“I haven’t seen you two since graduation!” Dennis said.
“Dennis!” we both exclaimed.
“Come on in,” he said as he opened a path for us.
“You sure?” Valerie asked as she pointed to the signs.
“Oh, yea,” he said. His face turned sour. “That’s a long story. Don’t worry about it.”
We walked into his “bunker.” What it really resembled was something out of a movie. There were electronic devices everywhere. Computers, TV’s, audio equipment and just about anything else you could think of filled the huge room. The room was also furnished with a bed, a couch, and two armchairs. The room was divided into sections, one with the furnishings and the other with the majority of the electronics. There was carpeting under the furnished part, but not under the electronics part. I also saw an open door that led to a bathroom.
“Is this a bunker or central command?” I asked.
Dennis laughed. “Obviously you met Mom,” he said.
“Yes, she thought we were hookers you ordered,” I said. “I didn’t think we were dressed that provocatively.”
“Oh, that’s probably my fault,” he said. “I don’t socialize much. And especially not with girls.” He sat down on one of the chairs while we sat down on the couch. “So…what does bring you guys here? I mean, it’s been six years since high school.”
I took the lead. “We were in the neighborhood,” I said. “And I said to Valerie, ‘We haven’t seen Dennis in forever.’ So I figured we’d stop by.”
He didn’t look like he believed us. “But there’s still got to be another reason,” he said. “You don’t just stop and see random people from high school when the time arises.”
“I see you’re still too smart for your own good,” I answered him.
He smiled. “And you’re still not as clever as you think,” he said.
I was a little perturbed. “Meaning what?” I asked.
“Oh, just a joke,” he said. “You guys were always trying to outwit me, remember?”
I had to think for a second. That was actually something that was true. Phil and I did think that we could outsmart Dennis on several occasions, but he always got the best of us. He was the smartest person I knew. “Yea, yea, OK,” I said. “We’ve been making some big changes to a lot of things today. We’re kind of…testing some things.”
“Testing what?” he asked.
I couldn’t tell him that, naturally, so I wished he’d just forget about it after my response. “I really can’t tell you right now,” I said.
“OK, fine, I don’t mean to pry,” he said.
“So why don’t you tell us what you’ve been up to all this time?” Valerie asked. “I mean, we knew you were into technology and all that stuff, but this looks like a lot more.”
“Yea, it sure is,” Dennis agreed. “I started a lot of this while we were in high school. I do a lot of programming for a bunch of people. I do a lot of website stuff, I run some game servers. That’s why there’s so many machines. A lot of stuff runs off them at once, so it’s the perfect set up down here. I’ve got enough room and I can run all these fans to keep it relatively cool.” There were quite a few fans placed around the room, most of them pointed at the computers.
“Do you ever leave here?” Valerie asked.
Dennis laughed. “Not if I have to. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I’ve got so much stuff going on at once it’s hard to leave. If something stops working and I’m not here to fix it right away, I risk losing a lot,” he explained.
“Money?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yea, I make a good deal doing all of this. I really can’t risk losing any source, though, and that’s what would happen if I didn’t fix problems right away. That’s why I pretty much live down here,” he said.
“How many hours do you work?” I asked.
“Probably about 18 a day on average,” he said. “Before you ask, I sleep when I can, and I have various types of alerts and alarms set up that can wake me up if necessary.”
“So I have to ask,” Valerie said. “Why do you stay here? Couldn’t you afford a place of your own where you might have more room?”
Dennis looked at his feet. “Yea, I could, but…it would kill her,” he said as he pointed up.
“Hey, I don’t mean to pry,” I said, “but what is the deal with her…really? I remember you mentioned her a few times in high school and it never sounded good.”
He took a deep breath. “Let me see if I can explain. My father ran off about 15 years ago. She almost lost her mind, really. I lived with my aunt for a while because she…had to go to a hospital for a while. Then she was cured and came back home. That was about a year later. She…she just wasn’t the same person. She was cold. She started smoking and drinking. She didn’t care about me anymore. Her only concern was finding a new man. I think she believes I’m to blame for my dad running off.”
“Ever ask her that?” I asked.
“Hell no,” he answered. “She’d go half-crazy if I mentioned him in the slightest way.”
“It’s a wonder you were able to keep you own sanity,” Valerie commented.
“Eh, that’s why I started all this,” he said as he motioned towards his equipment. “Gave me an escape and an outlet to be productive.”
“So why haven’t you ever left?” I asked.
“Too afraid,” he replied.
“Afraid of her?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, just afraid of what she’ll do to herself,” he said.
“Has she ever…you know?” Valerie asked reluctantly.
“No,” he said. “Threatened to plenty of times. One time…well she held a knife to her wrist.”
“How’d you stop that?” Valerie asked.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I dared her to, because I was so mad, and she just broke down crying. Then her doctor decided to up her meds instead of committing her or doing anything different. But…that was the last bad time.”
“So you think she’d do it if you moved out?” I asked.
Dennis sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just not something I’m willing to deal with right now. I’ve had enough drama for a while,” he said.
“Sorry to keep prying,” I said, “but what does she even do for a living?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Unless you consider chain-smoking, watching TV or bar hopping for men jobs.”
“Obviously you make enough to support her?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Yea, I guess that’s how you’d have to call it. That’s our understanding right now. She leaves me alone and doesn’t come down here, I give her money when she wants it,” he explained.
“Sounds…expensive?” Valerie questioned hesitantly.
“No, not really,” he answered. “She never asks for too much because somewhere she still realizes that I’m the one paying the bills. That’s another reason I don’t think she has tried anything for a while. Like I said we just…keep our distance.”