good friends. I don't mind having a reminder of a friend in the house."
"That's a nice thing to say," Mike said.
Cathy waited for him to say something along the lines of how Karen would have said the same thing, but he didn't. She asked, "Do you ever compare me to her?"
Mike frowned while he considered the question. He answered, "You are a lot like she was. She was warm and caring. She was smart and witty. She was always supportive and protective. You have those same traits, but a very different style. I appreciate the commonalities, but enjoy the differences."
"Are you sure that you won't come to hate those differences?" Cathy asked.
Mike laughed and asked, "Do you know how Sanjay bobbles his head when he answers yes?"
"Yes," Cathy said nodding her head.
"That used to bug the hell out of me. As my friendship with Sanjay grew, I found that it bothered me less and less. Now I think I would be bothered if he stopped doing it. I think that happens when you grow closer to someone," Mike said.
"I can see that," Cathy said.
"Any more concerns?" Mike asked recognizing that she wanted to be reassured that she wasn't making a mistake.
"Kim suggested that I not visit with you for the rest of the week."
"Why?"
Cathy answered, "She thinks it will make us desire each other a little more on our honeymoon."
Mike shook his head and said, "She likes to meddle."
"She's good at it," Cathy said with a smile. Using Mike's nickname for Teva, she added, "Teva the Conniver agreed with her."
"That's not good," Mike said thinking that he was about to find himself alone for the rest of the week.
"You look worried," Cathy said with a smile.
Lazlo Zalzac