Bruce stood on the sidewalk and looked back at the building he had just exited. He admired the giant Pro-Ack logo above the door. The building was ostentatious, although not huge. Most of the work went on elsewhere. Headquarters housed a relatively small staff. The size was misleading. Pro-Ack was a large company.

Executive Vice President. Promoted today. He had expected it, but not so soon. It was a tribute to his dedication to the company. No one was more devoted.

He walked to his car in the company parking lot next to the building, unlocked it, got in and drove away. All the way home, he hummed to himself. Executive Vice President. He repeated it several times, starting with a whisper and growing louder each time. He laughed aloud. He tuned the radio to his favorite station and sang with the music the rest of the way home.

“Hi, honey,” he said as he entered the house. “Come and kiss an executive.”

She peeked out of the kitchen. “You’ve been a vice president for two years.”

“Well, Molly, my dear, I’m not just any vice president anymore. I am the executive vice president.”

“Oh, Bruce, congratulations! How exciting. Come in here and tell me about it. I can’t leave the kitchen; the kids are in here. We need to celebrate. Would you like to go out tonight? Or maybe wait for the weekend? I think I can get a babysitter tonight, if you want. I have a roast in the oven, but it can go in the fridge.”

Bruce laughed as he followed Molly into the kitchen. “You’re more excited about it than I am.”

“That’s only because you’ve had time to calm down. You probably found out this morning. You should have called me.”

“Yes, I did. I wanted to tell you in person, see the look on your face. Let’s relax and enjoy the home atmosphere tonight. I’ll see if my folks will take the kids on the weekend so we can get away overnight.”

Four-year-old Edward, sitting at the table coloring, looked up and said, “I want to go to Grandma’s house now. Can we go now?”

“Later, Eddie, not right now,” his mother answered. To Bruce she said, “That sounds heavenly. It’ll be so romantic, just the two of us. We haven’t been away overnight alone since Jessica was born, and she’s more than two years old.”

Edward climbed down from his chair and went to his sister’s playpen. “Jessie, guess what? We get to go to Grandma’s house. And we get to stay overnight.”

Jessica looked up at him and then bent back down to the plastic ball in front of her. She was trying to fit plastic pieces of various shapes through holes in the ball.

Bruce wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively a couple times and pretended he was chomping on a cigar. “Come here, baby. I’m getting as excited as a kid left alone in a candy store.”

He reached for Molly. She took evasive action and giggled. “I’m working on supper right now, but you just wait till later.”

“I have been warned, and I’ll be ready.”

Bruce left the kitchen and sat down to watch the news. He grinned foolishly all through the news item announcing Pro-Ack’s new executive vice president. The piece ended with a brief mention of a merger Pro-Ack had been pursuing for the past couple of months. He turned it off and went to the kitchen.

“Hey, Molly, the news just reminded me I’ll be going out of town for a few days next week.”

Eddie looked up. “Can I come?”

“Don’t interrupt Daddy, sweetie. Where are you going, Bruce?”

“A place called Memory Grove Village.”

“Really. It sounds kind of rustic. Village? Not many places called a village these days.”

“Yeah, they have a textile factory that makes a very high-quality product. Pro-Ack administration believes it would be an excellent addition to the company. We’ve been discussing ideas with their board for a couple months trying to get a feel for their reaction to a merger. Frankly, they don’t seem very open to the idea.”

“Oh? I wonder why?”

“We don’t really know. They don’t say much. They just talk about how it’s just a small factory in a small town, nothing a big organization like ours would be interested in. We’ve tried to explain how a merger with Pro-Ack would make it possible for them to expand their business far beyond their current level. We could open new factories all over the country, using their techniques. We could probably find ways to streamline their process so they could produce a lot more with less effort. Their product is really good and, with our backing, would become known on a wide scale.”

“So you’re going there to convince them?”

“That’s the idea. I think if we could have a dialog face to face, I could explain it better. I imagine they just don’t understand what we’re trying to do.”

“When do you leave?”

“Early Monday.”

“Can I go, Daddy? Daddy? Can I go?”

“Do you know how long you have to stay?”

“Daddy—”

“It depends on how things go, of course, but my plan is to make it three days. I should be home sometime on Thursday. Incidentally, they tell me there’s a surprising variety of activities for vacationers in Memory Grove Village. I looked it up. It’s a small town, population is no more than five thousand. Apparently, it’s a popular vacation spot, so tourists spend a lot of money there. They have a state-of-the-art combination gym and spa with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. I can go swimming, play racquetball, and work out.”

“Da—”

“They have an amazing live amateur theater company, a steakhouse famous for its barbecued ribs, an old-fashioned style soda fountain that claims to have the world’s best root beer float, and three museums. Three. Is that not crazy? Plus, of course, the textile factory.”

“Daddy! I want the world’s best root beer float. Can I go?”

“Sweetie,” Molly said, “Daddy can’t take anybody with him this time. Maybe later we can all go for a vacation.”

“I want to go now.”

“You can’t go now, but you can get ready for supper now. Run, wash your hands.”

“I want to go next time,” he said as he left to wash his hands.

Molly turned back to Bruce. “When you get home, you’ll have to tell me all about everything. Maybe it isn’t as wonderful as people say. Have they actually been there?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to make a list of the places I want to see while I’m there. Then I can give you firsthand information.”

As they talked, Molly finished preparing supper and set the table. She put all the food on the table, then picked up Jessie and fastened her into her high chair. Eddie came back, holding out his hands for inspection. Then he climbed into his booster seat and picked up his spoon.

“Good God, good food, let’s eat,” he said.

Molly’s mouth dropped open. “Where on earth did you hear that?” she demanded.

Eddie shrank back into his seat. “Travis said it.”

Molly frowned. “It isn’t always a good idea to repeat everything your friends say. That was rude and disrespectful. Please don’t say it anymore.”

“Sorry, Mama, sorry.”

Supper was finished without further incident. Bruce took the kids for storytime while Molly cleaned up the kitchen. Then Molly took the kids outside to play while Bruce vacuumed the living room and ran a load of laundry. Finally, together they put the kids to bed for the night.

Back in the living room, Bruce flicked on the TV. “Want to watch something?”

“What’s on?”

“Let’s see. There’s the one where the crime lab solves crimes with all kinds of newfangled doodads. Then there’s the one where the cops take evidence to a lab that solves the crimes with all kinds of newfangled doodads. Then there’s the one where people go surfing while cops solve crimes—”

“Let me see that.” Molly grabbed the guide. “Oh, here’s one where people dance and everybody votes on their favorites. And one where people sing and everybody votes on their favorites. And another one where they dance—”

Bruce started flicking through the channels. “Here we go. Football.” Next channel was basketball. Bruce frowned and flipped to the next one. “How about this one? They go off into space, or maybe it’s an alternate reality or the center of the earth. Anyway, they explore strange new worlds.”

“Sure. Sounds better than football.”

They sat and watched for a few minutes.

Molly sighed. “I’ll miss you when you’re gone next week.”

“I won’t be gone long. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll be here alone with two little kids. It won’t be before I know it.”

“Sorry. I’ll be back before I know it.”

“That’s more like it. Since you’re going to be gone having the time of your life and I’m going to be stuck here slaving away by myself, I think you should get me a present while you’re there.”

“Funny, honey.”

She punched him in the arm.

“I will get you something,” he said, “in honor of my promotion. I’ll find something for the kids, too. A memento of my first traveling assignment as the executive vice president.”

Molly sighed, snuggled closer to Bruce and laid her head on his shoulder. “Executive vice president at twenty-nine. Bet that doesn’t happen every day,” she said. “I think I married the world’s smartest man.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Indeed you did, babe,” he said. “I can dream, anyway.”