Silicon Valley Tales 
from the imagination of
California Dreamer
© 2001, 2002, all rights retained.

Moira and friends
Aly and Me



"Mornin', Matt," I spoke to the back of my manager's head.

He swiveled around to service my interrupt.

"Meet my daughter. Aly, this is Matt Grodin, he owns this thing he calls a business."

Matt wrinkled his brow as he glanced from me to Aly and back again.

"Daughter?" he questioned gruffly. "I didn't know you..."

Aly stepped forward, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Grodin." Her firm voice indicated she was in alpha female mode. She waited patiently as he stared at her. He seemed a bit ill at ease. 

"Um, yes. Nice to, um, meet you too." He bent slightly at the waist, and reached out to squeeze Aly's finger tips.

He brushed a palm over his thinning salt and pepper flattop, a carry over from his years at Hewlett Packard, looking at me in some confusion. 

"Aly is helping me this morning. She'll be transcribing my flow charts."

"That's fine," he said, now giving Aly his total attention. "So, you're Rich's daughter?" He glanced at me. "You don't look..."

"I'm not his daughter yet. He has to adopt me first." Aly gave him her biggest smile which she turned on me after a moment. "You are going to adopt me, aren't you?"

"It's up to you, Sweetheart, and your mom. Ready to start your first job?"

"Yeah," she burst out, very enthusiastic. "It was nice talking with you, Mr. Grodin." She took my hand, and pulled me towards the doorway.

"If she likes the work, Matt, you'll have to put her on the payroll," I said over my shoulder. I couldn't make out his mumbled response.

"Where's your office, Rich?"

"Over there," I pointed to a grey door at the other end of the room. "And there's the restroom. If you want something to drink, there's soft drinks in the lunch room fridge." I pointed to the far corner. "Let me get a coffee, and we'll get to work."


One of the double E's and a draftsman were chatting as they fixed their coffees. 

"Morning, Chad, Linda. I'd like you to meet my daughter." They turned in our direction. "Morning, Rich," they said in unison. "I didn't know you..." Chad tried to say, but Aly interupted him.

"Hi, I'm Aly." She held out her hand to Linda who took it while looking at me with a surprised expression on her face. 

What a fun way to start the week, I thought. 


Aly studied the whiteboards lining my office walls, her tongue tip peeping out from between her teeth. 

I handed her a green plastic flow charting template. She studied it for a moment, and nodded her head. 

"I can do this," she said as she folded into my visitor's chair. I put pencils and grid paper on the round table in front of her.

"I thought you could." I smiled down at her, resisting an urge to tousle her hair. "Put three or four symbols down the middle of each page. I'll show you how to tie the pages together when you've finished the first one. Okay?"

"Now here's my fun toy," I pointed to the gray Hewlett Packard 2116B sitting on my desk. "Look here, I tilted the large box onto it's front panel rack handles and pried a card out.

"This is its memory. See all those little toroids, um, donuts? They are actually magnets, and hold the bits I told you about last night." 

Aly wrinkled her nose, and, peering closely at the brown plastic card, shrugged.

"This is fully loaded with sixty four kilobytes of memory," I said with some pride. I replaced the card, and pulled out the one next to it. "See all those chips," I held the densely packed card up for her. "It takes all that to just add a little bit. Look familiar?"

"Yeah, Mom's company makes those things. Integrated Circuits, IC's, right?" She grinned, proud of her knowledge.

"Mm, hm," I approved, "you got it, my smart girl." I diverted the urge to scoop her up for a hug by tickling her neck with a crooked finger. She raised her shoulder with giggle, and scrubbed my hand away.

"Don't," she complained, giggling louder.

"So those are the basic parts," I said, snapping the card back into its slot. "And all that stuff on the white boards is, basically, a diagram of what we want it to do."

"Okaay," Aly drawled, rolling her eyes a bit.

"When you finish the drawings, you'll have a better picture, and probably some questions. So, you get to it, I'm going to have to get some work done this morning or Matt will growl at me."

"Okay, but," she said softly, "I have a question." Aly's voice quavered.

"Mm?"

"Can I sit on your lap again?" Aly's voice so soft, I had to lean forward.

"Sit on my lap?" I asked.

"Yes, please."

She stood, hesitating, her eyes pleading. 

I held out my arms to her.

"Rich, I'm, um." She buried her face into my neck.

"What is it, sweet peach?" I hugged her, and stroked her back.

"Paul wanted me to..." she sighed big. "let him..." she mumbled against my collar.

"Yes? What?" 

"Put his thing in me," she blurted, "his erection, I mean. Do you think..."

"No, Aly, No. Not a good idea. What did you tell him?" My tone of voice a bit harsh, her body twitched as she leaned back to study my face.

"Maybe. I said he could, maybe. I wanted to talk to you about it first." Her eyes very wide. "And Momma too. You're not mad at me, are you? Your face is..." 

"No, honey, I'm not mad at you." My brain a flurry, I tried to sort out my feelings, to find some logic. I hugged her close, feeling very protective.

"I think you are much too young to have intercourse. You know? Have sex."

"Why, Rick?"

Oh, shit, how in hell do I answer that question? I tried to quell my fluster and think straight.

"He might hurt you. You're not a very big girl. Did your mother explain about first times. How you might bleed?" Maybe that will scare her off, I hoped, prayed.

"Yes, but every girl has a first time. Why not now with Paul. He's not very big." She searched for my hand, and grasping my thumb, raised it to her face. "He's not even this big. Do you think your thumb would do much damage?"

That image I trashed very quickly.

"And," she said emphatically, "I can't get pregnant." Her face said she believed this to be the clinching arguement.

"Yet! Honey, I hate to say this, but don't. Okay? Just don't do it. Wait a few years. Maybe when you're in college, you'll fall in love with a very nice young man, and give him a gift of..." Why did I feel stupid saying that? 

"Aly, please trust me. I love your mother and that love extends to you. It makes me want to protect you from being hurt. Sex is fun, it feels really good. You probably wouldn't be here otherwise. That's how our bodies work, but we must discipline ourselves, otherwise we'd see people doing it on the sidewalk. It's not that pretty a sight, you know?" How would she know? God, my brain is Swiss cheese, much like my arguments.

"But you guys do it all the time." She sounded annoyed then her frown changed to a big smile. "How old was Cleopatra when she married?"

"This is not about what other people did or do. It's not even logic, it's just how I feel. How everybody feels. Kids shouldn't have sex. I have no idea why the rules changed, why Cleopatra could get married at age twelve, but you can't." 

"'Cause they didn't live very long back then." 

"Like I said, it's not logic. It's rules we didn't make, but have to follow. I think your mother will agree with me."

"So you really don't want me to do it with Paul?"

"No, I don't." I couldn't be more emphatic if I'd screamed.

"Because you want me to do it with you?" 

Her wide eyed expression seemed so innocent.

"No!" This I did scream.

"So you don't really love me. If you don't want to screw me, then you must not love me." 

"Aly, you can sure twist things around." I bit my tongue hoping the pain would clear my churning brain. Aly seemed so calm, sitting sideways across my lap, her eyes locked onto her hands cupping her knees. She's up to something, I thought. My eyes narrowed as I continued to stare. As the silence stretched, she turned her head to read my face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked innocently, sweetly.

"Is this another interview?" Reaching desparately for any new gambit.

"Interview?"

"Like last night. When you asked so many questions."

"Mm," she agreed. "Sort of." She squirmed a bit to twist her body around, trying to keep her eyes on mine. "I know all about sex. My girl friend, Lori, shows me her parents magazines, and I've heard them and you and Mom doing it. I just don't know what it feels like." She paused and dropped her eyes.

"Yes, I can understand that. So?" I prompted.

"I mean what sex feels like. I can have an orgasm any time I want, but I don't make noises like..." She brought her eyes back up to mine. "everybody else, and I want to know why." She lifted her arm and hooked her elbow behind my neck. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, not at all. Orgasms can be very intense when someone helps. Especially if you really like the person a lot. Maybe it's like you can't tickle yourself." Relief, at last a question I could answer somewhat.

"Last night when you kissed me..."

"When you kissed me," I corrected her.

"Okay. When I kissed you, it made me feel tingly, and I wanted to go rub my, um, self."

"Kissing can do that." Where in hell is she going now? I felt a trickle of fear.

"When I kiss Paul, that doesn't happen. Why?"

"That's a question for your mother. She'll have a much better answer." Off the hook? I crossed my fingers, trying to settle myself.

"You don't know?"

"Your mother understands women, I don't." That's no lie. "You'll have to ask her."  

"You aren't getting a bo... an erection like Paul did last night." She squirmed her butt on me. "Why?"

"Are you going to be a scientist when you grow up?"

"Why?"

I grinned, she'd responded as expected. Now maybe I can get her off this topic. 

"Why? Why? Why? Be careful or you'll end up a physicist." I smirked at her, or tried, her face took on such a serious look I had to chuckle. 

"Sorry, that's a joke."

"I don't get it." She furrowed her eyebrows, wrinkled her nose.

"Look, my little cutie pie, I love you as much as I love your mother, just not the same way, so listen and believe. You are not sexually attractive to me. Your mother is, very much. You are just too young, and sweet, and lovely. My nature is to protect and nurture you, not..." I started rejecting possible words.

"Screw me?" 

"Exactly." I hugged her. "In both senses of the word." I patted her butt. "Get up, I'm going to take a walk and try to unscramble the mess you've made of my brain."

She bounced to her feet, turning to ask, "Both senses?"

"As in screw up your life, child. It has happened." I nudged her waist. "It's time for you to get some work done."

I stood and moved to the doorway to watch Aly fold her legs under herself into the table chair. 

"I'll be back soon. If you need anything, ask Linda. She's in the engineering section. Okay?" 

"Sure. Say hello to Mom for me," she giggled.

I just shook my head. Scary child, she reads minds too. 


I found Linda at her table, bent over, giving me a nice view of well rounded black lace.

"Hey, Linda. Could you do me a favor?" I called out before approaching, giving her a chance to straighten up.

She looked up with a nice smile on her face which I enjoyed for a moment, until my eyes were drawn back to her generous cleavage. 

"I've got to go out for a few minutes. If Aly needs help with something, I told her to find you. Is that okay?"

"Sure. How long will you be gone?" 

"Fifteen, twenty minutes. Half hour worst case." I glanced down to her chest again. "Nice black lace. Gotta hot date tonight?"

Linda's smile faded. "No," she said, rather quickly. "I just..." She forced a blank expression. "Behind on my laundry."

"Our good luck," I told her, turning away. "Thanks," I said stiffly, reacting to her obvious discomfort. I wondered what her problem was, she'd always accepted my teasing with good humor. "I'll be at AMD," I called back over my shoulder.


Moira seemed pleasantly happy to see me until I ratted out her daughter then she put on a serious face. 

"Aly is definitely growing up too fast." She shook her head. "Why don't you two come and get me for lunch. We can figure something out." Then she grinned at me. "Kissing you makes her tingle, mm? Well, at least she has 'fairly' decent taste." She cocked her head and chuckled. "Gimme a kiss and get outta here. I've got work to do."

When I leaned over her desk, she grabbed my tie and yanked my face to hers. 

"Smooch attack," she purred then planted a messy kiss on me.

I hurried back to my office hoping no one would notice the rock in my pants pocket.

Aly wasn't in my office so I went looking for her. I found her with her ear pressed up against Matt's closed door.

"Aly, what are you doing?" I called out

With a guilty startle, she shushed me with a finger to her lips.

I motioned for her to come to me. She did, running, so I held out my arms and scooped her up.

"Matt and Linda are doin' it," she whispered in my ear.

That was shocking news. 

"How do you know that?" 

As far as I knew, the only slip stick work Matt did was with his slide rule. It seems he now had Linda, the hottest babe in the company, to roll around on the rug with. Good for him. Good for her.

"They're in there, moanin' and groanin' just like you and Momma do." She giggled into my ear. "How come everybody gets to do it but me?" She pinched my neck, hard.

"We'll talk about that at lunch with your mother."

"Let's go listen to 'em."

"Aly!" I started to reprimand her.

"How do you know I'm not fibbing? Maybe I made it up."

Three feet from the door, Linda's voice made it obvious that Aly was not fibbing.

"Don't come in me! Don't come in me! Come in my mouth, dammit. Don't, for crisakes, knock me up." 

I turned away from the door.

"Sure wish you hadn't heard that, Aly."

"Why? I know about BJ's." She kicked my butt with her heel. "You think I'm just a kid." She glared at me. "An ignorant little kid." She kicked me again. "Well, I'm not. My girlfriend's daddy subscribes to some very educational magazines."

"I guess I don't have to ask which magazines." 

"Hmph," she snorted. "I'm mad at you." She kicked me again.

"Will you stop kicking me. It hurts. Make your points with words, not violence." I swatted her ass to illustrate my point. 

"Ricky," she breathed into my ear. "Listening to Linda made my pussy tingle." She giggled behind a fist as she humped her crotch against my waist. I almost dropped her.

"Put me down. I'm going to go rub it."

I put her down, and she ran into my office. By the time I got there, she was in her chair, and had a hand in her panties, her face scrunched up as she rubbed herself off.

"Aly," I yelled, "you can't do that in my office." I slammed the door.

"Why not?" She didn't stop, maybe rubbed even faster.

"Stop that, Aly. Please, you're going to get me in trouble."

"Lock the door," she panted, turning a flushed, squinty eyed face up at me.

That seemed prudent, so I did.

Aly pulled her skirt up and tucked it under her chin.

"Look, my pussy's all red." She held her panties down and away from her belly.

I couldn't help looking, but couldn't really see much. Thanking god that she'd stopped rubbing herself.

"Jeez, can you smell me? I'm so horny," she complained.

I could, indeed, smell her, and she smelled so good my dick doubled in size.

"Aly, please stop. You don't know what you're doing to me."

"Yes I do. You've got a boner in your pants." She laughed, and pointed at the obvious lump. "So that's how it works," she gurgled. "I show you my pussy, and you pop a boner." She butt walked her panties down to her thighs, and let them fall to her ankles where she shuffled one foot free.

"Can you see it now?" she asked, raising her knees wide. "See how red I am?" She looked up at me with wide eyed innocence.

I blinked hard and stumbled to my chair to collapse in it.

"Okay, Aly. Do what you have to do. Just pretend I'm not here."

"Do it with me, like Paul did. We watched each other," She panted. "It was fun."

"No, thank you. I'm not erect anymore."

"Liar, liar. Pants on fire," she sang. "Please," she begged.

"No." I glowered at her.

"Yes," she half shouted back, her tone demanding.

"Thought you said you were going to be nice to me."

"What do you mean. I'm nice enough to show you my pussy."

"I don't call that being nice. You're making me very uncomfortable."

She glared and pouted. 

An idea flashed into my head.

"Come here."

She glared harder, not making a move.

"Aly, come here." I pointed to the floor between my knees.

"Oh, all right," her petulance not amusing, she flounced out of her chair to stand, hands on hips, glaring at me.

"Get down on your knees."

"What..." she started.

"Get down on your knees, and blow me." I spoke harshly, commanding her.

"What?" she tried again as she bent her knees.

"Give me a BJ." I demanded, unzipping and fishing out my half limp penis.

"But..."

"Just shut up and suck, little girl," I said, more harshly than before. I waved my limp noodle at her, taking her neck in the other hand to pull her down.

"Don't want to," she complained.

"Too bad, little girl. You got me hot, finger fucking your pussy, smelling up my office. Now you can take care of this." I scrubbed my half hard dick on her cheek.

"No," she wailed.

"Get going. Suck it up so I can fuck your tight little ass."

A look of fear flashed in her eyes.

"M-my ass?" Her eyes went round, her face puckered, her chin dimpling and quivering, but she held back her tears.

"Rick, you're scaring me," she whimpered.

"Not much fun when you're on the receiving end of a power trip, is it?" I turned loose of her neck, and stroked her hair.

She sniffed and pouted. "No," she said, shaking her head rapidly back and forth.

"Now you know how I felt when you were demanding I do something I didn't want to do."

"Guess so," she whispered. "Can I sit on your lap again, Rick?" She scrambled to her feet, spun around, and stuck her butt in my lap.

Wrapping her in my arms, I spoke softly into her ear. "I love you, sweetheart." I squeezed her tighter. "You know I could never hurt you, don't you?" 

"Mm, hmm," she mumbled, laying her cheek against mine.

"You know why I got nasty with you?" I pecked her ear. "I'm sorry I did that to you."

"Not, um, really."

"You know I like you a lot. I know you like me, too, and, to tell the truth, your kisses make me tingle too."

"For real?" She pulled back to see my face, wide eyed with surprise.

"Sure, for real. You're a girl, I'm a guy, we like each other. That's about all it takes for starters. Kissing excites us." I shrugged. "That's the way it works between us human animals."

"I guess!" she exclaimed, beaming a huge smile.

"But we are the thinking animal. We've chosen a rule that says little girls don't..." I had to find the right word.

"Fuck," Aly blurted, grinning.

"Jeez, Aly. Cool it. Don't be that crude."

"So it's okay for me and Paul, but not you and me?"

"That's the law except if authorities were told, Paul's mom and your mom could go to jail. You and he could be put in foster homes. See why it's best to be discreet? You can do it, but you can't blab about it."

"Your dick is warm," Aly said, pensively. "So it's okay for me to sit on your dick?"

"Sorry, forgot all about it," I chuckled, feeling slightly embarrassed. 

"Here's the problem, Aly. Your mother and I would like to make a serious committment to each other. It depends on how you and I get along. If you accept me, your mother will agree to marry me. If I accept you, I'll ask her." I waited for her response, watching her eyes slide back and forth.

"If you don't accept me, you'll not..." 

"Smart girl. Got it figured out?"

"Yeah," she nodded, a most serious, determined expression slowly forming on her face. "I thought it was a game, but it's not. If I make trouble, you'll go away." She blinked several times, her mouth working. "I wouldn't like that." Her arms came up around my neck, and held tight as if to prevent an imminent departure.

"Me neither, sweetheart," I sighed. "Not at all."

"Growing up is fun." She spoke thoughtfully. "Most of the time."

"I know, Aly. I'm still workin' on it."


Lunch with Moira was a quick one. I dawdled over Oyaku Domburi, while she picked at Chicken Yakitori. Aly slurped her Tempura Noodles with enthusiasm, biting the crunchy, golden deep fried prawns with relish. Moira was distracted by work issues. It was quarterly report time she said through tight lips. 

"We're cookin' the books again," she said. "We have to cut R and D just for another penny in earnings," she grumped. "Stupid, stupid, stupid games," she complained.

That off her chest, she looked pointedly at her daughter.

"Have you resolved your issues?" Her eyebrows arched high.

Aly's expression became very serious. She pulled her lips up into a closed mouth smile, and nodded slowly. 

"When you marry him, I want to be adopted." Now she smiled big. "I want to be a Peters." Aly's eyes sparkled mischievously as she flicked her eyes to my face.

"Now, about you making love with Rick." Moira leaned close, putting her face directly in Aly's. "You have to wait a while, maybe a year, maybe more." She leaned back, and glanced at me. "Until then, you have to cool it, not too much teasing." Moira grinned, focusing on me. "I need to reserve some energy for AMD," she chuckled. "He's overheats often enough as it is."

"Mom?" Aly squealed, loud enough to quiet the restaurant chatter. "You mean I can..." Aly couldn't complete the question.

"Correct. Think like this. In a year or two, you can decide whether or not to start on birth control." Moira leaned back, and crossed her arms over her chest. 

The sunlight glinted in her red hair, turning it to fire. I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear the turmoil. Aly reached out her hands to her mother. Moira took them into hers, smiling. 

"Mom, I love you," she whispered, tears glinting. She turned her face to me. "You too, Ricky." 

I glanced from face to face, trying to calm myself, finally remembering to breathe and close my mouth. I could only nod, and hold out my hands to them. We held hands across the table, all eyes now glistening.

"Andiamo," I sighed. "We'll be quite a team."

"Yeah," Aly murmured.

"Doggy bag this for me. I've got to get back." Moira pulled her hands free, and stood, looking down at us. She shook her head, and snorted a laugh. "I'll never forget the looks on your faces." She turned away saying, "Love you both."

Aly and I watched Moira stride purposely across the room. She pushed the door half open, and looked back at us with a sad little smile. She waved, brightened her smile, and was gone.

I took a deep breath, and turned to Aly.

"I think that cost your mother." 

Aly raised questioning eyes.

"A lot more than we may ever know." I shook my head. 

"What?" Aly questioned, scrunching her face.

"I think she just made a serious life style decision." I snorted a weak laugh. "Let's eat up. We've got work to do also."

"Okay, Ricky." 

Aly seemed subdued as she slurped her noodles, glancing at my face occasionally as I spooned chicken and eggs into my face.

"Aly Peters, Alyson Peters," she said softly. "I like it," she said pushing her soup bowl away.


We walked back to the office holding hands, quiet, without Aly's usual chatter or skipping steps. In my office, Aly climbed into my lap almost before I was seated.

"Can I have a big hug, Rick?" She leaned against my chest, and sniffed. I squeazed her tightly for a moment.

Aly tilted her head back, showing a weak smile. 

"Pat my butt, please." She snuffled air through a noisy nose. "Daddy, Daddy, I have a Daddy," she sang softly.





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God labored, creating the universe. When he rested, an angel commented that there wasn't much humour in his work. So god created Quantum Physics.




















