Paperwork and Pictures

[gothamflatfoot]

Police or Professor... There will always be paperwork. Jim Gordon is currently working on a pile several inches thick. Two hundred and fifty some odd finals. The scantrons he can run through a machine. The essays are a different story. He wonders why he didn't delegate this mess to the TAs. It would have made his life a lot easier. Next

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[oracle_watching]

After four rings, the phone is picked up. "Hello, Daddy," she answers. "Sorry it took me a while--Mary's trying to explore the entertain--no, sweetie. Mommy said no."

[gothamflatfoot]

Across the line, she won't be able to see him smile. "Hi Princess. Should I call you back? It sounds like you've got your hands full."

[oracle_watching]

"No, just give me a--gotcha, Peanut!" Mary's giggling becomes more audible over the phone. "I've got her, and I can talk to you and tickle her at the same time. How are you, Dad?"

[gothamflatfoot]

The giggling makes him smile even more. To go along with it is a sudden urge to be elsewhere. South. By a good twenty miles or so. "Remind me never to teach another summer intro class."

[oracle_watching]

"How often should I do that? Every day? Every hour? Because remember the discussion we had about this last year?"

"Gowfish!" shouts Mary.

"No, sweetie, not yet," Babs tells her.

"Gowfish gowfish gowfish!"

"Sweetie, Mommy's talking to Grandpa. Do you want to say hi to Grandpa?"

"Anpa!" By the sound of it, Mary has her mouth right up on the headset's microphone. "Ganpa anpa anpa--" And the babbling continues.

[gothamflatfoot]

He remembers it all too well. Barbara isn't the only one with a good memory. She's not the only one who's stubborn either. "How about we settle for 'every once in awhile' with the occasional poke and prod?"

"Hi pumpkin!" The greeting is purposefully exaggerated. If Barbara is wearing the hands free set, it'll probably never reach his granddaughter. He can't help but respond anyway. "How's my girl?!"

[oracle_watching]

"Gowfish, Ganpa! Mama gowfish! Adadada an'--an'--an'" The babbling is replaced by slurping.

"No!" says her mother. "This is not your teething ring!

[gothamflatfoot]

Laughter reaches Barbara's ear. "Do I need to make an emergency run for more Goldfish?"

[oracle_watching]

"No, no, Dick makes sure we stay stocked. He should, considering how much he loves them. I'm just trying to persuade her that fruits and vegetables are just as yummy as Goldfish."

"Gowfish!" yells Mary happily.

"Strained peaches!" she tells her daughter. "Doesn't that sound exciting?"

"Gowfish!"

"Mashed potatoes!"

"Mashatoes!"

"That's right! Mashed potatoes!"

"Gowfish!"

"No, no ... mashed potatoes!" She starts tickling her daughter again. "Are you thinking about visiting, Dad? You've seen how she eats. If you come here, don't wear anything you need dry-cleaned."

[gothamflatfoot]

He listens contently to the exchange.

"This weekend. If you don't have anything planned." He glances once again at the work that awaits. "I've got a stack of finals to grade. Hopefully I'll be done by tomorrow night. Then... I've got a couple weeks before fall quarter."

He intends to enjoy every minute of it too. Maybe find himself a plate of mashed potatoes. Take his chances with Mary and the dry cleaning.

[oracle_watching]

"This weekend should be fine. I'll let Dick know. Did you get the photos I e-mailed you? Your personal account, not the university."

[gothamflatfoot]

Photos. That makes him instantly happy. "No. I haven't had a chance to check today. Either one of them. Are there any in there from the picnic?"

He remembers Dick snapping off a shot of Mary on his lap.

[oracle_watching]

"Only a couple dozen," she says dryly. "Sorry it's taken me a while to get them, but sometimes it's hard to get the camera away from Dick long enough to download them, plus I had to go through and make sure I wasn't sending you any of the blurry ones. I was thinking about a family portrait some time after her first birthday next month, by a professional photographer. How many copies do you want and what size?"

[gothamflatfoot]

"Only a couple dozen," he teases. "I think it's a wonderful idea. Are you planning on making a habit of this? Pictures every year?"

Nothing would please him more. He has precious few pictures of the family as a whole.

[oracle_watching]

"I'd like to. If nothing else, they make great presents," she teases. She continues, more seriously, "Besides, Dick has lost so much family memorabilia already. I want to make that up to him."

[gothamflatfoot]

Speaking of his son-in-law... "How is Dick? No recent mishaps on the parallel bars I hope."

He refers once again to the 4th of July picnic.