Quantum Entanglement

The ensuing nine years hadn't been kind to Greg. He was still big but instead of muscle it was mostly fat. He was weaker, slower and less balanced but he still wasn't any smarter.

He reared back to punch me like the first few times. I guess besides making me stronger and fitter, the nine years of martial arts had changed my reflexes because Greg's big looping punch seemed to come in slow motion. I almost got bored waiting for it.

I blocked the clumsy punch and grabbed his wrist. I turned his arm so that his palm and the inside of his elbow were face up. Then I jammed my hand under his elbow forcing the joint to snap painfully. I didn't hit him hard enough to break it, but his elbow was dislocated.

Then I threw my leg behind his knee and slammed my palm into his chest just below his neck. Again I was being merciful; the same strike a couple of inches higher to his throat could have been deadly.

Greg's heavy upper body falling backwards aided by the leverage of my leg behind his knee flipped him backwards. His head slammed into the table. Greg was knocked out before he hit the ground.

Several people came over to the table wondering what had happened.

"My daddy knocked Greg out," said the little girl. Then I realized that the girl probably hadn't been reading the magazine, she was obviously crazy.

"I saw it," said one man. "Greg tried to hit this guy, and got his ass handed to him."

"Aren't you Professor Stanford from the university?" asked someone else.

I decided that it was a good time to head for my mom's house. So I left.

I drove over to Mom's house and looked at things that have changed over the years that I'd been away. There were a lot of new businesses and even a few new homes that had popped up since I'd been away.

The strangest thing for me was the fact that no one recognized me. The waitress in the cafe not knowing me was a little bit funny. I'd gone to that café a lot of times with both Alice and Chavonne. That idiot Greg Hawkes not recognizing me was actually good. I couldn't get over how easily I'd taken him down.

One of the things that had stuck out though, was that crazy little girl. She confused the hell out of me. For one thing she seemed really familiar to me. It just felt weird being around her. Hawkes had said she was his daughter. She had claimed she wasn't. And she called me her daddy.

I knew that children sometimes lived in a fantasy world. When things in their lives weren't going the way they expected or wanted they made stuff up. That little girl did seem to be really smart for her age. Maybe she was ashamed of Greg for not being as smart as she'd like, so she'd made of up a fantasy of who she wanted her father to be.

I wasn't arrogant enough to believe that I was some little girl's dream father, but I was an easy target. A famous scientist who supposedly comes from your town, anyway. Maybe she'd thought about it so often that when I did actually show up, it just flipped her out.

I got out of my car and before I stepped on the porch mom had the door open.

"Sam, you look great!" she said. "Oh my God, I can't believe it. You look like a movie star."

"Mom, I got a haircut, worked out a bit and got contacts," I said. "I'm still the same person you raised. The one who was never smart enough to thank you for all of the things you've done for me during my life."

"Sam, what did you say?" she asked.

"I said I was too stupid to appreciate how great a job you did as my mother," I told you.

She came across the room and felt my forehead. "Sam, are you okay?" she asked smiling. "That's the first time I've ever heard you even hint at the fact that you might not know everything. It's also the first time you've ever thanked anyone for anything."

"Mom, I'm sorry for the way I used to be," I said. "I guess I was too caught up in the science to appreciate reality. I was so busy living in theory that I never really looked at the people around me. I guess you can say I've grown up a bit."

"So did you see Chavonne?" she asked. "What did you think of Samantha?"

"Mom, I haven't seen Chavonne or Alice. But I have no reason to. They've both moved on with their lives and I have too. I have to find a way to do my job for the university and still keep up my schedule of conferences and engagements as well. I'm pretty sure that my new responsibilities will mean that I won't have much time for a social life.

And anyway, if I did want to have one, why would I go back to the people who've already betrayed me? There are plenty of new women out there who deserve their own chance to shit on me, don't you think?"

"Sam, I'm not anywhere near as smart as you are when it comes to science but I do know people and Cha..." she started, but when I looked at her she just stopped speaking and nodded her head.

"Mom, I'll be back later," I said. "Maybe I can take you out to eat. I'm going to stop by the university and get set up for my new job."

I drove over to the university. The guard stopped me when I pulled into the faculty parking lot near the new physics building.

When I told them who I was and showed them my ID they freaked out.

"You're Sam Stanford?" one guard asked.

"Yep," I said.

"As in Dr. Samuel Stanford, PhD?" he asked. "The man that this building is named for?"

"From the TV shows and all of that egghead stuff?" threw in the other guard.

"I guess," I answered.

The first guard took out his phone and leaned down so his face was next to mine. He had the other guard take a picture of us. Then they switched.

"Nice car, Dr. Stanford," said the first guard as he opened the gate so I could finally drive in.

After a few more run-ins with various staff members and students, I finally made it to the physics department office. I opened the door quietly and walked in on a nasally voice berating a couple of people. As I looked I saw a short fat woman pointing her finger and yelling at three other people.

"That isn't the way we do things around here. I'm going to be making a lot of changes as the Assistant Dean of Physics, so you either get with the program or you'll be out the door," she yelled. The two younger people were obviously intimidated by her. When they saw me their eyes widened even further.

"What changes would those be, Alice?" I asked.

She turned around and nearly fell over. Her eyes gave me the once over and at first she didn't quite recognize me. Then it dawned on her and she broke into a smile.

"All decisions regarding the physics department and program come through me, I believe," I said. I walked past Alice and held out my hand to the people she was berating.

"I've read your file; you're Hiram Daniels aren't you?" I asked. "I love your approach to teaching the principles of sound without any difficult calculations. We'll talk; I'd like to get your advice on some things I'd like to do to introduce some other theories. What you do is brilliant. You bring and keep a lot of young minds interested who'd have washed out otherwise. We need more innovative people like you or science will die out." He just smiled and nodded his head.

"Wendy Hilliard, right?" I asked. "Your classes in Intro to Physics have the greatest number of students moving into the higher levels of physics classes of anyone in the state. Great work and if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." I shook her hand and she seemed hesitant to let go of mine.

"I cannot believe this," I said. "Dan Springer, I taught you Basic Physics myself. You're a professor now? I'm getting old."

"Alice, I'd like to speak to you in my office where ever that is," I said sharply.

We walked down the hall with her gushing and staring at me all the way. Once we were inside the office and the door was closed, she started.

"Sam, Honey I'm so glad you're back," she gushed. "You look great; I was such a fool to ever let you go. Now that we'll be working together again I hope..."

"Alice," I said. "Who made you the assistant Dean? From my talk with both Dean Martin and the board of directors, I was under the impression that I'd be choosing my own staff."

"Well I j..." she began again.

"The past is over Alice. I have nothing against you. Everything between us was ancient history, but at the same time, you won't get any favors from me. I'll be picking my own second in command and it won't be you. Besides you have enough problems of your own to take care of don't you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I've looked at the schedule of classes," I began. "You don't teach anything on a regular basis, you have no research grants, you're not working on any projects and haven't for over five years and you have never published anything. What the hell do you do here to justify your salary?"

She looked shocked. "I uhm...I help with..." she said. I knew that she'd been trading on being my ex wife but now I was calling the pigeons home to roost.

"Alice, I'll be sitting down with the entire staff next week. I'll probably be hiring an assistant and a few administrative aids. I'll also be going over the staff roster and seeing who is doing what. At that time I'll be making a few changes and giving a few raises as incentives for good work. I'll also be demoting and letting a few people retire as need be. Please figure out what you do by then," I said.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" she asked smiling.

"No Alice, I wouldn't," I said smiling just as much.

"Sam, are you seeing anyone?" she asked.

"Not your business Alice," I said. "Your business is making sure you aren't going to retire soon."

"You wouldn't really force me to...?" she asked.

"Yes I would," I said.

"But don't you want us to get back together? Intellectually there's no one around here who is close to your equal. I was so glad when you left that little cow you'd moved into my house that I jumped for joy," she laughed. "You coming home is great for us."

"Alice, I don't want "Us," to be anything," I said. "There is no "Us," and it's not your house. There never will be an "Us," again. You threw "Us," away when you cheated on me on a whim. You didn't look for INTELLIGENCE in the guy you fucked so do not use it as a benchmark for people I hook up with either. Seriously you should just be glad I'm not the kind of man who needs revenge."

She left very angry, slamming the door on her way out.

I drove back to my Mom's apartment. As I walked in I smelled something wonderful cooking. "Mom, I told you I was going to take you out to eat. Why'd you cook?" I asked.

"We have guests for dinner," she said.

I went into the living room and as I got ready to sit down Chavonne came out of the kitchen. I was instantly on guard.

"Sam," she said softly. Her face was a mixture of things. It was at once as beautiful as it had ever been, but there were a few lines on it to show that she'd matured over the time I'd been away. When I left she was in her early twenties, barely a woman, but now she was in her early thirties and at the peak of her physical beauty. Her breasts were larger now than they'd been then and they hung lower on her frame. Her waist though nowhere near thick was definitely a bit bigger and her ass was rounder and lower as well.

She was still extremely beautiful. Then she took a tentative step towards me. So naturally I took one back away from her.

"Why are you here?" I snapped. She looked as if I'd slapped her. I was trying to remain unemotional and keep her at a distance but truthfully seeing her again only brought out what I'd lost or had taken from me.

"Your mother thinks we should talk," she said quietly. "And I want us to talk too."

"We don't have shit to talk about," I said angrily.

"Sam you have every right to hate me and to be angry at me," she said. "I did a very dumb thing for what I thought was a good reason. But as you already know and have always known, I try really hard, but I'm not that smart. I know I'm a dummy." she was beginning to cry.

"Chavonne, you're not a dummy," I said. "Don't ever say that."

"Oh I'm worse than that," she said. "Your ex once called me an utter moron, remember? She actually got cuter than that after you left. Now she calls me an udder moron because of these," she pointed at her breasts.

"I know what I am, Sam," she said. "I'm a fuck doll. Guys always took one look at me and just wanted to fuck me. Then they'd get bored with me and move on. I had a great thing going with a guy who was really smart and treated me like a fucking princess, and I did a really dumb thing and messed it all up."

"I'm sure you had your reasons," I said. "You can only take being tortured for so long."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Sam?" she asked. "I loved being with you. I loved every fucking second of every God damned day that we had. Don't you ever say anything like that; there was nothing wrong with anything we had."

"Oh yeah, I can really believe that," I said.

"Yeah you can," she snapped. "If you can't then maybe you're not as fucking smart as everyone thinks you are. Why is it so damned hard for you to realize that I love you Sam?"

"Well let's see," I said. "There was that thing about me walking in and finding you fucking the same guy who fucked my ex wife. There was also the fact about you laughing at me while he put me down."

She started crying then really hard. "God damn you're stupid," she snapped. "I can't believe I've wasted my whole life on someone that stupid."

"Well you didn't have to," I said. "We've both moved on with our lives, so if I'm that stupid you can just go home to whoever you're fucking now."

"You've moved on Sam," she said. "I'm still the same. I still live in your house. I can't even call it our house because you never married me. I know you wanted to. I cried for a week straight a couple of years ago when I was cleaning and found the ring. You moved on Sam. You travel all over the world doing TV shows and writing papers. I have to sit in the house and be reminded of you every day. I have to look into those eyes and realize the stupid thing I did to drive away the only man I ever loved." I started wondering what the hell she was talking about. Whose eyes was she looking into? Shit, if she didn't like him, just get rid of him. Why blame me?

"There are plenty of men in this town who'd give their left nut to be with you," I said. "It wouldn't be hard for you to replace me."

"Sam, I love you. When I look into those eyes every morning there's simply no way that anyone else would ever do. So for a long time now it's just been me, my purple vibrator and what you left behind," she said.

"Memories fade with time," I said. "Throw those old pictures away and trade your vibrator in on the real thing. Everything I left behind can simply be put away or burned."

"You really don't know do you?" she asked.

She moved over to me and pulled me down on the couch next to her. "Mom, how long before the roast is done?" she yelled.

"About a half hour," my Mom screamed. "I wanted it to be ready for when I bring Sam over then, I'm leaving now. How's it going?"

"Not well," yelled Chavonne.

I was sitting on the couch and she pulled herself right next to me and flung one of those long legs over mine. My dick thought it was the old days and rose instantly.

"Some parts of you still like me," she said.

"But that isn't the part that's in control," I said.

"It never was," she said. "Sam, I liked you a lot from the very first time I saw you. I switched my physics class to get into yours. You just looked so cute and so vulnerable. But once I got to know you I realized that you were also caring and kind. All of my life I've been built like this. I'm not smart, but I'm not that stupid either.

I know what men want from me. Most of the men I knew couldn't wait to get their hands on me or other body parts. I learned how to pretty much get anything I wanted just by bending over a little bit. The first time I remember anyone telling me "No," was you. I figured I'd get you to help me out in your class and you suggested other tutors.

Then I figured that maybe you just hadn't gotten the message, so at the faculty/student mixer I just laid myself all over you. I put my tits right on you and just stayed there. None of the other guys, students or staff could even concentrate. You just politely offered me a seat next to you.

I knew then that I was attracted to you. You saw me as a person not just a bunch of body parts. I tried as hard as I could to get you to notice me but for some reason it just didn't work.

Then I got into trouble. I got evicted. I stayed with Greg Hawkes, that bastard, for a couple of days. The deal we made was if he let me stay with him for a week, I had to fuck him. I couldn't stand him so after two days I moved out. I decided I'd rather be homeless than fuck that asshole. You came to my rescue. I loved you even more then. But I knew that you were a man and you'd expect something in exchange for letting me stay with you.

The funny thing was, with you I was ready and willing to pay it. You moved me into a much better place, you treated me far better. I was really happy. I kept expecting you to make a move on me but it just never happened. Then I realized that I wanted it to happen so I started going after you. But nothing happened then either.

Finally I used the thunderstorm to get into your bed. During the night I scooted right up against you. Your dick was as hard as a fucking rock. I put your hands on my tits. You woke up and apologized. I was sure I was going to have to rape you.

The next night there was no fucking way I was going back into my room and sleeping alone so I forced my way back into your bed. I told you we'd talk about it in the morning because I was sure that we'd be making love that night. You have to understand during the month or so that we'd been together by then, I was in heaven. To me it was like we were newlyweds. We slept together, we ate together, we did everything together except for having sex and I wanted the whole thing. I was already in love with you by then but I had no clue of how you felt.

Then it happened and it blew the top of my fucking head off. The sex was great, you didn't just fuck me, and we tried things and positions. It mattered to you that I enjoyed it too. You didn't just squeeze my tits and use me like a blowup doll. I loved making love with you.

The thing that made it even better was afterwards. I'm not just talking about us cuddling after sex, though that was wonderful too. I'm talking about after we started having sex. Most guys once they get what they want, they start feeling like they don't have to try anymore. Mission accomplished, the pussy is mine. But Sam, you started finding things for us to do together even more. Like when we started restoring my car. We started learning to work on cars together as equals. It was something for us to grow into together. It just made me love you even more. Too much in fact, because something we didn't know about happened.

You didn't know it but Greg was still putting pressure on me to sleep with him. He kept saying I owed him. I told him that our deal was that if I stayed with him for a week I had to fuck him and I'd only been there for a couple of days.

He said that by my staying there at all, I had to fuck him. Even though I'd only been there two days it wasn't his fault I'd left.

The morning that you caught us I'd gone to the doctor's office. On my way home I ran into Greg. I was already nervous about how you'd react. On one hand I was even happier than I'd ever been, but I was also a little bit scared. I really wasn't thinking straight. So I just decided to go ahead and get rid of Greg once and for all.

I figured that you'd be in class until later. I'd let Greg have his little piece and he'd be out of our lives, problem solved.