At work for the remainder of the week was the almost excitement of the qualifying run of our client's brand new powerplant. For forty-eight hours the utility company configured its system so we could run at a hundred percent of the rated load of the new installation. After I watched the generators come up and tie to the utility lines and I saw the load hitting the numbers, I started breathing easier. At this stage of the game, I expected NO electrical issues. However, I'd breathe a lot easier when it was over.

Known fact: In ANY electrical installation, ANY problem is automatically electrical in nature. At least until the electrical department points out the pieces of the mechanical device spread from the pump shed to the parking lot.

I went home a little late Tuesday after assuaging the feelings of the mechanical engineer when one of HIS pumps burned up a seal. Of course he pointed out that it was MY motor turning his pump at the time...

Clearing the parking lot, I called Cindy.

"Hey, baby love," she chirped.

"I'm on the way home."

"Good," she said. "We're doin' dinner at Mizz Helen and Judge Charlie's tonight.

"On a TUESDAY?"

"He says his housekeeper's doin' fried chicken. Nothin' formal. Just come pick me up at the trailer."

"Okay." I had to ask. "Did ya talk to Tina today?"

"Uh-huh," she said. "Alan's over his shock. You're over yours. We're talking about a plan. When you get here, we can talk. Drive safe, okay?"

I pulled up next to the little trailer and a luscious little redhead bounced out of the door, turned and locked it, then jumped in the truck, sliding across the seat to give me a kiss before buckling in.

"Hi, cutie," I said.

"Hi, my guy," she answered. "Ever'thing running like it's s'posed to?"

"Wide open," I said. "One of the feedwater pumps tore up a seal. Not my problem. Not gonna stop the test. So what'd you an' your sister have to say?"

"We wanna meet this weekend. Maybe Chattanooga. Two hours for us. Short hop for them. Weekend. Me, you, Tina, Alan, an' Susan. Our community."

I thought about that. "You payin' attention to the weather?"

"Should be good from Friday afternoon to Monday."

We pulled into the broad circular drive of the Judge's house. Nice, BIG house. Knocked on the door and were welcomed in by his housekeeper.

"Good evening, Mizz Cindy. Mister Dan. Please come in," said his housekeeper.

"Thank you Mizz Sam," I said. "Are you takin' good care of yourself?"

"Oh, yessir," she said, smiling.

"How's your daughter? Pre-law, right?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, Mister Dan. She's right off into it. Doing well, she tells me."

"You must be proud."

"I certainly am."

We were led into the sitting room to join Charley and Helen. Cindy excitedly recounted the visit from the Auburn recruiter, eliciting a broad smile from Charlie.

"I just sent the ONE letter," he said. "Of course, it might've gone to several people. Just want to take care of my young daughter."

Cindy smiled. Technically, Cindy was the foster child of Helen, Charlie's wife, and that DID make Cindy like a daughter to him.

"Of course, I sort of did the same thing to Mizz Eletha's daughter, too." Eletha was Charlie's housekeeper. "It's my happiness that I became successful and now I can help deserving young people like her." He smiled at Cindy. "And you, Cindy. You get more beautiful every time I see you, darlin'."

Cindy blushed. "Thank you, Mister Charlie."

Mizz Eletha stood at the door and announced the arrival of dinner. "At the kitchen table, as you asked, Judge Charlie," she smiled.

Charlie looked at me. "Her momma made the fried chicken that I ate as a kid. I'm happy to say that Mizz Eletha does ever' bit as good a job!"

Eletha grinned. "Momma RULED that kitchen. Us kids BETTER pay attention." She looked at Judge Charlie. "Course, you sendin' Caroline off to study law, that might wreck the line of fried chicken cooks..."

"And start a line of bright young lawyers..." he said. "And I keep telling you that you're not too old to go back to school yourself."

"First one of my family to get through high school," she said. "Momma was proud a'that! And you're a fine one to push me. You, that's been tellin' people that learnin' is learnin' even if you DON'T get somethin' ta hang on de wall."

Charlie explained to us, "Mizz Eletha volunteers as a tutor for the local schools. If she had a degree, she'd be in the classroom, teaching."

"Uh-huh. Miss Cindy, YOU tell 'im what goes on in those classrooms these days. Thisaway, I get to help the students who WANT help, not try and force them that wanna be someplace else, doin' somethin' else."

Cindy said softly, "Mister Charlie, Mizz Eletha has a point, you know. EVERYBODY has to go to school. Only some of 'em wanna learn. I found that out." She grinned at Mizz Eletha. "I tutor in math an' I know what you're talkin' about..."

We filed into the kitchen to find the table already set for us, mashed potatoes, gravy, a platter full of golden brown fried chicken.

"Mizz Helen says you're partial to pecan pies, Mister Dan. I made you one..."

Cindy giggled. "He is. And 'thank you'."

"Mizz Eletha, I do hope you're joining us, ' Helen said.

Eletha looked at me. "Oh, no, Massa Chahlie say Ah got's ta be eatin' in da quahtahs out back!" she broke out into a broad smile.

Charlie laughed. Apparently a joke was being had at my expense.

Eletha smiled. "The Judge tol' me about the first time you and Mizz Cindy came over ... Jus' thought I oughtta help out..." and she sat with us.

We had a great meal: good food. Good conversation. And pecan pie.

We left Charlie and Helen at eight and headed home. In the truck, she said, "Good time wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was, cutie. Really good." I caught a quick look at my pretty young wife in the dim light of the cab of the truck as we drove. Wasn't a day that went by since last September that I didn't close my eyes and thank God for Cindy. Seven months from a frightened little ragamuffin of a girl-child to a poised young lady who rose to every situation and who entered a room bringing happiness with her.

That was the Cindy that the world saw, at least those of them that took a few minutes to get past the "She's ONLY fourteen" part. Or the "Fourteen and MARRIED" part. That was the Cindy that had latched onto total strangers, Alan and Tina and now, Susan, and put together the outlines of a plan.

And when we walked into our trailer, I got the OTHER Cindy as she started shedding her clothes into a neat pile. I knew she was going to shower, but I couldn't resist at least one good, long caressing hug of her neat young body.

"Mmmmmm, Dan ... all that other stuff ... THIS is the part that makes it sooooo much better." And she added a sensous kiss to the hug. "Now, lemme take my shower. Then yours, then US!"

"Yes, ma'am, Mizz Cindy," I said.

She flashed a smile at me as she went into the shower. She was out, I was in, then we were in bed and it was perfectly lovely.

She wasn't the only thing that was perfect. So was the project. Well, almost. There was, in common parlance, a "punch list" of items to be completed or fixed, and happily, there were no major electrical issues.

We had the meetings. Lots of meetings. I'd pop out of meeting, head into the facility to see work in progress or the testing that came afterward.

There was an outcome from all this that I found a bit of a pleasant surprise. We were 'de-mobing' the site, construction being essentially over, and Bill called me in.

"Yeah, boss," I said.

"Dan, they wanted me to ask you if you'll stay on and do some training and some documentation stuff with them."

"Oh, be still my beating heart!" I said. Bill knew how much I hated paper exercises. "I still work for you? Or they hire me as an independent?"

"Either way," he said. "If I was you, I'd negotiate a better rate as an independent."

"I don't wanna piss YOU off, Bill."

"No skin off my butt, Dan. I leave at the end of the week next week. An' it's not like you're leavin' me high an' dry. Or disappearin'. You'll be right up the hill in a new office for a month or two." He smiled. "I know you're not leavin' Alabama until Cindy graduates, anyway."

"Oh, I didn't get a chance to tell you yet. Ain't leavin' Alabama until Cindy graduates ... from Auburn!"

"She chose?"

I told Bill about the recruiter. He grinned. "You're awfully proud of 'er, ain't ya, son?"

I admitted to that.

"I am, too. Sure didn't wanna think you'd gotten some teenie sex toy when I found out about 'er."

"Never was like that, Bill. Couldn't've been. But I never thought she'd fly like this, either..."

You know we'll have to stay in touch, huh?"

"Absolutely," I said. "You're, oh, I dunno, depends on what she's thinkkin' from one day to the next: god-father, grandpa, mentor ... an' always friend."

"Well, before we part ways, lemme take you an' her to dinner."

"Gladly, Bill!"

I brought the news to Cindy. "It's a way that we can keep from dippin' into savings until you graduate," I said.

"It'll all be here, right?" Cindy asked.

"Yep. Brand new office, for a couple of months. No excitement. Home every night. Gonna bump 'em a bit on the money. Gotta cover my health insurance and extra taxes as an independent contractor."

"Will I get any more visits?"

"I dunno about that, baby. Doesn't belong to us any more. Mister Bill's leaving next weekend. A week from Friday's his last day."

"Make sure you get contact information from ever'body," she said. "This is almost like a family I was adopted into. Kinda sad, really."

"I know. Been through a bunch of these myself. But sometimes it's just like this: I end up workin' for Bill. I'm sure that in the future we'll cross paths again. And with YOU in the mix in a few years..." I looked at her green eyes, seeing a hint of sadness. "Oh, come, baby," I said, "They're still gonna be around somewhere. And look at YOU! These are all people you've met since September. You'll keep meeting people. You'll remember them. They'll remember you. Life goes on."

"I didn't think about that 'since September' thing," she said. "You're right. But you still gotta know that ever' one of 'em's special to me."

"I know, baby." I guess consolation was the best thing I could do now. This was a fourteen year old's view of the world. The stream of time with its large number of faces entering and leaving, I'd had forty years of it. She had fourteen, and a limited fourteen, at that. Sometimes I realized that she was, despite being spectacular in so many ways, just a fourteen year old girl.

So I held her. "Baby," I said softly, "A lot of people will come and go in our lives. But we'll ALWAYS have each other. Always. Dan an' Cindy. Forever. An' then we got family: Helen an' Charlie. That bunch in Louisiana. And now you have a new sister and brother-in-law. That's forever, too..."

"I don't mean to get all weepy, baby," she said, stepping into my arms.

"A soft heart is a wonderful thing, baby," I said. "It's okay to have feelings. Makes us human." I kissed the top of her head.

She turned her face upward. "Kiss me."

I kissed her. "Better?"

She nodded. "Let's go get a salad..."

"'Kay. Let's see what they have for us." The two old sisters often had something new and interesting to present.

Off we went. Tuesday was the day that Tina called Cindy. They alternated. Cindy's phone rang.

"Hi, sis," she said. Her voice lacked its normal exuberance. "No, Dan's job is winding down an' some of my friends are movin' on, an' I got all sad ... That's all." Pause. "Uh-huh. We're lookin' at reservations at the hotel tonight. Are we still talkin' Friday AND Saturday?" Pause. "Yeah, we'll get two queen beds. Susan stays with ya'll one night, us the other night." Pause. "Of course! That's just to sleep. We'll hang out together the whole weekend." Giggle. "Well, ALMOST! You know..." giggle. "Yeah, we're goin' to eat right now." Pause. "Okay. Might call ya later..." Pause. "No, not AFTER nine..." Pause. "Love ya, too, sis!"

She closed her phone. "Talkin' to you an' Tina helps."

"That's the way it's supposed to work, little one," I said. "Sounds like you have a plan between you and her."

"Don't forget Susan, baby."

"How did I end up with a Susan out of all this?"

"Kindred spirit. 'Cept Susan has normal parents. They trust Alan 'n' Tina with Susan."

"Life keeps getting curiouser an' curiouser," I said.

"Oh, it'll be fun. An' with both couples having rooms, we'll shuttle Susan between them so we both have time for US. You know, showers..." Her hand sliding up my thigh indicated that her thoughts extended past mere showering."

We walked into the restaurant and were greeted as friends. Made for pleasant conversation. They were interested in Cindy's education accomplishments and plans, as well as the approaching date that we'd be moving out of the area.

"We hate to see that happen,"one said. "You're good customers and we love you visiting and talking with us."

"I know," Cindy said. "We'd be here for the food, but we like the conversation, too."

We headed home.

The short few steps from the warm cab of the truck to the door of the trailer: "Baby! It's COLD!" Cindy squealed. "Kiss me!"

"Inside," I said.

"No! Right here. I'm standing on the steps and I adore getting kissed outside in the cold!"

Cindy standing on the bottom step put her at the same height as me, and indeed, the chill air DID seem to heighten the impact of her warm lips against mine. Add to that the moonlight illuminating the skies... "I love you, Cindy Sue..."

"I love you, Danny..."

Then we went inside. Showers. Mugs of hot chocolate. Bedtime.

By noon Friday I had closed out my office. Jason, my lead technician, was helping me haul boxes to the truck. "So we just about wrapped this one up. Where's your next one?"

"I dunno. Gonna spend a couple of months here until Cindy graduates. An' you remember Alan Addison?"

""Arizona? Distribution guy?" Jason Ellerbee at twenty-six was another of those guys who traveled from one project to another. If I wanted to simulate, calibrate or communicate with power system equipment, Jason was the guy to have standing beside me. Why he WASN'T an engineer was one of life's mysteries.

"Yeah. That's the one. Cindy and I met him an' his wife by accident a couple of weekends ago at a concert. Wants to talk about a new business. We might be looking at a few openings for good technicians."

He looked at me, obviously interested.

"So if you know of any, can you gimme their contact info?"

Deadpan serious look on his face. "I'm afraid I couldn't do that, Dan."

"Why?"

"Wouldn't want my friends workin' with assholes..."

"We've been working together TOO long, dickhead," I laughed.

"I'd be interested. Talking, you know. Getting a business off the ground that's gonna make US some money, that might be a trick. But you an' me, we stay busy, don't we?"

"Seem to," I answered.

"So maybe we get a name an' some cards and stationery and put some feelers out an' we're off to the races."

"So I can put you down as a 'maybe'?"

"You know you can," Jason said. "You thinkin' about Phil, too?"

"Sure," I said. "He's good. He'd be lead on this project if you weren't here."

"I might have a couple more names. We can talk. Money. Work situation. That kinda thing."

"All in due time. We're looking at mid-summer."

"Dan, just remember, you an' me, we been rollin' stones in this stuff. I've been sockin' bucks back for a while. I might wanna settle myself down, you know, if the right circumstances come along."

"I know, Jase," I said. "Nothing's permanent."

"Yeah, that's what my wife said, headin' out the door..."

"Happens," I said. I knew some of Jason's story. "Anyway, I just wanted to get you to thinkin' about it, buddy."

I started moving into my new (temporary) office. I already knew many of the client's key players, having rubbed elbows and bumped heads with them for the last couple of months. Better yet, they knew ME. And Cindy. Since it was a temporary office, my desk was bare. An electronic picture frame that started sequencing pictures, each of them containing a cute redhead somewhere in them, that made the space MINE!

There was a familiar face in the atrium, too. Sara had wangled herself a position as the maintenance and engineering department admin clerk, complementing her husband's position as mechanical maintenance supervisor. I was happy. Both of them were semi-local and this put them on solid footing. With kids at home, it meant roots. I also pondered that having seen both of them at work, the client was getting good people.

Sara was pointing out the way she wanted HER space configured. "Hi, Dan!" she said when she spotted me.

"You getting' set up?"

"Uh-huh! I still have another week at the trailer, though. Just took time out to decorate the new digs. You hangin' here for a couple of months, I hear..."

"Yeah. Cindy's graduating in May. Gonna be here for that. Well, maybe not HERE in this office, but here in the area."

"Why'n'cha bring 'er by? Show 'er your new office." She smiled. "Lovely girl. You don't know how lucky you are..."

"Oh, but I DO!" I said. "She's my own bit of perfection."

"That's just it," Sara smiled. "She says the same thing about you. Girl's cute as a button. Confused, but cute as a button..." Laughter.

"Shame on you! I thought we were havin' a MOMENT!"

"We were," she laughed. "But THAT'S over now..."

The new boss walked out of his office to survey the noise.

"Hi, Jerry," I said. "I just want to compliment you again on your company's concession to hiring the disturbed."

Sara looked appropriately outraged. "Uh, Mister Styers, this CONTRACTOR is creatin' a hostile work environment."

"I'm sure he is," Jerry laughed. He looked at me. "She, my awfully intelligent and capable administrator, said something about you bringin' Cindy to visit?"

"Yeah. You know Cindy. I'm hopin' that this place is the first of a long line of HER projects."

"Bring 'er. As long as she's an escorted visitor, the safety asshole..." He caught his language. "Oops! Sorry, Sara ... I didn't mean..."

Sara looked demure.

I said, "She's heard it. Matter of fact, the Great 'Sara Hooked Her New Jeans on the File Cabinet' eruption goes down in history as one of the most constructive uses of profanity in the recent history of the English language..."

Sara smiled. "End-of-month close-outs. Several missing invoices and shipping lists for a mere two million dollars, and my NEW jeans!"

"I wish I could'a recorded that."

"Anyway," Jerry said, "Safety department'll be okay with Cindy. Why'n'cha bring 'er Monday? I'm tryin' to get all the key bunch from construction together before they leave. I wanna picture of the whole bunch. Just as well put Cindy front an' center."

"We'll do that."

I escaped the place in early afternoon and scooped Cindy from school. Met with Jim Hardesty briefly and made arrangement for Cindy to spend Monday at the project.

"I want one'a those pictures," he said.

"You got it."

Cindy and I went by the trailer and threw together a bit of clothing for the weekend and then hit the airfield. As I was locking the hangar door, I saw Cindy in the plane, cellphone to her ear. I knew that she was giving a situation report to Tina.

Fifteen mintes later our wheels left the runway. Yes, Cindy was in the pilot's seat.

"What's up with the the other end of our team?" I asked.

"Your brother-in-law is lifting off with important cargo as we speak," she said. "They're a bit behind us, but they don't have as far to fly." She giggled. "An' he's in the back seat. At least YOU get to ride up front."

"Wha..."

"Tina's flyin', Susan's in the right seat, an' Alan's sittin' in back."

"Alan's created a monster..." I said.

"He's in love ... people in love, they'll do anything to make somebody happy." She smiled at me, eyes twinkling.

"You got that right," I said. "An' if you love the right person, you'll find that what they want to do is what you wanted to do anyway..."

"So you'll understand when I do THIS!" and she dipped a wing, sweeping into a pretty decent steep 360-degree turn. "I like to feel the G's. Let's me know I'm flyin'..."

"Pretty good one, babe. You lost a little altitude. If you do it right, you'll run into your own turbulence."

"I know. You showed me that. An' Hanna..." She grinned. "Now, back to work!" and she regained the bit of lost altitude and put us on course again.

We were easing down from cruising altitutde when we heard a familiar voice on the radio. "Jackson Unicom, this is Cessna six-seven-six-five-Golf, five miles out, landing Jackson, runway three-three."

Cindy giggle. "Tina!" She waited a few seconds for any other traffic, then she pressed the mike button on the control yoke. "Uh, six-five golf, this is Cessna five-five-two-three Uniform. Ten miles southeast, destination Jackson. Squeal!"

"Uh, young Padawan, that's not a very professional squeal."

"Roger, two-three Uniform, we'll watch for you. Giggle."

"You two have set aviation communications back twenty years."

Green eyes laughed at me. "Just happy, baby!"

"The air traffic control system can probably survive you and Tina on Unicom," I said.

As we entered the traffic pattern, I saw Alan's plane taxiing to the transient tie-downs. A few minutes later, we were pulling up beside them and the lone representative of the fixed base operator was somewhat amused that the pilots of both planes were teen-aged girls. And that Alan was in the back seat.

Alan. Tina. And a short, plumpish blonde girl, maybe an inch taller than Cindy, a couple of inches shorter than Tina. And she broke away from the group and screamed "Cin-deeeee!" and ran to scoop my wife up into her arms.

Of course, Cindy reacted with "Susannnn!", finished the hug, and said, "this is my husband, Dan. Dan, this is Susan!"

"Hi, Susan!"

"Hi, Mister Dan! I am SOOO happy to meet ya'll!

We went inside and met the representatives of the rental car agency and signed for a minivan for the five of us, then loaded up for the trip to the hotel.

"Alan, you can drive if you want. I understand you've been in the back seat today."

He laughed. "Seems that I've created a monster, Dan."

"Well, buddy," he said, "We seem to have created several."

The three girls slid into the center seat of the minivan and buckled in. I turned sideways in my seat to see Cindy. Susan was in the center slot, and while she was a bit plump, she was a cutie. And she was smiling.

"Mister Dan," she said, "I hope I'm not an inconvenience to ya'll. I've been on these weekends with Alan 'n' Tina before."

"She has, Dan," Alan said.

I was wondering exactly how THAT worked, but then I thought about me and Cindy and how we'd handle that if WE were in the same situation, and I came up with the idea that a little decorum was applicable and that we could probably swing that. After all, we had more to our relationship than just sex. At the same time, though, in the several months since we'd been together, we'd NEVER had a night where we didn't enjoy our private time. This weekend promised to be a 'first'.

We made our way to the hotel, and as soon as Alan had a cardkey, the girls grabbed it and disappeared. He waited until I finished checking in.

"They'll come looking for us in a bit. If I had to venture a guess, right now they're giggling and looking for a restaurant for dinner," Alan said.

"Who's the ringleader of that trio, Alan?" I asked.

"Most of the time, it seems to be Cindy. Not that Tina isn't perfectly capable of her own excursions. I think Susan was Tina's idea."

"About that..." I started.

"Susan's little bunch of friends getting together was a week into Tina starting school there. Things got out of hand. Tina came home early. That's the night she announced she was in love with me. And I admitted it to her. I think I was trying to deny something up to that point."

"And how'd Susan play into that?" I asked.

"I think Susan's a little naïve about human nature. She's an 'only' child. Mom and Dad dote on 'er. And she apologized to Tina about things. They became best friends. I wanted her to have friends her age." He continued. "We kinda hang out with Susan and her folks. They're good people. And she and Tina ... well..."

"And then my Cindy dives in..."

"So what do YOU think about it? I mean, their plan..."

"Their plan? I have no problem with THEIR plan. I'm thinkin' about OUR plan..."

"Me too," he said. "We got us. That's TWO experienced electrical engineers. Both of us have professional certification."

"And good reputations," I added.

"And I'm talking with one of my technicians."

"Bingo!" I said. "I was talking with one of mine this week. You're thinking an engineering house with field service capabilities, right?"

"I think we could make that work," he said. "But down the road..."

"Room for Cindy and Tina?"

"I think we should, don'tcha think..."

"If Cindy comes out of college with the same mind she's going in with..." I told him about her on the control system programming.

"I think Tina's like that, too. And heaven help me, but Susan's as smart as Tina. They're gonna be number two and three when they graduate, and both of 'em's been in every advance placement class they have this year."

I was rubbing my chin, digesting that data when I heard, "There they are!"

I turned to see the trio entering the lobby. "Baby, we need to go put our bags in the room."

She turned to her friends. "We'll be right back down!"

I grabbed the bags after handing Cindy the cardkey. We hit the elevator and went to our room. Inside, I was accosted by a wiggly redhead. And kissed. Lots.

"Baby," she said, "Let's not be too demonstrative (Demonstrative? Not a fourteen year old's vocabulary, I thought.) in front of Susan. She's ... not jealous ... that's not it. But I think ... envious. And she's a sweet girl."

"We can do that, baby. Who's she stayin with tonight?"

"Us."

'Oh, well, ' I thought. 'Time to put actions to my thoughts.' "Okay, sweetie. We shall be the epitome of decorum."

"Come on, Mister Decorum. I need..." she wrapped her arms around me and we kissed, hot enough to peel paint. "I love you, Dan Richards."

"I love you, too, Cindy Richards."

"Let's go meet our friends for dinner."