Part One

Sam was doing her show and tell for Mr. Williams and doing it well. Which wasn't unusual. The fact that Mr. Williams was very wealthy wasn't that unusual either. The fact that Mr. Williams did not have any children at Curtis, that was the unusual part.

... Sam was indicating the open air over the paved patio between the buildings where most of the students liked to eat lunch. "The shade would cover this patio. It's a shame really to have it paved but it simply gets too much traffic on a daily bases for anything but cement to survive. But the cement is reflective and on most days the reflected sunlight raises the temperature on the patio and in the surrounding buildings by at least ten degrees. On particularly hot days the temperature can go far over a hundred degrees."

... Mr. Williams was nodding. "Of course, on rainy days the patio's no fun at all so the cover would provide two solutions in addition to which I've run the figures and during the first year of operation the cover should cut our electricity bill by thirty percent."

... "Thirty?"

... "Yes, of course the reduction will be almost entirely in air-conditioning costs and the large proportion comes from the fact that each degree over say, eighty takes a proportionally larger amount of energy to bring back down to eighty."

... Sam caught an expression in Mr. Williams' eye that was not there when she turned to look at him. She had caught the same expression she thought twice before. "You see, if it costs ten dollars to bring a ninety degree room down to eighty it costs over twenty, something like twenty three, dollars to bring an hundred degree room down to eighty. And so on."

... "I understand the concept Mrs. Merati."

... Sam nodded with an apologetic smile. Well, the look didn't mean he didn't understand something. But it didn't look like confidence or understanding either. And the fact that it disappeared every time he caught her looking at him meant he didn't want her seeing it. Which meant, that she wasn't going to bring it up. She wanted Mr. William's money, not his embarrassment or anger. "Anyway, I just wanted to point out that not only will the initial expenditure improve the school environment but it will cut the operating costs. That way we won't have to bother people like you for operating capital in the future if oil prices sky rocket again."

... Williams nodded but Sam thought she saw a hint of the look again. God! Was he one of those men who thought brains and boobs were incompatible? He was a third or more generation American after all. Tall blonde, Northern European, probably Nordic stock. Even her husband, from Iran, knew better then that. "Well that's about the whole thing. I think I've shown you all of the improvements we're hoping to make. Is there anything else I can show you?"

... "No, You've done a fine job." There had only been the slightest hesitation before his response.

... "Well, let's see if the Dean has any time. I'm sure he would very much like to speak to you."

... Williams nodded and followed Sam into the building.

... Sam left Mr. Williams with the Dean. She explained that she was expected in Geometry and that she had to check in on Brad and Alicia. (The Dean would hold his own. He didn't look happy when Sam left but as Dean his job was to beg and weedle money out of people. He might not understand the architectural side of the proposals as well as Sam but he could count.) The truth was Sam had just realized she was allergic to Mr. Williams.

... Sam did stop by Mr. Singer's class and though he didn't need her he asked her to come in and help some students who were having problems. (Did she really look that upset?) After school Brad tried to fob the car pool off on Sam but Sam refused to bite. The carpool was the excuse for Brad having a car and if he wasn't going to drive it, then he didn't need to have a car. Sam was well aware of the fact that Brad felt the orange Volvo stationwagon was only a car in a technical sense, Sam's BMW was a car, but she wasn't trading.

... Sam did ask Alicia though to drive her home. Alicia didn't pester Sam about being aloud to drive the Beamer and therefore she got to drive it much more often then Brad. Some how Brad hadn't figured this out yet.

... Alicia and Brad were the same age and for the last six months they'd been unofficial brother and sister. Sometime before that they'd been boyfriend and girlfriend but, as the story went, Sam had put an end to that. Alicia had moved in over the summer. Alicia and her stepmother had been fighting, as usual, and Alicia thought that ten solid weeks home alone with the woman might cause her to commit murder. There wasn't really room for Alicia at the house but they'd managed to find a closet to stuff her into, of course this had necessitated buying car covers and Alicia made sure the cars were indeed covered when ever they were at home. (Another reason to let her drive.)

... Sam wasn't sure she liked the idea of Brad and Alicia living under the same roof so to speak. She didn't think they'd ever "gone all the way." They might even be, shock of shock, virgins. But while Sam didn't feel guilty about their breakup, as Sam told the story the break up was Brad's fault, but Sam did feel responsible for the worsening of the relationship between Alicia and her stepmother. (And as for Alicia's father, Sam wasn't sure he'd noticed that Alicia wasn't living at home any more.)

... Sam unbuttoned her jacket and shook out her hair.

... Alicia asked, "How did the ... what ever go with Mr. Williams?"

... "It went, I'm not positive where it went yet but it's over. For the moment."

... "Something wrong?"

... "Not really, I just got this paranoid feeling that he was taking my tits more seriously then my words." Alicia nodded, Sam's breasts were now visible, no bra, shirt or etc., under this jacket, to whom ever wanted to stare into their car. They weren't particularly large, Alicia in fact had larger breasts, but they were a nice shape. And if Bud (and Brad) was any indicator, the size and shape of a woman's breasts didn't really matter, getting a good look was what mattered.

... "It got so bad I left him with the Dean and hid in Mr. Singer's room."

... "I bet he was happy."

... "Not really, but he pretended he was."

... "No, I think he was."

... Sam gave Alicia a suspicious look, it had been nice to have a female around but Alicia wasn't Sam's friend, no matter how much she liked her, and Sam had to be careful. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

... "That Mr. Singer likes you."

... "Oh," Sam covered the next words with a disgusted grunt. "Just what I need."

... "I just said, 'likes,' you're way too high maintenance for him to get any ideas."

... Well, which to respond to first? How about the comment that upset her the most but staid away from possible real problems? "High maintenance, Me?"

... "Oh, way!"

... "Way high maintenance?!"

... "Big time." Alicia was having trouble keeping her eyes on the road, not stealing a glance at Sam, and keeping any hint of a smile out of her face.

... "I think I understand now, why, you and your Stepmom don't get along."

... Alicia gave Sam a hurt look she couldn't control.

... Too far! "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair." This was what she didn't like about having Alicia around, although Sam suspected she'd have a similar problem with any other close female. Which lead Sam to reflect, again, on the fact that she had secluded herself from all close female contact.

... While Sam knew the psychology behind the fact that cutting herself off from female contemporaries was unhealthy she didn't really feel it was her fault. The women in her most convenient social circle were disgusting lowlifes, who happened to be very rich. They were people like Alicia's Stepmother (and Bio-mother). Self centered harpies, only worried about external appearances, constantly jockeying and conspiring. The only reason to have a child was to cement their place in the society and to assure a good alimony, when that inevitability came about.

... When Sam had first married John, three years ago now, she had tried hard to fit into the community that used Curtis as it's center. But she'd eventually become disgusted: with them, herself, and her own origins. Sam had grown up in a community like the one around Curtis. Hers had been based on Geography, an overpriced enclave of homes and competing country clubs, but the ambitions and the values had been the same. Sam still wasn't completely sure if she would have ever fit in, she thought it most likely that she would have divorced John in five years if ... if it hadn't been for the boys.

... She really saw the boys, Brad and Bud -John's sons from his first marriage, as her- their (John's and Sam's) salvation. The boys had been awful to Sam, they'd had their reasons, but to deal with them and their needs Sam had faced herself and her values. And in what she felt was still a stunning, it still stunned her, act of courage, Sam had chucked out everything she had known, grabbed hold of her family and flown blind into the darkness of the future. And it hadn't been a gentle ride, and she guessed it still wasn't.

... Sam was worried about what would happen when Brad and Bud went off to college. For Brad that would be in less then a year, Bud was three years younger but it was already clear that they needed her guidance less then they had a few years ago. Maybe that was why Sam had been willing, and had made the necessary push on John, to take Alicia in. Another teen, this one a girl, had certainly upped the demands on her. Either way, Sam knew her impending empty nest- (Wow! She'd be thirty one when Bud left.) Her impending empty nest was what had pushed her to find work with an architectural firm, and to get on the planning committee at Curtis (And would she stay on that committee after Bud graduated?).

... By the time they got home Sam's thoughts had thoroughly depressed her so she started pushing Alicia around the moment they entered the house. Alicia pushed back but with a smile. Sam put on a bravado performance, even down to stripping off her jacket and putting up her dukes (truth was the jacket cost something like a thousand dollars, Sam wanted to get the slacks out of harm's way too but ...). Alicia and she had played this way before and Alicia wasn't taking it too seriously, even when Sam pushed her into the pool. But unlike the famous cliché a good head soaking didn't cool Alicia off emotionally.

... Sam managed to get the slacks off and performed a neat dive into the pool before Alicia got out to throw her in, hundred something dollar slacks or not. There were water guns, nurf guns, etc. around the pool and the two women managed to exhaust themselves before the boys got home from carpool.

... Alicia caught Sam looking at the bracelet around her right ankle. Alicia knew that Bud and Brad had given the anklet to Sam after she'd won the custody battle with their Bio-mom. It said, " Sam, Dad, Brad and Bud, Family forever." The anklet made Alicia jealous and she knew it but she tried to keep Sam from knowing it.

... Sam should have a perfect all over tan, with all the sunbathing she did back here but John had told her once that he thought tan lines were cute. So after they'd lain out long enough for the sun to dry them off Sam was rummaging in the towel cabinet for her tiny bikini. She handed one to Alicia too. "Here, you better put this on, the boys will be home soon."

... That was something else that annoyed Alicia. Sam didn't care what the "boys" saw of her body but Sam obviously thought Alicia should not be so exposed. She was pretty sure Sam wasn't happy with what Alicia did let the boys see even after she did as Sam had said. This double standard didn't seem fair. (No "seems" about it. Weren't double standards by definition unfair?) But Alicia loved Sam too much to say anything.

... Was "love" too strong a word? No, not when she thought about it. She was grateful to Sam, and Alicia knew it was Sam who was responsible for letting her move in, but she'd felt what she did for Sam before then. And the truth was Alicia had exaggerated the situation with Caroline so that she could spend more time with Sam. Alicia wasn't sure what was going to happen next year and she wanted to get as much time around Sam as she could before ... well before.

... Alicia put on the bikini that Sam handed her, it had something like three times the material of Sam's and made them look like mother and daughter, even if their coloring and bone structure was all wrong. Sam's body was ... perfect. Maybe Sam didn't have killer boobs or curvy hips but ... she was just perfect. Everything about Sam's body was in perfect balance with everything else and she moved with a ... balance that would have made you look even if she'd been a carpenter's delight, flat as a board. And to top it off, Sam had naturally blonde hair, not real light but real blonde.

... Alicia's body on the other hand ... was big. Big boobs, big hips, big thighs, big head, too tall, just big everywhere but with small connecting parts so she never looked "balanced." Alicia thought she looked like parts from two different types or "erector" play sets. One was all big pieces and the other was thin little connecting pieces.

... Alicia had her bikini on for less then five minutes when Bud and Brad came around the side of the house. They were perfect too. She knew Bud and Brad weren't Sam's "real" kids but they could have been. Both of them were tall and lanky, well not Bud but he would be. Of course they were dark where Sam had medium light coloring, but that was their Dad's influence. Alicia had met their mom once and she was paler then Sam, but then maybe Sam's coloring ... No. Hadn't Alicia just had proof that Sam's coloring was natural, unless ...

... Sam didn't cook, she directed. She had the "kids" do the cooking and the preparing of the table, clean up of the house, and she watched them do their homework, etc. Alicia knew if the Moms in any of their friend's homes tried this there would have been screams, crying and a lot of pouting but the boys loved Sam as much as Alicia and Sam brooked no arguments. And she did this everyday. Alicia thought that might be the key. Most parents only pushed occasionally and all the kids had to do was push back. But Sam was firm, homework and chores every night, even when they went out. (Something the "kids" hated because it was embarrassing to be caught by other kids doing your homework at the Pizza Palace.) With Sam, a kid just got too tired to keep complaining. Alicia knew. While the boys hadn't ever put up a fight since Alicia had been living there Alicia was embarrassed to admit that she had tried to get out of stuff, at first. But the looks she got from the boys and the line she got from Sam, and the guilt she felt as a guest had put a relatively quick end to her defiance.

... Everything changed though when Mr. Merati got home from the hospital. Sam wasn't cold, far from it, but the house warmed up significantly when Sam's husband got home, and everything else was forgotten. Alicia had seen this kind of behavior too from the moms of their friends but ... Well, Alicia knew this wasn't an act.

Click here for Mom Part 2