There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 11

"You mommy is a little tired now. Why don't you go to the computer and get me what I need."

"Why do I have to use the computer dad, I know what the numbers are."

Gray said, "Please tell me he didn't say that; did he?"

"No he didn't, the Sequoias are talking to one another."

"Thank you, I feel better now."

"Which part do you want to tell them Gordon? Do you want to tell them the weight of the water, the cubic feet, or the volume? I want to show them I know math too. You're not the only smart one in this house."

"I'll go first. The water weighs 4, 190,766 pounds."

Delicious said, "If you don't tell them one more thing, you're going to be wrong."

"I'm beginning not to like you Delicious."

Quickly, Gray and I said, "Join the group Gordon."

"Shut up Gray or I am going to hit you. Gordon what did you forget?"

"Okay, the water has to be at least at 65°F; but below 100°. Are you happy now?"

"Yes I am. The ship will be carrying 67,500 ft.³ of water, and a total volume of 504,900 US gallons."

"Delicious that's puts us 4 million pounds over my take-off weight estimate. Are your engines going to be able to handle it?"

She smiled at me. "Do you mean you want me to push the engines a little bit and show off dad?"

"Gray if you hold her down, I'll spank her."

Gray got up from his seat, and Delicious ran for the stairs.

She yelled, "Sit down Gray!"

He didn't, and by the time she had her foot on the third riser, his hand was wrapped around her ankle.

"Down children, I was only joking."

"Even, you can't do that to me. I was about to start my day with a smile on my face."

"Do you remember what Jennifer said about me rolling over in bed Gray? It could happen very soon Gray; very, very soon."

Gordon said, "I roll over in bed all the time, what's so bad about that?"

Gray replied, "When your mother wakes up Gordo, please ask her. If I tell you, either your father or your mother will kill me."

"If Gray told me dad, would you really kill him?"

"Yes Gordon, and after I killed him, I would really start to hurt him."

Gordon had a perplexed look on his face as he thought about my answer.

"Dad, how can you... never mind."

Gray, Delicious, and I laughed at the look on my son's face. I scooped him up in my arms and kissed him at least a dozen times.

"My son there are things a five-year-old is not supposed to know, but will know as he gets older. You are a genius when it comes to math and science, but you are a little boy where it counts. I love that part of you more than you will ever know. It makes me so happy that you can run around and play with your friends and not be tied to the computer at all hours of the day and night. I want you to enjoy your youth. I want you to enjoy using your skills. I want you to enjoy both of them in equal measure. I love you Gordon as if you were my own."

"I love you too dad. Are you losing hair?"

"Yes I am. Your mother keeps pulling it out of my head. She yelled at you while I was away. She yelled a lot at me last night, and pulled out a lot of my hair while she was doing it."

Delicious laughed. "That was a great way to dodge a bullet dad!"

"I don't have all those patents for nothing big mouth."

"I get in enough trouble calling her 'Shorty'. If I called her 'Big Mouth,' I would be visiting a dentist."

"That's the difference between a father, and a boyfriend, Gray. If I told her I was paying you $300,000 a year, she would go ballistic."

She did. "How much are you paying him? You are paying me a lousy $60 an hour, and you are paying him $300,000 a year? I'm on strike. You are not getting another minute of work out of me, until I get a raise."

"Okay. You are not allowed in the lab anymore. Get out, now."

"What, you are kicking me out of the lab?"

"You are on strike, remember? There is no telling what damage you could try to do to my computers. Gray would you escort my daughter upstairs please?"

"I'd rather not do it, she might kill me."

"Gordon, would you escort your sister out of the laboratory please?"

"I would really like to see six years old dad."

"I guess I will have to do it. Move it Delicious."

Tears filled her eyes as she walked up each step one. She opened the door, turned towards me and with venom in her voice she said, "Go fuck yourself dad, I'm leaving."

"I can."

"What!"

"Don't forget your checkbook."

"You can keep it; I don't want anything from you. I'll make it on my own."

"At least take the car, it's a long walk to Denver."

"I'll leave it at the airport."

"I'm still responsible for you for one more year. I could keep you here, but if you want to go, I won't stop you."

"I'm going to say goodbye to my mother, and then I'm leaving. Good luck getting your ship off the ground without me."

"I have your formulas and your schematics. I will have to work harder and bring more people in, but I'm sure I can get it done. It's was interesting finding out you are my daughter. I wish I knew it 17 years ago. You wouldn't be the self-absorbed bitch that you are today. Try as I might to help you grow up in the short period of time we've had together, you refuse to see the big picture. You only see your selfish self, and not being part of the whole. You could have had anything in this world you wanted. All you had to do was ask for it and not throw a fit anytime anyone else got something. You wanted a house in Maui. I told you to draw it up, find a piece of land, and we would build it. I gave Gray a salary a little larger than what he was making at NASA, including his benefits, and you threw a fit because of it. Do you ever balance your checkbook?"

"No, Rod does that for me."

"Do you have any idea what your balance is?"

"No because my bill goes to Rod."

"What bill do you have?"

"It's my birth control pills."

"Maybe, before you go running away like your idiot uncle did once, you should speak to Rod and ask about your financial situation. How much money do you get paid per year? How much money do you have in your checking account, savings account, and assorted other accounts that you don't want any part of. I am used to living like this, you're not.

I think you should have taken control of your finances from the very beginning. It may have been an eye-opening experience for you to learn how to balance your own checkbook, pay your own taxes, and live like most of the other people in this country do."

"You are just trying to keep me here."

"You can stay with Rod; you can stay at a hotel, or you can sleep on a park bench; I don't care. I just want you to realize what you have, what you have to lose, and how much you have to do to grow up. You had better say goodbye to Gray. I think he deserves that much."

"You're a real bastard dad."

"You've told me that many times before. Once you leave me, you won't have to say it again. Good luck in your future endeavors; call Rod, have him come over with your financial information, and I'll send Gray up so you can say goodbye."

"Tell him to meet me by mom."

"If you are looking for moral support, it won't help."

"I know, but I will be with one dead person, while I'm killing another one."

"At least I didn't waste any money preparing for a wedding."

I didn't give my daughter a chance to respond. I turned and walked down to the lab.

Gray looked at me and knew something was terribly wrong.

"She's running, isn't she?"

"Yes she is, and I didn't try to stop her. She has got to make this decision on her own. I told her what a fool she was for making such an ass out of herself. I told her I'm paying you less than you are worth to me, but more than NASA was paying you.

It turns out I made some mistakes also. She never balanced her own checkbook. She doesn't even know what her bank balance is. Rod does it all for her, as he does for me. It was my mistake, and it was a big one. If she knew what I was actually paying her none of this would've happened."

"How much are you paying her?"

"I'm paying her $500,000 a year, plus benefits and the car, and security."

"You are paying her more than you are paying me?"

"Let's not get into that right now, I don't want to cut your salary. She's waiting for you by her mother. I told her she owes you a goodbye."

"You're damn right she does."

***********

Gray walked slowly towards the gravesite trying to figure out the best way to salvage their relationship. He knew kindness and loving words would not work. There was only one other option, so he decided to go with it and see what happened. As he saw it, he had only one chance to pull off the miracle he wanted so badly.

Delicious heard him coming. She turned but kept her eyes on the ground. She had a short repentant speech ready for him. When he was close enough, she looked up, and saw a mean and angry look in his eyes. She understood why.

"Hello Gray."

He didn't reply. His right hand flew out, and slapped her across the face, knocking her to the ground.

"Goodbye you lying, rotten bitch; I hope you rot in hell." He turned and stormed away.

She screamed through her tears, "Gray, I'm sorry; don't leave me."

He turned around. "Maybe I have this wrong; but aren't you the one that's leaving me."

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore. My father has me so confused I'm not sure which way is up."

"Yes you do. You just got pissed off because he's paying a scientist with three years working experience, on $1 trillion project, what he's worth. You were insulted, and reacted like a child. Your dad called your bluff, and instead of backing down, you threatened him. You never threaten a man with an ace high straight flush."

"I don't know how to play cards."

"You also don't know how life works. You are not a high school student Delicious. It's time for you to start acting like an adult. Gordon acts more grown-up than you do at times."

"I don't care how short he is, that little boy is 30."

"He can't be his mother is only 24."

"Will you help me up please I have rocks embedded in my hands."

"That all depends, are you leaving or are you staying?"

"I'll stay.

"That didn't sound very convincing to me. Why are you staying?"

"I can't picture my life without you in it."

"What about the science?"

"If my dad doesn't want me to have any part in it, I'll go running every day. I'll become the best damn runner there ever was."

"You are a fucking idiot. You have a brilliant scientific mind, and because of an argument with your father, you would throw it all away."

"What am I supposed to do Gray?"

"Apologize, Delicious, you are the one that made the mistake, own up to it."

"My father is very hard to get along with Gray. He knows exactly what buttons to push to get me to explode."

"You have never been in the business world. Your father is the easiest person to work for I have ever known. He tells you what he wants you to do and lets you do it. If you do it wrong he will criticize you for it, and show you where you went wrong.

In the business world, if you do it wrong they fire you, and you're out on the street looking for another job."

"I will stay. I will try to apologize to my father, but more than that I am sorry for what I did to you. I love you Gray, I never meant for this to happen."

"The next time you do this to me, you will be lying next to your mother."

"I am lying next to my mother."

"You are not lying close enough to her. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes sir."

He lifted her up as if she was a feather and looked at her face.

"You have two choices: you can walk around with a handprint on the left side of your face, or I can hit you on the right side, and you will have matching handprints. Which would you prefer?"

"I will go with the one handprint. My face hurts."

"Delicious, it took everything I had in me not to hit you with all the fury I had in me. If I did, you would be waking up alone now."

"The next time we go to a sporting goods store remind me to get a boxing helmet. If I ever get you that angry again, I want to be prepared."

"Don't even think about getting me this angry again. Death would be too merciful for what I would do to you. Don't you realize how much I love you? Do you know what losing you would do to me? I would be of no further use to this project, because I would not be able to concentrate. You are so beautiful you take my breath away. You have to grow into that beauty and become the person I know you can be."

"I am trying."

"Yes you are; very, very trying."

"That was not funny Gray."

"I see your sense of humor has not come back yet."

"It may come back when my face stops hurting."

"Let's go back to the house; I'll put some ice on it."

*********

They walked into the kitchen, where Jennifer was drinking her morning coffee. She saw the handprint on Delicious and yelled, "What the hell did you do to him this time?"

"Why is it always me?"

"If it was him, he would have the handprint on his face, not you. Sit down, let's talk about it? Get lost Gray."

"I was going to put..."

"I will put ice on her face; leave."

"Yes ma'am."

She took a cold pack out of the freezer, wrapped it in a towel, and put it across Delicious face.

"Hold it there for five minutes, and start talking. What did you do wrong this time?"

"I pissed off my father, and I pissed off Gray even worse."

"Okay, so let's start with that. What did you do to your father?"

"I told him to go fuck himself."

"If he wanted to, he could; but it would hurt like hell."

"Jen don't do that to me please."

"I was just responding to your question. What else did you do, because that would not have gotten him so pissed off that you would have gone running outside and have Gray follow you, and smack you into next week."

"Dad told me how much he was paying Gray, and I had a hissy fit over it. I said you're only paying me $60 an hour and I'm not working another minute until I get a raise. I'm on strike. He kicked me out of the lab saying there was no telling what damage I could do to the computers."

"What did you say to that?"

"I told him to go fuck himself."

"Do you believe that was the smartest thing to do?"

"There were two things wrong with what I did: First, I was angry and I overreacted. Second, I forgot what it would do to Gray."

"Take the ice pack off your face for a minute. I take it you have rectified things with Gray. What are you going to do with your father?"

"Gray told me I got myself into this mess, and I should apologize to dad. I'm going to find that very hard to do."

"Why, if you caused this situation, shouldn't you be the one to clear it up?"

"My dad does this on purpose. He pushes and pushes and pushes me places I'm not ready to go yet. I know he thinks I have to get there quickly, but he doesn't understand that I can't take these leaps of faith he wants me to take. I'm still afraid to take baby steps. I told Gray I'm in awe of Gordon because of the way he acts at times. Mentally I think he's older than I am. I missed out on a lot of years of growing up, because of what my father was doing to our family. I don't know if I'll ever be able to catch up."

"Honey, I think it's time for you to go to college. The only way you are going to learn how to interact with people is to be with a bunch of them your own age at one time."

I said to my wife, "When did you get so smart?"

"I told this passenger a joke about flying backwards into a mountain. He listened to me, and I married him."

"How long have you been standing there dad?"

"Since Gray came downstairs and told me you were back."

"So you heard everything we talked about?"

"Yes I did, and if you don't want to apologize, I can accept that. I do push you hard because I want you to grow, but maybe Jennifer's idea is better. I will get in touch with the Commandant of the Air Force Academy and sign you up immediately."

Jennifer threw her coffee cup at me. She missed my head by a wet cunt hair. It shattered into 1000 pieces. She told me I was going to sweep the mess up, because my idea was as stupid as the grin on my face.

Jen said, "I'm going to call a friend at the University of Colorado. You will start next Monday, as a non-degree seeking student. Gray should rent an apartment near the school. You can stay in town, Monday through Friday, and come home on the weekends. You two can live there, while you mingle with people your own age, and he commutes to work here."

"What if I don't want to go to college?"

"Tough shit, you're going. You are going to meet people your own age, and you are going to interact with them. If you don't learn more than I did, I'm going to meet you there, and beat the crap out of you."

"Jennifer, I remember what you learned in college. Those jokes were disgusting."

"That's why I said if you don't learn more than I did I was going to beat the crap out of you."

"What courses should she take?"

"We want her to interact with students, not study. Let her take science, technology, engineering, and math. She is great at those already. She's not seeking a degree. She needs to be with kids her age."

"Dad I don't know about this."

"Don't look at me baby; I have nothing to do with this. If you think I'm going to argue with my wife, you're wrong. She runs this house not me."

"You are afraid of Jennifer?"

"Absolutely not, I just do what she tells me to do."

"Jen would you teach me how to do that with Gray?"

"Little girl, you need a stricter hand than your father does. You need Gray the way he is."

"I didn't need to know that."

"Yes you did Delicious. You are better off knowing it now than later."

"Well, it's only going to be for 10 years, I should be able to take it for that long."

"Have you started writing your contract with him yet?"

"No dad, we've been busy straightening up our room."

Jen laughed. "At least our excuse sounded better; 'We were getting things straight between us.' Your excuse even sounds lame."

"We have the cleanest room in the house, you can check."

"I have, and it's not. Gordon's room is the cleanest. I think he even dusts under his bed."

"I'm going to kill that little boy."

The telephone rang and Jennifer picked it up. She laughed and hung up.

"Your lawyer is angry with you. He's been calling your cell phone so you can let him in. He's been sitting at the gate for five minutes and he's not happy. He wants to know if you lost the phone again."

"No, I didn't lose it, I left it downstairs."

I went to the panel in the entranceway, punched in the codes, and let my friend in. One day I was going to trap him between the two gates and leave them there, just on general principles.

Rod walked in all smiles. He handed Delicious a folio containing all her financial documents, but asked her not to open it. He had something more important to take care of. He asked where Gordon was, because he was needed up here.

I called my son, and he came running up the stairs. Running is a little overstating what my five-year-old boy could do on those stairs.

"Dad was it Danielle, or Brandy who called?"

Jennifer banged her head against the table. "I should castrate him now."

"What does mom mean dad?"

"Your mom was joking with you Gordon. It was a funny joke, and when you get older I will explain it to you."

"That's the second time today you said I had to wait until I get older to understand something. Is something bad going on?"

"No Gordon, nothing at all. Rod needs to speak to you."

Rod picked up Gordon and put him on a chair. He laid five pieces of paper in front of him.

"Gordon, how would you like to go to court next week, with your mom, dad, and me to make you a GOSL?"

Gordon's eyes lit up. "Really, like my mom, I can go from a GOS to a GOSL?"

"Well, as I remember, you said you'd rather be a GOSL then a GOOSE."