Night Watch, Part 19

The house bustled with new activity. David and Natalie went into the kitchen to prepare yet another breakfast. Buddy came in and tried to help. Together they formed an assembly line to unload the dishwasher of clean dishes so that the dirty ones from the last meal could be cleared off the counter.

Victoria announced that she was going home for a while but would be near the phone. "I have to water my garden," she said. "Although the rain last night certainly helped."

Angela got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She then put on her gardening clogs and walked out into the yard, saying she was inspired by Victoria's example. Olivia followed her out.

The phone rang. It was David's sister, Paula, calling on her cell phone from the west coast.

"Isn't it early there?" asked David.

"I take the 5:20 ferry to Seattle from Bainbridge Island," she said brightly. Like David, Paula was a software engineer. She finished her graduate degree at Stanford a year ago and moved to the Seattle area to take a job at a small firm. "Any news?" she asked.

"None worth reporting. It's getting crowded here. When are you coming?"

"I still have a reservation for tonight, but I can change it. I don't want to be in the way."

"Trust me, you won't be in the way. Angela's family is staying at a hotel. I've reserved our one guest space for you." David carried the cordless phone into the small room at the back of the house that he and Angela used as a combination office and guest space. The room also tended to be a magnet for things like golf clubs, toys, laundry, mail, shoes, and anything they didn't know what to do with. David sat on the sleeper sofa next to some laundry waiting to be folded and thought how nice it would be to stretch out and take a little nap.

"When are Mom and Dad coming?" Paula asked.

"They're driving up now," said David. "I expect they'll call this morning. All I do around here is answer the phone and make coffee."

"Cheer up. Pretty soon you'll have a new bundle of joy in your lap," said Paula.

Angela poked her head into the room. "Graphite is here," she said.

"Got to go, Paul," said David.

"Say hi for me," said Angela.

"Angela says hi," he added hastily, then hung up.

David got up and kissed Angela. "You look okay for someone who has spent a night in labor."

"I've decided that this kid is going to move at his or her own pace," she said. "I'm not going to lie around and wait for a baby to pop out. So I went out and started watering."

"Good for you. Where's Graphite?"

"He's in the front yard chatting away with Olivia."

"Now that's interesting," said David.

"I've given up trying to understand human nature," said Angela.

By this time, Natalie had shooed Buddy out of the kitchen. A frying pan warmed on the stove while a pot full of coffee stood ready. The aroma of coffee rattled David's stomach. He filled his mug on the way out the door.

"Graphite, first a rare night visit and now this. You must like us," said David.

"Don't let it go to your head, boss," Graphite said. He wore his familiar bleary-eyed and rumpled look after a night of writing software and working the help desk.

Olivia laughed. "This guy has a wicked sense of humor."

"I see you've met," said David.

"As usual, my charm is captivating," said Graphite with a toothy grin.

"Uh, right. And your business this morning is..."

"A courier delivered this note from Jessica Van Buren's office. You know, that high-strung lady running for the House?"

"High-strung?"

"Dude, she's wound up like a top," said Graphite.

Olivia giggled girlishly as she leaned on a garden rake. David could not believe what he was witnessing: in every respect, Graphite was the opposite of Olivia's kind of man. He was short, skinny, brainy, with glowing hair that was originally red but had tints of orange for added effect. He wore black clothes and listened to heavy metal music, and was about four years younger than Olivia.

"And I suppose you are an expert on these matters?" said David.

"I know a woman who needs a whitewater rafting trip when I see one."

David groaned. "The letter, please."

Graphite handed David an envelope. He read the note while Graphite told Olivia about his recent trip to New York City to hear a west coast grunge band. Olivia had been at the same concert with a date who got arrested in the men's room for trying to sell drugs to an undercover cop.

"He had the decency to not say he was with me," said Olivia. "If I had known he was even carrying anything I would have dumped him before the concert."

The note was from Van Buren's information technology manager. 'We need new mailing list software. Please add to proposal. Can you fax me the quote by 10 this morning?'

David decided on the spot that he was not going to let this client slip through his fingers just because Angela didn't agree with her politics. Business is business. He then realized he had the perfect excuse: he had left his cell phone charger at the office and needed to pick it up. While he was there he would finish the proposal for Jessica Van Buren and fax it to her I.T. manager. Angela would be so busy with the new baby that it would be weeks before she figured it out. By then, chances are we would have already been paid, David thought. And there's no way she would complain about income, right?