Eric grinned, putting a foot up on one of the lawn chairs and resting an arm on his knee while he surveyed the scene around them. “Younger people still have their values right, though. They make friends for the right reasons, read things they like, and are healthily skeptical of eminent authorities. You know, sometimes I think that all of this so-called wisdom that we brag about acquiring as we get older is really nothing more than rediscovering the common sense that we had at sixteen.”
“That’s interesting. Did you think it up yourself?”
“No. I got it from Kevin, of course.”
Doug Corfe had appeared from the direction of the house and been joined by the Vancouver ferry captain, who had left the group he was with earlier. Ohira detached himself from a mingling of people and children by the pool and came over, holding a paper plate piled with pieces of steak and chicken. Like Hiroyuki he was in blue jeans, his hair plastered in points around his forehead by a scarlet headband worn in place of the cowboy hat.
“Too dangerous for grown-ups back there,” he said. “A man could get drowned in all that flying water.”
“Kids relive their fish ancestry,” Michelle told him.
“I think it’s called recapitulation,” Eric said. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I always say that I’m enjoying myself. If you can’t tell a lie honestly, then fake it. I learn from American lawyers.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Michelle protested. “I’ll have to figure that one out. . . .”
Ohira gestured approvingly toward where Kevin and Taki were talking with Avril and Janna. “See there, my nephew has the right idea. He enjoys himself too.”
Eric and Michelle shifted their attention just in time to hear Kevin saying, “. . . I don’t know. I’d have to ask my dad.”
Eric straightened up. “What do you have to ask your dad?” he called across.
“Oh. . . .” Kevin moved over to them. Taki motioned to the two girls. They followed hesitantly. “This is Avril. That’s Janna,” Kevin said. “They were asking about the mecs. We wondered if they could come and see Bug Park.”
“It sounds absolutely fascinating,” Avril said.
Ohira nodded his shaggy bullet of a head. “It’s a great idea,” he pronounced. “We should get more kids’ thoughts on what they like, what more they’d want to see.”
Going in like a tempest was typical of Ohira when a new idea seized him. Michelle was less sanguine. “Wouldn’t it be a bit premature?” she said dubiously, glancing at Eric.
“It’s called market research,” Ohira said. “Never too early.”
“Sure, why not?” Eric said. “Let’s do it. How about tomorrow? Vanessa will still be away in town. We’ll have the place to ourselves. Could you manage tomorrow?” he asked the girls.
“Wow!”
“Great!”
Doug Corfe had moved closer with the ferry captain. Eric, however, failed to notice them as Michelle laid a hand lightly on his arm. “Do you think it’s wise, Eric?” she said. “You know—in view of this DNC business. Can you really be sure that there’s nothing to it?”
He gave her a pained look. “Oh, come on. I’ve been involved with this technology longer than anybody. Do you think I’d let Kevin and Taki anywhere near it if I had any doubts?”
“It’s not just that. If this becomes a legal issue and a court decides there was any risk and negligence at all, we could be put through a blender over it.”
Eric’s expression hardened. He shook his head. “Giving these people any credence at all is the first step to letting yourself be intimidated by them. I’m sorry. Don’t take this personally, but I won’t let lawyers start telling me what I can do in my private life, at my own house. . . .” Just for a moment, Michelle had the feeling of glimpsing another facet of the real Eric. Then, just as abruptly, he grinned and lapsed back to his more usual, easygoing self. “In any case, I’m not your client. Ohira is.”
“And your client says we stick to our own business,” Ohira said to Michelle. She held up a hand and backed off graciously with a so-be-it expression.