There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 32

As we were getting into the car I said, "Gray, if she is able to sit down in the morning, I am going to give you a nickname you are not going to enjoy, in closed company, for one thousand years."

"I am going to have to live with her that long?"

He ducked to miss a vicious right cross, and he grabbed Delicious as she spun by.

"Listen to me you 17 year old ingrate. I will take care of you in private, not while we are standing in the street where everyone can see me batter my wife."

"When I get you home Gray, I am going to rip your lungs out, and while you are dying I am going to feast on your heart."

"Even, I believe she needs a week of appointments, either that or we are going to kidnap the doctor so she will go with us, and take care of this patient full time."

"I will have Mrs. Finch study psychology. She has her Bachelor's Degree in it already. We will have her study until she becomes a doctor. We will know when she reaches that point when our darling Delicious, gets her head on straight again."

"I hate you dad."

"Our 17 year old girl is definitely back in the fold. Take her home and show her where her ass is Gray."

"He wouldn't dare. That would be rape."

"You can press charges in the morning. Have fun children."

"I double hate you dad."

"Hate is the closest thing to love baby. I believe you told me that a long time ago."

Gray threw Delicious over his shoulder, and she screamed as he threw her into the back of their SUV. She tried to stick her head out to yell at her father, but Gray push it back in.

"You are a dead man Grayson."

"You have become a 17 year old tyrant again, and I am going to help you straighten out our room in ways you never imagined."

"You are so fat you will never catch me."

"I won't have to catch you. You will come willingly, when I call you."

"You don't have a prayer."

"When the sun comes up, you will make me breakfast in bed with a smile on your face, and a song in your heart. You will have to lie down on the bed, because she will not be able to sit. If I have become distant, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. However, you are out of control, and it's time for me to take action. You are not sick, you are bored. How is that project of yours coming along?"

"Very slowly, it won't be ready before we leave."

"Would you like me to help you with it?"

"If you and the boys would help me, it might be ready on time."

"I'll ask Even for some time off. I'm sure the boys would be delighted to help. What have you and Newton been up to?"

"It's not only Newton, it's really Teddy's project. She said to me one day, "Mommy why can't you talk to computers like they do on television."

I told her it's not possible for a human to talk to a machine at our level of knowledge. She knocked me over with her answer.

"I can talk to Cale."

"Who is Cale?"

"Our big computer."

"You can talk to grandma, and God talks to you when she wants to. Who is Cale again?"

"She the big computer. She no sense of humor, but work hard."

"How often do you talk to Cale?"

"When we on bridge. She too warm, wants to be colder."

"Could this be one of your mother's tricks?"

"Teddy was very sincere. She knows how my mother is, and wouldn't cover for her."

"We will talk to Even about in the morning. Right now, I have a meeting with your rear end, and other parts of your lovely body I have to tend to vigorously."

"You're going to fall asleep before 11 o'clock."

"You feel like losing another hundred dollars?"

"I am going to be richer than Crosseus, if you two keep this up."

"Oh baby, you don't know how wrong you are."

*******************

During the late evening, and into the early morning sunrise, Delicious found out many things about her husband she had forgotten. She was not the dominant partner in her marriage, he was. He let her do whatever she wanted to do, but only up to a point. When she reached that point, he put her down hard, very hard. He didn't tie her up as many men do. He warned her if she let go of the bedpost her spankings and torments would go on until she learned her lesson well.

When he was finished, and she was docile, he told her he was going to put something on her rear end that would take the burn out of it. It may sting for a moment, but she was not allowed to let go of that bedpost.

He opened a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured it generously onto two pieces of cloth.

"Hold on tight baby, this is going to sting a lot."

Her scream woke up everyone on the other side of the street, in the Luck household. However, Delicious did not let go of that post. She wanted to, but there was no sense in it. There was nothing she could do to take the pain away from her burning ass.

"You can stand up now. The burning pain in your rear is gone, but your muscles are still going to be very sore. If you attempt to sit, you're going to be in pain. I would like my breakfast now please."

"Gray where are you when I need you?"

"I am always by your side. If I'm neglecting you, close my book, hide my glasses, and put the kids to bed. Even someone as dense as I am will get the message."

"I can't wait to go over to my dad's house in the morning. He can take his $200 and gloat all he wants. I'm going to wait until he has a mouthful of coffee, and have Teddy tell him about Cale. I hope he chokes, and Gordon is in his way."

"I can see someone hasn't learned her lesson yet. I believe it's time to go back to the bedroom for another spanking."

"You can spank me if you want, but when my baby tells my father about talking to the computer, it will be worth it. I think I'll put some Epson salt in your eggs."

"Why, what will that do to me?"

"For a very smart man Gray, sometimes you amaze me at how dumb you are. A little Epson salt in your food will have you running to the bathroom within five minutes. You will be so clean inside, a doctor could give you a colonoscopy."

"The Devil is back in you Delicious."

"No, I think he's gone. He couldn't take the punishment he received last night. Why didn't you go after my ass, you went after everything else?"

"I won't take your ass until you tell me it is okay. Otherwise it is rape, and I would never violate you that way."

"I guess you still love me, foibles and all."

"I fell in love with you the moment I saw you at your father's party. I also knew it was going to be a bitch getting you, and even worse keeping you happy after we were married."

"Why me Gray? If you knew it was going to be that much trouble why did you pursue me. You had hundreds of girls lined up for you at Penn, and you went after the one who is going to cause you to lose your hair and turn what's left of it gray."

"I guess I didn't say it loud enough last time, so I'll say it once more, and louder so you can hear it. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. I hogged every dance for the rest of the affair just to be with you. We fell asleep on the couch at your home, because neither of us wanted to be apart. Does that explain anything to you?"

"I guess we knew right away, but there were a lot of battles before we reached the altar."

"It started out fine. You mom and dad got married, and he was carrying her up the stairwell. You ran out of our room stark naked, and froze."

"Why did you have to remind me of the most embarrassing moment of my life?"

"You were 17, and you were still in training. You are back in training now, until I tell you otherwise."

"You are going to pay more attention to me, and help me with Teddy's project?"

"I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of people helping Teddy with her project as of tomorrow morning."

**********

155. The Waiting and the Wedding

Gray, Delicious, and Newton walked in following a toddling Teddy.

"Morning grandma, babies good."

Jennifer picked her up, kissed her nose and said, "Should I name one after you because you're so beautiful?"

"No, if you call, we get confused. Name after grandma times two."

"My grandmother will be thrilled Teddy. Thank you very much for telling me. I will call her later, and give her the good news."

"One more kiss on lips."

Everyone laughed.

"Hey you little stinker, what about me," Delicious asked.

"I not tell you. Doctor tell you. More fun that way."

"Okay, I'll kiss you anyway."

Delicious reached for the cookie jar, took the two $100 bills and handed them to me. She took a $100 bill from her pocket, and handed it to Gray. She kissed him, and said thank you.

I said, "It must've been one hell of a night. You woke all of us up."

"It was dad. That 17-year-old girl got the crap beat out of her, and was put back where she belonged; in the past. I'm a grown woman with two children, and two more on the way. I can't act that way anymore. I'm going to see my doctor at least twice a week, until we leave. My head has to be on straight before we take off. I don't want to cause any trouble, while we are in space."

Gray said, "You're not going to have enough time to see your doctor. I told you you're not sick, you're just bored. Don't you have something to tell your father?"

I looked at my daughter, and saw her eyes light up like they did the evening she showed my friends and fellow scientists the floating chairs in my basement. The coded conversations we had for years afterwards brought about changes to the scientific methods they thought about, but never dreamed would come to pass.

"What is the possibility of converting our computers from manual to audio control dad?"

"Conservatively speaking, I would say were minimum of 200 years away from that point. Most scientists, and theoriticians are still working on areas that are a generation behind what we are doing on now. Because of the constrictions NASA is under, they may never be allowed to use your engines as a way to get out of Earth's gravitational pull. They are too inexpensive, and too many companies would go out of business.

I know our friends at the Argonne National Laboratories are getting close to the next generation of computers to replace Exascale. However I'm not even sure if they will be fast enough for verbal communications between deep space and earth."

"Why don't you talk to your granddaughter about that dad?"

I picked up Teddy and asked her a simple question. "Are we going to do this the easy way, the hard way, or my way?"

"What the easy way?"

"I put you in the corner, and wait for you to tell me what you're doing."

"What the hard way?"

"I tickle you until you beg me to stop."

"What your way?"

"After you tell me everything you did, we go to Creamy Cow and you order what you want."

"No chicken?"

"Yes chicken, and French fries."

"You cheat, I like Gordon's way better."

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. We will have lunch here, wait two hours, and then we will go to Creamy Cow. Is that better?"

"You born under Bright Star. You cheat, know how to get away with it."

The laughing in the kitchen was so outrageous Teddy had to cover her tiny ears.

"Do you accept my terms?"

"Have to, not big enough tickle you yet."

"I can't wait for you to tickle me Teddy. Both you and Newton have the strangest senses of humor I have ever come across."

Gordon objected. "How about me dad?"

"When I see turkeys running around the ship I will add you to that list."

"Turkeys already there."

"They are not supposed to know that Teddy. Monty is going to tear the ship apart. Please don't tell them where they are."

"Won't, you sneaky like daddy. Won't hatch for 18 days; babies need help."

"I know that Teddy. I already have everything they need on the ship: 50 gallons of bottled water, 100 pounds of purified beach sand, 50 pounds of pine needles, 30 pounds birch bark, two automated mother hen turkeys(thank you Newton), and two heating lamps."

A hush came over the kitchen as all eyes focused on Gordon. How could he get all those supplies by Monty's agents without being seen?

Before they could ask that question, Gordon said, "I will tell you when we are safely out of the atmosphere, and I can let them out of their pens. Oh I forgot, 20 feet of chicken wire."

Delicious was tensing up, and wanted to yell at her brother, but Gray whispered in her ear that she was still in training. She calmed down instantly.

Gray roared instead. "You're a fucking liar. There is no way you could have gotten into the Good Luck with all that material, plus 2 dozen eggs."

"Do you believe your daughter Gray?"

"Without question, I believe her."

"Is she going to tell my dad something miraculous this morning?"

"Yes she is, and I believe her."

"What do you want her to do, tell you if I'm lying, or tell my father what she knows?"

"Is Gordon lying Teddy?"

"No daddy, but he forgot one thing. He bought the best food for baby turkeys too."

"I apologize Gordon. I can't wait to hear how you did it."

"You're going to be very disappointed Gray, because it was so much easier than you think."

"If we were on the ground Monty would kill every agent that missed your little adventure. Now on to my daughter's revelation. Go ahead Teddy tell grandpa what you did."

"I made a new friend grandpa. Her name is Cale."

"That's wonderful sweetheart, where does Cale live?"

"She lives on the flight deck. She your computer, and we talk all the time."

Gray handed me a piece of paper written in large block letters.

EXAS-CALE.

My eyes opened wide. "Can anyone else talk to Cale?"

"I don't know, she say hello to me when I play behind her. You can try if you want."

"Dad, you know how much I'd like to go with you, but my plane leaves at 11 o'clock. I haven't seen Zoey in over four months, and as much as I'd like to be a part of seeing Teddy talk to a computer, I want to see Zoey."

"As long as you promise not to let her drive, you can go to Charleston. Funny things happen when that girl gets behind the wheel of a car. Give Dycke and Payne our love, and don't give yourself a heart attack by trying to catch up with what you missed over the last four months. Your wedding day is the 14th, which is 7 days away. You can have a three-day honeymoon anywhere you want, as long as you are on the flight deck on 18 December at 8 o'clock in the morning. The water starts arriving on the 22nd.

Adam Schiff has to be in the bowels of the ship checking for leaks in the plumbing system. We are going to put the pipes under pressure for the 1st time, and we are going to leave them pressurized, until we are safely in space. We will have him vent the water off as need be. Maybe some of his instructors will help him check out the system, as long as were still on the ground.

Jack Daniel's, and Paul Zachary will do safety checks on the 4 cranes that will be pouring water into the top vents. I want to make sure the men up top are wearing their safety harnesses at all times.

Joe Finch, and Lucius Canyon and two medical units will be here to supervise safety. If they see a breach, they have the authority to shut everything down.

The agents assigned to the ship, and the flight crews will be looking for any leaks or damage to the inside of the craft: kitchens, lavatories, drinking fountains, showers, everything. That covers everything I have to say for this briefing."

"Now my little precious one, let's go talk to your new friend Cale and see what she has to say."

"Cale told me she warm. Want to be a lot colder, make her feel better."

"You can ask Cale what temperature she would like to be, and we will make sure we will give it to her, and her sisters while they are sleeping."

"Sisters not sleeping. Always working together. Each knows what the other knows."

"Okay, it would seem I have something to learn from Cale."

"We have to teach her how to laugh. No sense of humor."

"Men who make computers only program in logic. They don't program in humor."

"Newton do it for her. I tell her about him."

"Let's go see Cale, before I get a headache."

"Grampa want headache, I give him math problem."

"No thank you Teddy, I have a feeling Cale will take up a lot of my time."

***************

We finished our breakfast, changed into our work clothes, and I kissed my love, goodbye for the day. I walked out the front door towards my waiting SUV when the earth shook.

My wife yelled,

"Gordon go back to your room and change. You are not leaving this house looking like you're down to your last penny. Put a suit, shirt, and tie on, or I will put it on you."

"Mom I'm only going to see Zoey."

"How much would you like to bet you don't leave this house alive looking like that?"

I threw my briefcase into the back of the vehicle, turned around and walked back to the house. My wife was holding a 10 inch meat cleaver. She used it to flatten chicken breasts and to tenderize steaks. Today I think she had another use in mind for it.

I looked at Gordon and thought he was dressed rather casually. He didn't look offensive to me, but if I took his side, the meat cleaver might be used on me first.

My son had his fists on his hips, daring his mother to continue her tirade. I stepped in and took Jennifer's side. It was safer for me.

"Gordon, you have two choices and you won't like either of them. Change into a suit, or I will have all the agents' strip you, tie you up, and hang you from the basement ceiling for an indeterminate amount of time. You will definitely miss your flight, because I will cancel it.

If you should manage to escape and get to Austin on your own, there will not be a plane available for hire. I am going to call every agency and hire every plane for the next three days. If you still refuse to put a suit on by then, I will hire them for another three days. That will put you one day before your wedding, which I assume you would like to attend.

What is it going to be son, are you going to act as a man would and do what your mother has asked you to do, or are you going to act as a child, and leave this house looking like a bum?

By the way, you forgot to shave. I want your face squeaky clean, and not like those movie stars, who think they look pretty in their three-day growths of beards. I believe Zoey would prefer that if you plan on getting between her thighs."

Gordon replied, "I hope one day I grow up to be as smart as my parents. It's not worth getting angry with each other, and hurt each other's feelings, because of clothes. Well, I can't say that's actually true all the time. When I was three years old mom used to like me in plaids and checks, which I hated. She loved me in those clothes and there wasn't anything I could do to change her mind. That is until dad entered the equation.

Finally I got the clothes I wanted, and they included suits and ties. I wanted them so badly, I lit up when I wore them. I think I'll wear one now, because I love my parents, and the way they helped me make decisions along the way."

*******************

After he shaved, he went to the front door, picked up a suitcase and brought it back to his room. He dumped what he packed on the floor, and repacked it very carefully with the best clothes he had. Suits, Sportcoat, slacks, dress shirts, and all the newest personal items he had.

Jennifer wondered what was keeping him so long, because it was approaching 9:30 AM, and Austin was over an hour away. She knocked on his door and he told her to come in.

"Honey, you're running out of time, and you're not even dressed yet."

"The aircraft will not leave without me mom. I'm the only passenger."

"You're not packing anything for leisure?"

"It's going to be a whirlwind week mom. I was going to pack for leisure only, as you can see on the floor. I took your advice, and decided to pack as dad would instead. I'm sure there are going to be parties, and we are going to church for practice. They are all going to require suits and jackets. That's what I'm packing, because that's the way my parents would want me to look, and I will never embarrass them."