Chapter 55

“We need help organizing and getting ready for the new semester. There are more senior students we could ask, but many are gone or are otherwise engaged in other projects. We could give you both honourariums for assisting us and I could also pull some strings to make sure you both get into all the courses you want…”

I could feel Alexa almost bursting with excitement next to me and I had to admit, I was rather pleased as well. True, it would eat up my summer, but they’d pay me and I’d be doing something I love alongside Alexa.

“I think I’ll accept on both of our behalfs before my aunt explodes, professor.” I said, nodding. “We’d be happy to help.”

“I’m grateful,” he said, nodding his head. “My only question is, and please take it seriously, because we’ve had issues in the past… can you two work together in spite of being family? We have attempted to allow siblings or other family units to do this sort of thing before and there end up being squabbles and drama issues that compromised the quality of work they did.”

I shook my head. “No issue here, sir. It’s hard to remember she’s my aunt at all, given how close we are in age. We make a decent tag-team.”

“Excellent,” he declared, smiling. “I’ll keep Karen and Michael informed and then contact you when we are ready, it should not be more than a week. Good day to you all.”

Once he had left, mom and dad both seemed delighted. Mom hugged her sister while dad ruffled my hair. “I know we said you could have the summer off, but it looks like you’ll get to be useful after all,” he said cheerfully. “And to be honest, this is a big deal, you two will have your hands full. The department will really appreciate it and go to some lengths for you.”

“So that’s why you had us drop by,” I mused. “Who cooked up this scheme with Professor Marais?”

“We’d recently heard him talking about how behind the department was and how much he wanted some fresh help to get things back in order,” mom said, still holding her sister. “I mentioned that Allie was likely to be getting a full scholarship from the university and studying in his department anyway, so she might be willing. I also said you were doing nothing of note this summer and had a good head for organizing. Saying he jumped on the suggestion would be a mild understatement. His seniors were making outrageous demands for doing what was needed. I told him Alex had been known to work for chicken parmesan.”

Alexa giggled at the thought. “Why am I not surprised that he’ll work for food?”

“Well, Alex, you have basically one week of freedom left before you become slave to the Linguistics department,” mom pointed out. “Do your best to make the least of the time left to you. As for Little Miss Industrious here, I think I’ll keep employing her services for a while today. She can prettify my office while I grade papers. Mike, take your son and make him useful.”

Dad and I exited the office and head to his, which was in another wing of the building. Dad’s office, not surprisingly, was far more dynamic than mom’s, although it still looked like the office of a tenured scholar. He sat down in his chair and grinned.

“Not much for you to do here, champ, my office is a lot more well-kept than your mother’s,” he said as he pushed and rolled himself across the foor to a reference guide. “My students do a lot of the cleaning for me, probably hoping that I’ll reward them with better grades.”

“And you just exploit their help?” I asked, making a wry face as I sat down in a chair nearby. His office was a lot of black and chrome, having a high-tech geek feel to it. One wall was dominated by a bank of computers, something he called a ‘Beowulf Cluster’ and batches of cables ran around the walls, giving the office some weird Borg feel. I have no idea if the Beowulf Clusters were functional or if dad was just fucking with everyone’s heads, but no one questioned the Rhodes Scholar about it either way.

“My parents always talk me to accept help completely and graciously,” he said, rolling back. “And I never agree to any desires they might have about their grades in exchange for said help, inferred or otherwise. Japanese high school students clean their own schools.”

“Well, you got me there, sensei,” I sighed, “So what do you want me to do?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Pick up a book and pretend you know something about physics, I guess.”

He began working on grading papers while I sighed and started leafing through various books. I finally found one that basically amounted to ‘Physics For Complete Idiots’ and began reading. Maybe ten minutes later, there was a knock at his door and it opened.

“Hey, prof!” said a young woman brightly as she skipped in. She was in her early twenties, with curly brown hair that fell past her shoulders and a slim figure. She was pretty enough, I suppose, although it suddenly occured to me that I was instantly judging her against Alexa.

“Jeanie, hey,” dad said, looking up and smiling. “This is my son, Alex. He just finished his first semester over in Linguisitics and History.”

“Oh, hi,” she said, turning and waving at me. “Wow, you two look alike.”

“Thanks, I think.” I replied, waving back from my seat.

“What can I do for you?” dad asked, pausing in his work to look at her.

“Any work to be done for you or Mrs de Bourne?” the girl named Jeanie asked. “All my classes are done but I don’t leave dorm for another week soe I’m looking for something to do, y’know?”

Dad nodded. “Right this second I have nothing, but that might change, I’ll email you if anything comes up, okay?”

She smiled and winked at him before waving to me and then turning and swishing out the door. My father just sighed and went back to grading.

“Nice girl,” he mentioned. “Well-meaning, but if she were any dumber she’d have to be watered twice a week.”

“Cute, though.” I mused, causing him to look up at me, his eyebrow raised. It made me wonder if Alexa was right and if my father and mother were fucking that girl.

“Trust me, Alex,” he said in a level tone. “As someone who has listened to her blather for an entire semester, you don’t want to do that to yourself. No amount of getting laid could be worth that kind of intellectual pain. There were times I was certain that sticking a garden weasel up my nose and into my brain would hurt less.”

“Ouch.” I said, frowning at the imagery. Still, dad probably knew best and had no reason to deter me. I stopped thinking about it and went back to my book. True, most of what I was staring at was bafflegab to me, but I diligently took in everything I could. Never miss a chance to learn something. Probably an hour passed before dad stretched and cricked his neck before looking at me.

“Gonna take Allie up on her offer to buy a belly-dancing outfit and dance for us all while we do hookah?” he asked.

I shrugged without looking up from my tome. “Sounds fun. When would we do that?”

“Tonight or tomorrow,” dad replied, musing. “You know your mom, she’ll want to do the whole Moroccan lounge thing in the living room with big beanbag chairs and plush pillows everywhere and then invite her friends. They’ll all get to meet her sister while she gyrates and grinds around the room to Arabic music.”