4th and Goal

This was getting aggravating.

>Fuck you, bitch!
I don't know what you're talking about.
What old man?
I'll show you snot-nosed!
Where the fuck are you?
I'll come over and wipe your nose on my ass.<

She needed a refill. Maybe she could bum a cup off the mechanics.

>Fransn zol esn zayn layb!
The old man who hired you last night, poutana!
I'm where you're supposed to be!
Come and get it!
But bring his ass with yours!<

Tabs grinned. Whatever that was, it looked nasty. She was about to reply with a few choice Cuban curses of her own when the old man from the bar walked in carrying two large... Old man!

She took the coffee cup he handed her and gave him her phone in exchange.

"Sorry about that, kid. After I sobered up this morning, I realized that I didn't mention I need you right away."

"I thought it was for the beginning of the semester. I can't leave now. I have a business to run. I need to bring my manager up to speed to cover for me."

"What kind of manager is he if he can't do it without three months of coaching? Nice office you've got. Get much mileage out of this couch? It looks comfy."

"I was about to put it through its paces. Did you sleep last night? You look just about as shitty as I feel."

"Not so much as you'd notice. That young pussy was something else. She kept asking for more. What gentleman would refuse her?"

"I doubt you're any kind of a gentleman, but I know what you mean. Mine was begging for more."

They had a good laugh as they compared their night of debauchery, outdoing each other with the most outrageous exaggerations and outright lies.

"So, who was that bitch who texted me?"

"Would you believe my daughter? She's supposed to be project manager on the project I hired you for. I'm having second thoughts about that if she needs her daddy to hold her hand on the first day. Maybe I should give the job to you, though your choice of employee leaves something to be desired."

"I may have exaggerated a bit when I said I needed to bring him up to speed. I expected to be here full-time, so I fired his ass last month. He spent more time fucking our receptionist than doing his job. What I really need to do is find a manager."

"I may be able to help you there. There was this young pussy walking around your showroom, looking at your choppers. Of course, I introduced myself. As it turns out, she's here to apply for the job of manager. I took the liberty of interviewing her for you."

"You mean you took the excuse to look up her phone number on her résumé."

"I may have glanced at it in passing, but she has excellent credentials." He held his hands about a foot in front of his chest and leered comically. "She lost her last job because the owner wouldn't take no for an answer, so she kicked him in the balls."

"I like her already. Is she really...?" Tabs repeated his gesture.

"Would you like to know? She's standing outside your office, listening to us drool over her pituitary gland's production."

"That's the first time I've had my tits described in terms of glandular secretions." The tall busty brunette slapped the old man upside the head. "Are you looking for a manager or an afternoon delight?" She asked Tabs, who was laughing her head off.

"Hi, Vee. What brings you to Yankee country? Old man, this is my aunt Viviane. She's the one who gave me my first taste of motor oil when I was only a baby."

"How many times do I have to tell you that your mother lied when she told you that? And it was her fault for shoving you at me while I was working on my race car."

"So, what brings you north of the Mason-Dixon Line?"

"I kinda burned my bridges back home and I thought I'd hit you up for a job as a mechanic, but if you need a manager..." Without looking around, she growled. "You were staring at my ass in the showroom and you're still doing it. Are you looking to get yours kicked, you fucker?"

"Yes! I knew you looked familiar. The last time you said 'Get lost, you fucker', but I recognize the accent and the ass. Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama. You were bent under the hood of a stock car and I politely asked for your phone number."

"You grabbed my ass and I dropped a piston valve on the concrete floor. The damned thing got scratched and I had to scramble in the other pits to beg for a new one. You almost cost my team the race."

"You still have a great ass, though. Man, that was some victory celebration."

"Yes it was. We won the Championship that year too." The woman couldn't help grinning at the memory... of the win, of course. "So, kid, got a job for your old aunty Vee?"

"You're a racing car mechanic, Vee. This is a bike shop."

"That's why it's perfect. I admit it would have been a stretch as a mechanic, but I can manage your shop for sure. It wouldn't be my first."

"There's something I have to take care of this morning. Why don't we meet for supper? We can talk about it then."

"Same place as last time? 7:00pm?"

"Sure. I'll see you there."

"And lose the fucker before you meet me."

*****

After hiding the monstrosity the old man had retrieved from the bar out back, under a tarp, they got in Tabs' pick-up.

"At what age do women stop being a young pussy for you? I mean, Vee's got to be at least forty-five."

""I wouldn't know. Even the vicar's wife who took my cherry had a young pussy. She must have been fifty, but the things she could do with that snapper... She had actual notches on her bedpost."

"So, where are we going?"

"Turn left at the end of the main engineering building. It's a ways away from it out back."

"I thought it was some kind of storage building for maintenance or something."

"Or something is right. It's a laboratory for dangerous projects. We can't run tests on rocket engines in a building full of students, can we? This one's all thick concrete walls separating the labs. Ours is the one out back. Wake me when we get there, will you."

In the quiet of the cab, Tabs reflected on what she got herself into when she shook hands with the old man. He was quite the character, but he knew his engines. She admired his zest for life too. Although she didn't doubt for a second that he would be fully concentrated on work when it mattered, he knew how to have fun. She hadn't missed the wistful smile on her aunt's lips. And his daughter sounded like a pistol too. If she was project manager on that kind of thing, she had to be some sort of brainy chick... one with a foul mouth. Tabs couldn't wait to meet her.

From the moment she passed the main building, Tabs could see some kind of commotion at the lab building. There was a small crowd and two campus security cars. A third one raced by her, lights flashing, before she got there.

"I think you'd better wake up, old man." She shook him. "Something's going on there."

"What the hell did she do again? At least the real cops aren't involved this time. Floor it, kid. Let's not wait until the law gets here."

*****

It turned out to be one of those administrative snafus that popped up every so often in any big organization. The team which was using the laboratory had been told it was theirs for another two weeks. They didn't take it kindly when a screeching woman of dubious character arrived with her own team and wanted to throw them out on the spot.

Security was called in which only escalated the confrontation. The arrival of a frumpy old man, and what must be his biker woman in a gleaming black pick-up decked with every chrome accessory available on the market and a fantastic skull motif paint job, only served to put the security officers on the defensive even more, until he pulled the officer in charge aside for a word.

That worthy made a call and, ten minutes later, the dean of Engineering rushed over to settle the dispute in a Solomon-style decision. The current team would vacate the premises in a week and Dr. Smith's group would move in.

It didn't do much to placate the shrill woman who wanted to know what she should do with the tractor-trailer bringing their equipment that afternoon. Even when temporary storage space was found, she continued to swear in many different languages.

All that time, Tabs was leaning on her truck, enjoying the show.

*****

Later, when campus security had left and the old man's team had been told they had a week off, after they unloaded the truck, the woman joined Tabs while the old man was talking animatedly with the leader of the group they would be displacing. She leaned against the truck and looked at him fondly.

"You don't have to wait for him. These people were working on a fuel injection system for the Atlas rocket. He won't surface for hours."

"What was that last phrase you texted? I didn't recognize it."

"It's Yiddish. It roughly means, 'venereal disease should consume his body', but it loses something in translation."

"Cool!" Tabs offered her hand. "I'm..."

"I know who you are. I'm the one who sicced him on you. You speak the same language. You're the genius who put all those academic numbskulls to shame by maintaining a 4.0 grade average as a hobby. You have the imagination to look beyond the obvious and don't settle for 'if it works...'. You improve, you innovate, you create. You're an artist with the lathe. I can't wait to see what you'll do with real tools."

"And you are...?"

"Lena. Lena Papandreou. You, me and the old man are three of a kind. The rest are there as support. If you can hack it, in ten years, you'll have your own team. In the meantime, you're mine. Got it?"

"I thought I'd be working for him."

"It doesn't work like that. He dreams up these crazy ideas, puts them to paper, sells the project to backers, assembles a team and moves on to the next. We're the ones who make them into working engines, or whatever it is. Eight years ago, I was working on a revolutionary fuel cell. Only, it was too expensive to mass produce right then. Before we could work our way around that, a consortium of OPEP nations swooped in and bought all the rights. The latest evolution in F1 engines? That's us too. Now we're back to his first love, spaceship engines."

"So he said. You're working for NASA."

"We are working for NASA... at the moment. Next year? Who knows? There's a lot of private money being thrown into space flight. All I can tell you is that you can sell your bike shop. You won't have time for it. Once you get into it, you won't even have time for personal relationships. You'll do like us and find some pussy wherever you are, whenever you have time, then forget about it when you move on to the next project. I have an apartment in Paris I haven't been to in five years. I keep it as an investment and rent it to some friends."

"I get it. I'm not much into the relationship thing either."

"Are you hungry? I hear you can get some good pie here."

"The best. Hop in."

They drove in silence. Lena stared out the window pensively. That was fine with Tabs. The whole thing was a lot to digest. Did she really want to throw away the life she had spent years bringing to the point where she could reap the benefits of her efforts. Sure, it was a bit boring now that she had her degree and the business was running itself, its success assured simply by word of mouth.

*****

They had a surprisingly pleasant lunch during which Tabs learned that Lena Papandreou was the result of a vacation adventure in the Greek islands for her father. He hadn't known of her until she arrived at his laboratory and told him she was working with him from then on.

It was only six months later, once she was firmly entrenched in his working life that she reminded him of his escapade.

"He said all he cared about was that I was as crazy about science as he was." She told Tabs. "I didn't believe him for a minute. Under that carefree exterior, beats a good heart. He acts the lecher, but I was told by more than a few of his conquests that he's a caring lover. My mother first. She knew from the start that she was a summer fling, but, to this day, she still has fond memories of their time together. She never said a wrong word about him. He was long gone when she found out she was pregnant with me. Far from being mad about it, she kept me as a sort of tribute, I guess. She did her best to follow his career. I'm in this business because of that. He may not have raised me, but he is my father."

*****

Tabs closed the door of her partner's office and pulled a six-pack of beer out of a paper bag. He brought out a bottle of Kentucky bourbon and two shot glasses from a desk drawer.

They clinked their first glass and downed them.

"I declare this Board meeting open." He said. "What's the occasion?"

"Do you remember when you told me I should be building spaceship engines? What if I told you I've been offered a spot on a team that does just that?"

"I'd say it's about time. I knew all along you were too big a fish for this little pond."

"What about the shop? Do you want to buy me out?"

"No." He told her firmly. "Tabs, this is your baby. It wouldn't exist if it wasn't for your vision. All I did was supply the starting cash and reaped the benefits since it opened. Tell you what I'll do though. I'll help you find a new manager and I'll take care of your baby while you're busy conquering the universe. Your share of the profits will be deposited in your bank account."

"It's not fair. You'll be doing all the work. I'll sell it to you for the balance of the payments on my truck."

"That would be stealing. You were the best mechanic I've ever hired, Tabs, and you are the best business partner a man could have. As for the shop, you trained your mechanics so well, they could go out on their own and compete with us, but they won't. Let's set it up so they have shares in the company. That way they'll be motivated to stay on. I'll send out feelers for a good manager to take care of the business side. He won't even have to set foot in the shop."

"I could live with that. They're good people. They deserve something like this. As for the manager, I've got someone who happened to drop in my lap. She's a top level race car mechanic and she was in charge of a team for a while too. Before she got on the circuit, she managed a large automotive performance shop for years. Then NASCAR came calling and she couldn't resist. I get the feeling that she's ready to settle down again. All you'd need to do is show her the ropes, then keep an eye on her."

"I can do that. I'll know soon enough if she can cut it. And if she doesn't?"

"Cut her loose. I want to give her a chance, but this is a business. I know someone who may be able to find her something that's more her style. I'm meeting her later and I'll tell her. The rest is your decision."

By the time they called the executive meeting to a close, the bottle was half empty and the beer was long gone.

Tabs went home for a couple hours of sack time.

*****

The supper rush hour was winding down, but it was a good thing she had made a reservation. Viviane was waiting for her at the bar, chatting with the barman.

"Hey, Vee. Watch yourself with that one, he's a player."

"But what an ass! Turn around, Mario. Show her what you've got."

"She is not interested, amore. She has been trying to seduce my wife for years." The man laughed.

"Don't you just love that accent? Say something sexy in Italian, darling."

"Mi piacerebbe fare l'amore appassionato a voi tutta la notte." He told her in a deep mellow voice.

"Lo stesso vale per me, amore." The buxom woman who had wrapped her arms around Tabs' neck whispered in her ear.

"Your place or mine, Corinna? We'll let those two find their own bed."

"Where were you before he stole my heart, amorosa? Your table is ready."

A fiasco of Tabs favorite Chianti was waiting for them and a plate of ricotta cavatelli arrived soon after they were seated.

"I love this place." Viviane said. "Is the chef single?"

"You'd have to get an expensive and painful procedure to have any chance with him, Vee. He's what's called flamboyantly gay. His chef uniform is pink."

"I don't want to fuck him. All I care about is his food."

They enjoyed the ragù napoletano on fresh pasta, talking about everything but one subject. Viviane knew how painful it was for her niece to even think about the disintegration of her family after her sister's death.

The two women discussed the manager position over a glass of grappa.

"I spoke with my partner and he's willing to give you a shot on my recommendation. You'll have a good team working with you. All I ask is that you don't rock the boat. The head mechanic's been with us from the start. He can take care of that part of the business. We need you to work the front end and to interface between him and the clients."

"I can do that. Aren't you going to be around?"

"I'm not exactly sure. That's the point. I start something new next week and I have absolutely no idea what I'm really getting into. The people I'll be working with are, let's say, eccentric, but I get the feeling that I'm going to fit right in. They're passionate about what they do, like I am. They only care about the science. The old man, your fucker, may play the hedonist, but his daughter says he's the real thing. As for her... I get weird vibes from her. One minute she's the consummate scientist, the next she's coming on as a chick half her age."

"You can't wait to work with them, can you? I've seen this face before. Remember when the mechanic from the Harley Davidson dealership came to my garage where you were working on the neighborhood bikes and offered you a job in a real shop. You were in grade ten."

"It's a good thing I missed a year in school... At sixteen, I was their youngest mechanic. Yeah, it feels like that. Exactly like that. So, if you're interested, you start tomorrow at seven. I'll have a few days to show you around. Where are you staying?"

"I've been sleeping in my car since I left Orlando. This being a College town, there must be a rooming house where I can crash until I can afford an apartment."

"Forget about that. I have an extra room. It's yours for as long as you want. I have a feeling that I won't be around much. Consider yourself at home. I owe you that, at least, for taking me in when I needed it."

Viviane put a hand on Tabs'.

"We're family, kid. If there's one thing you do not owe me for, it's that. Let's go get drunk. Do you still hang out at that dingy place?"

"I keep telling you it's not dingy. It has character. But thanks. I need to get some sleep tonight. Go if you want. You won't regret it." Tabs looked at her watch. "If you hustle, you have a chance to get first dibs on him."

"Really?" Viviane betrayed herself. "I mean, I'm sure there will be plenty of fine hunks to choose from."

"Go. I'll settle here. Remember, 7:00am."

"Thanks, kid. Nos vemos el mañana por la mañana."

*****

Tabs moaned appreciatively as the long-fingered strong hands which had deposited a tall glass of ouzo on ice and a huge lifelike dildo attached to a strap-on on either side of the books opened on the table got to work on her trapezii and neck.

"Is this your seduction technique? Get a girl drunk and offer her to fuck you."

"Whatever it takes, baby. You've been at it for three straight weeks. You won't do either us or yourself any good if you drop from exhaustion. Tomorrow is Sunday out there in the real world. Tonight, we get drunk and party. If you want this old pussy, it's here for you. If not, find a younger one and keep her in bed until Monday morning."

"I just want to finish this. They never told me, Lena... I thought post-grad was more of the same old shit. I didn't know..."