Senior Year Box Set

Fritz was anal about security, and he’d set us up to all use both facial recognition and our thumbprint to log onto our devices. I would let her use my tablet until I had a chance to get her a webcam for her old-style PC. I figured she would only have my tablet for tonight, so I didn’t bother setting her up with her own user account. It would be easier to just let her log in to mine.

“What are all the little pictures for?”

My grandmother knew more about this stuff than Gina did. I began to wonder if her parents chained her in the basement. I thought everyone our age knew all this.

“They do all kinds of things, like let you watch movies, listen to music, play games, read your email, and this one lets you log onto video chat. Let’s set you up, and then we can call your sister as a test run,” I suggested.

For this, I created her an account so that when I got her a webcam, she would be ready to go.

When I finished, I sent Kara a text to jump onto the video chat. I showed Gina how to touch her sister’s picture so they would be connected. Her look of wonder when she saw Kara on the screen made it worth the hassle.

“Gina! I thought David was calling me,” Kara said.

“Hey,” I said as I turned the tablet so she could see me too. “Why haven’t you taught your sister how to do this kind of stuff?”

“I was waiting until she started college. Our parents are set in their ways, and my dad is convinced that the Russians will take over his PC if he logs onto the Internet,” Kara explained.

“If he’s that worried, he just needs a firewall and VPN. And Internet security software, of course.”

“Believe me, we’ve tried. My dad fancies himself tech-savvy and won’t listen to anyone about cybersecurity stuff.”

“You mean we could’ve been talking like this all along?” Gina asked.

“Well, yeah. I video chat with Emily at least a couple of times a week,” Kara shared.

Clearly, it upset Gina to find out her two sisters talked more than she did with them. Gina was a smart girl. I would bet she’d have a tablet soon. I made a mental note to send a text to Kara to suggest one as a graduation gift.

“Sorry, but I’ve got to go,” I announced. “I’ll send you a text when Suzanne is ready for us.”

I left the girls to catch up.

◊◊◊

Suzanne fell right back into tutoring mode. She’d had our calculus class and Ms. Lowden as her teacher. She scanned and sent us a copy of the final she’d been given when she took the course.

I loved how Suzanne would explain the concepts from a different angle to help us understand them. Both Gina and I felt we had a firm grasp of the material, but we each had ‘aha’ moments as different concepts suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

Once we finished our session, I was convinced that I would seek out a tutor when I got to college. While I was sure I would have gotten an ‘A’ on my final, I understood the material better after sitting down with Suzanne.

◊◊◊ Wednesday May 3

When I came back from my run with Duke, my mom was waiting for me in the driveway.

“David Allen Dawson!”

Oops.

“Carol Suzanne Dawson!” I shot back and mimicked her hands on her hips and her head sway.

My dad burst out laughing from the back door. He seemed to find us entertaining.

“Did you take a dump on the new neighbor’s back porch?”

“I want my lawyer,” I declared.

My poor mom tried; she really did. But she couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

I’d purposefully not let Duke do his business this morning. He is regular as all get-out, so I was shocked when he just looked at me when I tried to get him to return the favor Max had left on our sidewalk. Out of desperation, I’d taken matters into my own hands—or, perhaps more accurately, butt.

Duke, of course, had to go once we got a block away. I’d started to feel a touch guilty about what I’d done until I had to clean that up.

“Did he actually see who did it?” I asked, not quite admitting it.

I imagined Judge Mom would appreciate my obfuscation (a fun word I’d learned while prepping for my SATs, meaning the action of making something unclear) of the truth.

“No, and I pointed that out to him when he called. I asked him how many other places his dog had left a mess, and maybe he might have some more suspects,” she said and then paused. She gave me the ‘I’m your mom, and you will listen to me!’ look. “If it happens again … I will assume you did it.”

Even Dad knew not to chuckle as Mom twirled around and stomped into the house for good measure. I filed that one away for future reference on Scary Parenting 301. It was an advanced class that most parents hadn’t mastered. Then again, most parents didn’t have sons who would actually deliver that kind of payback.

◊◊◊

I spotted Gina as I walked into school. She looked like death warmed over.

“You okay?”

“Here, take this back,” she said, thrusting my tablet into my hands. “I haven’t slept in two nights.”

I’d loaned my tablet to her so we could have our tutoring sessions with Suzanne.

“Did you find my porn stash?” I asked, acting upset.