Chapter 4 - You must be June

	Chapter 4 - You must be June
Some People's Parents	Prev \| TOC \| To be continued ...

"Ok, Astulf," Roger had decided not to fight it. "She's not due for 10 minutes or more. Can I show you the problem with the computer while we're waiting? Then maybe I can work on it by myself if I get bored during your interview."
"Sure, let's do that." Roger and Astulf turned toward the computer.
Mrs. Cauliflower smiled as she walked to the kitchen. They wouldn't notice if she cleaned up bowls and spoons for herself and June. She felt invigorated. It was fun to hang around young people and make herself useful. Her self-imposed, self-funded retirement had quickly become boring, so she had taken some cooking classes. It looked like her new skills were appreciated, and they would serve as good camouflage if anyone tried to find her, probably even better camouflage than her salt and pepper hair and bulky clothes.
"You can see that each of the cluster computers has about 3 gigabytes free. That's what we had last week." Roger typed a couple more lines. "And here on the server, we had about 150 gigabytes free. Now it's down to 139 gigabytes. It's still not a big deal, there's lots of space, but what's using up the space?"
"Right." Astulf agreed. "When we replaced the hard drive last week, we wrote some notes on how much space was in use. Are you sure we didn't use it up in log files or generated data?"
Roger typed some commands. "Log files are 0.1 gigabyte. Generated data are 2.8 gigabyte. That's under 3 gigabytes, but the system is down 11 gigabytes."
"What directory is the change in?"
"That's the problem. The directory listings don't show where the space went. When you add up the files they have in them, the other 11 gigabytes is unaccounted for."
"Now that's weird. Did you try creating a 1 or 2 gigabyte file to see if the total space actually changes?"
"Sure did." Roger assured his partner.
"Do you think the police did something or maybe a virus has infected the system?" Astulf gestured impatiently and answered his own question. "Either way, I think we can't trust this computer to run the simulation on the computer cluster for us. We should move to your computer."
"Right." Roger reached around the computer and disconnected it from the network, then turned the power off. "That's why I brought mine over this morning."
"I saw it there." grinned Astulf. "Good planning, and thanks for bringing it up as soon as possible."
Roger was pleased to note that Astulf was looking his old sharp self. Then he actually saw the expression in his eyes change.
Astulf tilted his head to one side for a second as if listening, then grinned roguishly at Roger. "Excuse me while I ..."
Buzz. A short press on the door buzzer.
"... answer the door." Astulf strided eagerly to the door, eyes shining, face grinning.
He opened the door quietly, looking beyond it eagerly for the object of his attention.
Their eyes met and they stopped moving for several seconds, just staring into each other's eyes, not smiling, not speaking. Roger watched uneasily from a chair by the computer table. Mrs. Cauliflower beamed from the kitchen doorway. They could both feel the air crackling between the two lovers.
After several seconds of motionless silence, Roger cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem! You must be June. Please come in."
They both smiled, and without taking their eyes off each other, Astulf reached out a hand, June took it, and she stepped into the room. Astulf reached across his body with his other hand to close the door, still with eyes locked. Then they each took a small step forward, putting their hands on each other's upper arms. The electricity level in the room jumped again.
Roger remarked loudly to Mrs. Cauliflower, "I'm surprised they're not kissing already."
June answered softly, as Astulf grinned. "We'll get around to it."
She reached up softly with her right hand to touch a stray lock of hair at the side of his forehead. He leaned his head against her hand. She giggled. Then they leaned towards each other slowly, licked their lips and started a long gentle kiss, snuggling closer and wrapping their arms around each other.
Roger started to groan, but Mrs. Cauliflower beamed at him, so he said sourly, "I'll finish setting up my computer as the cluster controller."

Some People's Parents

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