THE COUPLES
by
Richard Alan
Village Drummer Fiction
Copyright © 2011 by Richard Alan and Village Drummer Fiction
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any names, places, characters, or incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or people is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN: 978-0-9836953-3-2 (print edition)
ISBN: 978-0-9836953-5-6 (e-book edition)
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Also by Richard Alan
Meant to Be
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wife and partner Carolynn, without whom, none of this would be possible.
I also dedicate this book to my father, Gerald, who was the greatest natural engineer I have ever known — even after forty years working with many engineers of all disciplines, he surpassed them all.
I would also like to dedicate this book to our three sons, David, Allen, and Isaac. Their humor, joy, character, and accomplishments have made the bad times better and the good times greater.
Acknowledgments
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The Couples
CHAPTER ONE — ANNA CARDOZO
Mrs. Heather was on hold waiting to talk to her insurance company for the last forty-five aggravating minutes. It was a gorgeous morning with an azure blue cloudless sky and bright yellow sunshine. This was a typical March day in southern New Mexico. In her front yard, she had placed her artist’s crayon pastel pencils on a small card table and set up an easel. Today she would attempt recreating the marvelous view she enjoyed from her home, in the Organ Mountains.
When the call ended, she noticed a little girl standing on the sidewalk that led to her front door. It was five year old Anna Cardozo, the daughter of the restaurant owners up the street. Anna was standing and looking down at the sidewalk with her head tilted to the side, as if she was studying something. She was barefoot, wearing a cream colored shift that came down almost to her ankles. The shift had a bright pink sash at the waist. Anna wore a matching cream colored wide brimmed hat that also had a pink sash on it. Her lovely auburn hair tumbled out from under her hat.
Anna got down on her hands and knees. Much to Mrs. Heather’s horror, she realized that Anna had taken her expensive artist’s crayons and was drawing on her concrete walkway. As she hurried outside she thought about how difficult it would be to get that stuff off the walk.
“Anna, stop that!” she implored.
Anna was startled and quickly stood up. She thought of running away, but realized with the crayons still in her hands there was no denying what she had done.
Mrs. Heather ran up to her and said, “Anna it will be impossible… it will take… those are very expensive… Oh my word. Anna that’s marvelous!”
She became speechless as she looked at Anna’s drawing. It was notebook page sized. In a deep blue, almost black, background Anna had created what looked like a night sky. There was even the outline of a leafless tree in the lower left.
After a few minutes pause to take in Anna’s drawing, she asked, “What are you drawing, Anna?”
“My bedroom window,” the little girl quietly replied.
“Is that what it looks like?”
In a quiet voice Anna told her, “I had to get up to pee after I went to bed and this is what my window looked like.”
Mrs. Heather was shocked at the accurate view of the night sky. She even recognized some constellations.
“Anna, I love to have company when I’m drawing. I could set up a portable easel on the table over there and we could draw together. Would you like to do that?”
“Sure!” was the enthusiastic reply.
Mrs. Heather brought out more art supplies and a tall glass of lemonade for each of them.
Anna, of course, loved the attention, let alone an opportunity to draw another picture.
The little easel was parallel to Mrs. Heather so she really couldn’t see what Anna was drawing. As Mrs. Heather talked to her, she kept pointing out the different textures in the distant mountains and how the sun created shadows across the landscape. Anna kept up with the running account of the mountains she was so familiar with. Every now and then she seemed to giggle for no reason.
After a conversation filled thirty minutes, Anna said in a laugh filled voice, “Oh no, another one is running away.”
“What’s running away, dear?”
Anna replied in a cheery voice, “Another tiny drop.”
Mrs. Heather was confused, so she positioned herself to be able to see Anna’s drawing. She sucked in her breath.
“Anna, you have an amazing amount of artistic ability.”
On a small canvas, Anna had drawn a picture of her glass of lemonade. She had included the sweating moisture on the outside of the glass, the ice cubes, the sun sparkling in some of the ice cubes, and the tiny droplets that were on the outside of the glass. She even drew one of the droplets running down the side of the glass, leaving a trail in the frost. Anna had indeed, painted the mountains with a few strokes of color behind the lemonade. Mrs. Heather could see the distorted view of the mountains depicted through the glass.
“Lemonade needs a Lemon,” Anna said giggling again. With only a handful of color filled strokes, a slice of lemon appeared perched on the edge of the glass.
“Anna that’s beautiful. The glass looks so real I can almost taste the lemonade and feel the wet glass.”
An astounded Mrs. Heather told her, “Artists usually put their name on their work, dear.”
“I already did,” Anna replied.
“Where did you write it?”
“In the ice cubes,” Anna stated in a casual tone.
Sure enough, Anna had darkened the edges of some of the ice cubes in a way that spelled out her name.
* * *
Anna Cardozo, the daughter of Carmen and Arturo Cardozo, was born and raised in a small town in southern New Mexico. She was the middle child of three children. Anna’s grandmother lived with the family. Although it wasn’t apparent at a young age, Anna had inherited her grandmother’s sense of grace and beauty. She had also inherited her great-grandmother’s mathematical mind and high intelligence.
As Anna’s mother was always busy working in the restaurant, she learned most of her values from her grandmother.
Anna’s parent’s restaurant was located on the edge of town. Everyone in the family worked there — especially in the winter when the snowbird tourists came to enjoy the flora and fauna of the warm beautiful southwestern desert; escaping the cold of their northern homes. The restaurant earned the family an adequate living, but barely enough to get them through the slow summer season.
Unlike her brother and sister, Anna loved learning. She couldn’t wait for the school year to start and was sad when it ended. She had many friends until fifth grade when her friends discovered boys. The other girls were developing physically; while Anna’s physical development wouldn’t begin until her senior year of high school. She attained her adult height of five feet two inches in seventh grade. Her parents took her to the doctor who told them that there was nothing wrong; “Some girls just develop later than others.”
This knowledge didn’t prevent Anna from becoming the object of many mean spirited jokes all through junior high and high school. At times Anna became depressed and felt like an outcast. She developed the facility of doing things on her own to minimize the chance of being hurt. She was easily angered when teased about her undeveloped body. Even in college, when she did start to develop a woman’s figure, she felt she was still treated like a little kid. She had even heard her own brother referring to her as his hermana flaca — Spanish for skinny sister.
Anna couldn’t understand her now former friends’ fascination with boys, so she just concentrated on her schoolwork and became a great student. When boys tried to talk to her, she was always on the defensive waiting for some remark about her shapeless body. The only date she went on in high school was arranged by her parents.
The local high school had purchased computers when Anna was a freshman. Anna immediately realized that the computer and the internet was a window to the world outside their small town. Her teacher told her that people who could program computers could earn an excellent living. Anna thought that by having a well-paying career, she would never have to be dependent on anyone else.
On parents’ day of Anna’s sophomore year, the mathematics instructor told her mother and father that Anna should attend University and study engineering.
“Anna has the mathematical and scientific talent, plus the work ethic, to become an excellent electrical engineer. This is a career that will allow her to make a wonderful living for herself. I have a number of talented students in my classes. Anna’s comprehension and ease of learning math and science, combined with her great passion for science, is far beyond any student I have had the honor to teach. With Anna’s abilities, you should definitely be planning to send her to college.”
After a few more remarks about Anna’s scholastic prowess the instructor stated, “I’ve noticed that Anna has incredible artistic talent.”
“Yes,” Carmen told the teacher, “but it’s just fun for her. She doesn’t have a passion for it like she has for math and science.”
While driving home after the conference, Anna’s father told his wife, “We can’t afford to send her to college.”
“You heard what the teacher said,” her mother stated.
“I heard. It hurts me more than I can tell you. Of all our children, I’ve known for a long time that Anna was the only student.”
“I have a feeling that God will provide an answer for that,” Carmen Cardozo confidently told her husband. “I’m going to pray on that.”
In a sarcastic voice Arturo replied, “You do that and I’ll check my bank account to see if He’s made a deposit for Anna’s education.”
Six months later, God’s answer to Carmen’s prayers arrived. A man from Texas had just purchased many acres of land adjacent to their restaurant. He was going to build a huge RV campground. Construction workers began showing up from all over the country to develop the site. At lunch time, many of them went over to the Cardozo’s restaurant for lunch.
With the extra money from the construction workers, they added a lovely shaded patio, nearly doubling the capacity of the restaurant.
When Anna asked her parents about money for university, they always told her the same thing, “You just worry about your grades. We’ll manage the rest.”
As Anna graduated third in her high school class, and had amazing SAT scores, she received a scholarship that paid most of her tuition. When Anna received her acceptance letter from the university, she wasn’t sure who was more excited — her mother or her father. Arturo decided to leave the restaurant for a few days while he, Carmen, Anna and Anna’s grandmother drove up to see the university campus.
Upon their return, Carmen told one of her friends, “Other than the times when the kids were born, I don’t think I ever saw Arturo so happy. You know how tight fisted he is with money. When we went into the campus book store, he bought jackets, hats, bumper stickers, cups, pens, pennants, pencils, and tee shirts, all with the university emblem on them. I couldn’t believe it. He even bought a poster with the university emblem to put in the entrance to our restaurant. Everyone’s going to know that Arturo’s daughter is attending university. Anna on the other hand, just looked nervous the whole time we were there. She’s not even in university yet and she’s losing sleep worrying about being able to do the work. I was hoping that once she graduated from high school, she would be happier with herself. It hasn’t happened yet. I’m beginning to wonder if she will always be alone.”
When Anna talked to an advisor at the university, she quickly realized she could double major in electrical engineering and software engineering, as many of the course requirements overlapped. She could finish her double major in nine semesters.
She rarely came home, except at holidays. Sadly there wasn’t much time to visit with family during those visits as they took place during the restaurant’s busiest times.
Anna’s social life in college mirrored her social life in high school. She concluded that most relationships were “messy” and time consuming.
Towards the end of Anna’s last semester, a number of corporations sent human resource personnel and engineers to visit her campus and conduct interviews with potential employees. Anna was a nervous wreck at each interview. She was certain that none of the companies would want someone who interviewed so poorly. Within two days of the interviews, however, one of the companies asked Anna to fly to Seattle, Washington for additional interviews. They sent her airline tickets and paid for her hotel and meals. Anna was amazed that a company would do that for her. After the first two interviews in Washington, she was shocked to realize that the company was trying to make sure she liked them enough to insure that she would come to work there. With Anna’s scholastic record and obvious intelligence, she was given a job offer before she went home. Anna would start work in early March, giving her enough time to visit home after graduation and arrange to have her things moved to an apartment in Seattle. Anna’s parents were proud of their daughter but sad as they realized that Seattle was a long way from southern New Mexico.
CHAPTER TWO — RUTH and OLIVER
Two years after Ruth Holt received her master’s degree, she found a teaching position at the University in Seattle. Ruth taught Russian, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese and felt lucky that at twenty-six years of age she had found a teaching position at the University level. She thought that teaching language in a university setting was great, as students tend to be more motivated than high school student.
One morning Ruth found her car wouldn’t start. She called her department head to let her know she would be late. A guy was standing next to the front of her car.
“Hit the key again, Miss,” he told Ruth.
She did, but the car just made a clicking noise.
“I’ve got cables in my car. I’ll jump it for you,” he told her.
As he opened the hood of the car, he said, “Your negative battery cable is loose. I’ll get a wrench and tighten it.”
Off he went. He had blonde hair, very bright blue eyes, and a slim build. He looked like he was about Ruth’s age and was a bit taller than her.
He returned with a small wrench which he used to tighten the cable. Ruth turned the key and the car started immediately. She thanked him for helping her and let him know that her university students would be thankful for his efforts.
“It’s my pleasure,” he said with a warm smile.
That evening Ruth decided to study outside by the apartment complex’s swimming pool. It was a warm evening, and many people were sitting around the pool. Ruth wore a bikini with a very shear shirt that did little to hide her more than ample curves. There were lots of highly educated engineers living in the apartment complex who worked for a nearby software company.
“How’s your car running?” asked the man from earlier in the day, as he sat down next to Ruth. “I’m Oliver.”
“It’s running fine. I’m Ruth.” He wore a tee shirt and swimming suit on his slim body.
“What are you reading?”
“I am preparing an exam for my classes. I teach Russian, Italian, and Chinese languages at the University.”
“Speaking a foreign language must be neat. I speak English and diesel.”
“You speak diesel?”
“I’m a mechanic on over-the-road diesel engine trucks.”
“It must be very nice to work with your hands all day, I’m sure.” Ruth thought, “Drat”. She worked very hard to have an intellectual career so she could interact with intelligent and highly educated acquaintances. She was disappointed that the first guy who talked to her, other than married colleagues, was someone who worked with his hands for a living. Some girls have good luck meeting guys and some have bad luck, but Ruth thought she fell in the no luck category.
“I’m having some friends over to my place Friday night. Maybe you’d like to join us. We’re getting a keg of beer, so it should be a good time,” Oliver said.
“Thank you, but no. Drinking isn’t my idea of fun, so I wouldn’t be much fun at your get together.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Well, you wouldn’t have to drink,” Oliver offered.
“I don’t tend to hang around people who smoke either.”
“Oops,” said Oliver, putting out his cigarette. “Maybe some other time.”
“I really don’t think so. I doubt that we have anything in common.”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you. You seemed like a really nice person.”
Oliver got up and walked away. After a number of steps, he looked back at Ruth with a sad expression on his face. She wondered what he meant by “seemed” like a nice person? Was that diesel mechanic judging her? He didn’t have the slightest idea who she was. Ruth worked hard to progress to an intellectual level which that diesel mechanic clown could only dream about. She wondered how a drinking, smoking, diesel mechanic, thought he could judge her? Ruth mentioned the incident to one of her colleagues and they had a good laugh that a diesel mechanic would have the nerve to ask Ruth to a beer party.
About four weeks later Ruth saw Oliver sitting at a Starbucks late in the day, latte in hand, reading a rather large paperback book. He looked up and smiled at her.
“How was your party?” she asked.
“It was nice. You might have liked it.”
“What are you reading? Wait let me guess — a catalog of engine repair tools?”
The smile disappeared from his face. He stared at Ruth for a moment and then said, “This is volume three of Shelby Foote’s series, The Civil War: A Narrative.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply...”
“Actually you did mean to… and it worked. You’ve convinced me that you think I’m your intellectual inferior because I repair diesel engines for a living. Let me tell you something, Miss College professor. Every time I fix an over-the-road truck, it puts some driver back on the road so he can continue to make a living for his family. I think the tool that a guy or gal uses to make a living is important. I’m the one who keeps that tool running properly and quickly repairs it when it breaks. I’m not working today because I was up all night replacing a burned piston on a husband and wife driving team’s truck. Their trailer is loaded with organic produce. If I didn’t get them back on the road, all that produce would have spoiled and they wouldn’t get paid. One of my fellow mechanics and I tore that engine down and repaired it so they were on the road again at six o’clock this morning. Have a nice day.”
Oliver started reading his book again. Ruth felt like every eye in the coffee shop was looking at her. Who did this jerk think he was? She got in line to order. By the time she got to the counter, she was so aggravated, she couldn’t remember what she wanted.
As Ruth was leaving the coffee shop she received a call from her father. After she told him what had happened, there was a long silence before he spoke.
“I feel sorry for you, Ruth. It must be terrible to have to put up with these intellectual midgets. Head back over to your university and talk to your intellectual equals. I’m sure they’ll agree with you. Just don’t tell them that your own father spent most of his life repairing aircraft engines. Your own father is someone who spent most of his life working with his hands…that fact must be awfully embarrassing for you.”
“Dad, it’s not like that…”
“SHUT UP, RUTH! You’ve been an intellectual snob since high school. Your university education has only made it worse. Before you call me again, you go back and apologize to that young man. I mean SINCERELY apologize to him.” Then he hung up on her.
Ruth’s dad had never done that before. She went home as quickly as she could. When she got into her apartment, she closed the door and collapsed into a sitting position on the floor. Ruth cried her eyes out thinking she had become so insensitive, that her beloved father would call her an intellectual snob. The worst part was, he was right! She had been so blinded by conceit, she didn’t even realize while insulting Oliver, she was also insulting her father. Surrounded by colleagues in academia, they continually reminded each other how intellectually superior they were to the rest of the world. What absolute hog wash! Ruth realized she would have to sincerely apologize to Oliver. It took her a few hours to get composed, and then she showered and changed into a lovely top and slacks. She walked over to Oliver’s apartment and knocked on his door.
He opened the door saying, “Yes?”
“Oliver, I want to apologize for my behavior at the coffee shop this morning, and the pool the other day. It was absolutely inexcusable.”
“Thank you. Apology accepted.” He stared at her for a moment and said, “Would you like to come in?”
Although she still had nothing in common with Oliver, she thought it would be best to accept. Upon entering his apartment she noticed many large maps on the floor, and on the dining room table, and asked what they were.
“They’re maps of various battles fought during the Civil War. I like learning about the Civil War. It’s been a hobby of mine since I visited Gettysburg four years ago. A cousin of mine was in Louisiana at a used book store. He found this map and sent it to me. It has indications that it was drawn by a confederate general named E. B. Stuart, or someone on his staff. One of the history professors from the University is coming over shortly to help me verify if it’s real. It’s really in fragile condition. Once I realized how valuable it might be, I’ve only touched it with cotton gloved hands.”
“That would be quite a find, if it’s real,” she told him.
“If it is real, I’m going to give it to a museum. This should be available for everyone to see. There’s also a good chance that it’s a fake. The world seems to be awash in fake Civil War documents. Would you like something to drink? I mean, non-alcoholic, of course.”
“Water would be fine,” Ruth told him. He walked into his kitchen and returned with a glass of water with ice cubes.
Oliver’s doorbell rang. After he opened his door, he introduced the history professor who would help determine the veracity of the map. Professor Anderson was an older man who had spent most of his life in the history department of the University. He looked over the map and then set up a microscope.
“My word, Oliver, this paper appears to be the right age. I can’t be certain until we chemically analyze it, but the weave and coloring appears to be correct for a document of this age.” He unfolded a notebook sized piece of paper that he had removed from his pocket. “I had a friend in Kentucky send me a copy of Stuart’s signature from an authenticated document.”
We all looked at the two signatures. They looked quite similar.
“If this turns out to be real, the three of us have been looking at an extremely valuable historical document. It could bring hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.”
Oliver told him “We have a long way to go before we have to worry about that.”
Professor Anderson looked at me and said, “Young lady, we are in the presence of a genuine Civil War battle historian. I can think of fewer than a dozen people who would have recognized the potential value of this map. There is little identification of the locations indicated on the map, but by observing the notes on the troop placements, Oliver recognized which battle the map referred to. I’ve been trying to get him to teach a course on battles of the Civil War in my department but he keeps turning me down. Maybe you can help me encourage him?”
“We’ve just met, but I’ll try.”
Oliver laughed and said, “If you need someone to teach truck repair, I’m your man… but teach history? I don’t think so.”
“Well, I keep hoping,” the professor told them as he left.
When they were alone again, Ruth asked Oliver if he would like to go for a walk.
“I’d love to, as long as you don’t mind being seen with a diesel mechanic,” he said only half-jokingly.
“I am absolutely embarrassed to tears that I acted that way. My father spent nearly all his working career repairing jet aircraft. When I said those things to you, I was also demeaning him. He’s always been a great father, husband and provider for our family. My parents raised me with a great set of values, but I seemed to have lost some of them. Oliver, I am so sorry I acted that way.”
Oliver smiled and said, “I won’t bring it up again, if you won’t.”
“It’s a deal,”
On their walk, they talked about family and relationships. Family was obviously quite important to both of them.
“I’ve noticed that you haven’t lit up a cigarette,” Ruth said.
“I quit last week. The cousin who sent me that map is my age. He has smoked as long as I have and was just diagnosed with lung cancer. He’s having surgery in a couple of days to remove most of his left lung. I may not be the brightest bulb in the lamp, but I figure that’s a good enough sign for me. It was murder for a couple of days, but I kept a picture of a diseased lung on the front of my locker at work, and on my refrigerator at home, to remind me why I wanted to quit smoking.”
They walked in silence for a while.
Oliver continued, “I was thinking about you the day after my party. I told you I was going to have beer there and you didn’t seem to think that would be fun. I ended up having stomach flu earlier that day, so I didn’t drink. You know what? It wasn’t fun. With me not being drunk, my friends didn’t seem so funny. One of the girls got so drunk, she fell and dumped a full glass of beer on one of my favorite Civil War books. When I pointed out what she had done, she just laughed and said, ‘Guess I’m Drunk.’ I was angry as hell that she thought getting falling down drunk, and ruining a book, was laughable behavior! Also, I was angry at you, because I didn’t want to like you, but you were right about the drinking.”
Oliver was quiet for a moment as they walked and then said, “You may have to hang out with me now, because I may not have any friends left.”
“I’m sure you’ll find new friends.”
Oliver stopped walking and turned towards Ruth. Smiling at her he said, “As long as you are the first of my new friends, that will be fine.”
They started walking again, and Ruth told him, “I’m worried that we don’t have enough in common to build a relationship on.”
“Let’s just start by seeing if we can be good friends. I do think we have shared values when it comes to family. That could be an excellent cornerstone for building a relationship.”
They had dinner that night at Momma Michaela’s. It was served family style on long rows of tables so everyone got to know each other. They had a wonderful evening sitting near a couple who obviously were very much in love. You could tell from the way they kept looking at each other and touching. The guy was kind of shy but told the funniest jokes about his software career. His girlfriend was from someplace in New Mexico. She told us many stories about growing up there and the hard times she and her family had. Everyone agreed, that our families got through the worst times by solving problems as a family. Oliver fit right in and Ruth felt very comfortable spending time with him. After dinner they went to a ballroom in Seattle for dancing. Neither was a great dancer, but the fun quotient was off the scale as they danced the night away.
When Oliver walked Ruth to her apartment door, she told him, “I know we got off to a bad start, but I really had fun tonight. I hope to see you again.”
As an answer, he put his hands on either side of Ruth’s face and kissed her with one of THOSE kisses you read about in romance novels. She felt certain she was experiencing a full Independence Days’ worth of fireworks exploding in her head. She wrapped her arms around him and held him as tight against her as she could.
“I had a fun day, as well,” he said.
Ruth could hardly sleep that night thinking about Oliver — and that kiss. She kept thinking if his kiss was so explosive, what would making love to him be like?
The next day Ruth’s first class started at ten o’clock. She found a bud vase with a single yellow rose in it on her desk. The attached card read:
Thanks for the great day — your favorite diesel mechanic
A few weeks later Ruth would receive a phone call that had the potential to destroy their growing and joy filled relationship.
CHAPTER THREE — ANNA and MICHAEL
Anna shared an office with another engineer. When she arrived the first day she was proud to see a placard at the entrance to their office with “Anna Cardozo — Software Engineer” on it. She was told her double major in electrical engineering and software engineering were great majors, but hadn’t realized that companies would actually come looking for her, instead of her looking for them! Anna was raised in a small, southern New Mexico town. The Seattle area was certainly the big city for a small town girl like her. It was taking some time for her to get adjusted to living there — especially to the weather. It was cloudy every day, but the temperature rarely got above fifty and wouldn’t get much warmer until summer. March in New Mexico would be in the seventy’s and sunny almost every day. Anna’s apartment was about one mile from her office, so she could walk to work regardless of the weather.
The group Anna worked for was developing a new electronic device for aircraft. Her officemate, Michael Levin, and she were designing the software interface between the hardware components and the user interface. In the trade, it’s called firmware engineering. They would also be responsible for testing the device’s motherboard to make sure it was built properly and worked as intended. They would be developing tests for all the software the department wrote as well. While Anna worked for the company directly, Michael was hired as a consultant. He had done this kind of work since he was in high school and had developed many types of products, from dishwasher controls to satellite communication controllers. Michael was just under six feet tall, very nice looking, and five years older than Anna.
Anna learned that her immediate supervisor, Paul, wasn’t happy to get an engineer right out of school for his eight person engineering group. She knew that she would have to work as hard as she could to keep him happy. The others in the group were pleasant to work with and nice people generally.
Michael had been especially nice to Anna. The first day she arrived he told her, “I have prepared an outline with the things you need to learn; plus here is a book on math algorithms that will help get you up to speed with the rest of the group. If you have any questions, just ask.”
Anna found that Michael was easy to work with and made her laugh. He seemed to make very funny jokes at his own expense. He was also an expert at malapropisms. After a member of the building’s IT department came to give them some absolutely worthless advice, Michael told Anna, “We’re certainly going to illiterate him from our memories.” After recommending a book to her he said, “If you study this material you will easily reprehend it.” He would drop words like that with a perfectly straight face. At first she thought he was serious, but then realized he did it on purpose to make her laugh.
There were two other women in the group, so Anna started going to lunch with them. They let her know what to expect from different group members. No one seemed to like Paul, as his supervisory method consisted of tons of criticism and very little guidance.
“Anna,” Michael said, “Here is an outline of a module to code by the middle of the next week. Our group will get together to review it. Code reviews are conducted to try to head off problems, before running the code in an actual device. It also assures that the company’s software quality standards are met.”
Anna was a nervous wreck the day of the code review. It took place in a small conference room with whiteboards on the walls. Every time someone read a block of her code, her supervisor, Paul would find a reason to criticize it. Each criticism was accompanied by him saying, “If you had more experience, maybe you would know better.”
After fifteen minutes of this, Michael gave Paul a look that was so cold it could have caused an entire ocean to freeze. Michael suggested to him in a strong stern voice, “You’ve made your point, Paul.”
Paul slowed down the criticism, but Anna still found it humiliating.
When they got back to their office Michael told her, “Your code was excellent. Don’t let other people’s remarks upset you.”
“It’s not that easy for me. This is my first job and I want to look good.”
In an ominous tone, Michael told her, “Paul has a code review in two weeks. Be sure you’re ready for it.”
Two days before they went into Paul’s code review, Michael handed Anna a copy of Paul’s code with lots of little notes and symbols on it. The symbols came from the book on mathematical algorithms that Michael had given her just after she started. Anna spent a number of hours studying the annotated code.
When they had all assembled in the conference room, Michael read the first six lines of Paul’s code. He walked over to an erasable whiteboard and turned back to face the group. Michael looked directly at Paul and said, “I’m not sure what you were trying to do. You only need two lines to get this done.”
Michael proceeded to write the two lines on the whiteboard. Anna knew Michael was very good at writing code, but the two lines he put on the board were brilliant.
Naturally Paul said, “With all your experience, I’m sure that’s easy for you.”
Paul then looked in Anna’s direction and gave her a disparaging look.
Michael ignored him and continued, “The next twelve lines are written in a way that uses way too many machine cycles. Code like this can drastically slow down processing.”
Michael then looked at Anna and said, “Anna, please come up to the whiteboard and show us how this code could be written more efficiently.”
Anna looked down at the code Michael had given her before the review. Applying what she had learned from the book on algorithms would enable her to compress Paul’s code. Paul was glaring at her. He was practically daring Anna to challenge his work. She looked back at Michael, who was smiling at her. One of the other women in the group nodded to her.
That’s all the encouragement she needed. Anna was nervous as she walked to the whiteboard and started writing. After she had the first line completed, she glanced back at the group. The other two women had huge smiles on their faces. Paul wasn’t even looking at her. She compressed Paul’s twelve lines of code into four and sat down.
“Thank you, Anna,” Michael said while looking over the lines she had composed.
“Her logic is unassailable,” Michael thought.
“That was excellent,” Warren, the engineer sitting next to Anna said, as she sat down.
Twenty-six year old Warren was the quietest engineer in the group. He was average height and rather plain looking. He spoke with a rural Midwest accent. Michael said he was the best software engineer he had ever met. The word Michael used was “genius” when he described Warren’s ability when it came to software. A compliment like that, coming from Michael, was huge praise, to say the least.
Warren then said to our group, “If there are no objections, I’ll show how the next block of code could have been written more efficiently.”
Anna couldn’t remember details of the rest of the meeting, but she sure remembered how quiet Paul was.
At the end of the meeting Michael said, “Paul, before your next code review, why don’t you stop by and see Anna, Warren, or me and we can review some better methods of writing code.”
Paul mumbled a quick thank you as he headed out of the conference room. When Anna got back to their office she thanked Michael.
“It’s not me, Anna. It’s you. I’ve been doing this kind of work since high school. I’ve probably met hundreds of engineers. One engineer was an old timer who’s probably long gone now. His name was Gerald. He was taught engineering course work in the Army Air Corps before and during World War Two. He was the most gifted, most natural engineer I have ever met. Whether it was internal combustion engines, aerodynamics, electrical systems, hydraulics, structures made of metals, wood, or plastics, he had the ability to develop an abstract idea of how something should work. This enabled him to invent, build, or repair almost anything. The vast majority of engineers you will ever meet will never engineer something beyond what they learned in their textbooks. A natural engineer thinks of engineering at a high level of abstraction. This allows him to go beyond the textbook learning that he was trained on. His abstract thinking also allows him to develop concepts that have never existed before. It requires a mind that is capable of huge amounts of abstract thought. That kind of thinking is something you are born with. It can’t be taught. Anna, that’s how you think. That book I gave you on algorithms would take most engineers months to learn. You learned it in a few weeks.”
“Michael, it wasn’t that difficult.”
“That’s what I’m telling you,” Michael said with a joyous expression on his face. “It wasn’t that difficult — for YOU!”
While Anna was pleased at Michael’s thoughts about her, she still felt like she was a beginning engineer who had amazing amounts to learn, just to become minimally competent.
When Anna went to the cafeteria for lunch that day, she didn’t see any of her usual friends. She was about to return to her office with her lunch, when she saw Warren sitting by himself next to a window that had a great view of the lovely green space next to their building.
“Hi Warren,” she said as she walked up to him. “May I sit with you?”
He looked up at her and smiled, saying, “Please, sit down.”
Anna hadn’t noticed Warren’s warm smile until now. He was plain looking, but seemed to concentrate on his work with such intensity, that he didn’t smile. He started working for their company right after college. He told her he loved software engineering.
“I love creating applications for devices the average person will find useful,” he said.
They talked about software and he told her that he knew how terrible Paul’s coding skills were but, “I thought I was the only one who thought that. When you and Michael pointed out how bad his code was, I knew that I could finally point out what else Paul needed to improve. We are going to turn out a brilliant device with code that will execute like lightening. I live for that.”
Warren suddenly shouted, “Oh my God! Look at that gorgeous Great Blue Heron taking off from the marsh!” In an almost whispered tone, he informed Anna, “I also live for birding.”
I’m from southern New Mexico,” Anna told him. “You should come down our way. We have amazing, brilliantly colored, birds that you can see right from our backyard. My older sister, Chela, used her first paycheck to buy a feeder for our backyard. Since then I think she is up to eleven different types of feeders. She also has nesting boxes for various birds placed around our yard. We call that part of our backyard, Chela’s Aviary. She joined a birding club and goes on hikes with them. Every year she goes out and does some kind of bird counting with them.”
Warren started telling Anna about the Varied Thrush that had just arrived at one of his feeders. He started going on and on describing the beautiful bird and then started telling her about the other birds that would soon be visiting. He probably talked for ten minutes straight. Anna hadn’t heard that kind of enthusiasm about birds since she had talked to her sister, Chela, about last spring’s bird count. She wondered if Chela and Warren would be a good match.
“Warren, do you have someone special in your life?”
“No, I don’t. I’m so busy with software that I don’t have time for dating.”
“Good,” she told him. He looked surprised so she quickly added, “I mean it’s good that you enjoy your work so much.”
As soon as Anna arrived back at her office, she told Michael, “We should have a party sponsored by the firmware group for all the project’s engineers. It would be nice to get together away from work. The building I live in has a community room that can be rented. We could have the get together in two or three weeks from now, on a Friday night.”
Michael had a shocked expression on his face. Up to that time Anna’s behavior had let him know that she had no interest in social activities. Michael thought that a party for the engineers was a great idea. They would split the cost of the room, food, and drinks.
That evening Anna bought an airline ticket for her sister. She seemed thrilled; however being her beloved big sister, Chela let her know that she didn’t like the fact that she had spent money on an airline ticket for her. After a brief discussion, she said she missed Anna terribly and would love to come for a visit.
CHAPTER FOUR — BILL and LYDIA
Anna became friends with the department administrator, Lydia, who was five months pregnant. She was married to one of the hardware engineers from another department. Lydia was drop dead gorgeous, but married to a guy who was — well — oddly shaped, to say the least. Bill had a head the shape and size of a basketball. He was already going bald, despite only being in his late twenties. His shoulders were very wide and his arms quite long. His narrow hips would have looked nice if they weren’t perched on top of very short legs. Anna had been wondering how the two of them got together. She had a chance to ask when the two of them went shopping together. Lydia shared her story.
* * *
Bill was always nice to me at work. He asked me out a few times, but I had no interest in him. I was dating a man who was selling real estate for a living. That guy was loaded, had great looks, and everyone seemed to like him. After dating about six months, we were about to become engaged when I received an anonymous phone call. A female voice suggested that I should ask my boyfriend who he had an open house with the previous weekend and why the open house had closed early. When I asked him about the call, he gave me that old, “It was just sex” story. I let him know that “it was just over” for us. I really was devastated. Everyone knew that I was convinced that he was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. I was upset that I had been so blinded by my former boyfriend’s good looks and financial success that I couldn’t see him for what he really was. After spending an entire evening feeling angry and crying over that jerk, I remembered my cousin Trisha’s wedding was the following weekend. I wasn’t sure how I could find a last minute replacement; not that I wanted to, as depressed as I was. Unfortunately, as a bridesmaid, there really wasn’t a choice.
The next day at work, Bill made his usual stop at my desk on his way to his office and asked how I was doing. In angry tones, and I’m sure with an angry look in my eyes, I told him what had happened. When I mentioned that I needed a date for my cousin’s wedding, he volunteered to escort me. I agreed and told him where and when to pick me up on Saturday afternoon. He asked quite a few questions about the style and color of my bridesmaid dress. I thought he was just trying to continue talking to me. This would be easy. Bill would escort me to the wedding and I would make sure that he knew this wasn’t like a real date — little did I know.
When Bill picked me up for the wedding, I learned that even a guy with a body like Bill’s, could look great wearing an expensive tailored suit. He proceeded to present me with a lovely wrist corsage that perfectly matched my bridesmaid dress. My next surprise came when Bill opened the door to a lovely full size car, instead of the pickup truck he drove to work every day. He told me he had rented the sedan for the day, because he didn’t think it would look nice if I arrived in a pickup truck. Bill was quite nervous trying to make a good impression.
The outdoor wedding was beautiful. Since I love children and adore interacting with them, I volunteered to organize games to keep the younger children busy until dinner was served. I had come prepared with some word games and puzzles, which I set up on a large sketch pad. Most of the kids knew what to expect as I’ve done this at other celebrations. The younger kids didn’t have much of a chance to win the vocabulary based games. While Bill watched the game he was encouraging the children and when they didn’t seem to have any idea how to solve a puzzle, he would provide little hints. He observed that the little ones didn’t seem to participate, so he interrupted me and asked if he could give the kids a challenge. He drew a square and the outline of what looked like a rabbit’s head with tall ears.
”Now just the older kids — these have different names but they rhyme. What are they?”
“Square and Hare,” one of the older girls yelled.
“Yes,” Bill told her in an enthusiastic voice. “Now just the little kids — same picture and two different words that rhyme.” The little kids intently stared at Bill’s puzzle. Finally one of them said, ‘Box…’ and another screamed, ‘Fox!’ and they all started cheering.
Bill kept drawing more pictograms for the children to solve. He would alternate between the older kids and the younger kids. They were all in heaven. Bill had them laughing and joking so much, they groaned in disappointment when they were called to dinner. My family wanted to know who the guy was who had the kids so mesmerized. I realized this certainly wasn’t the shy, quiet engineer I knew from work. He even made funny faces for the little kids and made jokes that poked fun at himself.
In reality, I really didn’t know him at all. After a lovely dinner, an orchestra started playing casual dance music. Many of the children had gathered around Bill and me. They were disappointed when he told them he was going to leave them to dance with me.
When he saw their disappointment he told them, “You can come out on the dance floor and dance like we do.”
One of my little nieces complained, “But we don’t know how to dance.”
“Oh,” said Bill in a matter of fact voice, “Lydia and I will teach you. Is that okay, Lydia?”
I agreed.
“First you hold your partner like this,” he told them as he demonstrated starting position. The kids quickly imitated. Bill led me in a slow and simple box step. It took the kids a few tries, but much to their amazement, they found out they could imitate Bill and me. After a few minutes, many parents were proudly pointing at their young children who were dancing so nicely.
When one little couple started to argue with each other in rather loud tones, Bill admonished them saying, “This is a wedding and everyone is expected to talk nicely and quietly at a wedding, no matter what the problem is.”
Everyone was amazed when the two little ones immediately quieted down and apologized. I had never gone out with a man who was so good with children and was such a gentleman. He consistently opened doors, held my arm when walking up or down stairs, held my chair when I sat down; all gestures that made me feel special. I also was impressed with the way Bill would listen carefully to whatever I said. He made me feel like my ideas and thoughts were important. And he made me laugh. I totally forgot the jerk who was supposed to have escorted me in the first place.
Bill and I had been dancing a few inches apart. I moved my body against his and putting my head on his shoulder told him, “I very much enjoy spending time with you.”
“Thank you,” he replied quietly. “I feel the same way about you.”
When Bill dropped me at my apartment that evening, I thanked him again for a lovely day. He told me it had been a pleasure. He then offered to take me to the arboretum the following Saturday, and I agreed.
During our walk at the arboretum, I expressed my concern that I needed to go slow and not end up feeling betrayed in six months, like my previous relationship. Although he said it was okay, disappointment showed in his face. His feelings were hurt because he thought I intended to use my bad experience as an excuse to stop going out with him. He was quieter the rest of the walk and took me home afterwards, without offering any suggestions for getting together again.
The next week, Bill’s routine of stopping by my desk ended. I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt conflicted. I liked Bill, but was afraid. I wanted to go slow and be certain this time. I decided to ask him to dinner at my apartment on Friday, but he claimed he had to work. After some discrete checking, I found it was true that Bill’s whole department was scheduled to work all weekend on a special installation. I was relieved he was telling the truth, but not sure what to do next. It was time to have a long talk with my mother about relationships.
“Nothing in life is certain, Lydia,” my mom told me. “Sometimes we have to take a chance and hope for the best. Not everyone falls in love at first sight. Most of us don’t. It’s also possible to fall out of love. Sometimes one partner grows in a different direction. Occasionally one partner continues to mature, and the other doesn’t. Your Aunt Martha got divorced after fifteen years of marriage. When your uncle told her that he wanted a divorce, she told him, ‘I’m the same girl you married fifteen years ago.’
‘That’s the problem’, he replied. ‘I don’t want to be married to a twenty-one year old girl any longer.’ ”
“That must have hurt,” I stated.
My mother continued, “Relationships usually aren’t easy or simple. Your dad’s brother came home one night after a year of what he thought was a happy marriage. He found his wife had removed all her clothing and left divorce papers. She had moved in with his best friend. He didn’t even realize his friend had had a six month long affair with his wife. She left him a note which read, ‘I’ve decided I want a man — not a sample.’
He was crushed and saddened, to say the least. When he finally got her on the phone, he asked about dividing up the marital property.
Her mocking reply was, ‘You keep the furniture. I’ve got a man. That’s all I ever wanted’.”
“I understand how love can blind someone,” I said.
“Lydia, everything you’ve told me about Bill makes me think he’s a nice man and would be a good father. It’s up to you to decide whether he’ll be a good partner. Then it’s up to the both of you to make sure your relationship will continue to grow. As a mother, I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I don’t.”
Buoyed by my mother’s talk, I again asked Bill over for dinner. He accepted, but still didn’t stop by my desk the next week.
The dinner turned out well. We had a nice evening spending quite a bit of time talking about relationships. I confessed how scared I was from my former relationship. I also shared the things I had discussed with my mother.
“My parents were a happy, loving couple for twenty-one years,” Bill told me. “Then their last child went off to college and it was just the two of them. They quickly discovered that the only thing they had in common was their children. After lots of agonizing, they decided to go their separate ways and are both happy now with new partners.”
“I would hate to think of that happening to me.”
Bill said, “Like your mom told you, there are no guarantees.”
We talked a while longer and then Bill went home. I was convinced that I wanted a relationship with him, but wasn’t sure if Bill felt the same.
The following week, he invited me to a Saturday afternoon baseball game. Although I loathe watching baseball, I was concerned that if I turned him down, that would be the end of any chance of us becoming a couple. It actually wasn’t too bad because Bill kept getting so excited; his excitement was contagious. I found that great because I was having fun being with someone else who was having fun, despite the overpriced hotdogs and beer. I liked that feeling. The home team was behind the entire game. Even during the last out of the last inning, Bill was still cheering them on. They were down two runs and had two men on base. After two called strikes, the stadium became silent. A couple more pitches and it would be over. The pitcher delivered a ninety mile-an-hour fastball. A fraction of a second after the ball left the pitcher’s hand, the batter started unwinding like a clock spring. The sound of the bat hitting the ball echoed through the stadium. We all looked at the left fielder, who took a few fast steps backwards, then just looked up to watch the ball sail into the upper deck. With every other person in the stadium, I jumped up and cheered. I actually enjoyed the game, but admitted to myself that the enjoyment was because I was there with Bill.
When Bill took me home, he reminded me that we both were off work the next day. He suggested we could go for a walk on Alki Beach and have lunch at a little chowder house he knew.
I told him I had to babysit two of my young nieces tomorrow.
“Bring them along,” he said grinning at me. “I like kids, you know.”