(9)

Jenny was still on the phone when Jeff went into his study. He’d already talked to his parents and Linda, just because they were together and his mother insisted, and he wasn’t particularly interested in watching Jenny fend off his mother’s words or sink into a long one with her old friend. He was glad that the tension between Linda and Jenny seemed to be dying down, but he had work to do and games to play, so he wasn’t around when the subject switched to him. Linda still had clients in the Atlanta area, and one small engineering firm had an opening that Jeff would be perfect for. But Jenny remembered the owners from when she worked with Linda. She’d despised the woman partner (Linda always suspected Jenny was jealous of Kit’s success) and she actually said to Linda that she wouldn’t let Jeff even interview there. Linda wondered as their call ended if the family protocol permitted her to go directly to Jeff.

Meanwhile, Jeff was reading Linda’s response to his response to her comment of a few days ago.

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 19:37:24 – 0600
From: linda960@mindspring.com
Subject: RE: Ma & Pa Cooper
To: oboy@earthlink.net
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0)
Importance: Normal

Thanks for the story, bro! I never heard it all that way before. I guess that’s what I get for moving away, cause I don’t think I’ve been tuning things out.
Still and all, I wonder. I mean, impractical as it would have been, I wonder if our not-one-penny-in-tribute father should have fought the thing. Money isn’t everything. I guess I was lucky to be caught without insurance when I got sued. I mean, it was really scary, but it was interesting how I got used to the scariness. And when it was all over, I got a lot of satisfaction spending that money to make it go away. I fear our mother’s practical advice was at work here. I wonder how it woulda been if she’d encouraged him to go for it…
xxoo-L

—-Original Message—-
From: oboy@earthlink.net
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 10:29 PM
To: linda960@mindspring.com
Subject: Ma & Pa Cooper

Sis:
I completely disagree. Dad retired at exactly the right time. Maybe he’s made wrong decisions since, but I would have done what he did when he did it about the biz. I agree he should volunteer teach or something. Good luck with that!
I don’t think you ever heard the whole story about the lawsuit. There was nothing wrong with the design of the AR plant. One weekend, a middle manager was giving a tour to some visiting honchos, and one of the guests pressed a button he shouldn’t have. That wasn’t the real problem – the system was designed to take that sort of error – but it made a noise like when you try to start a car that’s already going, and that totally freaked out the manager, who then started frantically pushing buttons, pulling levers and (soon) overriding safety mechanisms, so the asshole finally got the place to explode. No one was hurt, not even the asshole manager. But a hole was blown through the roof by a piece of flying equipment, and that piece was integral to the operation of the plant. We were called, they confessed their errors, and Dad & I dropped everything to go there and fix things. He got the call the next week. From one of his buddies among the AR attorneys. Sorry to tell you this, Owen, but we gotta sue you. Nothing you did, mind you – we’re all aware you saved the day – but damage was done and things have to be paid for, so we cast the net as wide as possible.
Dad was going to fight it, of course. But then his insurance company explained that it would cost at least $250,000 to take the thing to court, and for a quarter of a million dollars, they could settle the case. So he really had no choice. It soured the shit out of him. He couldn’t have continued after that. And along came a timely buyer.
Jeff

At 11:41 AM 6/24/2003 -0600 you wrote:
>I think our parents are nuts. The more I watch this aimless travel, these doctor-
>filled days at home, her sniping and his growing frailty, the more I wonder why he >retired. It’s enough to make me rethink my own plans.
>How’s Jenny doing? Hope her rash is gone. I’ll drop her a note. We should talk >sometime.
>Linda

Jeff was certain that if he were faced with the same choices at the same time in his life, he’d do exactly as Owen had.

(10)

“I have no regrets but if I had it to do over again, I’d make some different choices.” Grace’s fingers were in constant motion as she picked her cuticles.

“Really? I think I can say exactly the opposite! I have some definite regrets but I’m pretty sure I’d make the same choices again.”

Grace and Linda were having Sunday afternoon coffee. They never did that. But Owen and Mark were in Denver at a baseball game, and without planning anything the women settled into Grace’s kitchen with big steaming mugs.

“No, I’m pretty sure I’d have sex before marriage. I would have for sure if we’d had the pill. It was only fear of pregnancy. Not fear of sex.”

“You think?” Linda grinned to soften the question, but the mother she knew was too inhibited to even get naked; it was impossible for Linda to see her as a free-loving libertine. Kooky party girl: sure, but she had to draw the imaginative line there…

“Oh yes. And I’m also sure it was a mistake, me not working. I loved working.”

Linda sipped her coffee. She wondered. She’d tried to get her mother to re-enter the workforce when Jeff went to college, but Grace said the job had to be local, and part-time, and interesting, and permit her to travel with Owen, and so on to an impossible list of requirements for an idealized position.

But Linda wasn’t sure of much any more. Except she was certain she liked the opera the night before. Certain she found Vern nice and interesting but not at all sexy. Pretty sure there wasn’t any spark for him, either. Growing confident that Mark really had turned a corner and now, to add to all other good things, was discovering math. And Linda sure was surprised, even tickled and amazed, to learn that her new friend was also her son’s mentor. They would have put it together when Vern arrived, except that Mark had gone to his friend Tom’s house overnight (unfortunately, matches were involved in their adolescent evening). It wasn’t until they were discussing Vern’s interests over dinner that she learned he volunteered as a summer math teacher, and asked his last name forgoodnessakes, and they clinked their wine glasses together to the coincidence that his full appellation was Louis Vernon Chapelle.

She liked the opera so much that she purchased Vern’s second ticket for the entire summer season. Until the geese flew away she’d be watching those works. She’d need the money; she’d better not lose a client. Linda sat back in her chair and at that moment “It’s summertime, dammit” played like a banner in her mind. “It’s time for fun,” she thought-declared. She asked her mother if she wanted to go for a walk, but Grace said no. So Linda went out alone, and happily rode her bike around the lake.