SATURDAY STORY - DAN JACKSON #4
On Saturdays, I write fiction. I am going to keep trying. This story (about Daniel Jackson and the DJ Computer) is looking like a longer story. I have a dynamic (???) ending in sight but need to build towards it. Today will be more on being a nerd computer expert at college and learning many lessons other than academics (although academics will be part of the mix). The middle chapters set the stage for Daniel’s character, personality, and more.
Review. In 1980 at age 14, Daniel Jackson created a home personal computer in his parent’s basement in Bloomington, Illinois. He soon made others for relatives, neighbors, and friends. With his parents, Dan set up a family business to make computers. The growth and demand for home computers went crazy in the 1980s
At age 18, (1984), Dan went off to Purdue University to be a computer engineering, and computer science major.
***** New Chapter here****
Dr. Gary Bunce, the physics professor handed back the first exam papers on October 12th. He folded them carefully so the score did not show. He (or more likely his teaching assistant), had arranged the papers in alphabetic order and the class was arranged by alphabetic order so he could just walk down the rows and hand out the papers personally to each student. Some professors knew their students by name, and Dr. Bunce had been working on that. As they went through activities on the blackboard, he would go down a row - so each student knew they would be called on in order. Some students were shyer and almost panicked when called on. His method made sure each student would be called on (no hiding) but they would be anticipating when he would reach them.
As he went down Dan’s row, he called out each name as he handed out the exam.
“Dan Jackson”, he called as he handed out the test back to Dan. Quickly, Dan opened it to see a note - “Great Job, see me after class”. The score was 97 on the test. After handing back the exams, Dr. Bunce had a Harvard Presentations slide with the scores and distributions. Dan’s 97 was high in the class, with the next high score at 89. The scores went down to 36. The class average was 59, with a standard deviation of 16. Dan had an idea of what statistics meant from his senior math class in high school.
Dan’s physics lab partner was Linda Watson, who was in the last row. Linda wished she were closer to the front to see and hear better. Dan had already figured out his best academic seat was in the second row on the left, about three in from the left edge. He could see and hear well. The professor wasn’t in the way of the blackboard and he wasn’t so conspicuous as sitting in the middle of the front row.
After class, there were a few other students in front of Dan, and Dr. Bunce took others so that Dan would be the last. Dan noticed that Linda Watson was waiting for him by the door. He guessed her first question would be “what did you get?”.
Finally, it was just Dr. Bunce and Dan at the front of the classroom.
Dr. Bunce had a huge grin and asked, “How is Beth?”
Dan had to think for a second. “How is Beth?” Did he mean “How is your mother?”
He stammered for a second and asked, “Do you mean my mother, Beth?”
Dr. Bunce laughed. “Yes, I meant your mother Beth”.
Dan stammered again and said, “She’s good. She teaches Physics at the University of Illinois. Do you know her?”
Dr. Bunce was enjoying this interaction. “Yes, we were classmates in the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan. We’ve met up several times over the years at academic conferences. I also know your Dad too.”
Dan blushed and then smiled. “That’s great.” (But his inflection didn’t accent the word ‘great’. He wasn’t quite sure how to act when a professor talks about his mother).
But, Dr. Bunce laughed again and asked, “How is DJ Computers doing with their founder at Purdue”.
Dan really reddened at that. He was trying to keep a low profile about being the founder and developer of the Daniel Jackson - DJ Computer - company.
Dr. Bunce grinned and said, “I haven’t shared your secret, Dan. I saw your name on my roster but didn’t really add up all the connections until you scored the top grade on the test. A mother Beth in Bloomington Illinois, a physics professor at the University of Illinois, a graduate student Beth Jackson at the University of Michigan 18 years ago who was pregnant with their first child, and now a Daniel Jackson from Bloomington Illinois in my Physics I class.”
Dr. Gary Bunce smiled again and asked, “How did I do?”
Dan stammered again, “You nailed it, sir. Yes, I’m that Daniel Jackson”.
Gary Bunce smiled again. “It is a rare experience to have the child of a friend in my class, and to have a student who created a worldwide business in my class.”
He paused and continued, “Dan, I am not going to embarrass you. But, I want you to know that your professor is a friend, a fan, and a supporter. I’m happy to have you as a student”.
Dan answered, “Thank you, Sir”.
Dr. Bunce, seeing Linda Watson by the door. “Now get along Mr. Jackson, I think somebody is waiting for you”.
***
Linda Watson was waiting for Dan and her question was not the one he anticipated five minutes ago, but she asked “What was that all about?”.
Dan blushed again, “Dr. Bunce knows my mother. They were students together at Michigan”.
Linda asked, “Is your mother a physic person?”
Dan said, “Yes. She teaches physics in Illinois”.
Linda’s eyes widened, “You're the son of a physics teacher. WOW! Did you get the highest score on the test?”
Now Dan was relaxed and answered, “Yes, I did.”
Linda exclaimed, “Wow, I got the best lab partner in the class!. Let’s go to lunch together”.
*****
Dan liked having a casual girlfriend. Linda Watson was smart, good-looking (Dan didn’t really know what ‘good-looking’ meant), and friendly. She wasn’t beautiful like the models in the Playboy Magazines his high school friend Max had. He was just pretty naive about women and social issues.
Linda also lived in Hawkins Hall. They crossed campus on a clear and still warm October day heading to the cafeteria in Laurel Hall. There wasn’t a cafeteria in Hawkins Hall, and Laurel Hall was the closest one.
Linda was from Huntington Indiana about two hours east of Purdue’s campus. She had an older brother and an older sister, and a younger brother. She was a chemical engineering major, but that could change after her first college chemistry class. Her father was an engineer for Huntington Tool and Die company, and her mother was an architect.
They both checked in as they entered the cafeteria. It was a one-price cafeteria - so if you got a lot or got a little, it was all included in your food costs. She went to the salad area and got a taco salad for lunch, plus some tater tots, and unsweet iced tea. Dan was a runner but had to watch what he ate. He went through the regular line and got a BLT sandwich and green beans, and a Dr. Pepper to drink. They sat at a window overlooking the Memorial Mall lawn. When it got warm in the spring, the Memorial Mall lawn would be covered with blankets with students getting a start on their summer tan. But, today the benches had students reading their textbooks, a group playing frisbee, and a few couples holding hands. Dan wasn’t quite sure about holding hands yet.
When they were sitting down, Linda started to ask about Dan’s grade on the test and about Dr. Bunce knowing Dan’s mother. Dan said they had met at the University of Michigan when Dr. Bunce was getting his doctorate. (He didn’t mention that his mother had a doctorate in physics). Dan blushed a little when he said, “Dr. Bunce kind of knew me too, as Mom was pregnant with me at the time.”.
Linda laughed. It sure was easy to make Dan blush. What a sweet, innocent boy.
Dan decided he should change the subject. “What did you get on the test?”
Linda proudly answered. “Well if it hadn’t been for Mr. Physics Superstar, I would have been first. I had an 89 score. What did you miss, Mr. Almost Perfect Physics Superstar?”
Dan got in his backpack and pulled out his exam paper, Linda got her paper out too. Dan had made a dumb mathematical mistake and transposed the numerator on a question. Linda also had most of the concepts right, but a couple of little mistakes knocked her down.
Linda asked Dan if he was going to the Homecoming parade tomorrow, and to the football game. Dan hadn’t thought about the parade but thought he’d go with his roommate Karl to the game.
Linda interjected, “I have student tickets too, can I join you and Karl at the game?”
Dan instantly replied “Sure thing”.
They returned their trays and got a soft ice cream cone on the way out. They walked the three blocks to Hawkins talking about physics, life, music, and more. At the elevators, Dan was going to the fourth floor and Linda to the eighth floor. They happened to be the only two on the elevator, and as the door opened on the fourth floor, Linda wrapped her arms around Dan and kissed him on the lips.
Dan didn’t quite know what to do, but shoved his hand in the door to keep it open, joined in the kiss a little, and stammered, “See you tomorrow”. He got off the elevator and watched as the door closed on Linda. His heart was fluttering.
*****
Dan and Karl went to the parade. It started at Engineering Fountain, down Centennial Mall Drive to West State Street to North University Drive, and ended at the football stadium. It seemed like every student organization had a hay wagon with some decorations on it.
The sidewalks were packed with students, alumni, staff, friends, and bystanders. There were high school bands from a hundred miles, an alumni band (not marching, but on hay bales on a flatbed, clowns, cheerleaders, unicycles, people walking on stilts, politicians and university officials in convertibles, boy scout and girl scout troops, and more. Dan hadn’t seen many parades, other than the televised Rose Parade and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Dan had to chuckle as the Computer Engineering club had a float with a huge cardboard computer with the DJ Computer logo on it.
Some groups threw out candy to the crowd, and the kids scrambled to pick up the candy. It was like Halloween, the Fourth of July, and Christmas all put together.
Two-and-one-half hours later the last float went by, followed by horses and riders, and even cows. After all, Purdue was the agricultural university in Indiana too. Even Dan, who ran cross-country, finally had to sit on the curb for a few minutes after standing in one place for such a long time.
Early on, Linda Watson found them as well as Shirley Hess, Matt Porell, and Kelley Dickenson from orientation. Other classmates filled in around them. Some had black stove-pipe hats (like steam boiler hats), and almost everybody was in Purdue black and gold.
The parade route ended at the football stadium, and the floats were parked there for all to see. Dan wished he had brought his Nikon camera, but he hadn’t expected such an elaborate display.
The parking lots were also full of tailgaters, the aroma of bratwurst lofting up mixed with all the other smells. The cattleman’s club had a huge grill and was cooking and selling burgers and glasses of soda and beer as a fundraiser. The group stopped to get lunch there before heading into the stadium.
The homecoming game started at 3:00 - to let the parade revelers and tailgators have time between the parade and the game.
The stadium was packed with standing room only. Like before, ushers checked the students for campus IDs and alcoholic beverages.
The opponent that day was the University of Iowa - another Big Ten member. Generally, Iowa and Purdue were similar. Today, Iowa came into the game at 4 wins and 2 losses, and Purdue was at 5 wins and 2 losses.
Dan, Karl, and the other fans got into the game early. Now in the fourth home game of the season, the crowd knew the cheers and chants. Dan thought it was a little barbaric - like one of the cheers, “Blood, blood, blood makes the grass grow”, with the implication that they wanted to spill the blood of the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The game worked its magic into the loyal fans, giving them euphoria with good Purdue plays and scores, and heartbreak when Iowa had good plays and scores. But, the large homecoming crowd helped the Boilermakers prevail in the end, 31 to 24 on a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game.
There was a dance that night in the student union with a DJ (of course, Dan Jackson had to smile when he thought of a disk jockey - DJ as compared to DJ Computers). As the group walked back to their respective dorms, Kelley suggested they all go together. Dan was thinking he should study but kept quiet as the group agreed.
Linda Watson sidled up to Dan and said, “I’m looking forward to slow dancing with you.”
Dan blushed (as always) and said to Linda, “I don’t know how to dance.”
With a seductive look in her eyes, Linda purred, “I’ll show you how”.
*****
Dan asked Karl Sieverding, his roommate, “What do you wear to a dance, particularly to a homecoming dance?”
Karl looked up from his General Chemistry I textbook and answered, “Anything you want - jeans are okay, slacks, a nice t-shirt or light sweatshirt. You can work up a sweat when you dance, so don’t dress too warmly. Haven’t you ever been to a dance before?”
Dan answered honestly, “No, I haven’t ever been to a dance. No, I take that back. My cousin Pam got married and had a dance, so I was in my nice wedding clothes. I don't think that counts.”
Karl laughed at his roommate. “Well, it will be interesting for you tonight!”
Linda met Dan and Karl in the Hawkins Hall lobby and they walked the quarter-mile to the homecoming dance in the Purdue Student Union. Somehow, Dan wasn’t quite sure, within a couple of blocks from the dorm, Linda’s hand was in his.
They were meeting friends at the dance. Kelley and Shirley were there with their roommates, and Matt and Norris were there. The ballroom was crowded. There weren’t enough chairs for them all to sit down, but the idea was that once the music started the dance floor would be full.
The lights dimmed a little, a disco ball rotated on the ceiling, and a DJ started with an old tune by Jerry Lee Lewis, “Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire”. And almost as quickly as the music started, Dan had a tug on his arm. Linda was raring to go. Dan blushed and Linda pulled him out on the dance floor. She dropped his hand and she started to gyrate and dance. Dan, looking like a ventriloquist dummy, stood there - gapping at all the others on the floor. He saw a guy from his economics class close by and tried to mimic his actions. Linda grinned as she saw Dan making an attempt to dance.
It wasn’t long until Dan was a little comfortable - maybe about the third song when the DJ played Diana Ross and Lionel Richie in Endless Love. Several of the couples left the floor and Dan would have left too except Linda grabbed him. She whispered in his ear, “You’re doing great - now it is time to slow dance with me. I’ll lead, you just be natural.”
She threw her arm around Dan’s waist and slowly moved to the music, left, back, right, forward. Not too fast, It seemed for a while that Dan had two left feet. He did step on Linda’s toes twice before he kind of figured it out. But, it took three slow dances until he stopped looking down at his feet and was able to relax a little.
***
By 10:00 the dance was slowly winding down. Some were going to other private homecoming parties (with alcohol), some were tired of dancing, and most had a long day with the parade, game, and dance.
By 10:15, Dan said to Linda, “I’m tired, can we go?”. Kelley and her friends had left about 9:30. Karl, Shirley, and others were still there - but yawning seemed to be their favorite action.
But, just then, the DJ played another slow dance, Faithfully, by Journey. Before he could react, Linda pulled Dan onto the floor and they danced this last slow dance. Then, with a kiss, Linda and Dan walked towards the exit.
*****
The night had cooled off as the group made their way to their respective dorms. Linda, Karl, and Dan walked to Hawkins Hall. There were some others that Dan recognized as being at the dance a short distance ahead of us, and as the group turned the corner of State and Sheetz, Dan noticed a group behind us - heading towards Hawkins Hall.
Linda stopped and said, “I have a pebble in my shoe”. She leaned on a lamp pole, slid off her shoe, and shook it out. Now Dan and Linda were behind their group, and when they got to the door to Hawkins Hall, Linda went to the side and pulled Dan along. She locked her lips on Dan’s. Dan pulled her into his arms, and they made out, just outside the entrance to their dorm. For a guy with little romantic experience, Dan seemed to catch on quickly. Linda, though, seemed like she was familiar with romance. She rubbed Dan’s back as they kissed, and then a hand slipped to his groin. The endorphins and hormones were pumping their magic into Dan’s brain and he lost control of his hands which slid over Linda’s breasts.
It seemed like an hour, maybe two hours to Dan, but after five minutes, out of breath, Linda broke off.
“WOW” was all she could say.
Dan didn’t say anything, but if he had, “WOW” would also be his term.
Linda and Dan locked eyes. Dan was a little taller and Linda had to look up at him.
She said, “That was amazing. Let’s go to our rooms and have sweet dreams.”
Dan, still a bit dumbfounded, nodded. His brain seemed to have lost the ability to generate speech for a few minutes.
There were others on the elevator. Dan got off on the fourth floor, and Linda stayed in the elevator to go up to the eighth floor. She squeezed Dan’s hand as he left the elevator.
*****
Dan’s brain immediately restarted as he got off the elevator. The floor smelled of burning leaves. When Dan was little, he helped his grandfather rake leaves and his grandfather piled the leaves by the street and burned them. This aroma was similar, but not the same. What was it? Was there a fire on the floor? Should he pull the fire alarm?
Getting to his room, Karl was just out of the shower and dressed for bed.
Dan asked, “What was the aroma as I got off the elevator? It smelled like burnt leaves?”
Karl laughed, “Dan, you have led a sheltered life. That was the aroma of marijuana being smoked. It’s illegal to smoke it, but my guess is that the floor RAs are letting it go tonight.”
Dan got ready for bed, but just peeled off his jeans and Purdue t-shirt and put on an old running t-shirt, and collapsed in bed. But, his mind was too active to fall asleep quickly. Parade, game, dance, marijuana - no he wasn’t at home anymore!!
*****
After homecoming, things settled down again for Dan. At mid-term his grades were all As except for English (where Dan hoped he had at least a C. He got a routine, up, shower, breakfast, calculus, stop in the library and read the Wall Street Journal (to get the stock price for DJ Computers), and look at the various PC Computer magazines. He would study economics, business, and physics in the library.
For English he would write his papers and essays the first day they were assigned, take them to the English Help Desk in the library, and work with a tutor on his writing He generally revised his papers four times: first rough draft, second draft from working with the tutor, third almost finished draft, and finally polishing the paper in WordPerfect on his computer.
He did see Linda most days and they generally had dinner together with the same friends in the cafeteria. It was in the cafeteria after dinner that Dan learned to drink coffee. It seemed silly to just hang around the cafeteria after dinner, but if he had a cup of coffee in his hands, it was like a kid’s security blanket. He had an excuse to hang out with his friends.
He had weekly phone calls to his parents on Saturday mornings. Some Saturdays Uncle Steve would join Will and Beth for breakfast and Dan’s phone call to talk about where DJ Computers was going. Other than Dr. Bunce, Dan hadn’t told anybody he was the founder of DJ Computers.
*****
Dan dated Linda. Yes, she was his study partner in the Physics lab, and yes, they had the best scores in the Physics classes. And, yes, he was ga-ga for her.
One night, the week before Thanksgiving vacation, Dan and Linda were making out in a quiet corner of the student union when Linda slipped her hand into Dan’s pants and caused Dan to reach a climax. Their time for making out inconspicuously was limited. Dan had mentioned he was dating Linda in one of his weekly phone calls. His parents treated it like a little thing, but Dan was pretty excited about it
*****
On Friday, November 16, 1984, Will Jackson pulled up in front of Hawkins Hall, loaded a huge bag of dirty clothes, and his computer, and headed back to Bloomington with Daniel Jackson from DJ Computers. Thanksgiving at home was going to be a treat for Daniel Jackson.
***********
End of week #4 of Daniel Jackson, teenage computer company founder. We’ve learned more about Dan at college - his classes, his learning, his fitting in, his romance, and his habits.
Next week, we’ll look at the second semester at Purdue - with more changes.- (no, he doesn’t get married, no, Linda isn’t pregnant, yes, Dan’s future becomes more focused).
LOVE WINS
LOVE TRANSFORMS
(Will Dan learn to love in an agape fashion?)
KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, MARCH 11TH, 2023
