"After years of being together, my whole life has been turned upside down. I'm probably going to have to get a job. I don't mind working but it's been years since I've done it."
“I broke up with my girlfriend not too long ago. I have a hard time understanding girls. It’s like they want to control everything,” said Colt.
Alison was now very relaxed. Any formality that she had displayed earlier had disappeared. She talked to Colt with open friendliness.
“I think you need to meet a more mature woman who knows how to treat a man. Young girls are so emotional. After all, you aren’t a little kid anymore. You have grown-up needs. I can see that.”
Now sipping his second glass of wine on an empty stomach, Colt was tipsy. He found that everything Alison said to him made perfect sense. Wow, she's so logical. She really understands me. His feelings of frustration from earlier in the day and evening were giving way to a strong sense of egoistic, well-being. Computer problems, his mother, and other distracting feelings were erased by a growing bubble of happiness. He loved talking with this friendly, understanding woman in her pleasant little home.
Then, in an instant, Alison was crying! It was a soft, muffled sobbing with tears streaming down her cheeks, causing her makeup to streak. Colt was afraid that he must have done something wrong. I knew this was going way too well.
“What’s the matter? Is it something I said?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing really,” said Alison between convulsions.
“It must be something. I know that things have been hard for you.”
“It’s, it’s just that after he left me, I stopped feeling pretty. I'm the ugliest thing in the world,” she moaned.
Her small body shook with each sob.
“Don’t think that way, Alison. I think you're more than pretty. You're beautiful.”
After a few seconds of silence, Alison said, “Oh, thank you, Colt. You're so sweet. I’m really happy you’re with me. If you hadn’t been here I might have cried for hours. You make me feel like a woman again. I better go pull myself together. I’ll be just a bit.”
After about five minutes Alison returned with the half-full bottle of wine and poured until each of their glasses was full. Alison’s blouse was now partially unbuttoned. She leaned toward Colt, who could not help staring at her breasts. Alison brightened as Colt stared with uninhibited desire. Slowly, with great effort, Colt lifted his gleaming eyes to hers.
“What is that smell? I sssorta like it.” he asked.
“Oh, that's a scented candle. It’s patchouli. Do you like it? I hear in India they use it to set the mood for romance.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind Colt remembered something about that perfumed smell and his car, but could not grab onto the full memory. He was now intoxicated by Alison Monroe and her white wine.
“Uh, really? I never thought of that. Yeah, I really like it. This is really nice, being here with you, Alison,” said Colt.
Alison snaked closer to Colt, allowing another blouse button to come undone.
“You know, I think it’s time that you call me Ali. This is wonderful for me, too. I love having you here. I really think we hit it off. Don't you?”
“It’s like I’ve known you forever, Ali,” said Colt.
Colt closed his eyes and took a large gulp of wine. When he opened them, Alison was sitting next to him with her hand lightly massaging his inner thigh. She stared into his eyes from a distance of a few feet. He could smell her musky perfume and hair. When he looked away from her eyes to stare at her breasts, his body involuntarily reacted. What might have bothered him earlier in the evening now seemed perfectly normal. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss her, even though somewhere in the back of his mind a voice echoed caution. It was like a tiny drop of water hitting the bottom of a deep well. The message being sent was never received through the wall of intoxication. As he moved toward her hypnotic eyes to express his desire, Alison grasped his hand firmly and stood up, brushing one of her now-exposed breasts against his face.
“Come with me, my young prince.”
“Whatever you want, Ali, whatever you want.”
Chapter 11
------Email-------
From: Jones, Bobby[
[email protected]]
To: O’Brien, Colt[
[email protected]]
Subject: Big meeting
--------------------------------------------------
Hey Colt
i herd there’s gonna be a meeting about that new computer deal. Its sat morn at 10 at the swedens. Lets check it out. Call me.
Bobby
------Email-------
Frigid waves of rain rolled in from the Puget Sound, hitting the purple VW bug as it wound its way through Burien’s back streets. Bobby Jones sat next to Colt who was driving.
“Dude, we’re almost there. I know this has gotta be some scam,” said Colt.
“I guess we’ll find out,” answered Bobby.
The little car pulled up and parked in front of the Sweden home, which was perched on a hill overlooking the water. Colt and Bobby, who were bundled in warm coats, jumped out and dashed for the front door. Ron Sweden met them with a pleasant smile.
“You came at a good time. We're about to start. I’m Ron Sweden. It’s great to see you guys.”
“Hi Mr. Sweden. I’m Colt O’Brien and this is my friend Bobby Jones.”
“I thought it might be you guys. Mr. Towne said you might show up. He spoke highly of both of you. Come in and find a seat.”
The first thing that Colt noticed as the boys entered the open, warm living room, was a large white board covered with black scribbles. Looks like more mumbo jumbo to me, thought Colt. About 20 adults and teenagers were sitting facing the board, talking amongst themselves. The room was buzzing with an aura of anticipation. The smell of strong coffee permeated the air, adding to the electric atmosphere.
Colt scanned the entire room, soaking everything in. He tried to sense the aura created by the people in the room.
“I wonder what they did with the furniture. Now it’s a classroom or something. I need some of that coffee. It smells like Starbucks.”
“Man, you read my mind. That coffee smells great,” said Bobby.
Both tech-savvy teenagers arrived in a skeptical mood, but were now feeling a sense of excitement along with the others.
“Man, there’s some juice in this room. Way different,” whispered Bobby.
“Yeah, these people seem jacked up for this thing. Now, that’s not something I’ve ever seen before,” said Colt.
“And it’s not just kids. Parents are here too.”
Ron Sweden walked to the front of the room and started to erase the scribbles on the white board. Everyone stopped talking and focused on the tall slender man. He was the only person in the room who wore a suit and tie. He turned to face the audience and closed his eyes, clasped his hands together and stretched them with palms facing the audience. After a few moments he smiled, making eye contact with each member of the audience.
Ron Sweden started speaking as if he was breathing fresh spring air on a sunny day after a long storm. He was relaxed, but in total command of his words and movements. He wrapped the audience in a blanket of sunny optimism with no apparent effort.
“This is an important day. You've all been invited here to discover a new learning adventure. You might ask, 'What is this all about?' It's about three things. It's about opportunity. It's about hard work. And, it's about achieving something.”
His refined hand gestures gave physical impact to his words. “I've been asked why I'm doing this. I have to admit, I’m selfish. I do it for my son, for his education. I can’t think of a better reason.”
A hand was raised by a man who seemed to be the father of the skinny, pimply-faced boy sitting next to him.
“Why are we here if you're doing this for your kid?” asked the man.
“Mr. Carbon and I were approached by our sons to hel
p them become Microsoft Certified Professionals. By passing one exam, both Billy and Gunner have achieved that. Now the bar has been set higher. They want to achieve more. Each of you can do the same.”
I don’t even agree with him and I'm halfway convinced, thought Colt. He whispered in Bobby’s ear, “He can’t fool me. I know there’s a trick in there somewhere.”
Ron Sweden continued explaining the program. He had command of his audience, including Colt and Bobby, throughout his presentation.
He ended by saying, “You have a chance to do something unique, something special. Oh yes, you'll work hard, but remember the benefits. Thanks for attending. Now Billy and Gunnar will give a demonstration of what they've learned.”
Colt had been wondering how these parents convinced Mr. Towne to agree to have this program at Highline. I think this guy hypnotized Mr. Towne. A lot of this has to be made up. It sounds way too good to be true. As Colt struggled between his belief that the new program was a fraud and his attraction to the challenge, Billy and Gunnar walked toward the white board. Okay, now we'll see what the little nerds really know. Probably not that much, thought Colt
“Hi, I’m Billy Carbon. One of the tests is called NT Server. We're going to talk about how memory works and different modes.”
Both boys wrote diagrams and key words on the white board as they talked about how the Microsoft NT operating system functioned. Dude, this is technical stuff. Creepy. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s for real, thought Colt. When the subject of User Mode and Kernel Mode was presented, Colt, Bobby, and the entire audience seemed to deflate. Colt considered himself to be very knowledgeable about computer operating systems but he didn't understand any of it. He waved his hand back and forth in frustration.
“Hi, I’m Colt O’Brien. I've done a lot with Windows computers and never had to know this stuff. How does this help anyone fix computers?”
Gunnar Sweden looking a little nervous tried to compose himself. After a pause he answered.
“There are a lot of things in the tests that you won’t use much. You still have to learn it, though. We know more than we ever thought we could and we just started.”
“So why do it if it’s like that? What good is it?” said Colt.
Ron Sweden interrupted as he looked directly at Colt.
“If you want to be a professional, you should be able to pass the exams. If you want respect, you now have an opportunity to show what you know,”
Damn, he cut me off. He's calling me out.
The boys continued talking for about ten minutes and then summed up the material. There was light applause from the stunned audience that brought smiles to the young teenagers’ cherubic faces.
Now another man was facing the audience. He wore a beige baseball cap with the word “Microsoft” across the front. Unlike Ron Sweden, he was dressed in a t-shirt and faded blue jeans.
“Hello, my name is Matthew Carbon. I'm helping with curriculum and teaching classes for the program. Since we've all been sitting and listening for some time, I'll be brief. You'll pass one exam to become a Microsoft Certified Professional. To become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, you'll need to pass five more for a total of six. The exams are pass/fail. These certifications are usually earned by people who are already working in the computer industry. So, for a student in high school to earn one of the certifications is very special.”
Matthew wrote items on the white board.
Books
Classes
Coaching
Practice tests
Hands on practice
Assessments
Students helping students
He then talked about each category in a very direct, confident way. It was very easy for the entire audience to understand the simple outline. Every person in the room could see that the plan would work. They all understood that the key element were effort and dedication. After about twenty minutes, he ended the talk.
“As you can see, this is about learning the material inside and out. The exams are purposely made difficult and it's win or lose, with no in between. Someone asked why he should do this earlier. To me, the main reason is that it’s not easy. If you do this, you've achieved something. This isn't about sitting in a classroom for an hour each day; it's about doing whatever it takes to pass the exams. We'll help every student do that, but there are no shortcuts. Thanks for listening. Mr. Sweden, the boys and I will be available for questions.”
“Can you believe that Sweden challenged me? That other guy, too. Can you believe that?” said Colt to Bobby.
“Man, there's no way I'm working that hard for some useless certification,” said Bobby.
Colt was agitated. He was beginning to feel that the exams had to be as hard as advertised. However, he still didn't understand how Billy and Gunnar were passing the tests.
“If those punk kids can do it, so can I,” he said.
“Wow, really? Don’t you have better things to do, Colt?” said Bobby.
“It pisses me off that those twerps have the cert and I don’t. That Sweden guy acted like I couldn’t pass one test. I want to show him that those kids aren’t any smarter than me.”
Bobby smiled, but tried not to show it.
“Go for it. You can tell me how easy it is when you pass one of those tests.”
Chapter 12
------Email-------
From: O’Brien, Colt[
[email protected]]
To: Jones, Bobby[
[email protected]]
Subject: lets check it out
--------------------------------------------------
im still thinking about joining the geeker thing / that guy got me riled up / maybe I can figure out how to pass like the little twerps
colt
------Email-------
The two friends sat in the main dining area at a tiny table in their favorite eating establishment, Dave's Diner. It was lunchtime and the small room was filled with customers. The aroma of fried burgers and fries wafted through the air. Colt was noticeable in the drab crowd because of the bright red jacket that he was wearing. Next to Bobby, in his rather plain attire, he looked like a neon light on a Las Vegas strip. Their food had been eaten, but the young men continued to talk while sipping on sodas. A flicker of curiosity flashed across the face of Bobby as Colt attempted to hammer home a point. Colt leaned forward in his chair while clenching and un-clenching his hands. His whole body was tense like a cornered animal that was ready to pounce or run.
“Those twerps can’t outdo me. I just don’t think the cert thing is that hard,” said Colt.
Bobby leaned back in his undersized chair. He was enjoying his friend’s intensity. He always became amused when Colt was agitated. And, this new happening in the computer landscape of Highline High had Colt more irritated that Bobby had seen in a long time.
“You’re just mad because now people are thinking that those kids are really savvy. Heck, you'll be gone soon anyway. Why do you care?” said Bobby.
“I don’t like people to act like I’m a loser. That guy looked me straight in the eye and as much as said that I couldn’t do it. I say screw them all.”
Bobby baited his friend, who was building up to an explosion.
"All he was saying was if you're good, then show it by passing the test."
"We both know that I can pass the stupid test," yelled Colt.
Customers at other tables looked up at the young men. Bobby put a finger to his lips to quiet Colt down. He had to control himself to not burst out laughing at his friend's temper tantrum. Bobby lowered his voice.
“I don’t think you have time to mess with this stuff. Also, I noticed that you aren’t seeing chicks much. That’s unusual for you.”
“Hey dude, don’t worry about my love life. Chicks can be more hassle than they’re worth sometimes. I needed a break.”
Colt thought about his visit to Alison Monroe’s house and the hangover he had the next day. He didn’t know whether to be ha
ppy or mad. Although his ego told him he had been a real man, most of the night and the drive home was a blur. That made him angry. Colt didn't like to be inebriated or forgetful. And, driving while intoxicated made him feel ashamed. I won't be a stupid, dumb, sleepwalking zombie. And no way am I going to run over someone because I'm drunk.
Bobby interrupted Colt’s inner world.
“What about college and fixing PCs?”
“I’ve talked enough about it. I'm going to do this. Mr. Carbon will tell me how to get started. That other guy didn’t think I could measure up. I'll deal with someone I like.” said Colt.
Now that he had decided his plan of attack, he relaxed a little and smiled.
“Okay man, okay. I see you’re into this no matter what I say,” said Bobby.
“When was it ever any other way?” asked Colt.
Colt grinned and patted his friend on the back as they walked into the drizzly afternoon.
~~~
Billy Carbon looked up from a large computer screen and answered the ringing phone in his basement bedroom.
“Hello.”
“Hi, this is Colt O’Brien. Is your dad there?”
“Yeah, hang on." Billy walked over the stairs and yelled. "Hey Dad, pick up the phone,”
Matthew Carbon, who was on the main floor of the house, came on the line.
“Hello, this is Matthew.”
“Hi, Mr. Carbon. This is Colt O’Brien. We met at the Sweden’s house.”
“Oh, hello Colt. What’s up? Can I help you with something?” asked Matthew.
“I had some more questions about the certification stuff.”
“Fire away.”