Summer College Surprises

"What are you doing?" he asked, panic kindling.

"Calling the producer."

"But haven't you already signed--"

"The details aren't on paper yet. E-mail tomorrow."

Eldon made himself pull back. This was her choice. He hated that what he'd told her had blown everything up, and made her so angry, but he had no right to interfere. Even if thousands of people learned that he listened to Piranha sex.

He looked at her more closely. As Ziri railed at the producer, Eldon saw what he'd never seen from her. He could only guess. Anger, obviously. But also...fear? Pain?

The producer set up a secure chatroom. Ziri dug her laptop out of a suitcase, sat at the desk, and typed her decision. She had not been very coherent on the phone, and now wrote that she had been misled about what the bidders wanted to do with The Neat Seat. She couldn't make herself write about what Eldon had told her.

As they waited for Piranhas to respond, Eldon, still in bed, asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Not your business!" she snapped.

Firmly he said, "Ziri, remember when you made the video? And we talked?"

Looking down, she bit her lip, and nodded.

Getting up, Eldon realized that he was naked, and she was too. He dragged the upholstered chair next to the desk chair, wrapped the bedspread around both of them, and sat next to her. It was a little like when they did homework together, side by side, nude.

"Can you tell me?"

She went affectless, and droned. "When I was eleven, my father did sex with a woman at work. Lots of times. My mother got back at him, where she worked. In a while they stopped. They stayed together, because of me. They thought I'd never find out. They tried to act like nothing was wrong. I'm on the spectrum, I wouldn't notice stuff like that, right?

"Sure I noticed. They used to laugh a lot, together. Then that stopped. It scared me.

"I looked at what was on their phones, so I found out what they'd done. They don't know I know. For most stuff, staying a family works okay. But I know they don't love each other anymore.

"I've read about kids who blame themselves because their parents split up. I blame my autistic, special-needs self because mine didn't."

She looked at Eldon. Her voice edged towards neurotypical. "They're smart. Why aren't they happy?"

Inside the bedspread, Eldon put an arm around her. Her head flopped onto his shoulder. Her body quivered. He respected her privacy and didn't look to see if she cried.

Messages started popping up in the chatroom. Justine Merrill asked what had happened to change Ziri's mind. Another Piranha, Terence Novak, asked if Ziri was withdrawing The Neat Seat from everyone.

Ziri was still drafting her response to Merrill when Gerald Stansbury stated that he was considering legal action against Ziri for breach of promise.

An instant later, the producer suspended the chatroom, asking everyone to stay in contact. Nothing else showed up.

A few minutes later, there were identical posts from Merrill and Stansbury: "Offer withdrawn without prejudice."

Then there was this from Novak: "I reinstate my final offer, with an assurance that nothing my organization does in connection with The Neat Seat, including marketing and promotion, will run afoul of Ms. Klefstadt's vision. May I discuss this with you at your hotel before you leave tomorrow?"

Ziri looked at Eldon. "What's your neurotypical opinion of him?"

Pride warmed Eldon. He hadn't thought he'd ever become a therapist, but winning Ziri's trust made him reconsider. "He laughed about nudism more than the others. But I think he was genuinely impressed. And it bugged him that he was outbid." He smiled. "You can make him enter your piranha pool."

She didn't laugh. She sent Novak a message agreeing to the meeting, with his offer to be considered then.

***

Nattily dressed in a plaid three-piece suit that was all wrong for an American summer, Novak entered the room alone. If he had his personal assistant along, that individual waited no closer than the lobby.

"You have a plane to catch," he said, "so I'll get right to the point. Does it disturb you that Stansbury and Merrill had sex on your invention?"

Ziri blinked. She hadn't gone into that much detail. "How do you know that?"

A mouth corner lifted under Novak's mustache. "I could ask you the same question. Except that your friend here matches a description I was given."

Eldon turned away, face reddening.

"Don't let it bother you, son," said Novak. "You acted on behalf of the inventor. I probably heard more through that thin wall than you did. We Piranhas all despise each other, but Gerry goes farthest beyond the pale. Especially with that threat of his. I assure you, we gave him a good dressing-down while the chatroom was suspended."

"Thank you," said Eldon. Ziri just nodded.

"Certainly. Now, again, Ms. Klefstadt, does it disturb you that The Neat Seat could be used for sex?"

Her mind rolled a montage of all the sex that she either committed or enabled on Neat Seats. "No. It's just..."

Eldon looked at her with concern. He wouldn't encourage her to tell a stranger what she had, with great difficulty, told him.

"If there's going to be sex on it," Ziri said at last, "it should be open and honest. If not outdoors, and I guess it usually isn't legal that way, then not kept as a secret. Not done by people sneaking down hallways. Not so somebody gets hurt."

Eldon didn't think Novak was satisfied, but the Piranha opened a leather briefcase and handed Ziri a stack of paper. "Please look this over on the plane. It limits all marketing to people I think you want to reach, through travel and outdoors magazines, and such. I've been told by the producer that the final Stansbury-Merrill offer will be edited out of your segment, and a text screen will show that later negotiations led to your decision, if you accept this."

Novak closed the briefcase, stood, smiled, and offered his hand. Ziri shook first. When he shook Eldon's hand, Novak told him, "Believe me, I too am having trouble getting that image of Justine out of my head."

***

The contract went into effect a week later. The upfront money wasn't life-changing. Ziri insisted on first paying back Mr. Driscoll for his prototype costs. She also insisted on the four-way split the other boarders had never requested. The money shrank some student loan obligations.

Ziri wrote a letter to her parents, casually mentioning things like inventing something and pitching it on a TV show and getting an investor, and also gaining a boyfriend. In light of these developments, she concluded:

You did an excellent job of raising me, and preparing me to make my way in the world. You gave me a stable home life, which surely helped. I thank you for that, and I release you from any further obligations. It's time for you to be happy, so please get divorced. I'm 20, and your only child. Custody is irrelevant. I'm enjoying my life, in a way I never expected (his name is Eldon). Now you should enjoy yours.

Ziri's appearance on Piranha Pool was scheduled for late September, so fame wasn't yet a problem. What mattered to Ziri, in the short term, was that she aced the project part of her Product Marketing class with The Neat Seat, and her approach to selling it to nudists.

The summer trimester was ending. With a four-week gap before fall classes, all of the boarders would go home.

The days were still warm to hot, but they were shortening. The evenings cooled pleasantly, and seemed to last longer.

All of the prototypes had come home with Ziri. They were stacked neatly on the floor next to her closet.

The evening before she'd leave, Ziri felt she'd studied enough for her final exam the next morning. She sat on the bed and scrolled her phone, reading a historical novel, trying to understand the neurotypical characters. In the back of her mind, she worked through what she'd say at home because of her parents' perplexed response to her letter.

There was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said, a little sad that it wasn't Eldon, who'd left a few hours ago.

Mrs. Driscoll opened the door. Ziri was surprised to see her looking like she, and Ziri, almost never did: Hesitant.

"Ziri," she said, and cleared her throat. "May I, um, borrow, two of your Neat Seats?"

"Uh...okay."

Mrs. Driscoll walked to the stack and lifted the top two. "My husband and I are going out for a ride. That man gets some silly ideas into his head, when he thinks about the old days." She looked at Ziri, who said nothing.

"I promise I'll clean these up good before I bring them back."

As she looked at Mrs. Driscoll, Ziri felt a naughty, neurotypical train of thought go through her head. "Yeah," said Ziri, smiling. "It's good to have two." This thought about Eldon wasn't a sad one. It was from just after his final exam, at about this time of night, in the forest preserve. The insect repellent was just as important as the condom box.

Then Ziri felt even better, knowing that these Neat Seats would be used by people in love with each other, and nobody would get hurt.

Mrs. Driscoll drew a slow breath, looking around. "This house is gonna be so empty."

Ziri looked at her, trying to keep thinking neurotypically. "We'll be back soon."

Mrs. Driscoll smiled. "I know, child."

As she left the room she said. "I hope you keep inventing, Ziri. But, you know--"

"Ask before I steal."

"That's not how I would have put it." But Mrs. Driscoll winked before she vanished down the hall.