Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter Nine



   The next morning started with a little soft music on the clock radio, a
wake-up snuggle, and then it was off to business at hand.  Forty-five
minutes later I was kissing my wife as I headed out the door and she waited
on a school bus.

   I drove up the road, thinking all was good with the world, mulling over
the idea that I'd left a new fifteen year old wife waiting on a school bus.
I didn't get too far, though, before my phone chimed that tune that was
"Nikki": "Fur Elise".

   "Hello, cutie," I said.

   "Hi, love of my life," her voice chimed.  "Just reminding you to give
that meat market a call."

   "Thank you," I said.  "I'll call 'em.  They'll fix us up." I knew a good
meat market that would give us a great hunk of pork for Nikki's debut
dinner with the family.

   "I'm glad you called, too..."

   "Why?" she asked.

   "SO I can hear your voice one more time and tell you that I love you."

   Purrs are audible.  "Thank you, Honey," she said.  "I love you too. 
I'll talk to you later.  I see the bus up the road."

   "'Kay, baby.  Bye." I settled back into the routine of the drive, musing
over the idea that while waiting to go to school, Nikki was thinking about
our plans for the weekend.  I was, too.  I loved my new little doll, and I
wanted to believe that the rest of my family would be as enchanted as I
was.

   I didn't roll directly to the office.  First stop was inside one of my
client facilities.  I drove down roads with huge vessels and pipes and
whistling, screaming processes going on, arriving at a new substation.  I
had four technicians working among a herd of electricians.  I stopped by
and chatted with each of my techs, assessing the work's progress and the
individual's understanding of what he was doing.

   Finally, I located my lead guy.

   "Hey, Kev," I said.

   He was smiling when he turned around.  "Hey, Dan!  What's up?"

   "You tell me," I countered.  "You're ass-deep in alligators here."

   "Nah!  I'd much rather this than cleaning a bunch of forty-year old crap
on a maintenance outage.  This is gonna be a nice sub when it's done."

   It was good to see somebody enthusiastic about his work.  Kevin was one.

   "You finding anything?"

   He grinned.  "We ALWAYS find things.  Look at this.  I think I know what
we need to do, but I just want to verify it while you're here." He showed
me one of a sheaf of drawings, pointing out a perfectly normal equipment
configuration.  He further pointed out that if we hadn't considered it in
light of our specific application, things would've been WRONG. 
Embarassing. Easily fixed, but embarrassing.

   "You're absolutely right.  Great catch!  Just make sure that you make
red pen changes to the electrician's drawings before they wire to it.  And
test it completely when they're done.  Don't wanna..."

   "Would've tripped first time we loaded up, huh?" he said.

   "You got that right.  Red faces.  Hollering.  Finger-pointing."

   He laughed.

   "Yeah, I can laugh now, too.  I caught it on another job, marked up two
sets of drawings, gave one to the electrical foreman, and his guy STILL
found an old one to wire from."

   "And you didn't catch it in testing?"

   "Lead tech was..."

   "Grady," Kevin said.  "I think he's pencil-whipped stuff on me, but
nothing I could nail down.  I was gonna talk to you..."

   "About Grady?"

   "Yeah.  I'm gonna need a good tech and helper next week for the outdoor
stuff.  I'd rather not get Grady."

   "I'll see what I can do," I said.  I filed that 'pencil-whipping'
comment away.  Much of our business had to do with meticulously testing
equipment and systems and recording findings.  The idea of giving results
without actually doing the tests, or changing the results from actual
values, that was inexcusable.

   Leaving the actual work, I drove back through the facility and visited
the client's lead electrical engineer and engaged in a little discussion of
the work we were doing, upcoming work ("You KNOW you're getting this, don't
you?") and a fair amount of good-natured discussion about domesticated
(him) versus feral (me) engineers.  I was 'feral' because unlike him, I
didn't have a single place to call home.  We managed to stretch
conversation to include lunch, on my company expense account, naturally.  I
drove my buddy back into the plant and dropped him at this office, visited
my crew one more time, then drove to my own office.

   I pulled into the front parking lot of our building, next to Steve's
SUV, and walked into the office.

   "That you, Dan?" I heard him call.

   "Yeah."

   "Thought so." Steve recognized the clatter of the diesel idle from my
truck.  "How's InChem?"

   "Rockin' right along," I said.  "Took their engineer to lunch.  He's
happy.  You know what they have coming for the rest of the year, huh?"

   "Yeah.  We'll stay busy there."

   "Give the plant to Kevin.  He'll take care of it.  I can pop in every
now and then, bill a few hours, talk to Doogie." "Doogie" was Douglas
Stratton, the engineer I had lunch with.  He DID look young for his actual
age and responsibilities.  His co-workers tagged him early on, and like
many nick-names at work, it stuck.  And went universal.

   "You think Kevin's ready to handle it?"

   "Real question is why YOU don't."

   "I didn't say that," he back-pedalled.  "Just that he's..."

   "The guy that Doogie asked for on this substation project.  He's more
than technically capable, and he knows his limits.  He'll call if he has
questions, you and I will know EXACTLY what's going on, and honestly, he'll
think it's a promotion.  Bump 'im hard next pay raise."

   "Done," Steve said.

   "When's Becky getting back?" I asked.  Becky Young was our office
administrator.  Her house took some damage during the hurricane and was
unlivable while the repairs were being made.  She was living with her
sister in the next state.

   "A week, she says.  I'm ready.  She's VPN'ed to the company system for
opening jobs and stuff, but I'm going crazy here.  SHE'S gonna have flowers
waiting when she gets back."

   "Good!  Absence makes the heart grow fonder," I laughed.  'Fond' was how
we ALL felt about Becky, all five feet two and two hundred and twenty
pounds of her, smile and attitude, dedication and competence, soft heart
and sharp tongue.  "I'll be glad to see 'er back."

   "Until she starts in on your billing and report backlog," he laughed.

   "Yeah, I know... I can blame it on the hurricane."

   "Yeah, you can.  It won't work, though..." by now, I was stretched in a
chair in Steve's office.  "Did Kevin mention when they're gonna start on
the outdoor equipment?"

   "Said he was going to need a tech and a helper next week."

   Steve smiled.  That was a couple of thousand dollars a day on the
ledger.

   "Before you smile too damned big, he asked that we NOT send Grady.  Said
he thinks Grady's been pencil-whipping reports."

   "Oh, I NEED this shit, Dan," Steve whined.

   "Yeah, we all do, don't we?" I sighed.

   "You know, if we have this guy who doesn't work well with others, and we
can't trust on his own..." Steve sighed.  "HR ain't gonna like it... We
really don't have anything concrete."

   "If he's faking reports, he'll trip over his own feet.  The guy's not
bright enough to do a good job of faking things.  If I find something, you
need to back me up.  He'll be gone."

   "I'll back you up."

   I picked a candy from the jar on Steve's desk and was peeling the
wrapper.

   "So, you an' Nikki?  Thing's okay?  Are you freakin' insane?"

   "Whaddaya mean, 'insane'?"

   "She's, like A KID!"

   "Oh, hell, Steve, I knew sooner or later you'd get nosey." I fixed my
eye on his.

   Steve bridged his fingers together, elbows on his desk.  "Dan, you an'
me, we've been bumpin' together in this biz for years.  I'd say we're
friends.  I just worry.  I mean, we all have, you know... She's not
pregnant or somethin'?"

   "Damn, you're a subtle devil, ain't you?"

   "I'm sorry, Dan, but it's killin' me..."

   "Sorta like me comin' over that desk?"

   His eyes widened fast.  He stuttered, "D-d-Dan?"

   "Oh, cool off, asshole," I said.  "Sad thing is that Nikki's probably
getting the same thing at school now.  No, she's NOT pregnant."

   "So why'd you marry 'er?"

   "Steve, you and I've worked those out of town jobs, right?"

   "Yeah, I remember a couple?"

   "Where was Dan?  After work?"

   "Dinner.  Maybe a beer.  Then your hotel room."

   "That's part of the story.  I don't chase tail, bud.  That's like a dog
chasin' cars.  If he catches one, then what?"

   "But fifteen?"

   "Curious fifteen.  Funny how a number might be so significant in one
context, and insignificant in another."

   "You really DID rescue her from a building?" he asked.

   "Yes.  Had to take a Sawzall to cut some structure out of the way.  If I
hadn't been there, I don't know if she'd be alive today."

   "Oooookayyyy," he said.  "But marryin' 'er.  That's..."

   "Just crazy enough to work.  She's smart.  Very mature for her age, more
mature that a lot of women with a lot more years on them."

   His eyebrow raised.

   I caught it.  "No, I didn't seduce her.  She didn't seduce me.  After
the roads opened, I took her to Houston to buy her enough clothes and stuff
so she'd at least have that.  She thought I was tryin' to get her ready to
move out.  I guess, in a way, I was." I sighed, remembering the day.  "She
asked how long she could stay there.  I told her she could stay as long as
she needed to.  She asked how long I wanted her to stay.  I looked in her
eyes, Steve.  And I told her that I wanted her there forever."

   "Damn, boy," he said.  "You sound like a chick flick."

   "I know it sounds sappy.  But dammit, she just fits soooo well... she's
not just one of those little airhead bimbos.  Innocent..."

   "You mean..." Raised that eyebrow again.

   I just nodded.  "The lady is worthy of respect," I said.  "She didn't
whine and cry.  When I started working she started taking care of the house
without me even mentioning it.  That was BEFORE we decided to get married.
After that, when I started working in the field again, she spent her day
listening to classical music and reading when I was out, meal was waiting
when I came in the door.  Hell, man, I was MARRIED to a woman who didn't do
THAT!"

   "Okay, okay... so who's exploiting who?"

   I smiled.  "We both are.  Any more personal questions?"

   "No, that's about it, buddy.  You know I wish you the best of luck.  We
need to get together, at least you an' Nikki an' me an' Carole.  Maybe some
of the techs and their wives."

   "I don't want Nikki catching crap, Steve."

   "I don't think anyone would do that, Dan.  She seems to be pretty quick
on her feet, and she's personable."

   "Thanks, Steve,' I said.  "Of course, she's meeting my family in person
for the first time this weekend.  I may be missing either a wife OR a
family, come Monday."

   "You know you expect things to be fine, don't you?"

   "Yeah, I do.  My family loves me.  And from the conversations with my
sister, they think a lot of Nikki, after the initial shock.  Reminds me.  I
need to make a phone call"

   "Phone call?"

   "Yeah, Nikki told me to make sure and get a good pork roast for
Saturday. She's cooking."

   "Fifteen?  Pork roast?"

   "Learned from her grandma.  Apparently she pays very good attention."

   "I've had YOUR cooking, and you say she cooks good, then she must be
something."

   "My point exactly, Steve."

   "Well, you know I wish you all the good.  But not too damn much.  I
don't wanna be jealous, yaknow."

   I laughed.  "You're right... I can't get as perfect as you." I stood. 
"I'm gonna go play with a few drawings, and then I'm gone."

   "Yeah, okay," Steve said.  "And don't forget your phone call..."

   I made the phone call.  Then I cleared room on my desk and started going
over drawings, stopping occasionally to wonder how Nikki's day at school
was going.

   Finishing up a sheaf of drawings, I grabbed my keys and headed out the
door.

   "Seeya in the morning, Steve," I said.

   "Take care, old son," he said.

   On the road, I opened my phone and said one word: "Nikki".  She should
be somewhere on the bus ride home.

   "Hey, babe!" came the happy chirp.  That answered one question.  She had
enough of her happy energy left to put a smile in her tone.  "You on your
way home?"

   "Yeah.  I'm dying to hold you!"

   "Good," she said.  "I definitely need holding." She paused.  "Hey, that
barbecue joint has an 'open for business' sign up, if you wanna do barbecue
sandwiches for dinner."

   That'd keep us from cooking, and a couple of sandwiches weren't
expensive.  "You want one or two?"

   "Two, she said.  "Pork, if there's a choice." Many of the small
businesses had indeed re-opened in the storm's aftermath, but many of them
started back with abbreviated menus and services.

   "I'll get us something," I said.  "How was school?"

   "We'll talk when we get home, baby.  It was okay."

   "Okay, sweetness," I said.  "I love you."

   "Love you too!  Bye!"

   The afore-mentioned barbecue joint was on the road home.  I pulled into
the drive-through, expecting to find a pimple-faced teen, but was greeted
by the plump red face of the female half of the couple who owned the place.
"Well, good to see you up and running, " I said.

   "Running ourselves to death," she laughed.  "Me an' Petey thought we'd
open with a coupla things on the menu and struggle for business.  I been
packin' away orders for pickup like it's goin' outta style." She grinned
broadly.  "Not that I'm complainin', you understand.  'Cept I need help."

   "Like..." I started.

   "Oh, a high-school kid would be nice right now, but I need somebody to
work with me during the day.  Ever'body's still evacuated that used ta work
for me."

   "I can get the word to the high school bunch," I said.  "New wife's a
student there."

   "Oh, yeah," she said.  "Sheriff said you married that Domingue girl."

   "News travels fast," I said.

   "He said it like it was a good thing.  He's my cousin.  If he says it's
good, it's GOOD.  She lookin' for work?"

   "No," I said.  "I want 'er concentrating on school.  But she might have
friends..."

   "See what you can help me with," she smiled.  "Now what can I help YOU
with?"

   "Four pulled pork sandwiches," I said, grinning, "If they're any good!"

   "Best barbecue in the parish," she laughed.  "Only barbecue in the
parish!"

   I waited a few minutes and we exchanged food for money.  "Thanks!  Don't
forget my help," she said.

   "I won't," I said.  "Good luck!" I drove off, headed on the final leg
home.  Twenty minutes put me in my driveway, and I got out, Nikki was
bounding out the door to greet me.  Greetings involved a kiss, a wonderful
thing, even in the scalding combination of heat and humidity.

   "I missed you, baby," and we both laughed, because we'd said it
simultaneously.

   I retrieved the bag of sandwiches and followed my cutie inside.  We sat
at the breakfast table and pulled sandwiches out for dinner.

   "So how was YOUR day?" I asked.

   "Nuts," she said.  "Finding the best way to get from one class to the
next may take a while.  The school was WAY over-crowded." She took a bite
of her sandwich, chewed, and swallowed.  "I just KNEW this'd be GOOD!" she
smiled.

   "Had in interesting conversation with the owner," I said.  "If any of
your friends are looking for after school work, she's dying for help."

   Nikki's face changed.

   "No, not YOU.  You have a husband and you don't need the money and you
have school to worry about."

   "Oh.  I thought maybe you wanted me to go to work." The smile came back
to her face.

   "No, not even close.  I wish you could work with me, but that's not
possible, for most cases.  So what's your classes like."

   "Like forty pounds of books," she said.  "I just know I'm not gonna have
to strain at anything but math and science.  The rest is just reading."

   "And we'll work together on the math and science."

   She smiled at me.  "How come I feel smarter, Dan," she asked.

   "Because **I** think you're smart.  Always were.  Just nobody told you."

   "Maybe nobody was in that good a position to make a determination," she
said.  "Grandma, well, I don't think she got past, like, the eighth grade.
An' Mom didn't care."

   "And teachers, except for the best of them, they just try to get their
kids through the class.  A smart one just means they don't have to spend
time worrying about that one." I watched the brown bangs sway as she chewed
her sandwich, smiling.  "This year, though, you don't let them leave you
alone.  Make sure YOU understand where they're heading with the lessons."

   She took a sip of her drink.  "It's gonna be different, for sure."

   I considered, for a moment, that just maybe Nikki didn't WANT to work
that hard.  "Sweetie, I'm not trying to push you too hard.  If you think
I'm pushing too hard, tell me."

   "I will.  Right now, I'm excited.  I was thinking about it on the bus,
Dan.  I have a future.  WE have a future." She sighed.  "I know sometimes
you wanna be a plain ol' husband and I wanna just be a wife, sometime, too.
But I'm still a high school student and you have to kind of do a strange
parenting thing for me."

   "I'm glad you think about it, baby, and we can talk about it.  I promise
I'll never drop the husband and wife part.  You're too much of my life."

   We finished the sandwiches and disposed of the remains.

   "Now let's look at my books,' she said.  My young wife was excited about
school.  We ended up on the sofa side by side as she paged through her
books.  I had flashbacks to my own high school experience and like her, the
new material at the first of the year was always a promise of new worlds of
learning.

   I commented on her enthusiasm.

   "Uh... I AM excited.  Dan, I've seen the kind of people who want to
learn and act civilized, and the other kind.  I know what I want to be."
She laid the book down that had been on her lap, and she twisted around to
straddle my leg, putting her face inches from mine.  "You need to stop
worrying, guy.  I love you.  Now.  Forever."

   "That makes me very happy, little flower,' I said.  "I want YOU to be
happy.  I can just go along for the ride."

   "Lay down.  Put your head in my lap."

   I complied, feeling the stress leave me as her fingers caressed my face
and temples.  The pleasant face smiling down at me was equally soothing.

   "I have you.  You have me." A smile, twinkling eyes.  "I watched the
games today, you know."

   "Games?"

   "Yeah, the mating games.  You and me, we talked about that some."

   "Yeah," I acknowledged.

   "I don't want to do that, Dan."

   "Considering that you have your husband's head in your lap, I'd wish you
didn't."

   Giggle.  "You know what I mean." She playfully slapped my cheek.  "But I
ran into some of the kids from last year, and I got asked a lot of
questions, you know, where I was living?  Where was mom?  Where'd I
evacuate to?  The usual stuff.  And then when they saw my ring, it was a
whole other set of questions, like, was it somebody from school?  Was I
pregnant?  Did I have a baby?"

   "Sounds like fun." I recounted my conversation with Steve.

   "If what we did, us getting married, is crazy, Dan, I am hopelessly
crazy, you know."

   "Me too, angel.  I haven't had a single regret."

   "Good!" she said, curling over to kiss me on my nose.  "Sit up!" I sat
up.  She hopped into my lap, circling her arms around my neck.  The next
kiss wasn't on my nose.

   As a matter of fact, a few of THOSE kisses, and she moved from sitting
sideways in my lap to astride me, and her eyes took on a serious twinkle.
"I feel bad," she said.

   "You feel bad?"

   "Yeah... period started today.  Good thing I keep a few tampons in my
purse."

   "You gonna need some more?"

   "No, I got some last time we went grocery shopping.  Got plenty. 
But..."

   "But what?" I asked.

   "I'm havin' a period.  We can't, you know..."

   "Unless you wanna..."

   No, baby.  Unless you're desperate for it."

   "I'm desperate for YOU, Princess.  I can do without that for a few
days."

   "You sure?  I KNOW people do that.  Mom did, at least some, because I
heard her and her guy of the week talk about 'doin' it on the rag'.  It
just makes me uncomfortable thinking about it."

   "Don't worry about it in the least, little one." I kissed her.  "There's
a whole lot more to Dan 'n' Nikki than vaginal sex."

   "You're so clinical sometimes," she giggled, returning my kiss.  "And
you're right." Kiss.  "And now I need to look at my homework."

   "You do that.  I'll do some housework.  You can use our office, you
know. Computer.  Desk.  Printer."

   "I didn't know how you felt about somebody else in your office."

   "Anybody but you, baby," I said.  I helped her haul her materials into
the office, then I went about the business of maintaining a household.  It
was not a difficult proposition, actually.  The 'Dan and Nikki' combination
did not generate twice the mess, but it did contribute twice the labor, so
I was relegated to more of a touch-up than a major cleaning effort.

   I paused from vacuuming to give the cat time to stick his head out.  He
took advantage of the silence to charge into the office and hide behind
Nikki.  She petted him as she pored over her science textbook.

   I looked in on her.  "How's it going, cutie?"

   She said, "I'm petting my biology experiment." The cat peered around
from behind Nikki's calves.  "This stuff isn't gonna be hard at all."

   "Good," I said.  I went around emptying trash cans and then took my
shower, rare in that I did it alone.  By the time I finished, she was in
the bathroom, getting ready for her own.  I waited for a few minutes until
the water turned off, then I went in to help her dry her hair.

   "Wait a second,' she said.  "Let me get my panties on." I heard a rustle
and a sharp breath, then "Okay!" I went in to view her nude except for neat
hip-hugger panties that accentuated the curve of her hips.  She sat on a
stool while I brushed and dried her hair, then she donned her nightshirt.

   "Let's go watch TV.  Sit in your chair.  I wanna snuggle."