The Twins Paradox by Alan Gasparutti (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

any ideas in mind, as to what you'd like to do, or where to go?”
“No, not really,” said Clint. “'See more of my family and friends, I guess. Beyond that, I'm really not sure. I'll have to discuss this with Mary and our family.”
“Well I'm glad you're pleased,” Fred said to him. “Do you have a flight booked?”
“No, not yet,” said Clint. “That shouldn't be a problem, though. It's only about an hour to Denver, or I may be able to get someone from the academy to come and pick me up.”
Fred then stood up and shook hands with Clint.
“Give my best wishes to your wife and family,” Fred said to Clint. “I'll have to come to visit you sometime, wherever it may be.”
“You'll always be welcome to come along,” Clint replied, as Professor Marshall also stood up to shake his hand. “You're welcome too, Frank. It looks like you'll have plenty of time to pay us a visit.”
Fred then turned to Professor Marshall, as Clint waved farewell.
“How about you, Frank?” he asked. “Have you thought any more about the offer? You'll notice the terms are very good, a more-than-adequate pension and an excellent handshake. Much better than what you'd normally be entitled to at sixty.”
“Oh yes, I don't dispute that,” the Professor replied. “It's come as a big surprise to me, that's all. I'd like a little more time to think about it, to discuss things.”
“What is there to discuss Frank?” Fred queried with him. “You're not getting any younger. You don't mind me asking, how old are you, by the way?”
“I only turned fifty-two last month,” Professor Marshall told Fred. “It's not like I've had a very arduous job all my life.”
“No, no, I accept that, but you don't need to have an arduous job to retire,” Fred insisted. “Positions like yours, Frank, involve a lot of thinking and concentration. You can't afford to make mistakes, you've got to be at the top of your game all the time.”
“Are you saying I'm not?” Professor Marshall asked Fred with a hint of anger.
“No, no, of course not,” said Fred. “I'm just trying to explain that your kind of role has it's pressures, too. Frankly, if you pardon the pun, I'm just surprised that you're not excited about the opportunity we've put forward for you.”
“We?” Professor Marshall asked. “Who's 'we'? Someone else is behind this, aren't they?”
“No, no, I didn't mean to say that,” Fred insisted. “It was my mistake. If you want to continue studying the cosmos, you'll probably prefer to be retired. You'll have much more time to yourself to concentrate on whatever you want, and not some stupid asteroid approaching Earth.”
“Hhhmmm, that's true I suppose,” muttered Professor Marshall.
“Of course it is,” Fred told him. “If you want, you can move away from the hustle of this city and out into the wilds. You can visit Clint – I'm sure there must be some large telescopes in Colorado from which you can view the cosmos.”
Professor Marshall studied the offer a bit further.
“You are offering me a farewell of $5 million dollars?” he asked Fred.
“That's correct, as is the offer of a regular pension of $15,000 a month” Fred replied. “I believe that you've earned this, don't you?”
“I am coming round to the idea of retirement, but can I have a little time to think about it?” Professor Marshall asked Fred.
Fred thought carefully for a moment, and then looked into his diary.
“Okay,” he told the Professor. “I'll meet you here tomorrow afternoon, same time. But Frank, don't tell anyone.”
“How about my wife, Jeanette?” he queried. “After all, she'll be involved in any future changes in my life.”
“You can speak to Jeanette, by all means,” Fred told him. “Just don't mention it to any of your team.”

Professor Marshall went straight to his house after leaving the hotel, and thought carefully what to say to his wife.
“Is that you Frank?” Jeanette called from the kitchen, as he opened the front door.
“Hi, honey,” he said to her. “I've just had a meeting, that's why I'm a little earlier than usual.”
“It wasn't about that asteroid again, was it?” she queried.
“No, not really,” he replied.
“I'm making myself a coffee,” she called to him. “Would you like one?”
“Yes please,” said Frank. “We can drink them together, if you're not too busy. There's something important I'd like to discuss with you.”
Frank went their bedroom to get changed and put his briefcase away. He took the envelope back downstairs, and found Jeanette on the sofa with a cup in her hand, watching TV, with another cup on the coffee table. He went to sit beside her, and gave her a kiss.
“What brought that on?” she asked him. “You're not in one of your randy moods?”
“No, well, not yet anyway,” he replied. “Besides, I thought you'd forgotten about my randy moods.”
“Ooh, you know me better than that,” Jeanette said to him, with a cheeky grin on her face. “I never forget any randy moments.”
“That meeting I went to,” he said as he handed her the envelope. “I was given this, and I'd like you to have a read of what's inside. Let me know what you think.”
Jeanette looked at him curiously. When she opened the envelope, she noticed the word 'Retirement', and stared at her husband again.
“Is this for you?” she asked him.
Frank just smiled back, and suggested to read the details inside, as he changed the channel on the TV. Jeanette looked first of all at any figures or values inside, to get an idea of the terms offered to Frank.
“This says they're offering you a golden handshake of five million dollars,” she queried. “Is that right?”
“Yepp,” said Frank. “I was a little concerned about the pension, though.”
“What? $15,000 a month?” Jeanette queried. “With that handshake you've been offered, we won't have to worry about a mortgage. Plus I still have a pension of my own. You have other pensions too, don't you?”
“Yes, but I won't be entitled to them for another eight years,” Frank told her.
“We don't have to stay here, though, do we,” she said to him. “We could downsize, after all, the kids have grown up, why should we need a five bedroomed suburban house?”
“Hhmmmm, that's true,” Frank muttered. “Would you consider moving out into the wilds? I didn't think that was your style.”
”Oh no no no,” Jeanette replied. “If we've got half a million dollars to play around with, we could move to Florida or Hawaii. Somewhere we could laze around on a hot sunny beach.”
“I wouldn't fancy Miami, and Hawaii's too far away,” Frank said to her. “Besides, I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the Pacific.”
“How about California?” Jeanette suggested.
“Oh, I don't know about that - California's probably too expensive, anyway,” Frank commented.
“California isn't just LA, in case you'd forgotten,” Jeanette replied. “Besides, we shouldn't need to worry about expenses.”
Frank thought to himself for a moment.
“On the other hand, Pasadena would be okay,” he considered. “'It's relatively near to Mount Wilson observatory, and Big Bear's not too far away, either.”
“Frank, Frank, honey, do you want to go on stargazing?” Jeanette asked softly, as she put her left arm over his right shoulder. “You can relax....take it easy....put your feet up. It's time to enjoy yourself, honey.”
Frank went quiet. Jeanette seized the moment, and put her other arm around him, before kissing him. Frank stared at her, but she just put her finger to her lip and quietly uttered “shhhh!”. While Frank's mouth was open, Jeanette smothered him again, and gave him a full French kiss. Frank had forgotten everything else, and let himself go.
“Shall we go upstairs?” he then asked her after a few minutes of petting.
“Nahhhh, let's do it here,” Jeanette replied. “No-one can see us anyway.”
While they were snogging, she quickly undid the top button on her jeans. Frank then helped pulled them down. By now he was oblivious to anything else, and was soon entering. Frank hadn't felt as good for a while as he breathed faster and faster, deeper and deeper.
“Come on.....Frank,” she panted. “It's time.... to celebrate. Oaaarghhhhhhh, come on....Frank, give it....to me. ”
“Celebrate what....honeysuckle?” he asked curiously.
“Your retirement, “ Jeannete panted, heavier still.
“I haven't....agreed to....the offer...yet,” Frank replied.
“I know you....honey,....you're not.....going tooooohhh....turn that offer....down,” she said to him, still panting away. “Now come on....Frank....let's carry on....celebrating. Oaaarghhhhhh!”

The next day, Frank Marshall went back to NASA HQ, as usual. No-one was aware of the offer, and didn't query his appointment at the Marriott hotel that afternoon. At 2.30 promptly, he knocked on the door of the Eagle conference room. He could see Fred Luddolmans inside, gesturing to him to enter.
“Hi Frank, come on in,” Fred said to him. “How are you today?”
“Oh I'm fine, thanks,” Frank replied. “A little more relaxed than yesterday.”
“I take it that you've come to a decision regarding the offer,” Fred asked.
“Yes thank you,” Frank replied. “I've read the documentation, and have decided to accept the offer of retirement, if the offer still stands?”
“Good, good, I knew you'd like the offer. The offer still stands, by the way,” Fred muttered, before passing papers to Frank for his signature.
“There's just a few things I wanted to clarify first of all, if you don't mind,” Frank then queried.
“How can I be of help?” Fred replied.
“Well, could you confirm what appendix 12 refers to,” asked Frank as he showed the paragraph to Fred. “It says 'Final release of the values are subject to the full agreement of all parties'.”
“Oh you shouldn't have to worry about that,” Fred assured him. “I'll make sure of that. You can sign the forms for now.”
“If the documents are to be re-worded, shouldn't I wait until the new documents are produced?” Frank queried.
“The appendix needn't be amended,” Fred told him. “I'm here to ensure all parties agree to the terms.”
“Who precisely is the other party involved?” Frank asked. “Is it NASA? The documents are not printed on NASA-headed paper.”
“That's because NASA are a third party in this,” Fred explained, as Frank looked at him unconvinced. “Don't worry, Frank, there's nothing to worry about, I'll take care of that. You just need to sign the forms and everything on offer will be yours'.”
Frank thought about all he would receive for a moment, and then signed the forms. As he was signing, Fred was very relieved.
“It just remains for me to confirm a few final details for your benefit,” Fred told Frank. “Firstly, your retirement should take effect in about four weeks from now. That should give us sufficient time to find your successor.”
“Will I be required to sit-in on the panel?” Frank asked.
“Er, probably not at this stage,” Fred replied. “You'll probably need a bit of time to sort out your tasks-in-hand, particularly with that asteroid business.”
“Oh, there shouldn't be any further plans put into place regarding the asteroid,” Frank told Fred. “We've already put into place a program for monitoring the asteroid, or should that be a new moon?”
“That leads me to the second point,” said Fred. “Now that the asteroid is no longer a danger, you can cancel any future monitoring of it.”
“But surely we still need to monitor the asteroid,” said a very surprised Frank. “Now that it's relatively close-at-hand we have an excellent opportunity to study the asteroid.”
“I know what you mean, Frank, but it's considered that should be something for the future,” Fred emphasised.
“But that asteroid must be studied,” said Frank. “We need to find out more about that asteroid.