THURSDAY, JULY 20 – The families on Devon Drive had moved smoothly into summer vacation routine. Susan picked up the job she had started the previous summer at the frozen yogurt shop, working part time four out of seven days each week. The family had celebrated her seventeenth birthday a little early, on the weekend when they joined the Bryants at their mountain home.
That weekend had been intense in one sense, but the Sullivans had each found some much needed rest. Janet had slept in the car driving up, since she did not arrive home from the hospital until after one. It had taken much of that day to explain all that had happened, first to Richard, then to the children, then to the Bryants. It seemed so incongruous to be sitting in a rocking chair on the Bryants’ long porch, looking across miles of mountain valleys, and describing the frightening events of only a few hours before. The father had survived the night, as had the boy. Janet had met the young wife outside the intensive care unit, and she called several times that weekend to confirm their progress.
Susan and Amy had their own major event to review together, but of course they were not talking about it. Amy was glad that Mrs. Sullivan's experience kept everyone's attention. She discovered a remarkable result from the abortion—she actually felt much better. Although she deferred Tommy's challenge to play tennis, claiming cramps, the truth was that the instant removal of the symptoms of pregnancy, primarily her nausea and fatigue, gave her a real lift. In the short run it seemed to confirm that she had done the right thing.
And Tommy had enjoyed a slow weekend, despite his complaints about being locked up with two girls. His father and Tom Bryant made sure that he at least benefitted from plenty of exercise, including tennis and jogging.
But that had all been six weeks ago, and Tommy now spent much of each day mowing the lawns in the neighborhood with Brent, and several nights a week hanging out with the same group of older boys who had befriended the two of them in May. Sometimes they watched videos, other times they just “hung out.” Each set of parents typically thought that their boy was at the home of the other, or at the park, and so far the ruse had worked.
Amy had arranged to babysit for a steady group of young children for the summer, giving their mothers a morning or an afternoon off. She went on one date with Billy as school had ended, but any chance of a relationship between them had died. Perhaps each reminded the other of what had almost happened, and the memory was just too intense to survive a routine of occasional dates. At any rate, as Billy had said goodnight that one evening, they had both sensed that it was their last date.
Susan and Drew, on the other hand, were becoming more and more attached. Drew had a summer job at the local soft drink bottling plant. Sometimes he worked the fill line, and sometimes he assisted on the delivery trucks. The work was exhausting, with long hours, often lasting into the evening, but the pay, especially the overtime, was great. Susan really liked Drew and actually felt in those early weeks of the summer that she might for the first time in her life be falling in love. As far as she could tell, Drew felt the same.
Bobbie and Thomas also saw a lot of each other, and their relationship also deepened as the summer allowed them to spend more time together. Bobbie was working at a camp for disadvantaged inner-city young people, which was both exhausting and exhilarating. Thomas worked as a cashier at the neighborhood hardware store. They enjoyed many evenings together, sometimes on double dates with friends. Each of them used humor—and on one particularly tough night, prayer—to keep their very natural desires for each other in check.
On that Thursday afternoon in mid-July, Janet joined Connie Wright and Tom Spence at the same restaurant where she and Tom had shared lunch three months before. After their intense experience on the night of the test run, they had not really spoken much about “911 Live.” The three of them and the prayer partners of that evening had spearheaded a fund drive to help the injured father and son, William and Eddie Barnes, along with all of the other victims of the crash. The network had even contributed. The boy was still in the pediatric hospital, but the father was scheduled to begin work again next week. There was hope that neither of them would suffer permanent physical damage, if the skin grafts took, and the boy learned to walk again despite his damaged nerves.
“So, what's happening with ‘911 Live,’ Janet?” Tom asked as they finished ordering.
“As incredible as it seems to the three of us, I believe Network is going ahead with the show, and still at 7:30 on Fridays. I received a promotion package just yesterday, and as you can imagine, the video shorts contain several shots of us in action.”
“Can you see where this is leading, Janet?” Connie now asked. “Do you remember studying about the end of the age in Rome? How the emperors invented more and more live spectacles, each one more bizarre than the last, as their empire fell apart because there were no moral values left in people? Well, ‘911 Live’ is easily comparable to a live Roman spectacle, and when the 911 Channel starts next year, people will be able to watch death, destruction, and debauchery twenty-four hours a day, right from their living rooms.”
“I wouldn't have believed it—or I guess I wouldn't have thought about it—except for your bringing it to me, and for our experience that night. It would have sailed right past me, along with all the other new shows. But what can anyone do about it? I mean, this is the national network we're talking about.”
“You know Janet, Connie and I have been talking since that night, and praying. It occurs to us that Bill Shaw never really intended to keep an open mind, as he told us. He never actually considered stopping this show. He just hoped that we would change and go along with the decision he had already made. If we had liked what we saw that night, then Bill could keep his show, his good relationship with Network, and some of his more experienced employees. We haven't told him this yet—we wanted to talk to you first and see if you will join us—but his plan is not going to work. He's going to lose at least five of us, if he goes ahead with the show. Janet, what about you?”
Just then their orders arrived, so Janet took that extra moment to look around, as if she could find help in the restaurant, and to collect her thoughts.
“I, uh, remember you talking about that when we started, but I didn't know if you still intended to go through with it. When would you resign?”
“Since the show starts in September, we will resign about two weeks before the first episode. If we did it now, it would be lost in the summer doldrums, when no one is focusing on the fall season. If we wait too long, there will be no time for a reaction. We know that it's a long shot, but we're praying that in the midst of all the build-up to the new shows, maybe our action will be taken as ‘news’ and will actually be picked up and have some effect,” explained Tom. “At first we were incensed that we were personally identifiable in the promotion videos. But then we thought how powerful it would be if all three of the station personnel in the promotions resigned simultaneously because of this show! What do you think?”
“Yes, umm, that might have some effect. I, uh, I haven't really thought about it, of course,” Janet added as she stirred her chef's salad with her fork. “Do you…have you looked into any other positions?”
“No, not yet. And frankly, after we do this, there probably won't be too many jobs open in broadcasting for us, except maybe some Christian programming,” said Connie.
Janet had a constructive idea. “Wouldn't it be better if we all stayed put and tried to fight this sort of thing from the inside? Instead of cutting and running? Couldn't we have more impact that way?”
Tom and Connie exchanged glances, and Tom spoke. “We said exactly the same thing, Janet, two years ago, when ‘Sex Lives of the Rich and Famous’ first came on, with all that bizarre and kinky stuff. We tried. We talked to Bill then. You may remember the short ‘minority report’ that he let us type and circulate around the station. Basically, Janet, we have come to the conclusion that Bill will do nothing to upset Network or the bottom line, no matter what is broadcast into our homes, unless he's threatened with a loss of income or a stink of huge proportions. Frankly, we doubt that our resignations will produce either of those, but it has finally come down to a personal thing. Do we want to be part of an organization which has no sense of its public responsibility and will broadcast anything in the name of ‘freedom of the press’? In our cases, the answer is simply no.”
“When do you plan to tell him?”
“We want to give him one last chance to stop the show or at least to move it to late night. We'll tell him in about a month. If he refuses, then we won't say anything more until we resign, two weeks before the show starts,” Connie explained.
“Well, I appreciate your stand, and I appreciate the fact that you have asked me to join you. But I don't know. It's a big step. Other than this problem, I like it here. I may not be so ready to give up on the possibility of changing it from the inside. I'll have to talk it over with my husband and get back to you.”
“Janet,” Connie looked up from her almost untouched chicken salad, “I urge you to try praying about it too.”
While Janet was considering how a moral stand might affect her career, her husband was enjoying another Thursday “lunch” with Kristen, whom he had not seen in two weeks because of his own out-of-town meetings and her real estate continuing education classes.
After putting the pressure on Richard six weeks earlier, Kristen had backed off, waiting to see if he would do anything about leaving Janet. He hadn't, and Kristen finally realized that Richard probably never would, so long as he could “have his cake and eat it too,” as she heard herself say. After that thought, a voice seemed to speak to her and to tell her that perhaps it was going to be up to her to help him make the move. For his sake, as well as for hers. No specific plan had formed yet, but she was in a better mood, just thinking that perhaps she could take the initiative and move their situation along, as both of them really wanted.
He lay back on her king-sized bed, relaxed after their “workout,” as he always called it, in honor of the health club where he was supposed to be. She said, “Richard, I've got an out-of-town family, the Hawkins, who may be interested in the McEver house. How about if I bring them over to meet with you and Janet, to encourage them about the neighborhood?”
“You and some clients come over to our house together, to meet Janet?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, why not?”
“No way. It's too dangerous. You or I might slip up. But listen, I've got some good news.”
“You're leaving Janet tomorrow,” she suggested, looking down at him, her eyes smiling.
“No. Not that. But in early August, Janet and the kids will drive up to Vermont to visit Janet's parents, like they do every summer, for almost two weeks. They still live on a farm, and the kids love it. As usual, I'll fly up for the last few days and then drive back with them, but that will leave me here, alone, for about ten days.” He sat up, grinning, “We'll have to be careful, but I bet we'll be able to spend most nights together, either at your place or at mine!”
She covered herself with the sheet and exaggerated her mild Southern accent. “Why, Mr. Sullivan, I do believe that you have dishonorable intentions in mind where I am concerned,” she pouted, smiling.
“You bet I do,” he laughed, as he toppled over onto her.
FRIDAY, JULY 21 – That Friday evening, Susan and Drew were double dating with Amy and Jay Stembler, the college freshman who went out with Susan the night Amy and Billy left the fraternity party. Jay had unexpectedly called Amy earlier in the week, and they had gone out for a casual dinner together. Tonight the four of them were headed to an early movie and a quick supper afterwards.
At their first dinner, Amy asked Jay why he had called her. Jay responded that Billy had said so many nice things about her, and he had simply wanted to get to know her better. She was curious and pressed on to ask Jay whether he knew about the “little problem” she and Billy had experienced earlier. Jay was bad at lying, and so he told her that he knew. She pressed on, and Jay finally had to admit that most of the boys in their fraternity knew and had actually followed the developments with Billy, including the “good news” of the abortion. Billy, had, in fact, bought a keg of beer for the fraternity house to celebrate on that particular Friday night.
Amy sat back in the restaurant and reflected on her new status with the largest fraternity in the city. She tried to smile, but there were suddenly tears in her eyes. As she reached for her purse to retrieve a tissue, she asked Jay, “And is that really why you asked me out, because you think I'm ‘loose’?”
In his heart Jay could not deny that the thought had crossed his mind, but he genuinely believed that he wanted to get to know her, not just expect sex. “No, Amy, it's not. I enjoyed being with you for that little while, and I figured you might be going through a not-so-great time—I've got an older sister, and I know it must not be easy for you—and Billy hasn't asked you out, so I thought I would. That's all. I'd just like to have a date or two and see how we do. Okay?”
Amy appreciated his kindness and his apparent honesty, so she dried her eyes and smiled, thinking to herself that she could probably trust Jay, but maybe he was lying. For the first time in her life she experienced a glimpse of the power which exists in granting or withholding sexual favors. She was no longer a “girl.” The guys apparently all knew that she was “experienced,” and so she had a decision to make with each one—the decision would involve an interplay of words, actions, emotions, and assumptions that had not been in her repertoire only ninety days before. This unexpected feeling was a strange combination of being sick to her stomach and of holding a new power. She would definitely have to think about it. And she was saddened that Susan and Bobbie would probably not be of much help.
Now for their second date on this Friday evening, Jay was driving, and Susan and Drew were in the back seat. The movie was a funny comedy, and they had tried a new fondue restaurant in the same shopping center. They really had a delightful evening together, talking about everything from their baseball team's possible pennant race to the colleges to which the three seniors should apply. Jay was able to act the “older man,” sharing his advice from his college search of two years before.
On the way back to Devon Drive, Jay turned into an unfinished new cul-de-sac where there were as yet no houses nor street lights, and parked the car at the far end. He slid over into Amy's bucket seat, with no complaint from her, and in a few minutes they were hugging and kissing. Susan and Drew, who had known each other for much longer, were frankly surprised by the unexpected friendliness of the couple in the front seat, but lost no time in joining them.
Susan, who had grown to like Drew very much, for the first time allowed him the same freedom to explore her body which Amy was obviously granting to Jay. She had decided a week ago, after stopping his advances for a month, that if a safe situation arose in which she were sure they could not possibly “do it,” she would at least let him do “a little.” She could not think of any reason why not. What was it her mother had said? That there was no real meaning to life? Well, here was a nice boy who cared for her, and she might just love him. Maybe they could find meaning by loving each other. And love obviously included physical intimacy, as every television show and movie she had ever seen had taught her.
But now that he was doing so, she had not counted on the rising tide of emotion, not only in him, but in herself as well. It's hard to go near a flame and not be burned. Voices in all four of them were urging them to go further, but that was just not possible. Finally, as it came close to 11:30, Susan pushed Drew up gently, took a deep breath, refastened herself, and said that they had to get home.
When she was safely in her own bed, with these new, strong feelings playing through her and voices telling her that she was a woman and should experience everything a woman can experience, she picked up the phone beside her bed and dialed Amy. They talked for over an hour. And Nepravel was the delighted third participant on the party line.
SUNDAY, JULY 23 – Late that Sunday morning, after they had finished reading the paper and sipping their coffee, Richard and Janet sat down for their usual brunch. Today Janet had prepared ham and cheese omelettes. Janet used this moment of relative quiet to tell Richard about the stand that Tom, Connie, and three others at the station were prepared to make. And about their request that she join them, with the probable consequence that she would lose her job.
“I know you've wanted me to have no job, or a different job, Richard. I haven't made up my mind yet, and I would like to have your input.”
Richard thought, Be careful here. Like many who complain, half of Richard's derision of her job had really been an attempt to gain sympathy for himself. Yes, he wished she would stay home more and take care of him more. But when confronted with the actual chance that Janet would lose her job, which he knew meant a lot to her (not to mention the income), he was not so sure.
And then the thought struck him of how she would leave the station. There might be press conferences and interviews. With her prominence in the promotion video she had told him about, other media would probably pick up on the story and run it. What would that say about him and his law firm? Although they did not represent TVS, they had many media clients, both in broadcasting and in publishing. How would it look in the newspaper if Janet, identified as the “wife of prominent attorney Richard Sullivan,” were seen to be siding with a bunch of Christian fundamentalists against the station's perfect right to broadcast the news?
“I think I'd go slow on this one, Janet,” he finally said. “I know I've badgered you about being home more, but I do think that you—we, really—have been trying harder lately. And I really would hate for you to give up the job you love so much, so long as you—we—can keep this balance. And over such an obscure reason.”
“Thanks Richard. That's about the first nice thing you've said about my job in a couple of years. I do appreciate it. The problem is that I basically agree with Tom and Connie. That show should not be broadcast into our homes, at least not at 7:30. It is too much. I don't think they or we can stop it by resigning. But I would like to try to stop it from the inside. Still, I do admire their courage, and I'll think about it a little longer.”
“Well, think about it all you want. But don't do anything without us talking again. And don't let Bill Shaw know you're even considering siding with those people,” Richard warned her. Then he smiled and asked her when she and the kids were planning to leave for Vermont.
MONDAY, JULY 24 – At mid-morning on Monday, Richard received a call from Bruce McKinney. “Has there been any more word from Tomlinson's attorney about the timing of our closing?” he asked.
“No, there hasn't, Bruce,” Richard replied, “but in all honesty, I've been so busy that I haven't really pushed him lately. I'll call him today.”
“I don't suppose you noticed the article in yesterday's paper about the huge Japanese investment in Apex Textile, did you?”
“No, why? What does it have to do with Tomlinson?”
“Well, apparently the market senses that Apex may now become a real competitor, with modernized robotic production. It may give Fairchild a run for its money, since Fairchild also needs to modernize most of its plants.”
“Which means?”
“Which means that the Fairchild stock dropped some on Friday with the rumors, and this morning it has continued to fall. Last Wednesday it was at 32, but right now the tape reads 28. We just need to get Tomlinson's horse in the barn before something unexpected happens.”
“OK. I see what you mean. I'll give him a call and try to speed things along, if that's possible. How is everything else going?” Richard asked.
“Just fine, thanks. Our expansion is underway. We'll have a lease for you to review later this week, I think. We've interviewed several new brokers. I hope we'll have our first new office open in the north area by the end of October, if all goes well.”
“Great. I'll get back to you on Tomlinson.”
One of the things Amy and Susan had discussed on the phone after their last double date was the subject of birth control pills. “I've got to figure out how to get a prescription,” Amy explained, “so the same thing doesn't happen again.”
Almost casually, Susan said, “If you get some, I'll get some, too.”
“What?!?” said Amy. “Have you and Drew…?”
“No, not yet. But I can see how it might happen. And I sure don't want to go through what happened to you,” Susan told her. Hearing herself speak those words, she felt as if she were already no longer a virgin.
Nepravel, listening in, nodded, laughed, and said to himself, “A good firstborn. Everything nicely organized. Even her deflowering. How difficult it used to be!” And he laughed again.
“Well, if you're serious, let's call each other's doctors, so they can't recognize our voices, and ask about the procedures. Tell me your doctor's name, and I'll call him on Monday,” Amy directed.
So on Monday afternoon Amy drove Susan to her job at the frozen yogurt shop, and they compared notes on what they had found out. Both doctors’ offices had reported the same thing: in their state, any girl sixteen or older could obtain a prescription for birth control pills, and that information, at her request, became privileged doctor/patient communication and could not be revealed to her parents, except under court order. Both offices said that a regular patient could just schedule a confidential appointment and come in for a quick examination and obtain a prescription.
It sounded easy, but they admitted that it would take some courage to call the same doctors and nurses who had treated them for sprained ankles and sore throats as little girls, and ask for birth control pills. But they encouraged each other, and Amy finally said, “I'll come over to your house in the morning, when everyone is gone to work, and call for an appointment, if you'll do the same, right afterwards.”
It all sounded so grown up and mysterious to Susan. She thought for a moment, smiled, and said, “OK.”
By Friday afternoon they both had their first compacts of birth control pills hidden in their rooms. Amy started taking hers as soon as her cycle was right. Susan just looked at the tan package every day and wondered what would happen next. She noted with some relief that they were good if used anytime before the end of three more years.
FRIDAY, JULY 28 The following Friday night Susan had to work until the 10:00 closing at the yogurt shop. Janet took her to the shop after coming home from her own job, because Drew had offered to bring her home, as a late date. On the way over to the yogurt shop, Janet mentioned that Tommy would be at Brent's home that evening, although he was not spending the night. They also talked briefly about their upcoming trip to Vermont in a couple of weeks.
About eight that evening, as Susan was fixing yogurt cones for a young family with two children, she looked up and thought she saw Tommy and Brent in the back seat of an old car, with four other boys, cruising through the shopping center. If her eyes were to be believed, two of the boys she recognized from her own class, who were known for being loners—and a little “strange.”
Although one of her friends had told her near the end of the school year that she had seen Tommy with this same crowd, Susan had frankly discounted it as mistaken identity. But there they were tonight, when Tommy was supposed to be at Brent's home, cruising the north side of the city. She made a mental note to ask Tommy about all of this on Saturday.
Drew picked Susan up after work, and they soon pulled into the same dark cul-de-sac near Susan's home and parked behind Jay's car, which was already there, with its windows fogged up. Drew flashed his lights before turning them off.
Another hour of heavy petting ensued. Drew for the first time professed his growing love for Susan, which delighted her. She responded that she felt the same. And although she was not yet ready to do “it,” she told him that she loved him and that virtually anything else was fair game. The two of them, although they were both virgins, had experienced enough sex education, fueled by their teenage passion, to contrive several creative ways to spend an hour together. Soon Drew's windows were fogged as well.
SATURDAY, JULY 29 – Late Saturday morning, as they were eating bowls of cereal together, Susan asked Tommy if he would like to play tennis before she had to depart for the afternoon shift at the yogurt shop.
Their two paths had diverged somewhat in the preceding months. At their particular ages, their social opportunities were quite different. So Tommy was surprised by her suggestion, but secretly pleased by this apparent attention from his big sister. “Sure,” he said. “I just bought some new balls yesterday.”
The two of them walked down to the city park an hour later. Susan decided that she didn't want to come on too strongly about the night before, just as they were beginning to play. So as they walked along, she asked some chatty questions about what courses he would be taking next year, what girls he liked, and so on. The majority of his answers were some variation on a muffled grunt.
They played one very even set of tennis, and she realized that soon his increasing strength would overcome her advantage in age and placement. Susan just barely won the set, and as they rested for a moment on a bench under two large oak trees, Susan asked, as casually as she could, “Didn't I see you last night at the shopping center in a car with Brent and some older boys? Wasn't that Derrick and Paul in the car?”
Tommy was so startled by her question that he did not have time to think through that their entire tennis outing had been planned around it. He considered lying to her for a moment, but he looked at her face and did not see either hostility or a setup. So he glanced down at his racquet strings and answered, “Yes. Why?”
“Well, you know that I know those guys—well, I don't really know them, but they're in my class,” Susan explained slowly. “And I just can't really imagine what you have in common with them. Either you or Brent.”
“What exactly do you mean?” Tommy asked, with some obvious hostility in his voice.
“I don't know, exactly. I mean, they're not like, bad, that I know of. It's just that they're sort of, well, I guess…loners. Like, I don't think either one of them has ever had a date with a girl, at least not from our school. You know, they're just sort of geeky, I guess.”
“And you think that's how I am?”
“No. That's just it. I don't think of you like that, which is why I wasn't even sure it was you in the car.”
“Well, I happen to like them a lot. And sometimes Brent and I just hang out with them, not that it's any of your business.”
“But Tommy, Mom and Dad thought you were at Brent's house last night, and there you were out driving around God knows where. What if something had happened to you?”
Tommy finally connected his sighting last evening with this morning's tennis game. “I can't believe it. You asked me to play tennis for the first time in months, and it was all just to bash me about my friends! You've got some nerve. What are you, some kind of a perfect angel, loved by everyone, checking on us lowly sinners?”
That remark hit closer than he knew, as a visual image of what she and Drew had done together the night before leapt quickly at her. “No, Tommy, That's not it at all. I can assure you that I'm no angel. Maybe I did ask to play tennis so that we could talk about it. But you and I have said hardly two words in the last three months, and I am your sister. And, as hard as it may be for you to believe, I do care about you, particularly if you start to hang out with guys who can't do you any good.”
“Do me any good? What do you mean by that remark?”
“Well, I mean, Tommy, you're sort of a handsome guy, and you ought to have lots of girlfriends. I don't know what the crowd that they are in does, but I don't think they go out very much—I mean with girls—and, well—Look, Tommy, I guess that being a fourteen-or fifteen-year-old boy must be worse than being a girl. I've talked to some of the guys in our class; and I know it was tough, when we were dating older guys who could drive. It is hard, but you're almost through it. Everybody eventually comes out the other end of those years, and then I guess you have new problems. Believe me. But what I mean is I would hate to see you get in with boys who…well, I can't put my finger on it. I'm sorry, Tommy. But there's just something about those guys that has always given me the creeps.”
“Well, thanks a lot, big sister. I really appreciate the lecture. You should definitely major in psychology in college! I've got two parents, which is plenty. I don't need a third. So you can just take all of your advice and stuff it!”
With that, he took their tennis balls and lofted them one at a time as far as he could into the adjoining woods. Without another word, he picked up his gear and jogged off towards home, leaving Susan alone, frustrated and upset on the bench. After five minutes of feeling like an idiot and reflecting on the unexpected anger which her conversation had aroused in Tommy, she stood up slowly, gathered her things, and walked home, thinking.
She wanted to talk to Tommy again. To try to work past his anger. To apologize, if she had to, for “setting up” their tennis game. She again wanted to explain that she had done so out of concern, even love, if he would listen. She was mad at herself—and mad at him.
When she came in the back door, her mother was working on a shopping list. “Where's Tommy?” Susan asked.
“He blew through here a little while ago, dropped his things, and said he was going over to Brent's on his bike. How was your game, and why didn't you come home together?”
“Oh, it was fine. I don't know. Tommy just wanted to jog some. Is Dad here?”
“No, dear. He had to go to the office again, on this beautiful Saturday morning, to work on some documents. I hate it, but he says he has to do it. I guess that there just aren't enough hours in the regular work week, or something.”
“Well, I guess I'll go take a shower and get ready for work, then,” said Susan.
SUNDAY, JULY 30 – Between her work schedule, everyone's dates, and weekend activities, Susan never saw Tommy alone again during the entire weekend. It was Sunday afternoon before she could say a few words to her father, but by then she had decided that it was best just to stop meddling and to drop the whole thing. But I just don't understand what Tommy has in common with those guys, Susan thought to herself, alone on Sunday evening.
* * *
Late that same Sunday, Bobbie called Susan. The two of them had not seen each other for several weeks. Susan blamed it on their odd work schedules, but part of the reason was that she and Amy had grown unconsciously apart from Bobbie through their double date activities and purchasing their birth control pills. They had talked about the fact that Bobbie would probably neither approve nor understand either decision.
“Susan, do you have to work next Saturday night?” asked Bobbie.
“Let me see. No, next Saturday I work from morning until early afternoon, which is pretty easy, except at lunch. Why?”
“You may think this sounds crazy, so don't say no when you first hear it. I thought it would be great for you, Amy, and me to have an old-fashioned three-girl slumber party here at my house on Saturday night, like we used to do years ago. You and Amy can both spend the night, we can stay up late and talk, and then you can both come to our youth program and church service with me, like we talked about before. What do you think?”
Bobbie had been right to be cautious. The mention of the word church immediately triggered a voice inside Susan, which said, “No fun,” and she almost declined. But then she thought about Bobbie and how they had not seen much of each other and how it might actually be fun—as well as a relief from Drew's pressure—to spend a Saturday night with her two best friends, the way they used to.
“Have you asked Amy yet?” Susan inquired.
“No, not yet. I get the impression from our few conversations that she somehow doesn't feel ‘worthy’ enough to go to church, because of what happened. So I was hoping that you would say yes, and then the two of us could call her.”
“OK, Bobbie. That really does sound like fun. Let's put on our old pajamas and sleep in sleeping bags on the floor, like we used to.”
“Great,” Bobbie exclaimed, obviously happy. “Now let me see if I can make this conference call gizmo work, and we'll both be on the line to Amy.”
Amy's reaction was even more negative than Susan's at first. She didn't like the idea of giving up a Saturday night with Jay. But, like Susan, she missed being with Bobbie, and under pressure from both of them, she finally also agreed.
MONDAY, JULY 31 – “The tax and estate attorneys tell Marty Tsongas that they should be all wrapped up by the end of the summer, so hopefully we will be able to close in early September. Unfortunately, neither Marty nor I can directly speed up the process, except with phone calls and prodding, which we have both done. How is the Fairchild stock doing?” asked Richard that Monday morning.
Bruce McKinney answered, “It's been in a slow slide these last few weeks, as the Japanese have announced more plans for upgrading Apex. This morning it opened at 24.5. Hopefully the Fairchild board is working on some sort of an investment strategy, to counter these Apex stories. I just hope they hurry up and announce something positive so the stock will stabilize.
“You and me both, Bruce. I promise you I'll keep the pressure on, even if I become a little obnoxious.”
“Thanks, Richard. That's what legal friends are for!”